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Dear X2 users,
I am thinking about purchasing X2, and I would like to ask you to share your experience with this device, and also help me understand a few moments. I am pretty new to nowadays devices, and my experience is limited to rooting and changing rom on old galaxy nexus years ago.
1. Firstly, I see users post updated firmware in this forum for X2, different GEM versions. How do I know which version will I purchase? Can it be viewed somewhere in settings/menus? In the shops of my country, this device is called "Mediapad X2 LTE". I want to know the version to be able to understand which updates and customization might be available for this device.
2. Secondly, I would like to ask your opinion about the amount of RAM. Unfortunately, 3 GB version is not available in my country, none of the suppliers can offer it. I don't want to buy it online from other countries, because locally purchased device may have extended warranty, warranty against braking/losing/water-destorying the device etc. So, I can buy 2 GB version or nothing. I shall use the device for movies via VLC, internet browsing, youtube videos, calls, alarm clock, a few news apps. I never play games, and almost never use camera. I think 2 GB of RAM should be enough, but I would like to ask you to share your memory usage just to be sure.
3. Say I will have a reason to rood the device and change the recovery to TWRP. And say after some time something will stop working, and I will need to bring the device to warranty service. Will it be possible to restore the standard recovery and un-root the device to avoid any questions at warranty service?
4. This post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/mediapad-x2/general/emui-3-1-apps-multiscreen-t3193389
Does it mean that it is possible to make X2 display two different programs at the same time, like e.g. on galaxy note 4 ?
5. I've read that sometimes preinstalled apps are slowing down the device and are useless. What is your experience? Is it necessary to get root to remove this bloatware?
Thank you for sharing your experience in advance
Hi
Just my sharing to your 5 questions:
1) There are 3 variants for X2 --> GEM-701L, GEM-702L and GEM-703L depending on which country. I noticed GEM-701L is prevalent in Europe (eg. Russsia), GEM-702L in Asia except China (eg. Hong Kong, Taiwan) and GEM-703L is for the China market. So far Huawei seems to have concentrated the ROM upgrades for the model GEM-703L which currently is at Android 5.11. The other 2 models are still at Android 5.0.5. If you're able to have physical access to the X2 in your country's shop, you can check the model by SETTINGS--->ABOUT PHONE--->MODEL NO.
2) Based on your usage description personally I think 2GB RAM is sufficient. Of course the general rule is the more RAM the better.
3) Yes it is possible to un-root your X2 and restore it back to stock status.
4) Yes - this is the split screen feature available if you're on GEM-703L models only.
5) I never had the experience of the X2 pre-installed bloatware affecting my usage so far. Anyway to prevent the effect of bloatware slowing down the device if you experience it, you can "disable" these pre-installed apps from the MANAGE APPS within the SETTINGS. No need to root the device to disable it. After reboot these bloatware won't start anymore. But to remove/uninstall these then you need root access.
To add on to your Q1, another way to check which model is the X2 in your country's shop is by checking the LTE Bands that is supported as stated in the advertisement of your shop:
GEM-701L
LTE Bands 1/3/7/20/38/40
Model: GEM-702L
LTE Bands 1/3/7/8/28/38/39/40/41
Model: GEM-703L
LTE Bands 1/3/7/38/39/40/41
Hope the above helps.
---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 PM ----------
To further add-on, the coming Android Marshmallow 6.0 Huawei has announced officially that they'll upgrade the GEM-703L only
Darn. I hope the 702 to 703 method will allow a 6.0 update
Rudolpht said:
Darn. I hope the 702 to 703 method will allow a 6.0 update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well keep our fingers crossed, will attempt it when it comes.
kpcheang2 said:
Hi
Just my sharing to your 5 questions:
1) There are 3 variants for X2 --> GEM-701L, GEM-702L and GEM-703L depending on which country. I noticed GEM-701L is prevalent in Europe (eg. Russsia), GEM-702L in Asia except China (eg. Hong Kong, Taiwan) and GEM-703L is for the China market. So far Huawei seems to have concentrated the ROM upgrades for the model GEM-703L which currently is at Android 5.11. The other 2 models are still at Android 5.0.5. If you're able to have physical access to the X2 in your country's shop, you can check the model by SETTINGS--->ABOUT PHONE--->MODEL NO.
2) Based on your usage description personally I think 2GB RAM is sufficient. Of course the general rule is the more RAM the better.
3) Yes it is possible to un-root your X2 and restore it back to stock status.
4) Yes - this is the split screen feature available if you're on GEM-703L models only.
5) I never had the experience of the X2 pre-installed bloatware affecting my usage so far. Anyway to prevent the effect of bloatware slowing down the device if you experience it, you can "disable" these pre-installed apps from the MANAGE APPS within the SETTINGS. No need to root the device to disable it. After reboot these bloatware won't start anymore. But to remove/uninstall these then you need root access.
To add on to your Q1, another way to check which model is the X2 in your country's shop is by checking the LTE Bands that is supported as stated in the advertisement of your shop:
GEM-701L
LTE Bands 1/3/7/20/38/40
Model: GEM-702L
LTE Bands 1/3/7/8/28/38/39/40/41
Model: GEM-703L
LTE Bands 1/3/7/38/39/40/41
Hope the above helps.
---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 PM ----------
To further add-on, the coming Android Marshmallow 6.0 Huawei has announced officially that they'll upgrade the GEM-703L only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. I have visited a local shop, so it is GEM 701. I tried to load the device with software, and I didn't exceed 1 GB of RAM usage. So I guess 2 GB should be enough in all cases of my non overloaded usage.
Just a couple more questions:
6. Does this device have a one handed operation, when all the screen becomes smaller and moves to the right side of the screen? Samsung and some other phones with big screens has this functionality, but I didn't find it in this device. Is it there?
7. I installed Apex launcher and Nova launcher on that device in the shop, because I prefer the app drawer (secondary menu for apps instead of all of them being on the desktop). With these launchers half of desktop in each homescreen is black. Do you have any experience of these aftermarket launchers? Did you have any issues? What may be the reason for the half of the screen being black? Haven't found any similar topics anywhere on the web ...
8. Just for a curiosity - GEM 701 and two other versions are basically different for their supported radio bands. How come the split-screen functionality is dependent on that?
Thank you again for your time sharing the experience
astuntas said:
Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. I have visited a local shop, so it is GEM 701. I tried to load the device with software, and I didn't exceed 1 GB of RAM usage. So I guess 2 GB should be enough in all cases of my non overloaded usage.
Just a couple more questions:
6. Does this device have a one handed operation, when all the screen becomes smaller and moves to the right side of the screen? Samsung and some other phones with big screens has this functionality, but I didn't find it in this device. Is it there?
7. I installed Apex launcher and Nova launcher on that device in the shop, because I prefer the app drawer (secondary menu for apps instead of all of them being on the desktop). With these launchers half of desktop in each homescreen is black. Do you have any experience of these aftermarket launchers? Did you have any issues? What may be the reason for the half of the screen being black? Haven't found any similar topics anywhere on the web ...
8. Just for a curiosity - GEM 701 and two other versions are basically different for their supported radio bands. How come the split-screen functionality is dependent on that?
Thank you again for your time sharing the experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
6. Does this device have a one handed operation, when all the screen becomes smaller and moves to the right side of the screen? Samsung and some other phones with big screens has this functionality, but I didn't find it in this device. Is it there?
[kpcheang2] Currently no. I"m not sure if they will implement it via future ROM feature upgrades.
7. I installed Apex launcher and Nova launcher on that device in the shop, because I prefer the app drawer (secondary menu for apps instead of all of them being on the desktop). With these launchers half of desktop in each homescreen is black. Do you have any experience of these aftermarket launchers? Did you have any issues? What may be the reason for the half of the screen being black? Haven't found any similar topics anywhere on the web ...
[kpcheang2] I never used these 2 launchers so I can't comment much. Could it be these launchers are targeted at smartphones because some APKs have display related issues when working in smartphone or tablet modes as there are too many resolution variations for Android devices. You may want to write to the developers to confirm.
8. Just for a curiosity - GEM 701 and two other versions are basically different for their supported radio bands. How come the split-screen functionality is dependent on that?
[kpcheang2] The split screen feature was implemented in B106 ROM of the GEM-703L - that's why it's available to owners of GEM-703 If you follow their official upgrade path. They never upgrade the ROM for GEM-701 and 702 so far. However if you want to try flashing the B106 onto the 701 to see whether it works at your own risk and of course voiding the warranty. I did it on my 702 and I got the feature working although the B106 was meant for 703.
Thank again for your time sharing the experience, it helps a lot to get things clearer.
Today I visited the shop again. Now I installed all the apps I use, and looked how they performed. I installed firefox, chrome, vlc, contacts plus, and a few other. Then I launched stock apps - youtube, google playstore, and something more. The device was taking 1.2 GB of ram. So now I am sure 2 GB is enough.
All the apps performed without any issues, at least as much as I could have tested. There was a tiny lag during browsing with firefox at moments when apps were being downloaded and installed in the background via Play store, but this is totally reasonable.
Then, I tried all the different launchers to see if I can get the broken background fixed with any of them. I tried again Apex and Nova and looked at their settings without any luck to solve the problem. Then I tried Action launcher and Google Now launcher - they all had the same black marks on the screen. So I guess it is a firmware issue, not related to the launchers. This means I will have to live with the default launcher if I purchase it.
I took a better look at preinstalled apps. There are none! Playstore, contacts, chrome, video player and a couple others, thats all. No bloatware at all. Nothing is launched after the phone is started.
I also tested GPS - it went very smooth, in a few seconds it connected to 8 or 10 satelites and gave a good accuracy despite I was inside the building.
I am now confused between X2 and Note4. I put them side by side in the shop. Note4 was really noticeably faster in performance, better firmware, multiscreen function, etc. But, while Note has advantages, most of them are not important to me - the screen of Note4 is ridiculously small - it is not a phablet, it is a phone with normal size screen (for a phone).
So I am heading towards X2. It is also almost twice cheaper, but that does not play the main role in decision ...
Just one more question about X2: I didn't manage to launch any additional widget. I didn't find anywhere in the settings to enable them. But there are two preinstalled widgets: google search window and a big clock. So it looks that it should be possible to have a widget in the homescreen of X2, but I can't find anywhere how to do it, nor I succeeded to do it in the shop. Is it possible? If so - how?
++EDIT: I also tested FM radio in the shop in this device. It was very bad quality. I tried different headphones for antena, with all of them the sound was inappropriate. So, even though FM radio is available, actually it is useless because of unacceptable quality. PS: the radio signal was really good because all the other stereo devices were playing without any issues.
astuntas said:
Thank again for your time sharing the experience, it helps a lot to get things clearer.
Today I visited the shop again. Now I installed all the apps I use, and looked how they performed. I installed firefox, chrome, vlc, contacts plus, and a few other. Then I launched stock apps - youtube, google playstore, and something more. The device was taking 1.2 GB of ram. So now I am sure 2 GB is enough.
All the apps performed without any issues, at least as much as I could have tested. There was a tiny lag during browsing with firefox at moments when apps were being downloaded and installed in the background via Play store, but this is totally reasonable.
Then, I tried all the different launchers to see if I can get the broken background fixed with any of them. I tried again Apex and Nova and looked at their settings without any luck to solve the problem. Then I tried Action launcher and Google Now launcher - they all had the same black marks on the screen. So I guess it is a firmware issue, not related to the launchers. This means I will have to live with the default launcher if I purchase it.
I took a better look at preinstalled apps. There are none! Playstore, contacts, chrome, video player and a couple others, thats all. No bloatware at all. Nothing is launched after the phone is started.
I also tested GPS - it went very smooth, in a few seconds it connected to 8 or 10 satelites and gave a good accuracy despite I was inside the building.
I am now confused between X2 and Note4. I put them side by side in the shop. Note4 was really noticeably faster in performance, better firmware, multiscreen function, etc. But, while Note has advantages, most of them are not important to me - the screen of Note4 is ridiculously small - it is not a phablet, it is a phone with normal size screen (for a phone).
So I am heading towards X2. It is also almost twice cheaper, but that does not play the main role in decision ...
Just one more question about X2: I didn't manage to launch any additional widget. I didn't find anywhere in the settings to enable them. But there are two preinstalled widgets: google search window and a big clock. So it looks that it should be possible to have a widget in the homescreen of X2, but I can't find anywhere how to do it, nor I succeeded to do it in the shop. Is it possible? If so - how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vey detailed research you've done on the X2. You're like me - I did similar "touch" and "install" routine on the X1 (my country has no X2) just to make sure I'm comfortable with the X2 (they're both similar in size and capacity except for CPU and dual SIM LTE support).
As for widgets, yes you can install the default or 3rd party widgets. Just put 3 fingers on the home screen for 1-2 seconds and then lift up. The home screen will shrink to let you customise it. Once of the available customisation option is to add widgets (shown at the bottom). The list of available widgets will be the pre-installed ones plus other 3rd party apps that has widget capabilities.
astuntas said:
Then, I tried all the different launchers to see if I can get the broken background fixed with any of them. I tried again Apex and Nova and looked at their settings without any luck to solve the problem. Then I tried Action launcher and Google Now launcher - they all had the same black marks on the screen. So I guess it is a firmware issue, not related to the launchers. This means I will have to live with the default launcher if I purchase it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uh no. this is android. everything is possible and with the huawei firmware its more tweakable. you just didnt look hard enough.
to make another launcher default you just need to do the following:
actually, just see this video. its all the same for all huawei.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YozCv4lZNM
cylent: the launchers do work. The problem is that half of the homescreen becomes black with nothing on it with an aftermarket launchers
kpcheang2: I will try to edit widgets in the shop tomorrow by your explanation. But I think this won't play the main role and I will buy X2 anyway
I use Nova and it works well full screen. Are you opening Multi Window for some reason?
So, today I was in the shop again. Firstly, I tried widgets, and I also tried homescreen toggle switches - apparently, everything is working.
Then I tried again to make Nova launcher work. It was still a black screen - I tried different settings in the phone and different settings in Nova - nothing helped. This is how it looked:
https://youtu.be/Y2ZyaQFMYio
In the video, firstly I am on standard launcher, then I turn on the Nova. "Home" button returned me to the default launcher because Nova was not set as default. I later set it to default, but doing that didn't change anything.
Then I restarted the phone - still the same. Then I changed the background image (in Nova) - and it started to work normally - no black screen! Changed it to a few other backgrounds - it was still working good. Not sure what was the exact issues, furthermore it was the same with ALL aftermarket launchers, and in two different shops with two different devices (both GEM701 with B003 FW). So I will call this issue also solved.
So now everything is clear I guess. I will order a glass protection and silicon cover for X2, and as soon as they arrive - purchase the phone.
Thank you again everybody, especially kpcheang2, for help and all the information, it would had been difficult to find out everything without you. Thank you!
Glad it's working! I typically like glass protectors, but the device shipped with an installed protector. I use a flip smart cover on every device I had so I figure that buys me enough protection.
kpcheang2 said:
6. Does this device have a one handed operation, when all the screen becomes smaller and moves to the right side of the screen? Samsung and some other phones with big screens has this functionality, but I didn't find it in this device. Is it there?
[kpcheang2] Currently no. I"m not sure if they will implement it via future ROM feature upgrades.
7. I installed Apex launcher and Nova launcher on that device in the shop, because I prefer the app drawer (secondary menu for apps instead of all of them being on the desktop). With these launchers half of desktop in each homescreen is black. Do you have any experience of these aftermarket launchers? Did you have any issues? What may be the reason for the half of the screen being black? Haven't found any similar topics anywhere on the web ...
[kpcheang2] I never used these 2 launchers so I can't comment much. Could it be these launchers are targeted at smartphones because some APKs have display related issues when working in smartphone or tablet modes as there are too many resolution variations for Android devices. You may want to write to the developers to confirm.
8. Just for a curiosity - GEM 701 and two other versions are basically different for their supported radio bands. How come the split-screen functionality is dependent on that?
[kpcheang2] The split screen feature was implemented in B106 ROM of the GEM-703L - that's why it's available to owners of GEM-703 If you follow their official upgrade path. They never upgrade the ROM for GEM-701 and 702 so far. However if you want to try flashing the B106 onto the 701 to see whether it works at your own risk and of course voiding the warranty. I did it on my 702 and I got the feature working although the B106 was meant for 703.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi.
Is it possible to manually update the Gem-703l B106 onto Gem-702L, to get split screen?. Or do we need to unlock bootloader and root first?
Aznbull said:
Hi.
Is it possible to manually update the Gem-703l B106 onto Gem-702L, to get split screen?. Or do we need to unlock bootloader and root first?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlock and root first.
Aznbull said:
Hi.
Is it possible to manually update the Gem-703l B106 onto Gem-702L, to get split screen?. Or do we need to unlock bootloader and root first?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to unlock bootloader, root first before you can apply the modded ROMs
Hi guys!
I have following notification problems (last with my old Honor 6+ and now with my new Honor 8)
My wife currently is using a handheld from Sony, I am using Honor 8 and we both also sync a common gmail-calender.
Unfortunately the fix-times for all day-appointments are different on this two devices: Honor starts at 9 am and all other devices (Sony Samsung, Motorola, LG........) start on midnight 0 am.
for example: I put in an all-day-appointment for a birthday and want to be reminded on it on 6 pm the day before. So I choose "8 hours before" for notification. Now after sync all devices (exept honor) remind this birthday at 6 pm the day before. Not my honor8, it reminds me on 1 am in the night. The reasons are:
- Sony, Samsung, Motorola.... calculate 0am minus 8 hours - so the result for notification time ist 6pm the day before.
- Honor calculate 9am minus 8 hours - so the result for notification-time is 1am at the day of the event
That´s really annoying. Is there a way out of this?
I freezed Honor-calender using Titanium Backup and using original google-calender app instead, but without being successful. It seems, that this "9am"-base is cemented in a system app called "Calendar-memory" I cannot adjust it.
Is there a solution?
I´m sorry for my bad English!
sincerely route9
If You Please Clarify More !? i didn't get the problem as will ! /.
I've updated my L29-c636 to the latest 181 version. I see that daydream vr been installed, so I bought the Daydream View headset. Went through the setup process, only to find that I get a black screen when I'm told to put the phone in the vr headset. Daydream seems to be working partially as I can hear some birds from the phone's speakers. I can increase or decrease the volume using the remotre, and there is an x and settings cog in either of the upper corners. Other than that though, nothing, nada: black screen only.
Anyone else have a similar experience?
I have LON-L29C721 and no update available Anybody else ?
Try firmware finder, it seems like 181 is authenticated.
I used firmware finder app to upgrade to LON-L29C636B181 (still on locked bootloader), which worked fine. No Daydream VR controller yet, so couldn't get past the controller pairing menu.
Cool, if you do get one, see if you can view something. Btw, I read someone had used another phone to simulate the controller, not sure if it's genuinely possible though.
drdino said:
I've updated my L29-c636 to the latest 181 version. I see that daydream vr been installed, so I bought the Daydream View headset. Went through the setup process, only to find that I get a black screen when I'm told to put the phone in the vr headset. Daydream seems to be working partially as I can hear some birds from the phone's speakers. I can increase or decrease the volume using the remotre, and there is an x and settings cog in either of the upper corners. Other than that though, nothing, nada: black screen only.
Anyone else have a similar experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you get 181 to download with firmware finder?
I only see 2 OTA's for 181, not a full file..
thanks
With firmware finder proxy. Selected the ota, changed the proxy settings as the app dictates and used the phone's menu to search for an update. As soon as it started downloading, I removed the proxy settings.
thanks; I didn't think of switching to the "system" update option once it started to download, but I did, and now its downloaded it and it installed B181 perfectly!..thanks again:good::good::good:
LON-C636 here. I tried both OTA updates on Firmware Finder and them both gave me "Authentication failed" dialog
Seems that it's rolling out in phases again
yfnew said:
LON-C636 here. I tried both OTA updates on Firmware Finder and them both gave me "Authentication failed" dialog
Seems that it's rolling out in phases again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here... and its annoying to have to keep trying it and fail - chewing up heaps of bandwidth... i guess im just impatient lol. My FF shows 3 different updates.. one that says "FullOTA-MF" which is 2.353gb and then two smaller ones (509mb and 615mb) which just say "OTA-MF".. its strange they have 2 differing smaller ones.. either way I have tried all 3 of these, and none work yet.
Called Huawei UK support and they said that all updates including the daydream support rols out in CHINA followed by USA, followed by Western Europe and then all others. There can be up to 7 days delay between regions. Ah well..
Ok, i tested LON-L29C636B181 with Daydream view and saw the same result as drdino, aka: everything looks good up to the point when it asks to insert the phone into the viewer. The background just stays black and does not start to show the video. Foreground is just the white separator bar, X and settings icon.
If i quickly switch off/on the phone, then i will see a quick blink of the VR video, so this seems to be some rendering problem.
Not sure what i could still do myself - except factory reset. But i do not dare because right now i do depend a lot on the phone (no good backup phone at the moment).
Given how i have an overseas model, i have not yet found a way to effectively complain to Huawei. I had contacted Huawei on the US once about the mate 9 pro (different issue), but they refused politely given how they do not sell it.
I did open a case with google though, not sure if that helps. Daydream app -> Settings (VR Settings) -> Help -> Contact Us -> Call
Google promised to send me an email about the case i opened with them, but i have not yet received any email. Maybe others here with the same problem on the Mate 9 Pro could also call up google, maybe someone will succeed bringing this problem to someones attention.
Same here, I chatted with Google for about an hour, and reached the same result, i.e. they will email me.
I think it's a display rendering issue, as I can see the momentary flicker as well.
An additional issue that I discovered is that the phone's nfc reader is on top, above the camera, whereas the headset's nfc tag is in the middle of the flap. For what it's worth, I copied an nfc tag and stuck it on the leftmost side of the flap but got the same result.
To replicate the flicker, you can try sticking the phone on top of the headset's nfc tag, it's reproducible maybe 4/10 times.
buntyji said:
Called Huawei UK support and they said that all updates including the daydream support rols out in CHINA followed by USA, followed by Western Europe and then all others. There can be up to 7 days delay between regions. Ah well..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not even aware of any official USA or north-america versions of Mate 9 Pro or Mate 9 Porsche. All i can see are just overseas versions. This article https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/03/huaweis-mate-9-pro-finally-supports-daydream.html also claims "Google also reiterates that the Mate 9 Pro and the Mate 9 Porsche Design are both available in the U.S., the UK, Germany, Australia, and Canada". WTF ?!
drdino said:
An additional issue that I discovered is that the phone's nfc reader is on top, above the camera, whereas the headset's nfc tag is in the middle of the flap. For what it's worth, I copied an nfc tag and stuck it on the leftmost side of the flap but got the same result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I did not even knew that the VR viewer has an NFC chip . Yeah, playing around with it, the reader in the mate 9 pro can not read it when it is inside the viewer, but only when you match up the locations of the reader and the chip. Funny.
te36 said:
I am not even aware of any official USA or north-america versions of Mate 9 Pro or Mate 9 Porsche. All i can see are just overseas versions. This article https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/03/huaweis-mate-9-pro-finally-supports-daydream.html also claims "Google also reiterates that the Mate 9 Pro and the Mate 9 Porsche Design are both available in the U.S., the UK, Germany, Australia, and Canada". WTF ?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL think that article is misinformed.. we definitely do NOT have the Mate 9 Pro for sale here in Australia, and when people asked on the Official Twitter / Facebook pages, Huawei AU responded to say it would not be sold. The Porsche Design however, did make a minor appearance here in Australia - Huawei AU did a Auction to raise funds for a charity, in which case they auctioned off 1 (yes ONE) "Limited Edition" Porsche Design Mate 9. We only have the Mate 9 as officially sold here in AU. Believe the same in USA? (or possibly you get the PD there in USA too?)
On Firmware Finder's website I found LON-L29C721B180 where the changelog says that "This update adds Daydream and optimizes system performance and stability." Not sure if this version is authenticated yet, however.
yfnew said:
On Firmware Finder's website I found LON-L29C721B180 where the changelog says that "This update adds Daydream and optimizes system performance and stability." Not sure if this version is authenticated yet, however.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LON-L29C721B180 is for PD.
Believe some users have mentioned on PD forums they have managed to install it, and some others failed to install (auth failed).. But as per posts above the Daydream maybe not work and gets black screen when they try to add the device into the VR headset - would think the PD would have the same issue...
buntyji said:
Called Huawei UK support and they said that all updates including the daydream support rols out in CHINA followed by USA, followed by Western Europe and then all others. There can be up to 7 days delay between regions. Ah well..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's very interesting to see people just get this issue after B181 OTA. I am using LON-AL00C00B175 and found this issue since updated. So it's like couple weeks ago when Google hasn't announced M9P is daydream ready. Also, my friend in Huawei dev team told me Chinese version of M9P wouldn't get daydream support soon. So let's wait and see.
It was B181 that brought daydream support to the International Mate 9 Pro.
I got the Mate 20 X from Italy, delivered two weeks after order on November 12 for € 829, VAT and 2-years warranty included. It is a nice silver device 6/128 (don’t need more memory). My first hands-on impression? I was shocked.
I had pure Chinese phones before (Huawei and Lenovo) and I know how to deal with them. That wasn’t what upset me. And it wasn’t EMUI either, I like some of its functionality and I know how to customize it.
But my previous phone was Mate 10 pro (international, not Chinese), which really works well and comparison with a newcomer is what really shocked me. The EVR_AL00 came slow and clumsy with those big fat letters and ugly ios-like icons on the screen. I tried to improve the look with increasing the smallest width in the developer options, but original resolution came back with every reset.
So what I did first, is factory reset (I usually perform it on every new phone). I lost Google Play but I didn’t care, I intended to install and adjust Google apps anyway.
And then I started to customize the phone. Basically, it means “dechinezed” and “deiosinezed” it and make it usable for my purposes as the daily driver. Eventually, I succeeded and like before I don’t regret that I bought the Chinese phone as I never regretted before. I believe that my customization demands would request almost the same amount of work and effort with the “international” version.
And with “dechinezed” I don’t mean to be impolite, actually, I like some of the features of China phones, some of them after years comes to western phones as well (night sight, close all apps etc). I just prefer the more Android look of the phone (even more than currently, Google delivers).
The actual status of my phone is as follows:
In the beginning, when I started phone manager, the performance never exceeded 69%. It seems that later it adapted and healed itself (maybe with help of AI) and now performance is usually over 90, close to 100% and the phone suddenly becomes snappy and smooth, slightly better than Mate 10 pro. As expected, the battery life is due to its capacity and with my way of use it could easily survive two days. I don’t have exact data on SOT and other parameters of the battery performance yet. By adjusting the text and display size (both too small) under settings/display the phone gets a nicer look and more usable size of applications.
I had decided to keep EMUI launcher before I learned that the phone has a hard time with other launchers. I bought Nova Prime once, I consider it a great launcher, maybe the best, but even on my previous phone I used EMUI. The reason is in its features that I don’t want to sacrifice: dedicated Accuweather, swype gestures (now with 9), dark mode. I was never a fan of ios-like white themes, I always considered that Android’s color is black. Besides, what even Google admits now (and started to return black mode into its apps accordingly), the white mode consumes a lot more energy (especially with AMOLED). What is yet to admit is that it burns your eyes.
So, what I have now, is a fully customized EVR_AL00 that perfectly suits my needs. That means that it looks like Android, works like Android and behaves like Android. I replaced most Chinese apps with Google’s ones, installed additional that I use and tune the system. With tuning the system I mean screen adjustment and customization. Under Settings/Display/text and display size, I changed both values to small and thus converted ugly appearance of the display into something that suits size and purpose of the phone. I replaced IOS icons with the Android ones. Adjusted notifications and permissions for each application.
First I was thinking about keeping some Chinese apps that I considered useful, like Sky Mobile and a few others. But trying them I found out that all of them are more or less connected either with Chinese environment or payment system and therefore eventually I removed them all. After I had to perform the factory reset I was only got more careful with apps that I disabled. And according to my orientation, I kept Email, at least until Google implements dark color in Gmail. And kept useful utilities: (Manager, Gallery, Remote…).
Otherwise, I use Google Phone (the amazing last beta from: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-google-phone-v14-0-175904292-bubble-t3708218, thank you Martin), Messages, Translate (removed nonfunctional MS Translate), Auto, Duo, Voice, Photos, Trips, Pay, Assistant, Lens, Google, Chrome, and of course all Google system apps. I also use third-party apps like VLC, Xiaomi calculator and YouTube vanced. Pretty much everything works as expected, including notifications to the extent that suits my way of use. After I erased Hivoice, Assistant works together with the hot word, if the screen is turned on (never wished to use it from turned off screen). The red mic on notification bar of the attached picture shows that assistant is active.
All banks application work. Google Play is not working at the moment but I expect that it will eventually. Currently, failure is the result of poor synchronization between Chinese EMUI and Google Android. No point to call the bank, it is the last one to solve the problem. The problem will be solved with the new EMUI or Play Services, because there is no material obstacle for G Play (SafetyNet passed and bank card is recognized and could be used online). I have another identical payment system installed (Inteso SP) and it works flawlessly.
CUSTOMIZATION
In order to adapt the phone to my needs, I had to deal with existing Chinese application first. I had to either: 1) remove them, 2) hide them, or 3) disable (erase) them.
Removing apps
Removing apps was easy. Just uninstall Chinese in Settings/Apps. As I said, I did it thoroughly and indiscriminately.
Hiding apps
My overall objective is to have only one home screen page. I’m fed up with slippery pages interfering with gestures. And besides, I decided to use gestures (swype) as system navigation and therefore swyping between homepages could be annoying even more.
In order to have only one home page, I have to use folders and hide auxiliary functional apps (like download, OTA, backup, clock..etc).
Surprisingly I found that Tweaker for Huawei works pretty well with EMUI9, although it is an old application: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teammt.gmanrainy.emuitweaker&hl=en. One of its functions is triggering the abandoned EMUI gesture that enables hiding any application and thus removing it from the home screen without affecting its functionality.
Disabling (erasing) apps
To “remove” any nonremovable application without root you need a computer with the adb command-line tool. In fact, this method never removes any application, rather disables and hides it for the current user. So it doesn’t affect OTA and it doesn’t revert after reset either. It does come back after factory reset though.
The method of erasing an app works through adb (so adb must be installed on the computer – either Windows or Linux) and it requests the following syntax in command line:
1. adb devices (and after that setting permission on the phone)
2. adb shell
3. pm unistall -k --user 0 <package name>
where <package name> is not the name of the application as it shows but the name of the installed package, which must be discovered and one of the apps which could do that effectively could be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.itto.packageinspector&hl=en.
(for example: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.huawei.wallet)
A basic idea what to disable could be found here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-10/how-to/guide-to-remove-apps-root-t3828324. Of course, what to disable always depends on personal preferences and therefore this list should be taken with a grain of salt.
So, after arranging applications there comes the final stage of making the phone Android again. EMUI makeover. For that, we need this EMUI editor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixapplications.themeeditor.
But there is a bad news. It doesn’t work with EMUI 9 (yet). What now? There are two possibilities: either finding a good theme and simply installing it (there are plenty of them, only I didn’t test if they are working with EMUI 9 (some of the android likes are to be found in the Playstore under Hamzio7 or here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-10/themes/pure-black-theme-emui-8-t3719904.
The other possibility is to find a phone with EMUI 8 and compile the hwt file there and transfer it to Mate 20 X. That is what I did. The system will warn you that it is an old version of the theme and it might not work well but skip that. It works just fine.
Don’t judge the solution by my design. I’m a modest guy, more practically oriented. You may have almost any design that you wish.
And of course, if you decide to experiment with this stuff yourself, you should be aware that you are the only one taking the risk. I honestly believe that you can’t, if you are not extremely innovative, irretrievably destroy anything, but even factory reset might be sometimes really annoying.
Good luck with your brand new Chinese Mate 20 X.
Great post Just a couple of questions:
1) Are your notifications working perfectly? By that, I mean without delay under both wi-fi and mobile networks, with screen on and screen off? If so, what did you do to achieve this?
2) Do you mind sharing where did you buy the device from?
Nice job! Looking even more forward to the arrival of my Mate 20 X!
@piskr
Would you mind give some steps to get google phone and Messages to work properly. When phone call comes in, my phone call screen does not come on. Messages only works sometime and sometime message does not send. Thanks.
Genoveffo said:
Great post Just a couple of questions:
1) Are your notifications working perfectly? By that, I mean without delay under both wi-fi and mobile networks, with screen on and screen off? If so, what did you do to achieve this?
2) Do you mind sharing where did you buy the device from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yes, notifications work flawlessly in my extent of use, both with the screen on and off. I don't use exotics like telegram or whatsapp though. It's a matter of permissions and notification settings. Be aware that each notification had to be set separately and checked under application and under notification sector under settings. And also have in mind that if you install the third party phone, it is just addition of original phone (under app/system processes), and the later must remain active and has its own permissions and notification as well. Phone app has different system structure than SMS. You can simply erase Huawei messaging and replace it with the Google one (haven't tried others).
2) You can find here both color and memory variants: https://www.ilmultistoredelzazza.eu...l_Sim_EMUI_9_Android_9/p1748191_19236868.aspx
wingzero said:
@piskr
Would you mind give some steps to get google phone and Messages to work properly. When phone call comes in, my phone call screen does not come on. Messages only works sometime and sometime message does not send. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should really carefully check and set both permissions and notifications for each application. And remember that you mustn't neglect the system phone app.
piskr said:
You should really carefully check and set both permissions and notifications for each application. And remember that you mustn't neglect the system phone app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked all the settings and seem to be correct unless I missed some steps.
wingzero said:
I checked all the settings and seem to be correct unless I missed some steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Here are my settings.
You do know there's an EVR-L international models, right? Why not just get that instead? That's what I have.
piskr said:
OK. Here are my settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time to post the screen shots. All my the settings are the same except I don't the phone app on your last screen shot. Did you download it or it's a stock app?
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
MishaalRahman said:
You do know there's an EVR-L international models, right? Why not just get that instead? That's what I have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's too late. I already bought the China version. It's too much hassle try to sell it.
wingzero said:
Thanks for taking the time to post the screen shots. All my the settings are the same except I don't the phone app on your last screen shot. Did you download it or it's a stock app?
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
It's too late. I already bought the China version. It's too much hassle try to sell it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, the last one is Google phone from the link I published and it works just fine (I really recommend it, it has so many opportunities). But you have managed to get notifications neither on the home screen nor on the lock screen? Neither for messages nor for the phone? If I were you I would go from setting to setting for this two apps and inspect every item very carefully. It is possible in this early stage of EMUI9 that it has some weird glitches occurring randomly on some phones but it is not very likely. A small overlooked detail in settings could mean everything.
Otherwise, I don't regret that I bought the Chinese version. Now I've got everything that I would have with the international variant. Only I don't have working Google pay yet, but so far I haven't seen a clear statement that it really works on international Mate 20x either. To work means to be able pay with the phone not only loading a card, that's what I did too. Otherwise, I got a good price (€660 before VAT), integrated call recorder and rooting opportunity.
And regarding crap, international one has it too. I've got international Mate 10 pro and I know it. Besides Chinese one additional western, baked in (MS, Facebook, Google's and third party's).
@piskr
The phone will ring on the google phone app but the screen does not come. I will play with the settings and figure it out. Thanks for all the help.
Thank you. This helped get me to a non-Chinese specifc phone.
Attachin my ADB run.
UPDATE: Please check out AJ's great thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/guide-remove-apps-adb-t3870727
I mistakenly removed one item (com.huawei.android.hwouc) I shouldn't have and I amnot getting OTAs (which I also turn off automatic ones in dev options, but if I want one, I lost it them).
Rudolpht said:
Thank you. This helped get me to a non-Chinese specifc phone.
Attachin my ADB run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I'm not well schooled on ADB. How would you apply this? And why 2 Zips? Gracias
See beginning of the thread and other threads on ADB. Same list, mine in txt or zip, same file, not necessarily good for everyone.
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
def-g said:
As I'm not well schooled on ADB. How would you apply this? And why 2 Zips? Gracias
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my Spreadsheet with a quick guide in it along with the adb files you'll need.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/guide-remove-apps-adb-t3870727
Once you get the list of packages on your AL00 just run the fastboot command to remove each one.
wingzero said:
@piskr
The phone will ring on the google phone app but the screen does not come. I will play with the settings and figure it out. Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wondering if you had any luck. Some people actually use a phone as a phone
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Rudolpht said:
Wondering if you had any luck. Some people actually use a phone as a phone
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it working. I am using the stable v.25 version. What I did was after selected the google phone as default dialing app, I go back to default apps and click the stock phone and then click the google phone again. I did this by chance and luck. Hope this will solve your issue. The stock phone app is horrible. Make sure you use the stable version. Good luck.
wingzero said:
I got it working. I am using the stable v.25 version. What I did was after selected the google phone as default dialing app, I go back to default apps and click the stock phone and then click the google phone again. I did this by chance and luck. Hope this will solve your issue. The stock phone app is horrible. Make sure you use the stable version. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man.
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Now it's 27. And so far everything work. Regarding comments on the forum we are on the privileged side. Just be sure to set notifications and permissions right.
As the Titel says, EMUI 9.1 is coming for MediaPad M5 and for more 49 Devices from Huawei and its sub-brand Honor.
The confirmation is from the Chinese club.huawei (see the attachment below)
Why EMUI 9.1 is a really big deal and better than its previous firmware:
PERFORMANCE
Previously, the F2FS file system was tailored for flash memory to improve the read and write performance after long-term use. Now, with EROFS, the random read speed will be 20% faster and the system space will provide extra personal storage of up to 1000 pictures or 500 songs. Plus, the read-only memory design isolates outside interference for added security in your system files.
GPU TURBO 3.0
GPU Turbo 3.0 is a new upgrade that covers 25 of the most popular games. This new update includes reducing SoC power consumption by 10% and optimizing the underlying system performance to provide a continuous gaming experience.
HUAWEI VLOG
It has new features and effects that are perfect tools for easy editing and you can share with one-click. The Highlight videos are automatically edited with dramatic filters and give you the option to apply special speed effects and unique background music. Your cherished videos can be transformed into a personal cinematic masterpiece.
ANYTIME ASSISTANT
Whenever you need to use the virtual assistant to carry out tasks, look up facts or need an answer to a simple question, just press and hold the power button and the Google Assistant will launch in a second.
AR MEASURE
When you need a quick measurement tool for simple DIY projects, just open the AR Measure App. You can accurately measure length, total area and volume with the Huawei TOF Camera.
By utilizing the Face Recognition technology, you can now measure the height of a person with just a simple task of scanning from toe-to-head.
ONEHOP
A simple tap from your phone to the computer can send pictures, videos, and documents in seconds. You can also efficiently copy and paste between devices with Huawei Share OneHop.
And, while playing a game, just shake and touch the phone to your computer to initiate a 60-second recording of the screen1 that saves to your phone.
HUAWEI CARKEY, SECURE AND CONVENIENT
EMUI 9.1 allows you to automatically unlock your car with NFC on your phone when you forget the key and you can share this key with up to 5 people.
You can still unlock your car even if your phone is out of battery. Additionally, you can start your engine using your phone, once the phone is placed inside the secure phone box.
THE PERFECT WORKOUT PARTNER
EMUI 9.1 turns your phone into an ultimate workout partner. Use your phone to connect to a treadmill and collect information like calories burned, running speed and length of the workout.
The phone can also use an algorithm to intelligently measure the step vibrations, so you can accomplish your personal fitness goals.
SIMPLY SWITCH
With HUAWEI Phone Clone, you can simply and quickly transfer your contacts, photos, videos and more to your new phone in just a few moments.
Source: Huaweicentral
And other more detailed Improvements like: (i collected those infos from some Mate 20 pro users):
Navigation Gestures are LOT way better now than EMUI 9.0 (more fluid)
Desktop Mode got some Improvements and fixes too
Battery life is better now (the drain issues got fixed)
Thats all i can remember till now
It also says it's released, I wasted time I stalling the beta app, and setting up Huawei Id only to find I need to insert a SIM card in my WiFi only tablet.....
Chr1stOnABike said:
It also says it's released, I wasted time I stalling the beta app, and setting up Huawei Id only to find I need to insert a SIM card in my WiFi only tablet.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean you installed the 9.1 update?
No, doesn't seem to be available, and it says I need to insert a SIM card in my WiFi only tablet.
Chr1stOnABike said:
No, doesn't seem to be available, and it says I need to insert a SIM card in my WiFi only tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, correct, in order to use the beta app you must insert the sim card, but even doing this you won't be able to get the 9.1 as it is not available yet on M5
So there is no point trying this app if you don't have a 4G device?
Chr1stOnABike said:
So there is no point trying this app if you don't have a 4G device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, without sim and number it is useless
I got a m5 lte 10.8 can I get the beta version?
I can't even get 9.0 for the US 8" model yet. I'm sure I'll see 9.1 after Android 10 is released.
I'm still running 8.0. Not even a sniff of 9.0 let alone 9.1! Quite disappointed if I'm honest!
littleash88 said:
I'm still running 8.0. Not even a sniff of 9.0 let alone 9.1! Quite disappointed if I'm honest!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too! I checked for updates many times but nothing new
My mediapad details:
Model SHT-W09
Build number SHT-W09 8.0.0.198(C567)
EMUI version 8.0.0
Android version 8.0.0
littleash88 said:
I'm still running 8.0. Not even a sniff of 9.0 let alone 9.1! Quite disappointed if I'm honest!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here!
Got my tablet last week SHT- AL09 LTE
with version 8, checked for updates and went up version 8 in steps. Then was given 9 and more steps to final 9.01.190
I have the same tablet, and same version of the software.
Very nice tab, i like everything about it except for the battery life which is not too good, and also wish it supported VoLTE.
I was wondering, whether it will receive Android Q :-o
I just checked what is the firmware history of Samsung tablets on sammobile. So after 1st year of release they updated their tablet quarterly, and after 2nd year they stops updating. So it is pretty much almost the same. Except that they are much much more expensive devices. Like new tab s6. Great tablet, but quarter updates after 1st year? No thanks.
Got the EMUI 9.1 update (9.1.0.325) on my M5 8.4 WiFi last Saturday (31 August 2019) here in Romania. It's 3,51 GB in size and I got it through OTA.
metadethrax said:
Got the EMUI 9.1 update (9.1.0.325) on my M5 8.4 WiFi last Saturday (31 August 2019) here in Romania. It's 3,51 GB in size and I got it through OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's good news !
Just received 9.1 on my M5 10.8 WiFi in the UK as well via o.t.a.
I can confirm that update is rolling out. Just receveid it via ota ( model c432, italian )