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Hi all,
I currently have a nexus one, and am debating on whether I should upgrade and if so, what to. I am limited to ATT but my contact is up so I can take advantage of discounts w/ new contract.
I have liked my nexus one because it is:
-well built, nice looking
-free of att crapware
-allows me to tether
-vanilla android OS (currently cm7 because ICS and JB are just too slow and buggy on it)
I dislike my nexus one because:
-the keyboard is garbage. I dont know whether it is the specific touchscreen, or the screensize, but sometimes I have a hard time typing on it
-still running GB, ICS and JB just feel slow on it.
I wonder if a bigger screen may help me see more (ie. since right now the keyboard takes up a majority of the screen when it is out) and make typing easier. But a bigger screen seems a little harder to wield with one hand...
I had been looking at both the samsung s3 and htc 1x, but want the stock android experience (no touchwiz or sense junk. I realize I may need to wait a little bit of time for roms to be developed, which is OK). I know that the xperia ion and atrix hd have similar specs, but for whatever reason I had not really considered them options. Basically, I see pros and cons to both the 1x and s3, some of which are my opinion:
1x Pros:
-great build
-great screen
1xCons:
-power button can be hard to reach
-not expandable memory
s3Pros:
-expandable
-maybe better power button placement
s3Cons:
-cheap plastic, cheap looks
-easy to press volume keys when pressing power
However, I suppose the biggest requirement I have is that I want the ability to run a clean, stable, vanilla ICS or JB rom (cyanogenmod, or ASOP would be great). Here are my questions(finally!):
1. which phone will (or does) have more hacker development?
2. I assume that given the correct stock software on the 1x, both will be just as easy to hack?
3. I am not against a phone with a smaller screen, but I do want one that has plenty of power...
4. Any other thoughts for me to consider?
THANKS!
For stock rom you're going to want the S3 for sure. HTC phones are known for being littered with issues on ship, most of which only being bearable/solvable through root and rom installation. Even flashaholics find themselves sticking to stock on the S3, TW5 just works wonders, and has got a ton of great features. The development on the S3 is no doubt much better than the One X, I'm not sure why it matters though if you're sticking to stock. The cameras on both I hear are fantastic, and they're both using Krait S4 chips. Again, on S3's side the battery life is unparalleled, 6 hours of screen time is the rumor going around It really doesn't look cheap, but that's just me. Get what you want, those are my opinions though. Good luck
MultiLockOn said:
For stock rom you're going to want the S3 for sure. HTC phones are known for being littered with issues on ship, most of which only being bearable/solvable through root and rom installation. Even flashaholics find themselves sticking to stock on the S3, TW5 just works wonders, and has got a ton of great features. The development on the S3 is no doubt much better than the One X, I'm not sure why it matters though if you're sticking to stock. The cameras on both I hear are fantastic, and they're both using Krait S4 chips. Again, on S3's side the battery life is unparalleled, 6 hours of screen time is the rumor going around It really doesn't look cheap, but that's just me. Get what you want, those are my opinions though. Good luck
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Just wanted to be clear you understood me when I said "stock". I am referring to vanilla android ICS or JB, NOT the Sense/Touchwiz-modified versions...does the s3 still present a better alternative here?
On a side note, is there a good, fast, alternative with all the above requirements in a slightly smaller form factor? maybe something between my n1 and the s3?
You might want to check out the Atrix HD. It got great reviews and is said to provide a "near" vanilla experience.
lowandbehold said:
You might want to check out the Atrix HD. It got great reviews and is said to provide a "near" vanilla experience.
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Well that phone is tempting, but it seems as though its battery life is not as good as the one x or s3.
I know that there are custom roms on the onex and s3 now, any way to judge which is "easier" to port/work with? this may give me an idea as to which will have more development for it in the future.
I have been a very faithful fan of the epic. I have to have a qwerty keyboard and I really need decent battery life. I have seen a few post comparing the two phones but not a real good breakdown. The q seems to have things that I like, qwerty, dedicated camera button, 4.3 inch screen, sd card option, possible better radio, is there any serious good or bad things on the q that I should be aware of? Also if any other ex epic user would want to do a quick comparison of the two devices that would be awesome. Software excluded, I know that the epic had more life than it should as I am running aokp jb on it as I type this.
sent from the other woman
bryanfritz1 said:
I have been a very faithful fan of the epic. I have to have a qwerty keyboard and I really need decent battery life. I have seen a few post comparing the two phones but not a real good breakdown. The q seems to have things that I like, qwerty, dedicated camera button, 4.3 inch screen, sd card option, possible better radio, is there any serious good or bad things on the q that I should be aware of? Also if any other ex epic user would want to do a quick comparison of the two devices that would be awesome. Software excluded, I know that the epic had more life than it should as I am running aokp jb on it as I type this.
sent from the other woman
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Photon is definitely a step up from the Epic. Battery life is much better. Radios are better. I prefer the software over touchwiz.
qbking77 said:
Photon is definitely a step up from the Epic. Battery life is much better. Radios are better. I prefer the software over touchwiz.
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Of all the people to happen to read and reply, I am super happy its you, your reviews and how to's have been very helpful on the epic and I know what you say to be worth while. thx.
sent from the other woman
bryanfri. tz1 said:
Of all the people to happen to read and reply, I am super happy its you, your reviews and how to's have been very helpful on the epic and I know what you say to be worth while. thx.
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ill second that. I've been waiting to buy till the development for this thing is a little more active. Good to see QB in here.
Also Fyi if you plan on getting one, I saw them at Sam's club for 74 Or 78$
I *was* typing this from the Q, but hit the wrong button and lost the message. Blah.
The Q is very similar to the epic, and is a natural upgrade. There is much more in common between the two phones than there are differences. That said, the Q is hands-down the better android device.
Body: The phones are almost exactly the same size and weight. The shapes and textures feel more different than the size or weight do, and even that is subtle. The general design cues are the same: shiny black plastic with a bezel on top, matte black rubberized plastic on the back. External buttons are laid out differently, but it's mostly just different, not better or worse.
Keyboard: I really like the keyboard layout on the Q. The keyboards are very similar overall, but the Q has a real tab button, an "OK" button which acts as the center of a D-Pad or the press of a trackball and works well with ConnectBot/VXConnectBot. The default keys (as opposed to those accessible by fn) seem better. The layout took me about a week to get used to. I DO miss the hardware home/back/menu/search buttons from the epic keyboard, but I think I'll get used to that eventually.
Screen: I was really worried that the screen would not be as good as the Super AMOLED on the epic, especially in daylight. But the reviews were right, and the screen is great. Very comparable... tough to say which is better in daylight. Colors are bright, but they were on the epic, too. I'm even using auto-brightness, which was always annoying and a battery drain on the epic.
Forget about the extra .3 inches on the display. That is taken up by the software buttons that never go away. For practical purposes the displays are exactly the same size. (Looking closely, the display appears to be 1-1.5mm bigger in each dimension)
The increased resolution is noticeable if you look really closely. I definitely can't see individual pixels at normal viewing distance, so I definitely don't regret not having an "HD" screen. I have noticed that some software looks "odd" in the new resolution. I'm not sure if that's because the apps are old and not updated (gsettlers) or maybe just a font difference. Not a big deal, and it only affects maybe 5% of apps, but it surprised me.
Camera: The reviews were not kind to the camera, but it really is at least comparable to the epic. I haven't really done a side-by-side comparison, but I have had plenty of "keepers" taken with the Q. The camera on the Q is definitely faster. The camera button is definitely nice to have, but is not two-stage. There is no "focus only" half-press. Touching the screen can trigger focus, and this can definitely help in some situations.
Battery: For me, battery life is about the same. Both phones would just about hit the low-battery warnings by the time I would go to bed on a typical day with no charging. That said, I have atypical days all the time, so I just charge whenever I'm sitting near a charger. I did have an extra battery for the epic that I used a handful of times, mostly when traveling. I intend to get a battery powered pocket charger to cover this use case for the Q. It should be noted that the Q is more picky about usb cables. I have at least one usb cable that the Q will not use to charge. All the samsung cables and chargers do appear to work, though.
Radio: The radio is, again, comparable. There are a couple spots where I have noticed better signal than the epic, and a couple where I've noticed worse with wifi. In both cases, the Q seems to do less "hunting" than the epic.
Ports/SD: SD card is more accessible than the epic. Q does *not* come with an SD card like the epic did. A 32 GB card is less than $30 on amazon, though. I haven't had a chance to use the hdmi port. There is no port cover like the epic has for the usb port.
Dock: The car dock for the Q deserves a special mention. This dock is really great, and is a stark contrast to the absolutely crap docks that were available for the epic. The car dock has power and audio out, in a single wire (which is great for hard/subtle installs). The dock also leaves all the buttons and the headphone jack accessible. There is even a removable liner so the phone would fit with a case, although apparently none of the cases released so far fit. The software for car mode is good. Audio is routed correctly, even for bluetooth, which means no more "dock sound redirector" needed. The car mode app even has customizable spots for whatever apps you want, which is a big step up from the comparable samsung apps.
Speed: This is by far the biggest thing you will notice about the Q. Or rather, *not* notice it. You know how the epic is pretty fast, and sometimes, everything is smooth and just works great? The Q is *always* like that. No random slow-downs. No pauses where you hit the button twice because you weren't sure if the first one registered. I didn't realize how big the difference was until I went back to use the epic after a couple days with the Q. I could never go back, now.
Also, the extra memory and storage are great. No more messing with apps-to-sd, and fewer pauses when switching between apps. That said, I'm guessing everyone needs more than 4 GB (of the 8GB internal storage, this is accessible to users) so it's not like SD card is optional.
Audio: Sound is about the same, really. External speaker is plenty loud.
Software: I'm not going to write all that and skip software, even though you aren't interested. I was last using CM9 on the epic, and the transition from that to ICS on the Q was pretty smooth. The home screen app is more capable than CM9, so I haven't switched to another launcher like Nova. Similarly, the lock screen has convenient shortcuts for camera, etc. so I haven't had to customize that. The "quick view" on the stock apps is neat. I don't like that you can't pick which home screen is the one you get to when you hit the home button... it's always the leftmost. The camera app is less customizable than the touchwiz or CM9 ones. Panorama mode is in a menu, for example. Settings/etc are not too different from CM9: there are motorola customizations, but generally in areas that are rarely accessed.
Voice Commands/Voice Dialing are better than the epic in any incarnation. (Froyo, the crappy GB or ICS from CM9)
Root: I waited until the phone was rooted before I bought it (thanks shabby!). Unlocking and rooting was very easy, even compared to the epic, which was pretty easy to start with. Unlocking *will* void your warranty, and adds a boot-time warning message about the unlocked bootloader. The few mods that are available now are all geared towards playing catchup with other roms, things like the toggles in the notification drawer (missing in motorola stock), the 1% battery icon and the power menu with more options. I'm guessing that there will be more and more small mods like this, and eventually custom roms.
I don't know exactly what needs to happen before custom roms can happen, but the *need* for them is very different than for the epic. Samsung was notoriously slow with updates. The rom community had Gingerbread long before samsung provided a rom, and there was never an ICS rom from samsung, let alone JB! Plus touchwiz was much more invasive than Motorola's current offering. Motorola, on the other hand, has promised Jelly Bean updates for new phones, and put cash on the line to prove it. But, the epic *needed* newer android versions because they were faster and had better memory and disk space management. I am curious about Jelly Bean, but I don't feel like I "need" project butter or the other enhancements on the Q.
I do hope that the unlocked bootloader attracts the mod community and especially cyanogenmod given the success I had with CM9 on the epic.
zurvan2 said:
I *was* typing this from the Q, but hit the wrong button and lost the message. Blah.
The Q is very similar to the epic, and is a natural upgrade. There is much more in common between the two phones than there are differences. That said, the Q is hands-down the better android device...
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Wow. Very well thought out & well written comparison. Thank you zurvan.
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium
Nice write-up. The only part I don't agree with is the battery. I can get through a full day with this device without charging (even leave it unplugged overnight) I wasn't able to do that with my Epic. I might have just been using a crap governor
KitsunePaws said:
Nice write-up. The only part I don't agree with is the battery. I can get through a full day with this device without charging (even leave it unplugged overnight) I wasn't able to do that with my Epic.
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I agree, my experience with this battery is far better than any of my previous devices, regardless of rom or batt mods.
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium
Great post/rundown zurvan, hard to add much to that. So far I'm really enjoying the Q as well...my only problem is that I'm in Nashville this weekend and getting halfway decent 3g speeds, which i'm not used to at home...I'll be interested to see how it does under my more normal conditions.
I'm noticing two bugs while typing this post though that I hadn't encountered before...for one, sometimes a letter will render twice when I type, and also sometimes when I make a typo and them arrow back to try and correct it, when I start to type again the cursor will jump back to the end of where I'd last stopped typing and render the next character there again. Alsocaps lock doesn't always work (its not right now). I'm using Chrome at the moment so dunno if its something to do with that or not. I also mentioned before that the keyboard layout is a bit frustrating coming from the Epic..the three keys giving me the most fits are the m (too far to the left) and then the comma and especially the apostrophe/single quote....that one is making me want to bash my head into concrete lol. Also the lack of a shift key on the right is a hindrance as well
KitsunePaws said:
Nice write-up. The only part I don't agree with is the battery. I can get through a full day with this device without charging (even leave it unplugged overnight) I wasn't able to do that with my Epic. I might have just been using a crap governor
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I had the 1800 mah battery for the Epic (from the 4G touch?). That might make a difference.
---------- Post added at 03:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 AM ----------
PythonFanTN said:
I'm noticing two bugs while typing this post though that I hadn't encountered before...for one, sometimes a letter will render twice when I type, and also sometimes when I make a typo and them arrow back to try and correct it, when I start to type again the cursor will jump back to the end of where I'd last stopped typing and render the next character there again.
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The keyboard/cursor thing sounds like spelling correction. It might be the ICS defaults, or swype, or something. I've definitely experienced it on the epic, too, but forget which combo produces it.
The M/, keys bothered me, too. I *think* I'm used to it, now.
The Q also has a neat, subtle thing: when you turn caps lock on, there's a tiny little light next to the 1 key that lights up. This surprised me.
Also, a major note for epic owners: the GPS on the Q "just works".
Another positive for previous Epic owners....going into developer options and choosing 'Stay awake' so the screen stays on when charging actually stays checked after a phone reboot. I would always have to go in and re-check that on the Epic and it was one of those kind of minor things that still annoys the heck out of me all the same.
Thx guys, after reading what a lot of you said I took the plunge, and I'm happy. A few things, here and there, but I'm still more happy with this even knowing there may not be a ton of dev stuff for a while, than how I was feeling lately about my epic, it was tired.
Blasted across the interwebs from a photon q.
As far as I'm concerned, all I needed was shabbypenguin root and Rangerbry's 1% and toggle mods. I am in no hurry for any roms. The Q just works. I hated my epic and gave it away when the first photon came out. Even with all the devs on the epic, that toy annoyed me.
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium
Update on battery life vs epic, no contest its way better.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app
scratch resistance?
The screen on my epic doesn't have a single scratch on it despite it being almost 2 years old and never having used a screen protector. I was never careful with it and it still looks perfect :good:
Does the photon seem to have the same level of scratch resistance?
I had a epic while it was a good phone, BUT the q blows it out the water!
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium
VECCTOR said:
The screen on my epic doesn't have a single scratch on it despite it being almost 2 years old and never having used a screen protector. I was never careful with it and it still looks perfect :good:
Does the photon seem to have the same level of scratch resistance?
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I only had it for about 2 weeks now, no screen scratches yet, I did nick the edge of the phone but it rises above the surface of the screen by 1/2 mm to protect the screen so that's nice too. I never used a screen protector on my epic as well and it only got micro scratches(you have to look at the screen in direct sunlight to see them). I did order screen protectors off amazon but I don't know if ill use them, the case I ordered will be probably be enough
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the reply
I think the last time Sprint had a top-end phone with a physical keyboard was the Epic, which makes me feel like I have to pull the trigger on this one even though there are a couple things I don't like about it. Who knows when they will have another good one available
I might wait if I thought there would be another in 6 months but history is not on our side there. I wish there was more information about what is in the pipeline.
First post here and happy to see QBKing!
bryanfritz1 said:
Of all the people to happen to read and reply, I am super happy its you, your reviews and how to's have been very helpful on the epic and I know what you say to be worth while. thx.
sent from the other woman
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Oh Man, I know I didnt post alot in the epic forums, but I'm also very happy to see QBking here.
I bought the Photon Q and have been questioning if it was the right choice, since the lack of ROMS.
Seeing a familiar face in the forum makes me feel alot better about the possibility of roms in the future.
Any other Epic users notice the inabilty to focus on close objects with the camera on the Q?
I'm still using my Epic to take picture for ebay and other things where I need close detail.
I can't lie, I miss my epic a little... but this phone did kinda lay it to rest permanently. I even endured a samsung transform for a while (not even going to say how long), and that's just embarrassing. But out of every android device I've owned with a keyboard, this one puts them all to shame. The keyboard took a little while to get used to, and a few little things here and there are somewhat annoying... but it seems this phone would be pretty flawless after a little development.
Sent from that one mopho...
I've got this MT4GS with a recently replaced screen giving me all sorts of problems, Tmo doesn't have any more of them in-stock for an actual replacement. So lately I've been lurking around the ApexQ forums here, considering whether I take Tmo up on their offer to replace the MT4GS with a Relay. Is this it? Is this the end of the line for higher end sliders?
I get so annoyed when I walk into a Tmo shop and they give me the stink eye over my physical keyboard.
"You should really try Swype"
"Keyboards are going away"
"No one really uses those"
"Just try the S4 out, you'll love it"
Try to swype out a thousand words, then do it with a physical keyboard. I'm a bit of a writer, it might be a tine platform for me to write from, but it works great. Sliders are niche preference, will the entire market really give that up? I'm waiting for Google IO before I make any decisions (because it's coming up pretty soon) but haven't heard any rumors of a high end slider coming down the line. Am I the only one holding my breath here?
Also, I've seen a couple of you post on these forums that have had the MT4GS, I think I would miss the 8MP camera the most. Any thoughts on switching over?
I don't have the relay but I follow it and have played with one. It feels similar in many ways to the MT4Gslide (I have this) but you can really feel the improvements in speed as well as a five row keyboard is just awesome. Being its part of the galaxy s line there should be a fair amount of updates, speculation of course as Samsung hasnt been the best at supporting hardware keyboard phones.
You will miss the camera, not that this one is horrible its just that the MT4Gslide has one of the best ever made. I'm not a huge sense fan but it is better than touchwiz (in my opinion) but more of a resource hog. It is possible to port it over to Sammy phones and has been done before, but I doubt anyone would bother on this phone.
Overall if its a free upgrade I would take it, being I refuse to buy phones from carriers this one would cost me full price and I haven't decided if that's worth it yet.
Good luck on your decision!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
i got both. here are the differences with the relay:
- relay's screen is super amoled pentile... colors are great, resolution sucks big time, pixels can be seen and the red ones are very tiny and the matrix will be very noticeable in some cases
- relay's camera is 5 mp vs 8 of the doubleshot. it is just inferior in both quality and resolution, not much else to say.
- relay keyboard is nicer imho but lacks replicated alt, shift, home, back, menu keys
- battery lasts much longer than the famous 1900mah anker for doubleshot
- the cpu is so much faster, ~2.5x from my findings, also, it heats a lot less
- it is noticeably ligher but more plasticy and flimsy
- stock ics and jb. more development going on
all in all, it is a sidegrade... you lose on some aspects and gain in some others... anyway the high end qwerty era is over since the desire-z/droid 2 period...
I've owned just about every GSM QWERTY device made for android over the past 2 years. I can safely say the Relay is one of the better phones that I've owned for a while.
The G2 was the best phone I've ever had.
The camera is not amazing. It will do in a pinch, but I would take a better keyboard over a better camera any day. The 4G Slide keyboard was horrid. One of the worst I've ever used. I use the keyboard much more than the camera, so my decision was simple. It's based on your preferences, really.
But just remember you don't have many options.
I've been using my relay for about 4 months now and overall I like it a lot.
Some good thoughts first:
The keys are very very good. I find they're slightly less conducive to touch typing than my Sidekick 4G was, but still one of the best small keyboards I've ever used. I can't imagine using a purely touchscreen phone, Swype or not. There's just no competition.
The phone is very quick. I've never once thought to myself "Man, I wish this would happen faster." The OS isn't quite 100% seamless, but it's close enough that I can't find anything to complain about. And things like videos, emulated games, etc are all full speed. The only times I've ever had to wait for something was when I was accessing files, and that's due to my bargain basement SD card.
The battery life has been great. I have no problem getting through my day without carrying a charger with me. Now, I'm not as active a user as some (I don't use facebook, for instance,) but I'm often looking things up on my phone while working, and even using the flashlight, and I always have between a half and a third of my battery when I get home.
The screen and the camera both fall under the category of "It's a phone for chrissakes, what are you expecting??" for me.
The screen is bright, vibrant, sharp. It looks great indoors and passable outside. There's enough room for what it needs to do. If you complain that you can't watch a 1080p movie on your phone, the problem is with your head and not your device. I guess if you offered me a higher resolution I'd take it, but I really don't feel like it needs more. And I wouldn't want the screen to be any bigger. If I wanted a massive screen in my pocket I'd buy an iPad. And then kill myself.
The camera is a dog, but so is every other phone camera in the world. Yes, this one is worse than many. But if you care about what your pictures look like, a $40 digital camera bought used off craigslist will take pictures which are 10 times better than the best cell phone camera on the market. And it's easier to carry a separate phone and camera than it is to have a separate phone and keyboard. So why everybody focuses on the sub-par camera is beyond me.
There's only one thing about the phone which I actually feel is bad, and that's the shape. Coming from a Sidekick 4G, the ergonomics of the phone are a big step down. The Sidekick was a fantastic phone to hold in the hands, both closed an open. The Relay is about as nice to hold as a brick. There's a small lip all around the phone that presses awkwardly against your ear, and it's got a certain awkwardness when open as well. No surprise there, the Galaxy S line has always looked like a knockoff of the iPhone 3G. Why would they start making something comfortable now? </curmudgeon.>
So, yeah. I like it and there's nothing else on the market which comes close to being as good as it. I'd buy one again. I'd suggest it to other people. But I'd also hope that this isn't the last QWERTY Android phone for my network, as there's still room for improvements.
i've came down the g1 (htc dream), g2 (htc desire z), relay lane.
i have my relay now for like 4 weeks. and there's really nothing i can seriously complain about. the cpu and gpu are fast and still come with some reserve. the memory is plenty. the qwerty is a big step up from the dz with the additional row. and battery life is just sweet the dz had the better display when you were outside. the relay's go the far better once you get out of the sunlight.
usually, when i got a new phone, i also got a better cam. but seriously: 5mp is enough for every day use. and as some already stated: it's a cell phone. if you want to have high-end-images, you don't get around buying a dedicated camera. and seriously.. it's the same with the screen resolution. 800x480 is enough for text, websites and pictures to be displayed properly and sharp on the small display. what's the use of a 4" full hd display? besides showing off? again... it's a cell phone. if you want high resolution, get a tablet.
*if* somebody asks me for a cell with a hardware keyboard there really - from my pov - is no reason not to recommend the relay.
and i think it's really a pitty it's not available here in europe and quite hard (and expensive) to get.
i really hope there will be new qwertys that will be available here as well. (the most recent here on sale is the dz).
admittedly the hardware keyboard phones are a niche, but those who want them will be willing to spend a lil more to get them.
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda app-developers app
I have also used many qwerty phones over the years and have been using the relay for about 5 months now. Previously I have used lg shine xenon, lg shine plus (last lg phone I will ever buy) Sony xperia pro, samsung captivate glide and now the relay. The xperia pro keyboard was the best I have ever used. Too bad it had such low on board memory and only a single core processor.
I hear you on the death of qwerties I can now type quite well with SwiftKey but still love a qwerty for messaging, emails etc. I get the same look from sales staff when I have asked about qwerty sliders.
The relay is the fastest qwerty I have used, bit more than the glides 2x core tegra 2, I also found the keys on the glide to be too flat and there were only 4 rows. Good tactile feedback on the relay, keys are spaced out well and travel is easy. However as mentioned the build quality is not the best and mine has a noticeable wobble when typing. Updates seem good so far although will probably not get past 4.2. I actually went out and bought a q10 last week, loved the new OS but the keyboard was simply too small for me, and for the build quality and screen size the q10 is waaaay over priced, so decided to return it.
On a side note I did a little bit of cosmetic altering the my galaxy s3 stock 2100mah batteries and got them to fit in the relay.. As I live in canada the relay isn't even sold here, and I place battery life pretty much at the top of my list. Need that spare battery and a charger. Anyways good luck with your relay if you get it.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
I'm sure samsung will release a follow up to the Relay, as they seem to be the only manufacturer big enough to support this niche market.
Just give them some more time. They definitely need som enew phones and fresh designs to break up all the slab phones that are coming all the time.
Well, I got the Relay. And with it I end a 8 year HTC only stint which started with the Blue Angel. Fun times...
I just got it today so not much of a chance to play with it. At the moment doing the update. Afterwards will see what else I can do. I find it a bit useless at the moment to try any other ROMs. A bit too early...
I've had 3 previous Android sliders before getting this one - the original G1, Motorola Milestone (which I gave to my husband because it was too big and heavy for me) and the HTC Desire Z. Aside from the Desire Z's incredibly stupid flipping hinge mechanism which I'm convinced was responsible for the display cable dying, it is my favourite of the four (it developed this problem where the screen would die every time I opened the keyboard - I actually disassembled it to see if I could fix it but couldn't)
This phone's not bad and I don't mind it feeling "plasticky" since it's light, while the hinge mechanism seems a lot more solid than HTC's ridiculous designs for the G1 and Desire Z, but the keyboard is LOUD. You have to press the keys really hard and I'm convinced people can hear me typing, which is really not what you want for a mobile device. If you're tweeting under the table during a boring company meeting, you better be good at pretending you're taking minutes!
I also have this weird problem, specific to the Facebook Android app, where it will jump to the top of the page randomly while I'm in the middle of typing a comment. I thought I was pressing something by accident but I've tried typing really carefully and that seem to not be the issue.
I do really miss having a trackball or optical joystick from the HTC devices. It's fine to have arrow keys on the physical kb, but when you have the phone closed sometimes you still want to be able to navigate around and click.
Really happy to have found this thread, has anybody looked at or tried the Motorola Droid 4 ??
It boasts 8MP camera and high definition display, looks like battery lasts a while.. says its splash proof and also has the 4 row keyboard.
I enjoy my glide, but they keyboard with the press on them hasn't ever given me much of an ability to type without looking at the keys..
On my blackberry after a while I was able to roll my fingers across without hardly looking at the keyboard, on computer i type 100wpm so pretty important for me to have a fast typing keyboard. even software app keyboards can't keep up and screw swipe.. without feeling where to rocker my fingers to form words im doomed to choose from autocorrect.
I am having flex cable issues (again) and I'm looking at possibly getting a new phone and wondered if anyone had any opinions of what other options are out there for people that must have a physical keyboard on their phone. I would love to hear from others who have researched the same thing or have even tried other phones. Thanks.
Really this phone is probably the best combination of quality of keyboard, speed, performance, camera and dev support
There are some with better keyboards (HTC vision, Samsung sidekick IMO) and some faster but none that match the camera (vision probably has best dev support and then doubleshot is next)
The galaxy relay is nice and possibly the only phone you can possibly call an upgrade to this one, lg is making one that is about the same as the relay but if it doesn't get developers than this one is still better
All in all, its still hard to beat the doubleshot so for the money I would recommend to just fix yours
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
demkantor said:
Really this phone is probably the best combination of quality of keyboard, speed, performance, camera and dev support
There are some with better keyboards (HTC vision, Samsung sidekick IMO) and some faster but none that match the camera (vision probably has best dev support and then doubleshot is next)
The galaxy relay is nice and possibly the only phone you can possibly call an upgrade to this one, lg is making one that is about the same as the relay but if it doesn't get developers than this one is still better
All in all, its still hard to beat the doubleshot so for the money I would recommend to just fix yours
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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I appreciate your response and feel the same way. I have 2 doubleshots and this 2nd one is starting to have flex cable issues causing the hard buttons to not work. I replaced the flex cable on the first one when the keyboard stopped working then when the touch screen stopped working and it wasn't the digitizer I got another flex cable but it didn't work out of the box. I sent that back and got a used one for cheap but now the flex cable on it is crapping out. I wish I could buy a GOOD flex cable of higher quality that would last longer. It's really the only problem I have with this phone.
Now that I have two of them though it's good for being able to narrow down part problems. I would caution people buying them used though as that almost guarantees you will not have to wait too long until you experience flex cable issues (according to my personal experience).
Most helpful Demkantor. I am on my second Doubleshot (both used). The first one had flex cable issues out of the box (could not hear the caller without turning on speakerphone) so I sent it back almost immediately. This one works great (except the trackpoint goes in and out - which isn't a big deal) but I wonder how much life is left in it. Getting one fixed is tricky for me because there isn't a T-Mobile in Canada, so even tracking down parts to do it myself may not be worth the hassle.
I will make a note of the Samsung Relay as it looks like the best option for me, if and when (knock, knock) I need to go that route.
joel.maxuel said:
I will make a note of the Samsung Relay as it looks like the best option for me
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Click to collapse
I have since abandoned that route. Weird reason ... the Relay looks to be a little too big (I have a small camera case on a lanyard I keep in my pocket so I don't lose my expensive phone).
I have been keeping watch on the LG Optimus F3Q, a tiny bit shorter but a little wider than the Doubleshot (which should still fit my case). Bonus for me over the Relay is that it comes with Jellybean (4.1), so I would rather put the XPosed Framework on it than a ROM. Still no forum yet, but there is a discussion thread (where there is an unlock method - or two, and work on the bootloader):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2650840
It appears I'll be visiting the States this fall so I will look to see what I will be getting myself into.
After many years, and a lot of looking around - I think we finally have a new replacement for the LG V20. I just got it not long ago, so I still need to use it as my daily phone.
I have already rooted the phone with Magisk which there is already is an unofficial guide to and still setting it up, so is the small German company of Shift as they are still working on the software - they have 2 stocks in production, Android 10 Google version and Android 10 without Google.
The phone has the 3 essential as I call them, removeable battery, Micro SD and Jack phone! Although it is somewhat costly compared to a used LG V20 phone - but if anyone wants an upgrade on the CPU and Graphic, Internal storage, RAM and so forth, this is the way to go.
Ordering the phone should come quickly now, as the wait time should be over as they have been sending them out for the last couple of months - so there should not be any big wait time for it now.
SHIFTPHONES - Nachhaltige Technologie aus Deutschland
Shift Shop | SHIFT6mq (preorder) (shiftphones.com)
I was looking on the Fairphone 3 and Shift 6mq - I actually ended up just going for another used LG V20, but because of the nonsense of Corona I could not get a new LG V20 from Hongkong and the phone was never sold in Europe. In any case I had to bite the bigger price and the Fairphone 3 was disqualified because of only 64GB internal, I knew I had to have an upgrade on that as I am easily filling it with stuff. The only option although pricy was the Shift6mq - But I needed a new phone as the old LG V20 was dying more and more each and every day. So I ordered it a good amount of month ago, and now it is finally arrived.
I have just installed the Light version of there System without Google and rooted it - I have yet to use it in daily life but it looks good. I have benchmarked it against the LG V20 and not surprisingly it beats it with ease. There are of cause some negative things as well, battery can be somewhat tough to get out of the phone, I used some sandpaper on the bottom of the batteries that seemed to do the work to easier taking them out. They surely stick in the mobile when they are in there, which is not a bad thing, but a little less strong would have been nice. Again, it seems to work with some fine sandpaper, to ease this issue. Maybe it will work itself out with use over time, but... Well... Sandpaper seemed to work
I also have a Camera issue it seems, whereas the front camera is pointing somewhat upward, but it seems to be just my unit and not the norm, there could be 2 solutions to this and have to work that out at some point. But the Camera is working so it is not a big biggie, just annoying.
The internal speaker does seems somewhat weaker then the LG V20, but the phone jack, does well with my speakers, so no problem there.
That is the first impressions I have with it... I think this will be my next phone for the next 5 years, just some stuff to sort out and move all my applications over to it. I though you LG V20 users would like to know that there is now an alternative, with greater CPU and Graphics and Internal memory available, would love to see more people coming over to grow it up in the right direction and helping each other!
And supporting a small company, although not perfect in any way, at least it still stands on some sanity, with a degoogled system and the 3 essential important things for a mobile.
You don't need the plastic cover either, you can use the protection cover only without any issues - if you do not need the payment thing that is in it, personally I never used it myself.
If anyone have any questions in regards of it, just shoot! But I am still new to the phone - so I have yet used it as my daily driver, but I'm getting there! Just had to sort out the rooting and see what could do, break it down and such. It was many hoops to do, but now that I know, I can help others if you have any issues on those part
Sadly a lot of German, they have a forum and they speak mostly German - but, we can get an English Community as well around it I am sure, and help each other. Beside there are tools for translating
Dearly regards
- Darkijah
P.S you get a Screwdriver with your phone, as they have focus on taking it apart and fixing it yourself and such. So the Phone is designed with that in mind. No Charger as most have chargers already to use, but a Screwdriver
Although it seems to charge as "fast" or slow as the LG V20, around 2:30 hour as far as my testing goes for now. Sadly no external chargers for batteries like the V20 had, at least not for now. I had 2 of these chargers for my LG V20 and have used them a lot. Shift may have something up there sleeve for it, but time will tell.
Will this work on Verizon?
baldybill said:
Will this work on Verizon?
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No idea, don't even know what it is... Some kind of streaming to TV?... It's standard Android 10, so... if it is an Application for streaming I would think so, but really, have no idea.
It's a cell phone service in the USA. (along with AT&T, Spring, TMobile, etc.)
What cell phone services does this phone work on?
These are the phone's supported bands:
LTE Frequenzbänder: FDD-LTE B1 / B3 / B7 / B20 / B28, TDD-LTE B38 / B39 / B40 / B41
3G Frequenzbänder: UMTS / HSPA+ / DC-HSDPA: B1 / B2 / B3 / B5 / B8, CDMA (800, 1900, 2100Mhz), TD-SCDMA (1900, 2000Mhz)
T-Mobile LTE (2, 4, 5, 12, 66, 71) is out. AT&T LTE (2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 17, 29, 30, 66) is out. Verizon LTE (2, 4, 5, 13, 46, 48, 66) is out.
The only LTE band supported by any US carrier is Sprint on 41 and one band is not anything to safely rely on long-term following the T-Mobile merger.
Ahhh I have no idea @baldybill but @Snakecharmed seemed to give you the answer. Not so knowledgeable on those areas. But we are all here to learn, I would think
It is already looking good, have installed the Light version and gotten it rooted - still need to move my applications over to it. But it is progressing
I did play a racing game, although I really should not - but it runs perfectly fluent compared to the LG V20 which is not a surprise. Even in the highest setting it seem to run more smooth then the lowest on the LG V20, but really somewhat unfair because of the 4-5 year differences between them. The screen itself also looks better, clear and crisp, although I have seen some issues other places when the screen is all white. But Shift are are still working on the 2 stock systems so... But the game itself was crisp and clear and overall the game was running fluently on the highest setting.
I don't think I will look much back to the LG V20 when I get this up and running as my daily driver. Although, I would like to try out Lineage on my LG V20 if possible, version 10, I am thinking it might get me closer together to have the same usability compared to each other... But maybe not...
Dunno, in any case it is looking good and promising! Finally an upgrade from the LG V20, a phone with the 3 essentials. How hard it can be for companies to do sane things these days.
exFAT is at the moment not supported by Shift 6mq but support for it should be coming! Something about some worldly stuff needed to run through... Can't remember the details. But it is on the way as I understand it. At the moment it only runs FAT32, which is kinda annoying as that only supports 4 GB files.
Anyway... As said they are still working hard on the software so... 2 systems, google and ungoogle versions.
Fully serviceable phones seem to be more popular in Europe than in the US. The Shift6mq seems to be the most advanced option I've seen so far in terms of hardware. The Snapdragon 845 is a couple of generations old, but the total package apart from audio hardware is a clear improvement over the V20. However, if I had to pick the #1 reason why I still use the V20 daily, it's the second screen.
There's no real equivalent to the Shift6mq in the US. The best option I've seen here is the Teracube 2e and between the 720p screen resolution and the MediaTek A25 chipset, it kinda sucks.
Okay, I just dropped my phone from 10-15 cm while sitting on the toilet flipping it around, although having the silicon *Or something of that kind* protection I did not think much about it really... But... My screen broke. I have never ever experienced an issue with my LG V20, actually after 4 years the screen still seems like new, and it has been dropped a good amount of times.
Yet one single minor small drop - and I now have a broken new mobile which screen is broke. I though it was the Gorilla glass at first with 2 lines of breaking but... Investigating further it seems the Gorilla is just fine - "just" the screen behind it, that is broke. And investigating further the line starts from the bottom left corner and goes up at the side, and in the middle of the screen it goes out in 2 lines. There is a minor thing as well over it in the left side.
Beside the none colors and weird colors it makes, I am pretty sure the screen is broke. I saw this guy breaking mobiles, and this seem to be the same screen issue that he gets when Jerry I think his name is, brakes the mobiles.
*Sigh* And I did not even get to use the mobile as a daily driver before it failed on me :/ I was trying to find an app that could get my applications unto it, after now being rooted and on the ungoogled version of Shift. I first tried an open source app which could not restore the backed up applications on A10, I was then at the point of it happening trying with Titanium Backup, but it needed you to push with every single Application, which actually was what did me in and made me drop it. Usual I would have laid it down once until finish, but here you had to wait for installing the app and then push again.
I think this is one of these Free features that most likely is not in the Pro version - but knowing not if the app works, I wanted to test it before maybe buying it.
Anyway... My new fresh phone from Germany is Broke... *Sigh* Terrible just Terrible. Well, at least moving forward, but if this is standard that the screen dies by so little... Well, hopefully it was just a faulty item, although I am afraid that it might not be. What is the point of Gorilla protection if the screen just blows up by itself without even touching the surface of the Gorilla glass. Seems to me that it must have been the vibrations overall that killed the screen, as it just hit the Silicon cover protecting it as it should.
Whatever the case, my new phone is RIP for now! Well, I guess it is good I got the new used LG V20 that is rooted and running! At least I can focus on that for now, it still needs some fixing, yet it is my daily driver and would be until getting the other up and running with all the apps and setup which I was closing into. But now really hit into a biggie with the new phone. Oh well...
Dearly regards
- Darkijah
Well, there was a screwdriver with the mobile and... I've just looked into repairing the screen. It does look like it won't be that hard, I hope... The whole idea with the Shift phone was that one could repair it by them self, although hopefully the screens normally don't break so quick. It could easily become expensive if one needs to buy a screen every time one drops it. Hopefully I had a faulty screen, or they might need to investigate into better screens. Like that was just way to easy to break.
Okay Carsten from Shift wanna have a look on the mobile - I will send it back and hopefully he can get something out of it. Nice to see they care about their products
Hopefully this is not a normal thing, and if it is - then I hope they get it corrected. Like 4 years without a cracking screen on my LG V20, and then just a small and first drop of the new - it ruined Only one other time have I ruined a phone, when I was in Israel and I dropped my Samsung Note 2 directly hitting a stone with the screen faced down. But it was still working at least. Actually that was the outer protection screen which broke, and not the screen itself.
Who knows, might have had a weak screen of production - in any case, they wanna have a look at it.
Murena Fairphone 3+ – eSolutions – deGoogled phones and services
The deGoogled Murena Fairphone 3+ is the next evolution in privacy conscious and sustainable phone. It features 2 new camera modules with 48MP camera and 16MP selfie camera for higher quality pictures and videos and it is made of 40% recycled plastics, the most post-consumer recycled plastic of...
esolutions.shop
better everything compaired to the v20
1 question standing
can it be rooted?
other then that this might be added to your list of alt's?
A bump for anyone in a similar boat casually looking for a V20 successor and having to consider tradeoffs:
Although I'm still currently not looking to replace the V20 as my daily phone, if I had to buy a phone that has at least been announced in 2021, it would be the Sony Xperia 1 III. The main tradeoff is a non-removable battery.
Everything else is top tier in specs and it retains the removable storage and 3.5 mm jack, has USB-C 3.x, and doesn't compromise on CPU, 5G connectivity, or screen, camera, or audio quality like many of these alternatives. I generally don't care about price because I usually don't buy new phones anyway and I would hypothetically wait out the Xperia 1 III for at least half a year after release if I were to get one. The only brand new phone I've ever bought was the LG G4.
I've been getting tired of watching Asus screw people over on either the removable storage or 3.5 mm jack with both their Zenfone and ROG flagships, so I'm glad Sony finally included both in a contemporary flagship when everyone else has been allergic to these features.
Obviously, everyone has different priorities for what features are must-haves when moving on from the V20, but a non-removable battery isn't a dealbreaker to me as long as replacing it doesn't cause permanent cosmetic damage to the exterior. Rootability isn't very important to me anymore either after seeing how my Galaxy Tab S4 hasn't made me miss root much thanks to Blokada and YouTube Vanced.
i have no idea if this is a good option as i am not intelligent enough to read German
Shift Shop | SHIFT6m
SHIFT6m
shop.shiftphones.com
if anyone here is looking for a v20 replacement can you translate this to 'MURICAN so a simple guy can understand?
i am wanting to know if it is rooted, can it be rooted, the battery replacement (4240mah) options such as who makes the original and can i get more for replacements or upgrades, and...the rest i can gather from the wiki page
Shift6m - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
zeroderp said:
i have no idea if this is a good option as i am not intelligent enough to read German
Shift Shop | SHIFT6m
SHIFT6m
shop.shiftphones.com
if anyone here is looking for a v20 replacement can you translate this to 'MURICAN so a simple guy can understand?
i am wanting to know if it is rooted, can it be rooted, the battery replacement (4240mah) options such as who makes the original and can i get more for replacements or upgrades, and...the rest i can gather from the wiki page
Shift6m - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
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Click to collapse
Do you expect to use this device as a phone in the US? Because the exact same thing I mentioned about the 6mq's compatibility with US carriers applies to the 6m.
haha, that's hilarious. Was just looking at that phone for a replacement, too.
The screen issue is that the v20 had a p-oled, LGs plastic substrate led (the amoleds have a glass layer over the led plates). I wonder who is actually going to take up that in the business now. Presumably LG will be making more of these gorgeous screens (..last one was in the Velvet, I guess?). But the amoleds are a bit more expensive to make, while they are typically even more expensive to purchase (meaning: better margins). So that's going to push them out of the market, just like the lithium polymer batteries were for .. gods.. 15-20 years. There's still phones with organic batteries - that you can't change - that are sold right now, in extremely expensive phones.
So it's a bit difficult to find an actually good phone that will last a bit right now.. Kind of wondering if that will ever actually change, unless someone who knows about tech, and also has enough money to just say **** it, starts making actually good phones - and sell them at the price-range they actually cost to make. Xiaomi, or some other more domestic Chinese brand might be the best bet, to be perfectly honest..
UIQrules said:
Presumably LG will be making more of these gorgeous screens
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Click to collapse
LG just announced it will not be making the mobile phones anymore. Done. Lol, like you said, someone said "**** it", just that they stopped making phones. I think it is sad.
Don't buy the Shift phone 6mq.
The screen broke again and got lots of issues overall with it. Back on an old "new" LG V20 phone non rooted.
I had so much hope for this but it sucks.
- Darkijah
Jesus is God Almighty said:
Don't buy the Shift phone 6mq.
The screen broke again and got lots of issues overall with it. Back on an old "new" LG V20 phone non rooted.
I had so much hope for this but it sucks.
- Darkijah
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Click to collapse
Thanks for an update on the Shift phone. THe LG V20 is truly a special phone, it has everything I could ask for, though not 100% executed with perfection (for example, LG was very innovative to include the "notched" 2nd screen, however I'd rather it be uniform... be it LCD, or nowadays everything is OLED).
3 things that the LG v20 has that we probably won't see emphasized again are: (1)IR blaster(great to use as a smart remote!), (2)user replaceable battery(just swap and go, so convenient... and when the battery is no longer holding charge, it's just so easy to put in a fresh battery... no pulling the phone apart or dealing with resealing, etc.), (3) amplified quad dac 3.5mm jack(not just any 3.5 jack, but a high performing one!).... of course there is the expandable memory too...
Such a beast of a phone that we may not see come back again... unless some wealthy and passionate crowd funders came together to re-release such a phone(in addition to modern and updated SOC's, I'd like to see upgraded cameras... but the fundamentals need to remain: 3.5mm quad dac, user replaceable battery, IR blaster, expandable storage).