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Recommend the G pro 2? Would you buy again? What's to know?

I've kept my eye on the G pro 2 for a while (was about to get the original O G pro, but waited for this to come out). So I'm well aware of the specs, features, reviews, etc. But what I want to know is a real world user's opinion of the device.
Is the phone pretty decent? Any frustrations or quirks to know before trying to get one?
Key questions:
*How is the Mic/voice quality? (sending and receiving during a voice call)
*How is the battery life(I know it depends on usage and habits of the user, but just overall, how would you rate it personally, compared to other current/comparable Android phones)?
*Is it relatively stable and responsive?
*What bothers you about this phone?
*Would you buy it again if you were in the market for a new phone right now?(tells me that you like the phone and are overall happy with it)
I plan on getting a F350(a bit confused with the S/L/etc. acronym endings, can any one shed light?) I want to use it on at&t's network. On paper, and seeing professional reviews, the G pro 2 seems like my phone (1080p 5.9" screen, expandable memory via microsdhc, user replaceable battery, decent camera, etc.) But I want to know, if in practice, the phone is stable/frustration free(relatively speaking), decent real world battery life (if it's competent/comparable at least.. ), hoping that this is not one of those, "you have to root it and install a custom rom in order for this phone to be bearable"- type thing.
My other considerable is the Sony Xperia Z2 (prices are right, even though the screen is smaller and the battery isn't "replaceable"). I didn't want the Samsung Galaxy series due to the smaller screens and bloatware they put on there(note's a great series, but simlar.. bloatware, plus really expensive).
Thanks! I appreciate any input!

these are my questions too..

I came from a Samsung S3 (running CM).
first impressions were: Nice clean looks and lines, it's big (but it's not unwieldy). my wife has a Note 3 and it's about the same. the curve along the back sides makes it more comfortable to hold. Obviously, it's a heavier phone due to size, so your hand might get tired if you're one to use your phone lying down or something.
Screen is fantastic. I have no problems with colour issues with the screen and it's bright enough for me, even outdoors.
Battery life is good. standby can last more than a day. in usage, i was a bit busy yesterday and didn't use it too much, but from 0700 to 2300, i had 63% before i plugged it in. on a more typical day, I'd probably have around 40%. mainly a mixture of whatsapp, a few blogs, games and some TV show watching at lunch.
Camera is decent and acceptable auto focus speed. not a lot of bloatware.
I'm running 10e firmware due to bugs in 10f and waiting for lollipop. 10e is stable. not had problems with it.
problems: it's not widely available and the user base is small. so don't expect any fancy mods/firmwares or anything like that. as such, there's not a lot of accessories for it either outside of LG's own stuff.
My friend has the Z2 (not looked, but isn't the Z3 pricing nearly the same now?), and his camera is better and the battery life is longer due to Sony's Stamina software. display is about the same. If you want a big, stock phone, the LG is great. if you want to play around and like to customise your phone, then i'd go with the Sony.

Thanks for your input Ray-Lee .
I'm on the fence between the two phones, I like the bigger screen on the G pro 2, I haven't held one yet in person, but I don't think I"ll be bothered by it at all. Only thing that really entices me for the Z2 are the current prices for it right now.. for relatively similar specs, smaller screen, but better camera compensates. Honestly, I want the device to work well out of the box.. this is xda and I do play with custom firmwares and roms, but that's more of a result than a mission for me these days.. as in, if the unit runs better/faster/more stable compared to stock(or.. if stock is so horrendous that it must be rooted and flashed to be "decent").

ssnova said:
Thanks for your input Ray-Lee .
I'm on the fence between the two phones, I like the bigger screen on the G pro 2, I haven't held one yet in person, but I don't think I"ll be bothered by it at all. Only thing that really entices me for the Z2 are the current prices for it right now.. for relatively similar specs, smaller screen, but better camera compensates. Honestly, I want the device to work well out of the box.. this is xda and I do play with custom firmwares and roms, but that's more of a result than a mission for me these days.. as in, if the unit runs better/faster/more stable compared to stock(or.. if stock is so horrendous that it must be rooted and flashed to be "decent").
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Ive been using this phone pretty much since it came out (D838 rooted stock) and the stock Performance is fantastic if im honest it really doesn't need a custom rom unless you want to "mod" alot of things and even then as long as your careful theres still alot you can do with just root, i love this phone so much and its modified enough for my liking without a rom, its fine right out of the box and if you can live without a custom rom (which is really doesnt need that much) i think you'll be as happy as i am with this phone on stock with or without root.
But yes if you do like to flash and mess about alot go with the z2/note3 as there is more options there but this is still a brillant phone.

bjscott55 said:
Ive been using this phone pretty much since it came out (D838 rooted stock) and the stock Performance is fantastic if im honest it really doesn't need a custom rom unless you want to "mod" alot of things and even then as long as your careful theres still alot you can do with just root, i love this phone so much and its modified enough for my liking without a rom, its fine right out of the box and if you can live without a custom rom (which is really doesnt need that much) i think you'll be as happy as i am with this phone on stock with or without root.
But yes if you do like to flash and mess about alot go with the z2/note3 as there is more options there but this is still a brillant phone.
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Thanks a lot for the assurance. I'm still bouncing around phone options, I guess it just comes down to price (best bang for buck, with expandable memory at least). I'm still considering the G pro 2, but I saw how the GS note 3 has come down a lot in price.
Thanks again!

ssnova said:
Thanks a lot for the assurance. I'm still bouncing around phone options, I guess it just comes down to price (best bang for buck, with expandable memory at least). I'm still considering the G pro 2, but I saw how the GS note 3 has come down a lot in price.
Thanks again!
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I've had both and granted you can mess around with roms and stuff but for pure joy in use i much prefer the g pro 2 its a really really good phone and for the low price you really cant beat it in my opinion unless this phone gets a good recovery and cm11 ill never bother with costom roms ect. For me its perfect on stock the peformence is amazing, to date (about 6 months of owning this phone) the battery still amazes and im yet to see any lag ever!! The ui is amazing, for a phone out of the box you cant beat it if you like music it outputs brillantly im just in love so maybe im a little one sided but i hope whatever you do you will be happy! Let me know!

bjscott55 said:
I've had both and granted you can mess around with roms and stuff but for pure joy in use i much prefer the g pro 2 its a really really good phone and for the low price you really cant beat it in my opinion unless this phone gets a good recovery and cm11 ill never bother with costom roms ect. For me its perfect on stock the peformence is amazing, to date (about 6 months of owning this phone) the battery still amazes and im yet to see any lag ever!! The ui is amazing, for a phone out of the box you cant beat it if you like music it outputs brillantly im just in love so maybe im a little one sided but i hope whatever you do you will be happy! Let me know!
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I only can agree with that!
I did get mine last week and i am very happy with it! Came from Galaxy Note 2 wich i liked very much but i dont trust Super Amoled Display technology since noone grants you that it will operate more than 3 years with heavy use. I chose this device because it has similar dimensions as the Note 2, stronger hardware, bigger 1080p reliable IPS LCD screen and fabulous 3200 mAh battery.
It's a must have for phablet lovers that want to have a good performing phone with large screen.
After just a few days of use this is my opinion. On software side is everything ok, just the usual Kit Kat problem that bugs lots of users out here, tha lack of having permissions for apps to write to sd card. That was the only thing that bothered me, but thats on Google side. This phone is truly amazing!
Hope that helps the peple to choose the best device for their specific needs. I found mine definitely.

Thank you for the input bhun and derbyshire! I really like the phone and want to get it, but for me the G pro 2 shipped from Asia to the US (I need the F350 model for LTE compatibility), it's about $600, I'm going to wait out just a little longer, it's a bit out of my budget (was hoping to score a phone for less than $450.. Sony Z2 and ZU did fit that for me, but not anymore either, haha).
I'm glad to hear that it's a great phone though(G pro 2), hopefully the prices will come down a bit for the F350 model and I can obtain one soon. Thanks again to all who have contributed!
bhun said:
I only can agree with that!
I did get mine last week and i am very happy with it! Came from Galaxy Note 2 wich i liked very much but i dont trust Super Amoled Display technology since noone grants you that it will operate more than 3 years with heavy use. I chose this device because it has similar dimensions as the Note 2, stronger hardware, bigger 1080p reliable IPS LCD screen and fabulous 3200 mAh battery.
It's a must have for phablet lovers that want to have a good performing phone with large screen.
After just a few days of use this is my opinion. On software side is everything ok, just the usual Kit Kat problem that bugs lots of users out here, tha lack of having permissions for apps to write to sd card. That was the only thing that bothered me, but thats on Google side. This phone is truly amazing!
Hope that helps the peple to choose the best device for their specific needs. I found mine definitely.
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The things that bother me about this phone are the poor wifi signal, I can be within a meter of my router and it still fluctuates between 3 and 4 bars. Any less than 4 bars wifi signal seems to have a noticeable impact on browsing performance. I also find the mobile data hotspot a pain, every so often the connection would hang and you would have to turn data off and back on again to get it to work. It seemed to do that every hour or so. Also if the phone gets even minutely warm, the brightness level will restrict itself to between 80% and 90%. I have had 3 LG G Pro 2 and they have all been the same. I also notice some flickering at times, especially when there is a white background on a webpage. I am almost fed up of mine and looking at selling it soon. It does have the potential to be a good phone, and I think all the faults I mentioned could be fixed with a decent firmware update.

I agree with you on wifi reception, its been the worst amongst all the phones i have owned
Sent from my LG-D838 using Tapatalk

Good Buy
It's a good buy switching. Switched from GS5 to this

[Q] Any phones coming out soon that are worth waiting for?

Hello everyone,
I currently have a Nexus 4 on t-mobile that I have had for 2 years now I believe, and I am looking to get a new phone. (Not stuck in a contract currently, so if it is a really good phone, I can switch companies) I was thinking of getting the S5, but was trying to look up or find out more info on any other new phones that may be worth it. I do like big specs (processor, ram, etc) but at the same time, what good is all that if I can only actually use the phone for an hour or two and then it is dead? Simply leaving my phone on my desk at work during the day, it is already at half or less by the time I am ready to go home. Heaven forbid I check some sites while in the bathroom or something.
Specs are nice but not quite so important I guess at the expense of usability. I also have a gear live, and use it for various things, but mostly like it for the heart rate monitor for running, so any phones that can help utilize that more in any way would be nice as well.
Thanks all!

The LG Gflex has incredible battery life (easily 1 day with high usage) but most people tend to love or hate the phone, The galaxy note 4 has an amazing screen but ive not had chance to use one long enough to judge the battery, huawei ascend mate is also known to have great battery life but it also has a 720p display as does the Gflex.

Just a hint, you may want to wait a little bit.
As we all know Samsung is losing ground fast to new giants like Xiaomi and others, Samsung just revealed it's plans for the next quarter it may be a good thing for you because they are about to drop some high-end models to put more effort into Tizen and low cost units to compete with China new giants and noticeably android ONE program.
Smells like upcoming rebates to me ...

which phone offers the most similar experiecne?

My contract is coming up for renewal in late February and I'm thinking of replacing my phone with a new Android device. I realize this might be the wrong forum section to post in, but who better to ask than my fellow Shield lovers.
I had a Galaxy Note (original) and a Galaxy S2 prior, and they weren't bad. For the time Touchwiz, and a poor email client really put me off of Android as a phone primarily for me is a communication device, but I still like to have fun with it.
I ended up going back to Blackberry and have been rocking a Z10 for a long time. But won an iphone 5s through work and have been using that for about the past year. I bought a Z30 recently as it was being sold at a stupidly low price new in box from factory and I am sick and tired of the small screens and piss poor battery life of the iphone.
I also have a first gen Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, and I've been complaining about it for the past 6-10 months because of it's size and weight and now that apps are being optimized for newer OS versions it's getting really slow. So my wife bought me a Shield for Christmas and I absoltuley love it!
I love how the UI is on this tablet and now know what all the fuss is about for Andorid. Touchwiz ruins the experience in my opinion. So I'm thinking for my new phone I'm going to get a Lollipop device for sure...the question is which one?
I don't want a Nexus as I don't like the idea of non-expandable memory and my 64gb card in my Sheild is getting pretty full, no way I could survive with a device that isn't at least 64gb (my iphone is 64gb and is usually between 50-60gb loaded up with music and media.)
So which device has a UI that is as close to the Shield as possible with expandable memory and isn't the size of a house. 5" is about my max screen size. There is no need to go larger as I already have the Sheild, and I want it to be pocketable. I got rid of my Note because I just kept leaving it on my desk. I would also love to get a 16-20 hour day with heavy use. FWIW my iphone 5s is completley dead by the time 2:00pm rolls around when it comes off the charger at 5:30am. I'm usually not near a charger again until 6:30-7:00pm on average. It's going to be a lot to ask but a 5:30am to 10:00pm battery life would be fantastic...

If you want a stock OS look and MicroSD, get the HTC M8 Google Play Edition. Stock Android, front speakers, and MicroSD support just like the ST.

Not going to be a popular opinion around here but the iPhone 6 gets much much better battery life than the older ones, if you are already invested into iTunes that may be a valid option for you. For me I have the 6 plus and it is cool because I get awesome battery life and then I get completely different games then the ones that are available on my shield tab so I have pretty much the best of both worlds.
Also my reason for going to the iPhone is because I have ATT and needed a carrier subsidized phone, tried the Nexus 6 it is utter crap build quality and the Note 4 is not even rootable, there is not much else that is really modern on ATT.

As far as gaming ready devices, all Qualcomm Snapdragon devices fall into a mediocre range. None of them are really "smooth" at gaming and all of them work hard to provide perpetual fluidity. Bad video drivers and non-existent high clock efficiency mean those devices scale vey poorly, and gaming takes a monstrous drain on the battery for even simple 2D games. If you are looking for a device which can handle gaming in a manner similar to the shield (and aren't too concerned with what you might lose) then tegra phones and iPhones are your best option objectively. It's impossible to recommend a Qualcomm device as better for gaming. If you are just looking for a simple phone with light gaming, then something like the upcoming HTC M9 or a likewise lollipop based device would be fine. But if gaming is your concern (which you don't seem to mention) then my above statements hold very true.

All "stock" suggestions should definitely fly with "but shall include excessive Google bloatware that wouldn't be accepted from Samsung or any other OEM." That much said, crap like Drive Earth Docs Sheets Slides Newsstand Books Music Movies Plus Fit Now Wallet Keyboard Chrome and the ever constant location stalker CAN be disabled quite easily.
Preliminary reports say the S5 is shaping up to perform amazingly on Lollipop. A simple comparison of this tablet and the Nexus 7 and the iPad-Mini-esque Nexus 9, has shown me that it's all about the implementation of lollipop, not comparing who has the biggest version number, that is essential in determining which device is best.

Google Play Edition phones like HTC One M8 or Galaxy S4.
The Moto G and X phones also offer nearly stock OS.

Gaming is not a concern for me with a phone, thats what the Tablet is for. a Pretty stock non-bloated with manufacture crud OS is whats most important I think. Touchwiz was just annoying when I was test driving a Note 3 and on my S2 when I had it. Just didn't enjoy it. I also don't like how big the S5 and such has gotten.
I'll take a closer look at the Google Play edition phones. I wanted to get something direct from carrier to get the subsidy and save some cash... I'm on Rogers in Canada... No Moto X is avaialble, and it doesn't appear to have a micro SD. However the Sony Z3 seems to have a pretty stock version of Android... what are peoples opinions on that device?

Well I wouldn't say it's stock by any means. It's actually fairly heavy on skinning, but it does look nice. Updates will be very slow for Sony phones. But the battery life is fantastic, and the overall hardware is nice. Sony phones can be problematic, but since it's a carrier device you can always yell at Rogers.

Nintonito said:
Well I wouldn't say it's stock by any means. It's actually fairly heavy on skinning, but it does look nice. Updates will be very slow for Sony phones. But the battery life is fantastic, and the overall hardware is nice. Sony phones can be problematic, but since it's a carrier device you can always yell at Rogers.
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Yea, I'm reading more on the Z3 forums and seeing stuff I'm not overly happy with.
One thing that is ever important to me is the speed and quality of the camera, something I'm addicted to on my iphone. I'm a part-time professional photographer along with my day job. So I got a camera for manual control and taking beautiful shot. I love my iphone for the quick burst that I can do within a couple of seconds on the fly (and thats about it that I've found as a pro over Android). I don't know if there is an Android phone out there that can compete, which is very unfortunate. When I was test driving the Note 3, one of the few major reasons I returned it was due to the crappy camera speed/AF. (The others were size and touchwiz)

Moto X, Moto G, Nexus 5, Nexus 6 or the Google Play Edition phones from the play store. Thats about it. I guess the OnePlus One fits the bill also.
I can't recommend the Moto X enough. Mine is absolutely amazing and I've owned QUITE a few different phones over the past few years including Samsung, HTC, Sony, Nexus, ZTE. The Motorola lineup of the past year or so has been nothing short of phenomenal.

I disagree on the basis that the battery life is pretty bad. Like iPhone levels of battery life frankly. I'm surprised people just glaze over that. 2300mah battery with lollipop+amoled is battery hell.

Nintonito said:
I disagree on the basis that the battery life is pretty bad. Like iPhone levels of battery life frankly. I'm surprised people just glaze over that. 2300mah battery with lollipop+amoled is battery hell.
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Do you own one? Because I do. And I routinely hit 18-19 hours with 2.5-3 hours of screen time. Everyone I see complaining about battery life doesn't own one, and are just parroting FUD.

Nintonito said:
I disagree on the basis that the battery life is pretty bad. Like iPhone levels of battery life frankly. I'm surprised people just glaze over that. 2300mah battery with lollipop+amoled is battery hell.
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icase81 said:
Do you own one? Because I do. And I routinely hit 18-19 hours with 2.5-3 hours of screen time. Everyone I see complaining about battery life doesn't own one, and are just parroting FUD.
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I'd also have to agree. I was hesitant about the phone when it was first announced because of the battery and held off buying one until the Cyber Monday coupon deal. Since then, I've added a wireless charging module (thread in the accessories sub-forum for the phone) and I couldn't be happier. Not saying you need a wireless mod, I just missed that from the Nexus 5. But even so, the battery has been above and beyond what I expected, the phone's performance is top notch, Active Display or whatever its called has no second best and Motorola's adherence to near stock Android is the cherry on top.
Like icase said, unless you have one and have something to back up your comment, you're just blowing FUD. My go to devices today are my 2014 Moto X and my Nvidia Shield Tablet.

wired335 said:
My contract is coming up for renewal in late February and I'm thinking of replacing my phone with a new Android device. I realize this might be the wrong forum section to post in, but who better to ask than my fellow Shield lovers.
I had a Galaxy Note (original) and a Galaxy S2 prior, and they weren't bad. For the time Touchwiz, and a poor email client really put me off of Android as a phone primarily for me is a communication device, but I still like to have fun with it.
I ended up going back to Blackberry and have been rocking a Z10 for a long time. But won an iphone 5s through work and have been using that for about the past year. I bought a Z30 recently as it was being sold at a stupidly low price new in box from factory and I am sick and tired of the small screens and piss poor battery life of the iphone.
I also have a first gen Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, and I've been complaining about it for the past 6-10 months because of it's size and weight and now that apps are being optimized for newer OS versions it's getting really slow. So my wife bought me a Shield for Christmas and I absoltuley love it!
I love how the UI is on this tablet and now know what all the fuss is about for Andorid. Touchwiz ruins the experience in my opinion. So I'm thinking for my new phone I'm going to get a Lollipop device for sure...the question is which one?
I don't want a Nexus as I don't like the idea of non-expandable memory and my 64gb card in my Sheild is getting pretty full, no way I could survive with a device that isn't at least 64gb (my iphone is 64gb and is usually between 50-60gb loaded up with music and media.)
So which device has a UI that is as close to the Shield as possible with expandable memory and isn't the size of a house. 5" is about my max screen size. There is no need to go larger as I already have the Sheild, and I want it to be pocketable. I got rid of my Note because I just kept leaving it on my desk. I would also love to get a 16-20 hour day with heavy use. FWIW my iphone 5s is completley dead by the time 2:00pm rolls around when it comes off the charger at 5:30am. I'm usually not near a charger again until 6:30-7:00pm on average. It's going to be a lot to ask but a 5:30am to 10:00pm battery life would be fantastic...
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Hi, just my two cents, IMHO the Nvidia Shield is a great tablet but to play PC games you have to stream to Nvidia, so if I want to recommend to you a similar device, the closest phone you can get is the Sony Experia Z3, Android 5 Lollipop, battery levels are very good, beautiful design and you can connect it to a playstation and play the games wireless on your phone with the PS controller. You even get the sound from your controller by connecting the headphones to it.

I have a couple of ideas.
If you can wait, the HTC Hima promises to be a beast. A Snapdragon 810 with a 1080p screen means that it will probably crush every other phone in terms of performace, thanks to every other phone jumping on the pointless 4K train. Look it up. It looks pretty nice. *drool*
If you need something now, then....I know you want a smaller phone, but....I can't recommend the Oneplus One enough.
-It is actually thinner than and not as wide as the Note, dispite its slightly larger screen.
-Even though it has no expandable storage, 64 gigs of internal storage has actually proven more useful to me. I never have to worry about limited storage for application data.
-The battery life on this thing is nuts. I'm a heavy user and I only need to charge it every other day.
-1080p screen. This is a plus because it it uses less resources than a 4k display. And honestly, most, if not all people, cannot tell the difference.
-Snapdragon 801 with 3 gigs of RAM. This thing flies, and multitasks like a champ. I remember a time not too long ago when more than 2gb RAM was considered excessive for most DESKTOP computers. I think its more than the specs that make this thing fly, though. Something in the hardware implementation must be special, because people have been reporting some pretty unbelievable benchmarks. Oh, and Sonic Adventure 2 runs smoothly in Reicast.
-The XDA scene is HUGE for this device. Its the most popular device on the forums. There are, like, 73 billion ROMs for it and maybe 2.5 billion kernels. I've never owned such a popular device. This is my favorite feature.
Its also the one of the only devices I have right now that isn't defective in some way. I tend to have horrible luck when purchasing electronics.
I hope I've helped you reach some sort of conclusion. Good luck. :good:

thanks guys,
I went into my Rogers store and manhandled what they had on display as well as a few open box units. I also took at look at Telus, but they can't meet me on my plan so no point in switching over. But the Moto X seemed like the best device.
I found the Z3 to be the best value for me right now. As I originally mentioned I'm not looking at the phone for gaming, but to be a workhorse and get me through a very heavy use work day. Not having Touch-Wiz was a huge plus for me, and I really enjoyed some of the things they changed in the skin. The camera performed a lot better than the other phones I tried in store. the HTC M8 was a very close contender, but the camera just sucks so horribly it got kicked out of the running faster than I could blink. I honestly think that Nokia/Windows Phone has the best camera interface after playing around with phones the past week, but the Z3 does a pretty good job.
For me it was the battery power, the UI, and the pretty impressive spec sheet that (hopefuly) will not force me to upgrade in the next 18 months that caused me to go with the Z3 overall. Rogers has a pretty limited offering right now which is annoying. I almost went with the Samsung S5, but remembered how much Touch-Wiz pozioned me the first time.
If they had a Nexus 5 32gb in stock I would have probably gone with that instead...and dealt with the size limitiation...but none left for corporate customers.
So my Black Z3 is in the mail and I'm really looking forward to it. Especially since my time frame for getting a new device really escallated with an unexpected smashy smashy of my iphone (dropped it and ran it over with a stroller by complete accident. One of the only times it wasn't cased!) now I need a case for my Z3

Buyer's Advice for Moto G 2015

Hi everyone,
It looks like after 3.5 years of service my S3 I9300 is about to kick the bucket. Seeing as this year's smarphones are a failure and last year (2014's) top dogs are still over 500usd I figured it would be a waste of money to buy either of them. After some googling I found the moto g 2015 to be a good option.
It meets the requirements I wanted: FM radio, good xda support, removable sd card, ??doable?? battery replacement. It's just too bad there's no blackberry style led notification like the s3. From the antutu benchmarks it looks like it has ~80% the power of my S3?
My question is, how good is the new moto g? Any nasty surprises, gotchas or buyer's remorse. I plan to put CM12.1 first day out of the box. Is the performance decent? I'd mostly use it for web browsing, youtube, google maps, and reading pdf comics. No intense 3D games as it looks like all mobile games are going towards the "pay to play 2mins" model or the "ads galore for 2 mins" model.
Is the new moto g a good choice? Of course I'd get the 2gb ram version.

Hello,
I really have no regrets with mine. I was pretty much looking for the same requirements that you mention. I find that it performs quite well, I actually do use mine for gaming. It handles some of the more graphically demanding games without issue (Dead Trigger 2, Modern Combat 5, etc). I know this is not what you plan to use it for, but just throwing it out there.
What did your i9300 score in the current version of Antutu? The MotoG3 scores around 24550 for me. I can provide screenshots of the score breakdown if it would be helpful for you to see how the different tests scored.
The only thing Motorola left out is a gyroscope and NFC support.

Is quite nice actually, however here in mexico motorola released a turbo version that is even nicer.
I must confess that i regret buying this after the one plus x announcement, but that's just my personal preference and i've yet to see reviews of how does it perform
The phone is really good for it's price, and finding decent phones under 5 inches these days is just a nightmare.
If you don't mind spending some extra money, i'll recomend you a z3 compact.
But it all comes down to personal needs and preferences. Moto gestures in this phone are something really awesome that i can't live without, some things that i find missing are the stereo speakers, the notificacion led and an amoled screen for better battery management.
Oh and battery life is actually really good.

Thank you for your suggestions.
I've never used the nfc once so I'm not going to miss it. I've uploaded my s3 antutu score just for curiosity. I'm overclocking it to 1.7GHz with a small undervolt. I know benchmark scores are only a rough guide for real world expectations and should be taken with a grain of salt.
The turbo edition looks great but Mexico is way too far for me to go and with it being a region special device, will it really have much xda support? I'll definetely miss the amoled display but at least it's ips lcd. Isn't that the best kind of lcd? I love the S3's vibrant colors. The z3 compact is 400usd which is almost double the 220usd. Considering I'm paying in cad that's gonna hurt.
Just not sure how good the z3 compact xda support is. It's not like I'm looking for a small phone. Actually I would prefer a big phone for reading comics on the go but I don't want to unload a lot of money for a phone right now for reasons in the first post.

AAccount said:
Hi everyone,
It looks like after 3.5 years of service my S3 I9300 is about to kick the bucket. Seeing as this year's smarphones are a failure and last year (2014's) top dogs are still over 500usd I figured it would be a waste of money to buy either of them. After some googling I found the moto g 2015 to be a good option.
It meets the requirements I wanted: FM radio, good xda support, removable sd card, ??doable?? battery replacement. It's just too bad there's no blackberry style led notification like the s3. From the antutu benchmarks it looks like it has ~80% the power of my S3?
My question is, how good is the new moto g? Any nasty surprises, gotchas or buyer's remorse. I plan to put CM12.1 first day out of the box. Is the performance decent? I'd mostly use it for web browsing, youtube, google maps, and reading pdf comics. No intense 3D games as it looks like all mobile games are going towards the "pay to play 2mins" model or the "ads galore for 2 mins" model.
Is the new moto g a good choice? Of course I'd get the 2gb ram version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All in all I like mine, I have no regrets for the investment... I have had several higher end smart phones like the LG G2 and Nexus 5, and really don't see any real-world difference in use even when gaming so I don't know how much I trust the Antutu scores, and the battery life is very good. The notification LED missing is annoying, at first, but like everything else you get used to it and the Moto Display is an acceptable replacement for it.
As far as a doable battery replacement, you might to watch a tear down video before you say that, replacing the battery in this years Moto G is a bit tougher than the older models. "doable" would vary on your technical expertise.
I was a flash-a-holic with my Nexus devices and my LG G2, but to be honest the G3 us the first phone I haven't even really had the urge to flash a custom ROM on, or even root, the stock ROM is very good... Pure Android with (literally) a few Moto apps that are actually usable and functional without getting in the way, and the stock ROM is very optimized to the hardware, CM and other ROM devs haven't been able to get near the same battery life as stock. If you are set on CM, I would suggest waiting a minimum of a week before even unlocking it, there are a handful of rare issues which could potentially pop up (yellow screen, low volume, ghost touches, etc) and sometimes don't show up for a few days. No point in ruining your warranty day one, especially when the stock ROM is so well done.
The screen on the G3 is better than most people give it credit for, it isn't as good as the LG G2, but it is easily better than the Nexus 5, which is weird, sort of.... I am actually quite impressed with the screen and how vibrant and bright it is with minimal battery draw.
My 2 cents are go for it, you won't be disappointed.

I did lookup a teardown. Didn't the battery replacement involve
hair dryer to the screen
unscrew the motherboard
hair dryer to the battery
While I've never attempted doing the hair dryer treatment it doesn't look that bad. Compared to some of the other teardowns I've seen on ifixit, this one didn't involve: gotcha placed cables that are guaranteed to break without the magic touch, insane amounts of glue, or a screen that's so delicate that getting it out is near impossible. Overly optimistic??
Honestly, I figured that when that time comes, after the old battery is removed, I can cut a hole where the battery fits in and just hold it in place with duct tape. That way next time I can just remove the duct tape and disconnect. That's assuming the phone lives that long. My 2011 tablet and my 2012 era phones are both dieing in the span of a few months. :crying: The tablet is retired because of that. I'd rather my devices not actually die so when I want to use them again for whatever reason they'll still turn on and work ok.
Thanks for the tip of waiting a week for issues to pop up. I guess I'll carry 2 phones for that week. The moto g will get its initiation as a comic book reader and fm radio. I like the little features of CM like circle battery, network speed indicator, quick settings rearranging. Root is also a must for me for adblocking, xposed xprivacy, xposed youtube adblock. Can't live without either of those 3.

Stock 1.4 GHz (1363 MHz)

My Personal Complaints/Review of the Huawei Mate 20 X

MY PERSONAL COMPLAINTS & REVIEW OF THE HUAWEI MATE 20 X
This is my personal take of the huawei mate 20X which I provide as a cautionary note to potential buyers. This is an honest critique of a phone I owned for little over a month. For comparison sake I own the samsung a70 and used that to gauge the phone's overall value. Last month I bought it going in with the mindset that the big screen and its features would be cool as hell. I was wrong.
Online I purchased it for $590. My first impression when I unboxed it was I felt horrified. The phone is monster big. It made me a bit uneasy to think that the heavy weight coupled with its sheer size would make for a perfect shattered screen in time. As I handled it I was on edge that it would fall which made me feel somewhat insecure. But after a while I got used to the size and it fit my pockets although the top protrudes out a bit. After toying with it I felt I had to always be aware that it might fall so I used extra precaution while it was on my person, but it was no biggie.
BATTERY
The first thing that constantly bothered me about the phone was the battery which is 5000 mah. The first thing I made sure to do was to put this baby into airplane mode, turn off bt and location and just keep wifi on. Also, I made sure of turning off background activity in the settings on the grand majority of apps not to mention uninstalling unwanted apps.
You might at first glance think, "wow 5000 mah, amazing I'll buy it right away!" Hold your horses buddy. Just because a phone has a big battery doesnt necessarily mean it will perform like a big battery champ. An example of this is when I charged the phone to 100% one morning. I read email, went on youtube for 10 minutes, surfed the net and made one call that lasted 2 minutes. This whole session lasted 20 minutes. The battery drained to 87%, I kid you not! Another example is when I charged it to 100% one night. After 3 hours of idleness, not picking it up or doing anything to it, the battery read a disconcerting 96%. How in god's name is that possible on 5000 mah after I disabled many apps and killed many more running in the background?? By comparison my samsung a70 which has a 4500 mah battery beats the mate 20X big time in battery. After I put the a70 through the ringer with the above same session in the same amount of time the battery showed a pleasing 97%. A user on xda commented that his mate 20x's battery is slightly (keyword, slightly) better than his samsung s9 which has a 4100 mah battery. Now youre seeing the bigger picture.
UI
The UI is the 2nd worst thing about this phone. It looks like Ice Cream - heavily outdated and disappointing. Though it navigates fast through menus, the app drawer cant be accessed by swiping from the bottom as in most phones today with Pie which is installed on this phone out the box. Even though you have an option for that feature its clumsy and not pretty.
SCREEN RESOLUTION & COLOR
Another bone of contention is the screen resolution. It looks good. But when compared to modern phones like my a70 which is very sharp it falls short. Of course the screen is large which "thins out" pixel density making it less crisp. Thats understandable. But it disappoints when juxtaposing it with sharper phones.
Color is not well calibrated even though it's set to vivid by default. Red apparently dominates the other colors which makes the reds stand out too much. Perhaps a tweak in the settings would do the trick? But with a phone debuted at $1000 you would think huawei would have the experience by now to fix that. Completely inexcusable. The samsung a70's vivid color depth blows the mate 20x out of the water.
SOUND
The sound volume and quality are quite loud and amazing respectively. The best I've ever heard in any smartphone. Huawei did a good job in this dept. But there's no way to toggle dolby atmos off unfortunately. Battery charging is fast, no complaints. Stereo is a huge plus!
GAMES AND VIDEO
For some unknown twisted reason, given the above complaints, playing games on this phone lasted a long time in battery. Playing asphalt 9 for 15 minutes drained only 4 - 5%. Same thing with playing videos. An hour of youtube drained only 6%. Very good but strange given its battery drains in other areas.
OVERALL & MY ADVICE
My great question in all this is, why the hell arent people complaining about these issues?? Battery is not efficient, the UI looks ugly and feels way outdated, the colors are off, resolution isnt as sharp as on other phones and its a bit heavy. To be perfectly honest, with all these faults the phone is worth $460, not $650 which is the lowest price as a new item selling on amazon at the time of this writing. Without any of these issues the phone would be perfect.
For those considering buying this phone take great heed of the aforementioned before you fork over 7 tall bills for it that later on you might regret. Dont be easily fooled by rave reviews of owners of the phone on xda either. Many will exaggerate it because theyre blinded by its large size. Likewise, dont be easily fooled by tech reviews elsewhere like those found on zdnet. Some of them are actually written by paid reviewers who will intentionally gloss over a product, ignoring its faults to satisfy ad revenue.

Yo - I'll bite.
I like your post. Although I am only a senior member too. I don't think that means I am anywhere near qualified to do anything more than pontificate and slander. Basically, all that means is that I have been lucky enough to experience help from other waaaay more knowledgeable people than myself.
It amazes me that none of us have anywhere near the same experience as each other. ok - i have had a wine or two and the last ime that happened I started the worst rated thread in the house. https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/goodbye-huawei-phone-t3965177/page3#post80500435
COMPLAINTS & REVIEW OF THE HUAWEI MATE 20 X
This is my personal take of the huawei mate 20X which I provide as a cautionary note to potential buyers. This is an honest critique of a phone I owned for little over a month. For comparison sake I own the samsung a70 and used that to gauge the phone's overall value. Last month I bought it going in with the mindset that the big screen and its features would be cool as hell. I was wrong.
>
I haven't owned a Samsung since the S8+ - I loved it, but the battery was nowhere near what they said it was for me. I wonder if it was because I have to use a VPN 80% of the time to access Google services. (in China - Lucky/unlucky me). How do I know that you are not some sort of Samsung plant? A70 can't be as awesome as this phone, can it?
Online I purchased it for $590. My first impression when I unboxed it was I felt horrified. The phone is monster big. It made me a bit uneasy to think that the heavy weight coupled with its sheer size would make for a perfect shattered screen in time. As I handled it I was on edge that it would fall which made me feel somewhat insecure. But after a while I got used to the size and it fit my pockets although the top protrudes out a bit. After toying with it I felt I had to always be aware that it might fall so I used extra precaution while it was on my person, but it was no biggie.
>
I'm a big guy. I like the size. I like everything about the size. Yes, if you don't want a big phone - go to something else.
BATTERY
The first thing that constantly bothered me about the phone was the battery which is 5000 mah. The first thing I made sure to do was to put this baby into airplane mode, turn off bt and location and just keep wifi on. Also, I made sure of turning off background activity in the settings on the grand majority of apps not to mention uninstalling unwanted apps.
ok - I have no idea why this is the way it is for you. I have NEVER experienced a battery experience like this in sooooo ****ing many phones. So many times that famous African American on youtube - you know who - would tell me that 'this' phone's battery life was the best. And so many times I'd get let down (never more so than the Huawei Nexus 6P. Damn I loved that phone, but damn that battery sucked). Anyway, Now-a-days I can accidentally leave my camera or torch on and it DOES NOT MATTER. This thing is a battery wizard ... for me. THe AL00 in china with Veeeeepeeeee-ENNNN
You might at first glance think, "wow 5000 mah, amazing I'll buy it right away!" Hold your horses buddy. Just because a phone has a big battery doesnt necessarily mean it will perform like a big battery. An example of this is when I charged the phone to 100% one morning. I read email, went on youtube for 10 minutes, surfed the net and made one call that lasted 2 minutes. This whole session lasted 20 minutes. The battery drained to 87%, I kid you not! Another example is when I charged it to 100% one night. After 3 hours of idleness, not picking it up or doing anything to it, the battery read a disconcerting 96%. How in god's name is that possible on 5000 mah after I disabled many apps and killed many more running in the background?? My samsung a70 which has a 4500 mah battery beats the mate 20X big time in battery. After I put the a70 through the ringer with the above same session in the same amount of time the battery showed 97%. A user on xda commented that his mate 20x's battery is slightly (keyword, slightly) better than his samsung s9 which has a 4100 mah battery. Now youre seeing the bigger picture.
I have NEVER been more impressed by a smart phone. I get a day and a bit an dI am a HEAVY user. Not sure why your phone life is ****, but I wish I knew why.
UI
The UI is the 2nd worst thing about this phone. It looks heavily outdated like Ice Cream or Kit Kat. Very disappointing. Though it navigates fast through menus, the app drawer cant be accessed by swiping from the bottom. Even though you have an option for that feature its
I actually really like EMUI despite my bashing in numerous threads. I especially like the gestures. I am even unsure if I could go back to Nova ... but the fact I can't, ****s me off more than anything. The worst and second-worst and third-worst thing about this phone is the lack of accessibility to a launcher. Damn -that is frustrating and I want to elbow all the EVR dudes right in the GD nose for their insistence that the phone is awesome!
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Another bone of contention is the screen resolution. It looks good. But when compared to modern phones like my a70 which is very sharp it falls short. Of course the screen is large which "thins out" pixel density making it less crisp. Thats understandable. But it disappoints when juxtaposing it to sharper phones.
Nah man - in my opinion, the phone's resolution is pretty good. You sure you don't work for Samsung?
SOUND & BATTERY
The sound volume and quality are quite loud and amazing respectively. The best I've ever come across in any smartphone. Huawei did a good job in this dept. But there's no way to toggle dolby atmos off unfortunately. Battery charging is fast, no complaints. Stereo is a huge plus!
You're probably right, but I couldn't give a toss about this as I mostly use Bluetooth ear. Speakers have been handy once ort twice, but essentially, I have never used the jack. Also I have no clue what the **** is Atmos - I am a philistine when it comes to musique.
GAMES AND VIDEO
For some unknown twisted reason, given the above complaints, playing games on this phone lasted a long time. Playing asphalt 9 for 15 minutes drained only 4 - 5%. Same thing with playing videos. An hour of youtube drained only 6%. Very good but strange given its battery drains in other areas.
Think you are right with this. I seem to be able to set my son up on math prodigy and t4each your monster how to read and it lasts a zillion times longer than when I use the old huawei 6P.
OVERALL & MY ADVICE clumsy and not pretty.
My great question in all this is, why the hell arent people complaining about these issues?? Battery is not efficient, the UI looks ugly and feels way outdated, resolution isnt as sharp as on other phones and its a bit heavy. To be perfectly honest, with all these faults the phone is worth $460, not $650 which is the lowest price as a new item on amazon at the time of this writing. Without any of these issues the phone would be perfect.
It is worth it, in my opinion if you live outside of China and can get the EVA version and you don't need heaps of mem or a dual sim. I need a dual sim, heaps of mem, and I live in China. Therefore it has completely sucked owning the most amazing phone EVER.
For those considering buying this phone take great heed of the aforementioned before you fork over 7 tall bills for it that later on you might regret. Dont be easily fooled by rave reviews of owners of the phone on xda. Many will exaggerate it because theyre blinded by its large size. Likewise, dont be easily fooled by tech reviews elsewhere like those found on zdnet. Some of them are actually written by paid reviewers who will intentionally gloss over a product, ignoring its faults to satisfy ad revenue.
Nah dude ... It is a solid phone. I also got my wife off Apple with the mate 20 pro. These are the best phones - period. Sady though, big business and government dictate otherwise.
HUAWEI... CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME UNLOCK MY BOOTLOADER FFS

That was me who mentioned about the battery drain being slightly better on the mate 20X , it was in relation to my s10+.
The S10+ screen is smaller at 6.4", screen on time battery drain would be greater with a larger panel regardless of battery capacity as we all know. It's all relative.
My ideal goal is 0.9 - 0.4% per hour idle drain or less. Which I get on the Mate 20X , similar to my s10+. The mate 20X larger battery provides greater in between charges when device is in idle and screen off and a slightly better SOT time with screen on than my S10+.
As we all know battery drain % has nothing to do with battery capacity. Drain is drain, regardless. I use GSAM and Accubattery Pro on all my devices to measure SOT and idle drain amongst other things. One other important point is that battery drain on same given device can be completely different to someone elses same device. There are many variables that come into play in regards to battery drain. Hence why there are users of s10+ devices that complain their battery drains faster whereby others post 10 hours plus screen on time. The S10 plus is a mere example, change the device name and it's the same scenario on other device forums on XDA.
As for YouTube reviews for phones in general, I've came to find out a while ago that most are fake. YouTube influencers are given the device for free for favourable reviews.
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk

s327374 said:
I like your post. Although I am only a senior member too. I don't think that means I am anywhere near qualified to do anything more than pontificate and slander. Basically, all that means is that I have been lucky enough to experience help from other waaaay more knowledgeable people than myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats fine I dont expect anyone to know more than anyone else. There are no absolutes here just relative critiques.
How do I know that you are not some sort of Samsung plant? A70 can't be as awesome as this phone, can it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would I or samsung gain from a phone made for the asian market if I were a secret samsung agent based in USA on an english-based website? The samsung a70 is the only phone at my disposal with which to compare the mate 20x.
ok - I have no idea why this is the way it is for you. I have NEVER experienced a battery experience like this in sooooo ****ing many phones. So many times that famous African American on youtube - you know who - would tell me that 'this' phone's battery life was the best. And so many times I'd get let down (never more so than the Huawei Nexus 6P. Damn I loved that phone, but damn that battery sucked). Anyway, Now-a-days I can accidentally leave my camera or torch on and it DOES NOT MATTER.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you actually read or just scan through the battery paragraph? I specifically explained how I set up my phone. Battery life again compared to the a70 leaves much to be desired. Why it went from 100% to 96% in 3 hours with everything turned off is completely inexcusable. As for the black guy in youtube, we dont know how HE set up his phone. Keep in mind that the mate 20x mustve been his 1st 5000 mah battery phone which came out last year at the time of his review when very few phones within that same period had the same mah capacity. This is why you cant judge a phone without comparing it to other phones. I actually tested the phone with the a70 on several occasions, being careful to take notes of observed changes in battery. Just to let you know, two phones from different companies with the same battery capacity will ALWAYS perform differently in terms of battery. This is irrefutable fact.
I actually really like EMUI despite my bashing in numerous threads. I especially like the gestures. I am even unsure if I could go back to Nova ... but the fact I can't, ****s me off more than anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant qualify your response as to the UI since you prefer a 1971 chevy when we're driving 2018 ferraris. What I can comment on is that I think the L29 version can install launchers. But I'm not 100% sure on that so dont quote me for assurance.
Nah man - in my opinion, the phone's resolution is pretty good. You sure you don't work for Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it looks like this is the only phone you may have owned. Not sure but thats what it sounds like to me. Reviewers have also entered the same judgement as to its resolution.
Nah dude ... It is a solid phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said it wasnt a solid phone. Its just not a perfectly solid 10 out of 10. Its plagued with issues serious companies arent foolish enough to make which should have been ironed out before huawei released it. Premium should be premium especially at premium price, no excuses.
Chinese phone makers are not in the habit of being keen on quality control and are slow to correct mistakes. They think they can just slap together a phone with high end specs through cheap labor as their corp revenue goal, throw it in the consumer's face like a doggy treat and expect them to bite. Thats not how you make customers happy. You keep them satisfied through constant and consistent quality control which the chinese have historically lacked for a long time in their product cycles. But admittingly they are getting better at it; in that sense I give them credit where credit is due. But china is still no korea at least not yet. The mate 20x issues are to the mate 20x what chinese companies are to customers. If china would have made a strong effort to make phones amazing in all respects they could have single-handedly put a major dent in apple, lg and samsung by now.

Limeybastard said:
That was me who mentioned about the battery drain being slightly better on the mate 20X , it was in relation to my s10+.
The S10+ screen is smaller at 6.4", screen on time battery drain would be greater with a larger panel regardless of battery capacity as we all know. It's all relative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes I remember now, it was you. Appreciate that info you confirmed. However I mistakenly said it was your s9 when it was actually your s10+. I stand corrected.
As we all know battery drain % has nothing to do with battery capacity. Drain is drain, regardless. I use GSAM and Accubattery Pro on all my devices to measure SOT and idle drain amongst other things. One other important point is that battery drain on same given device can be completely different to someone elses same device. There are many variables that come into play in regards to battery drain. Hence why there are users of s10+ devices that complain their battery drains faster whereby others post 10 hours plus screen on time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats exactly what I surmised in my review. Battery capacity means nothing. It doesnt matter how big a battery is; its how efficiently the phone utilizes the voltage and how the software is able to tie in everything together, hardware and software wise.
As for YouTube reviews for phones in general, I've came to find out a while ago that most are fake. YouTube influencers are given the device for free for favourable reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are correct. It is very unfortunate that we still cant get unfiltered honest reviews despite the "free" internet environment.

Isn't it strange that we have experiences with the phone, and yet we are both ultimately unhappy with the outcome. I am frustrated, you are disappointed.
We are like the odd couple of Huawei owners.
Except, you know, we aren't really a couple...
s327374 said:
Yo - I'll bite.
I like your post. Although I am only a senior member too. I don't think that means I am anywhere near qualified to do anything more than pontificate and slander. Basically, all that means is that I have been lucky enough to experience help from other waaaay more knowledgeable people than myself.
It amazes me that none of us have anywhere near the same experience as each other. ok - i have had a wine or two and the last ime that happened I started the worst rated thread in the house. https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/goodbye-huawei-phone-t3965177/page3#post80500435
COMPLAINTS & REVIEW OF THE HUAWEI MATE 20 X
This is my personal take of the huawei mate 20X which I provide as a cautionary note to potential buyers. This is an honest critique of a phone I owned for little over a month. For comparison sake I own the samsung a70 and used that to gauge the phone's overall value. Last month I bought it going in with the mindset that the big screen and its features would be cool as hell. I was wrong.
>
I haven't owned a Samsung since the S8+ - I loved it, but the battery was nowhere near what they said it was for me. I wonder if it was because I have to use a VPN 80% of the time to access Google services. (in China - Lucky/unlucky me). How do I know that you are not some sort of Samsung plant? A70 can't be as awesome as this phone, can it?
Online I purchased it for $590. My first impression when I unboxed it was I felt horrified. The phone is monster big. It made me a bit uneasy to think that the heavy weight coupled with its sheer size would make for a perfect shattered screen in time. As I handled it I was on edge that it would fall which made me feel somewhat insecure. But after a while I got used to the size and it fit my pockets although the top protrudes out a bit. After toying with it I felt I had to always be aware that it might fall so I used extra precaution while it was on my person, but it was no biggie.
>
I'm a big guy. I like the size. I like everything about the size. Yes, if you don't want a big phone - go to something else.
BATTERY
The first thing that constantly bothered me about the phone was the battery which is 5000 mah. The first thing I made sure to do was to put this baby into airplane mode, turn off bt and location and just keep wifi on. Also, I made sure of turning off background activity in the settings on the grand majority of apps not to mention uninstalling unwanted apps.
ok - I have no idea why this is the way it is for you. I have NEVER experienced a battery experience like this in sooooo ****ing many phones. So many times that famous African American on youtube - you know who - would tell me that 'this' phone's battery life was the best. And so many times I'd get let down (never more so than the Huawei Nexus 6P. Damn I loved that phone, but damn that battery sucked). Anyway, Now-a-days I can accidentally leave my camera or torch on and it DOES NOT MATTER. This thing is a battery wizard ... for me. THe AL00 in china with Veeeeepeeeee-ENNNN
You might at first glance think, "wow 5000 mah, amazing I'll buy it right away!" Hold your horses buddy. Just because a phone has a big battery doesnt necessarily mean it will perform like a big battery. An example of this is when I charged the phone to 100% one morning. I read email, went on youtube for 10 minutes, surfed the net and made one call that lasted 2 minutes. This whole session lasted 20 minutes. The battery drained to 87%, I kid you not! Another example is when I charged it to 100% one night. After 3 hours of idleness, not picking it up or doing anything to it, the battery read a disconcerting 96%. How in god's name is that possible on 5000 mah after I disabled many apps and killed many more running in the background?? My samsung a70 which has a 4500 mah battery beats the mate 20X big time in battery. After I put the a70 through the ringer with the above same session in the same amount of time the battery showed 97%. A user on xda commented that his mate 20x's battery is slightly (keyword, slightly) better than his samsung s9 which has a 4100 mah battery. Now youre seeing the bigger picture.
I have NEVER been more impressed by a smart phone. I get a day and a bit an dI am a HEAVY user. Not sure why your phone life is ****, but I wish I knew why.
UI
The UI is the 2nd worst thing about this phone. It looks heavily outdated like Ice Cream or Kit Kat. Very disappointing. Though it navigates fast through menus, the app drawer cant be accessed by swiping from the bottom. Even though you have an option for that feature its
I actually really like EMUI despite my bashing in numerous threads. I especially like the gestures. I am even unsure if I could go back to Nova ... but the fact I can't, ****s me off more than anything. The worst and second-worst and third-worst thing about this phone is the lack of accessibility to a launcher. Damn -that is frustrating and I want to elbow all the EVR dudes right in the GD nose for their insistence that the phone is awesome!
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Another bone of contention is the screen resolution. It looks good. But when compared to modern phones like my a70 which is very sharp it falls short. Of course the screen is large which "thins out" pixel density making it less crisp. Thats understandable. But it disappoints when juxtaposing it to sharper phones.
Nah man - in my opinion, the phone's resolution is pretty good. You sure you don't work for Samsung?
SOUND & BATTERY
The sound volume and quality are quite loud and amazing respectively. The best I've ever come across in any smartphone. Huawei did a good job in this dept. But there's no way to toggle dolby atmos off unfortunately. Battery charging is fast, no complaints. Stereo is a huge plus!
You're probably right, but I couldn't give a toss about this as I mostly use Bluetooth ear. Speakers have been handy once ort twice, but essentially, I have never used the jack. Also I have no clue what the **** is Atmos - I am a philistine when it comes to musique.
GAMES AND VIDEO
For some unknown twisted reason, given the above complaints, playing games on this phone lasted a long time. Playing asphalt 9 for 15 minutes drained only 4 - 5%. Same thing with playing videos. An hour of youtube drained only 6%. Very good but strange given its battery drains in other areas.
Think you are right with this. I seem to be able to set my son up on math prodigy and t4each your monster how to read and it lasts a zillion times longer than when I use the old huawei 6P.
OVERALL & MY ADVICE clumsy and not pretty.
My great question in all this is, why the hell arent people complaining about these issues?? Battery is not efficient, the UI looks ugly and feels way outdated, resolution isnt as sharp as on other phones and its a bit heavy. To be perfectly honest, with all these faults the phone is worth $460, not $650 which is the lowest price as a new item on amazon at the time of this writing. Without any of these issues the phone would be perfect.
It is worth it, in my opinion if you live outside of China and can get the EVA version and you don't need heaps of mem or a dual sim. I need a dual sim, heaps of mem, and I live in China. Therefore it has completely sucked owning the most amazing phone EVER.
For those considering buying this phone take great heed of the aforementioned before you fork over 7 tall bills for it that later on you might regret. Dont be easily fooled by rave reviews of owners of the phone on xda. Many will exaggerate it because theyre blinded by its large size. Likewise, dont be easily fooled by tech reviews elsewhere like those found on zdnet. Some of them are actually written by paid reviewers who will intentionally gloss over a product, ignoring its faults to satisfy ad revenue.
Nah dude ... It is a solid phone. I also got my wife off Apple with the mate 20 pro. These are the best phones - period. Sady though, big business and government dictate otherwise.
HUAWEI... CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME UNLOCK MY BOOTLOADER FFS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deloj said:
Oh yes I remember now, it was you. Appreciate that info you confirmed. However I mistakenly said it was your s9 when it was actually your s10+. I stand corrected.
Thats exactly what I surmised in my review. Battery capacity means nothing. Its how you use it that determines its longevity and drain rate. It doesnt matter how big a battery is; its how efficiently the phone utilizes the voltage and how the software is able to tie in everything together, hardware and software wise.
Yes you are correct. It is very unfortunate that we still cant get unfiltered honest reviews despite the "free" internet environment.
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deloj said:
Thats fine I dont expect anyone to know more than anyone else. There are no absolutes here just relative critiques.
What would I or samsung gain from a phone made for the asian market if I were a secret samsung agent based in USA on an english-based website? The samsung a70 is the only phone at my disposal with which to compare the mate 20x.
Did you actually read or just scan through the battery paragraph? I specifically explained how I set up my phone. Battery life again compared to the a70 leaves much to be desired. Why it went from 100% to 96% in 3 hours with everything turned off is completely inexcusable. As for the black guy in youtube, we dont know how HE set up his phone. Keep in mind that the mate 20x mustve been his 1st 5000 mah battery phone which came out last year at the time of his review when very few phones within that same period had the same mah capacity. This is why you cant judge a phone without comparing it to other phones. I actually tested the phone with the a70 on several occasions, being careful to take notes of observed changes in battery. Just to let you know, two phones from different companies with the same battery capacity will ALWAYS perform differently in terms of battery. This is irrefutable fact.
I cant qualify your response as to the UI since you prefer a 1971 chevy when we're driving 2018 ferraris. What I can comment on is that I think the L29 version can install launchers. But I'm not 100% sure on that so dont quote me for assurance.
Yeah it looks like this is the only phone you may have owned. Not sure but thats what it sounds like to me. Reviewers have also entered the same judgement as to its resolution.
Never said it wasnt a solid phone. Its just not a perfectly solid 10 out of 10. Its plagued with issues serious companies arent foolish enough to make which should have been ironed out before huawei released it. Premium should be premium especially at premium price, no excuses.
Chinese phone makers are not in the habit of being keen on quality control and are slow to correct mistakes. They think they can just slap together a phone with high end specs through cheap labor as their corp revenue goal, throw it in the consumer's face like a doggy treat and expect them to bite. Thats not how you make customers happy. You keep them satisfied through constant and consistent quality control which the chinese have historically lacked for a long time in their product cycles. But admittingly they are getting better at it; in that sense I give them credit where credit is due. But china is still no korea at least not yet. The mate 20x issues are to the mate 20x what chinese companies are to customers. If china had made a strong effort to make phones amazing in all respects they could have single-handedly demolished apple, lg and samsung by now.
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s327374 said:
Isn't it strange that we have experiences with the phone, and yet we are both ultimately unhappy with the outcome. I am frustrated, you are disappointed.
We are like the odd couple of Huawei owners.
Except, you know, we aren't really a couple...
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I'm both frustrated and disappointed. Honestly I wanted to make the mate 20x my main driver that I planned to replace my a70. But huawei decided for me to keep my a70.
The honor 8x max is a good big screened phone. But problems with installed google services like the playstore keep me from considering buying it.
Looks like I'll stick to my a70 until I see a better contender with a bigger screen, hopefully one with no issues that would otherwise prompt me to open a thread to complain about.
Wouldnt say we're the 'odd couple' since we're both not as frustrated with each other as with that one thing bothering us, the mate 20x. We're more like Frasier and Niles.

deloj said:
I'm both frustrated and disappointed. Honestly I wanted to make the mate 20x my main driver that I planned to replace my a70. But huawei decided for me to keep my a70.
The honor 8x max is a good big screened phone. But problems with installed google services like the playstore keep me from considering buying it.
Looks like I'll stick to my a70 until I see a better contender with a bigger screen, hopefully one with no issues that would otherwise prompt me to open a thread to complain about.
Wouldnt say we're the 'odd couple' since we're both not as frustrated with each other as with that one thing bothering us, the mate 20x. We're more like Frasier and Niles.
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Honor 8X Max doesn't appear to support any TMobile USA LTE bands.
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk

Limeybastard said:
Honor 8X Max doesn't appear to support any TMobile USA LTE bands.
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk
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I actually saw on amazon the 8x max for gsm carriers like tmobile.

deloj said:
I actually saw on amazon the 8x max for gsm carriers like tmobile.
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Max version hasn't got any USA T-Mobile LTE bands.
The none Max version has some T-Mobile LTE bands though.
View attachment 4844367
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

For me, the terrible bluetooth quality is killing me. The signal breaks up a LOT!

Limeybastard said:
Max version hasn't got any USA T-Mobile LTE bands.
The none Max version has some T-Mobile LTE bands though.
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Very sad to hear that. Another example of huawei disappointing potential consumers. The fact that this will hurt them in revenue makes me happy. If they dont take this as a lesson I dont know what will.
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bigfire said:
For me, the terrible bluetooth quality is killing me. The signal breaks up a LOT!
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You mustve picked up a defective phone. I didnt have any issues with bt. Hate saying this but try a factory reset.

My bluetooth works brilliantly. Did the factory reset work?

Well guys I'm thinking of buying back this phone. Before I do I need to see how it looks with Emui 10. If anyone has the BETA emui 10 installed I'd appreciate a few pics. Thanks guys.