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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..
We also got a couple of P8max in our household.
a silver one 64premium+ edition from 3q 2015 from Banggood and another 32GB Grey titanium that just arrived, both 703L..
but on both there seems to be included an 165GB cloud storage, and on the first p8max it seems it will work to 3q 2017 so around 2 years..
it seems to be all p8max that are in the gold-huawei-class, where as an device like p8 lite is in the silver catogory with lack of service features..
sofare got it up and running on the p8max handset with the hicloud app and works overall like any cloud drive,..
but i got huge problems when im trying to acces my huawei-cloud ' on other devices, like from other android, win10, mac etc. devices, and trying to get access to my files and pictures from the p8max ' that are being lifted to my 165 hicloud drive.
what programs & apps do you guys use to get acces to your huawei-cloud-storage?.
Dont you guys take advantage of that massive 165GB 2 year cloud drive, that comes a long with an p8 max handset?
seems to work as expected on the handset itsefl, but the problems comes when accessing it from another device?
it also states in the phone that you can acces it via_ "cloud.huawei.com"
but nope, after log-in 'it just takes you, to an screen that seems to be intended for touch.. (1pic) and the main button below, "use huawei ID takes you to an screen that just display, the storage use (pic2) and detail, but absolutely no way to access the actual storage, as I can see..
Talked with Huawei Scandinavia (on the danish number) there was handled by an swedish support, but they was not familiar that Huawei got anykind of user-storage with there handsets at all, or have ewer heard the name hicloud or any of the other huawei factors... so certainly not an feature that are being promoted in my part of the world, but still should be accessble
tryed to take down that hicloud-app from Google play on my other android device an xperia z2 tablet, but was not possible and stated not valid on that device, so unsure if its just an restriction in regional danish google play limitasion.. will see if i can find that hicloud apk in bare..
That's odd how you got yours to work. The only way I got mine (gold version) to work is by using a china IP. I just assumed they block IPs that are outside of china.
Hi. Like many others, I'm quite interested in the Chinese version of the Mate 9 because of the option of 6GB ram and 128GB memory. As I would set language to English on phone I was wondering if Chinese characters still appear on various screens, like in settings or apps, even though the English language is selected? Is that the case with the International or Euro versions as well? If possible, could folks, with language set to English, show some screen shots to compare what appears on the screen using different models?
The other thing I was wondering is how does having 6GB of ram help improve performance. Is it noticeably better than the 4GB versions? Is the multitasking better? Maybe folks can compare how many apps can be run without the OS killing them off.
Appreciate you comments as it will help me decide which model to buy. Thanks!
If you set the language to English, things showing in Chinese characters will not be a big problem. There are some Chinese language apps included with the Chinese version, but you probably won't use them, except one time to set up Google.
I only have the Chinese version, but there are a couple of people on this forum that have both. Hopefully they can answer your other questions.
duraaraa said:
If you set the language to English, things showing in Chinese characters will not be a big problem. There are some Chinese language apps included with the Chinese version, but you probably won't use them, except one time to set up Google.
I only have the Chinese version, but there are a couple of people on this forum that have both. Hopefully they can answer your other questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your comments and your efforts here! I guess it would provide an opportunity to learn some Chinese! Do you notice any improvement with multitasking due to having 6GB ram? For example, I have a Note Edge and it has 3GB RAM. Once I start running about 5 or 6 apps the OS will kill some to make room for the next I run. About how many apps can you run in background without the OS killing an app. How Android handles multitasking has always been an issue for me. Although I hear it's better with MM or N as it does a better job of saving changes/settings when it does kill an app now. One more thing. Has the Chinese version received the recent update? Be nice to know how noticeable the camera improvements are. Thanks again!
I'm not able to answer the multitasking part as I only have the 4GB Ram versions of both the international one and the chinese one, although I've never had any slow down nor do I notice any issues swapping between apps but I dare say I don't pay as much attention to it as you do.
The chinese version has received B136 recently, this included the notification updates like the international B126 but also enables the Google Framwork to be re-installed. I do notice some differences, the chinese phone dialer is annoying with it's Yellow Pages lookup - if you start entering numbers you get loads of suggestions appear in chinese. The other big difference is contacts, by default you cannot sync your Google contacts with the phone. I'm not sure if an app on the Huawei app store fixes this though as I've not looked yet. The other difference that I notice is the keyboard, when you enter a password, a different (password only?) keyboard is used which is not part of any keyboard you install (Swype, Swiftkey etc). I think that keyboard is part of their additional security suite installed on the chinese one.
With that said, I'm keeping the chinese one as it's in Mocha gold and I'm going to sell the international one as it's in champagne gold and I prefer Mocha
gnasher666 said:
I'm not able to answer the multitasking part as I only have the 4GB Ram versions of both the international one and the chinese one, although I've never had any slow down nor do I notice any issues swapping between apps but I dare say I don't pay as much attention to it as you do.
The chinese version has received B136 recently, this included the notification updates like the international B126 but also enables the Google Framwork to be re-installed. I do notice some differences, the chinese phone dialer is annoying with it's Yellow Pages lookup - if you start entering numbers you get loads of suggestions appear in chinese. The other big difference is contacts, by default you cannot sync your Google contacts with the phone. I'm not sure if an app on the Huawei app store fixes this though as I've not looked yet. The other difference that I notice is the keyboard, when you enter a password, a different (password only?) keyboard is used which is not part of any keyboard you install (Swype, Swiftkey etc). I think that keyboard is part of their additional security suite installed on the chinese one.
With that said, I'm keeping the chinese one as it's in Mocha gold and I'm going to sell the international one as it's in champagne gold and I prefer Mocha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input! From what I can see the GMS installer fixes the contacts issue and presumably the phone dialler issue. Perhaps someone else can confirm.
In regards to multitasking, my experience was that if I put a file editor like Office Suite in background and run several apps and then return to the editor I found that my edits were not always saved. But I think android does a better better job of this in newer versions.
Wondering why you like the champagne gold more than the mocha gold. Is the champagne too glitzy? Just asking as I've never seen either up close. Thanks again!
Well, call me crazy. I bought the Chinese one!
Just got the Chinese version MHA-L00 4/64 in mocha gold. Upgraded to B135 and installed GMS installer. Now be able to use google apps without issues except Google Now, which despite multiple downloading attempts cannot replace the default HUAWEI HOME launcher. Quite frustrating... Contacts and dialer fine.
Seventhwave said:
Just got the Chinese version MHA-L00 4/64 in mocha gold. Upgraded to B135 and installed GMS installer. Now be able to use google apps without issues except Google Now, which despite multiple downloading attempts cannot replace the default HUAWEI HOME launcher. Quite frustrating... Contacts and dialer fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. Sorry to hear you can't replace launcher. I've been using Total Launcher on my Note Edge for quite awhile. Takes a little work but I like how I can customize screen with it. Hope it will work. I've also ordered mocha gold. If you are in US can you comment which carrier you are on and data speeds? I'm on T-mobile and it appears that the phone has correct bands. But you never know!
If certain launchers aren't working for you, use Nova Launcher. It has a lot of Google's Nougat style implementations.
mscion said:
Hi. Sorry to hear you can't replace launcher. I've been using Total Launcher on my Note Edge for quite awhile. Takes a little work but I like how I can customize screen with it. Hope it will work. I've also ordered mocha gold. If you are in US can you comment which carrier you are on and data speeds? I'm on T-mobile and it appears that the phone has correct bands. But you never know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I am in the States and I use H2O service which is a MVNO of ATT. The signal and speed are very satisfactory. Will post a speed test result later.
---------- Post added at 07:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 PM ----------
opasha said:
If certain launchers aren't working for you, use Nova Launcher. It has a lot of Google's Nougat style implementations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice. Just downloaded Nova launcher and trying it. Somehow I found the phone tends to automatically switche default launcher back to HUAWEI HOME for some reason. Do not it is just mine or generally so...
Seventhwave said:
Yes I am in the States and I use H2O service which is a MVNO of ATT. The signal and speed are very satisfactory. Will post a speed test result later.
---------- Post added at 07:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 PM ----------
Thanks for the advice. Just downloaded Nova launcher and trying it. Somehow I found the phone tends to automatically switche default launcher back to HUAWEI HOME for some reason. Do not it is just mine or generally so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Very encouraging. Looking forward to the speed test. I can switch to at&t if speeds aren't that great on tmobile.
In regards to the launcher, did you check in settings whether you can set what the default launcher is?
mscion said:
Thanks! Very encouraging. Looking forward to the speed test. I can switch to at&t if speeds aren't that great on tmobile.
In regards to the launcher, did you check in settings whether you can set what the default launcher is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tested at two different locations and the results were relatively consistent.
Yes I can see my default launcher options in the setting but somehow it automatically switches back after I chose Nova... really weird.
mscion said:
Thanks! Very encouraging. Looking forward to the speed test. I can switch to at&t if speeds aren't that great on tmobile.
In regards to the launcher, did you check in settings whether you can set what the default launcher is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I can stably use Nova as my default launcher, but seems that I do not have something like the Now cards from Google Now, which is exactly the reason why I want to use Google Now launcher... need to play with the Nova launcher a little more.
Seventhwave said:
Now I can stably use Nova as my default launcher, but seems that I do not have something like the Now cards from Google Now, which is exactly the reason why I want to use Google Now launcher... need to play with the Nova launcher a little more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into Gestures - Swipe Up - GOOGLE NOW - works like a charm and much faster. Also, if you hold the home button on any screen you or on, it will google search the most significant thing on the screen. It's highly customizable. That's why many of us have been using it for some time.
Also, thanks for the AT&T speed results. That is really comforting to see!
opasha said:
Go into Gestures - Swipe Up - GOOGLE NOW - works like a charm and much faster. Also, if you hold the home button on any screen you or on, it will google search the most significant thing on the screen. It's highly customizable. That's why many of us have been using it for some time.
Also, thanks for the AT&T speed results. That is really comforting to see!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. Worked for me to get Google now cards afte upgrading to premium. Will try the search trick.
Seventhwave said:
thanks. Worked for me to get Google now cards afte upgrading to premium. Will try the search trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are most welcome. Glad to hear it.
Seventhwave said:
Tested at two different locations and the results were relatively consistent.
Yes I can see my default launcher options in the setting but somehow it automatically switches back after I chose Nova... really weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! This result is quite encouraging! Wonder if folks can do better around the US. I live just north of DC and can get a little more than 40mbps download speeds on tmobile using a Note Edge. Of course depends on location. Once I get my Mate 9 I'll post speeds.
Hi I just ordered Chinese version MHA-L00 6GB/128GB is there anyway you can test and let me know if you are getting an LTE connection in US, since based on my research Chinese version is not compatible with us LTE bands.
thank you in advance.
I have both US and Chinese mate 9. There are some differences.
1. US version has perfect google play service. All the google apps work fine. Chinese version requires the GMS to be installed by GMS installer. But google play store doesn't download sometimes until reboot. The google now launcher can't be set as default launcher, but after install the google now launcher, my google now app started to work. I believe system updates will fix everything.
2. Chinese version only allows Wechat and QQ to have 2 accounts, but international version allows facebook I believe.
3. Chinese version has more bloatware installed, US version is cleaner.
4. Chinese version has some super useful app like buddy help (remote control other huawei device), skytone (connect to 4G internationally without local sim card, etc). This is the main reason I use chinese model since I travel a lot.
In terms of color, Chinese has more choices. I am using gold chinese phone. My US model is black. I prefer black way more than gold.
In terms of connectivity, they are exactly the same.
Awesome, thanks!
Hi,
since I can't find much on the interwebs, maybe a huawei wizz can help me here.
For Christmas I imported the honor waterplay (non LTE 3GB/32GB version) (since it was fairly cheap and, well, IP67... so it can function as a ebook reader while in the bathtub/jaccuzzi) and also has a beefy battery.
The issue I have is: on huawei's website I can not unlock the bootloader, If you use EMUI 5.0 you can select tablets, but the waterplay is not recognized. If you select 5.1 (which the waterplay has) you can only select Smartphones. I contacted Huawei via Mail but 10 days running - no answer. - so is there a way to unlock it so i can flash magisk?
Second Q: Is there a working exploit to get at least root running? adb via usb is not working, on click root apps failed (as well as the windows supported ones like kingo etc.)
thirdly: does anyone know if the waterplays' hardware is similar to a lineage os version of another tablet ? (I'd love to have a L-OS on that, not only for root but some apps loaded with yalp annoy me, they work but always a popup google services are required...)
btw: the tablet is impressive for the money (260€) ereader mode it lasts days (was reading some GoT for hours), playing games is good (my nephew played 4h on christmas and it only lost 40%), overall system is responsive. it has a fingerprint reader which works ok and can be used with gestures. All it misses is a fully google supported rom. Sound with the 4 Speakers is actually good - you can even watch streams/movies without sounding too tinny.
thanks in advance for any suggestions / support
cheers
@ moderators: if this is wrong here, please move it - I did not want to hijack any honor forum for this, since there is no section for the waterplay yet. thanks
Hey Buster... im in the same position as you... love taking it in the shower so i dont miss anything.... but need a rom of some sort to open things up..... we can only hope the guys who know will give us a hand... pinky
m1pnk said:
Hey Buster... im in the same position as you... love taking it in the shower so i dont miss anything.... but need a rom of some sort to open things up..... we can only hope the guys who know will give us a hand... pinky
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lets hope for the best
root
hey Buster... you found a good root tool for the waterplay ?
Nope nothing yet I'm afraid
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
one last bump.
is there a root method for this device?
thanks
I could not install Google Play, how do I? Does anyone speak Mandarin?
renatohs said:
I could not install Google Play, how do I? Does anyone speak Mandarin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have 2 files to enable Google Play service on the Waterplay.
You need the Huawei gms services apk (com.huawei.gmsinstaller.apk Ver. 1.2.0) , and then an google play installer (com.goplaycn.googleinstall.apk Ver. 4.8.1)
Both of these can be found easily using google search.
You need to install the gms service apk first, reboot the tablet and then install the google play installer to get the playstore app on your tablet. You might need to wait a bit after the playstore is installed for the Playstore app to update itself to the correct version before selecting the app.
Once the you select the app it will ask for your google credentials and you can go from there.
I have ordered a Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and am now waiting for it to be despatched and delivered. I wish I had found this forum earlier and I might have ordered from a different (recommended) seller. I'm told that despatch will be no later than Friday 4th December - we shall see.
I have ordered the Chinese version and have bookmarked a web page which explains how to access the appropriate settings, not being able to read Chinese, by using icons. I'm hoping that I can get through that to convert to English otherwise I'm stuck. I see that unlocking the bootloader is pretty straightforward so I shall start that process as soon as I receive the 'phone.
I have flashed custom ROMs and rooted most of my previous 'phones although now that I'm 84 I have to work from a printed list of instructions in order that I don't forget something. Bad memory comes with age. I haven't yet decided whether or not to flash the European ROM.
I have seen, on the web two differing opinions regarding the Chinese ROM camera and the European ROM camera. I am buying this phone because of its camera and I have seen remarks that infer that the camera in the European ROM is not as good as the one in the Chinese ROM so I am wary of flashing the EU ROM. Does anyone have any knowledge of this?
Now I just have to wait.
If your device is pristine, at first boot you will be prompted to choose the language.
Some sellers wight do that for you, so you could receive your device already in English and even with google play store installed.
This way or another, you will have to wait 1 week in order to unlock bootloader. Plenty of time for playing with stock rom.
From what I realized, I could be easily staying with stock rom. But now I am sure that switching to EU rom is the only way to go. I moved to EU rom right after unlocking and never looked back.
As for camera question - I am enjoying EU rom camera, nothing bad so far.
batareikin51 said:
If your device is pristine, at first boot you will be prompted to choose the language.
Some sellers wight do that for you, so you could receive your device already in English and even with google play store installed.
This way or another, you will have to wait 1 week in order to unlock bootloader. Plenty of time for playing with stock rom.
From what I realized, I could be easily staying with stock rom. But now I am sure that switching to EU rom is the only way to go. I moved to EU rom right after unlocking and never looked back.
As for camera question - I am enjoying EU rom camera, nothing bad so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am supposed to be getting a sealed box which means that nothing extra will have been installed. If I do get a language prompt on first boot then that will make things easy. I haven't seen anyone mention specific camera problems i.e. exposure, contrast, tonal range etc so I've really no idea what these problems might be.
BarrySamuels said:
I haven't seen anyone mention specific camera problems i.e. exposure, contrast, tonal range etc so I've really no idea what these problems might be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just think about it like this "Who in the world would want to create from the scratch an alternative cam application for a very sophisticated cam if this app can be ported from Chinese rom in a snap of fingers?" There is no alternative cam app for Mi 10 ultra. It is the same app. So it is buggy at the same extent as stock rom cam app. As one of devs elaborated on this issue "there might be numerous factors contributing to bad image quality on a particular device. but that not necessarily means that camera app is buggy"
batareikin51 said:
Just think about it like this "Who in the world would want to create from the scratch an alternative cam application for a very sophisticated cam if this app can be ported from Chinese rom in a snap of fingers?" There is no alternative cam app for Mi 10 ultra. It is the same app. So it is buggy at the same extent as stock rom cam app. As one of devs elaborated on this issue "there might be numerous factors contributing to bad image quality on a particular device. but that not necessarily means that camera app is buggy"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your point. So there is really no reason to not install the EU ROM. Thank you for your reply.
This has now become purely theoretical as I have just discovered that my local service here in rural Wales depends on Band 20 which this phone doesn't have.
I have cancelled my order which is a great pity as I was looking forward to using this device. Quite a disappointment.
BarrySamuels said:
I have cancelled my order which is a great pity as I was looking forward to using this device. Quite a disappointment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that is its Achilles heel
Luckily in my area band 20 is of less significance.
Ultra is a true legend, but there are Mi 11 series' devices coming in pipeline.
I understand that Xiaomi said that they wouldn't produce an international version of Mi 10 Ultra but perhaps that is because one of the new Mi 11 range will have similar specifications. Here's hoping.
I'm in South Wales and have the Ultra on the way, it was despatched a few days ago. When you mentioned band 20, I'd that only for 5g? If it is I've no problem missing out on that as 4g is plenty fast enough for me plus I have unlimited data on the 3 network.
potsykate said:
I'm in South Wales and have the Ultra on the way, it was despatched a few days ago. When you mentioned band 20, I'd that only for 5g? If it is I've no problem missing out on that as 4g is plenty fast enough for me plus I have unlimited data on the 3 network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No bro. Band 20 is for 4g. But 3g would be pretty fast too.
sunilstark 1 said:
No bro. Band 20 is for 4g. But 3g would be pretty fast too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, if I'm reading write it'll support 5g over here though and 5g is being rolled out in my area.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra: Price, specs and best deals
As with the vast majority of Xiaomi phones, the Mi 10 Ultra does not go unnoticed far from it. It has the well-known Snapdragon 865 that we can combine with 8GB, 12GB or 16GB of RAM and a storage capacity that has its ceiling at 512GB. With this data, the AnTuTu score reaches 589,000 points...
www.kimovil.com
If you are in UK then go onto sim that uses EE network which predominantly uses band 3 & 7 for 4G.
I use Three network and not had any issues with 4G. I live in the North East UK
Nobody asked but I am using EE here in Essex and my Ultra gets 5G... giffgaff gets 4G.
By the way, I have never flashed custom ROMs or rooted any of my devices and to be honest I am still comfortable with the Chinese ROM despite the annoying notifications in Chinese. I haven't had the chance to try everything tho, I received my device a week ago.
What do you guys think? Should I aim to flash the European ROM anyway? I think that the warranty is void if the phone is flashed or rooted.
It's up to you if you want to change to EU or not. Yes gifgaf is based on O2, so no band 20 as you have found out. I'm the same too with Sky and EE.
I did move over to the EU ROM as it gives you full GMS over the hacked version installed by the seller but also for the great additional extras to the ROM and the support from the Xiaomi EU forum.
If you've not done any modifications or flashed ROMs it can be daunting but with this phone and it ability to access fastboot, you can practically never brick it. There is always a way of getting back to a working phone. You will need to unlock your bootloader and wait a further 168 hours to do anything but I have produced a guide that takes you through all this if you want and I'm here if you need help, just message me. I have in the past even helped over Skype and remote pc for some.
As all the most recent ROMs are now twrp compatible, you only need your pc to push twrp from fastboot to replace your stock recovery, then install your first EU ROM by twrp. After that you can just use the inbuilt updater to update. Of course it's your preference. If you don't like it, you can always go back stock Chinese, this will remove twrp and you can lock your bootloader again ( can't do this while on EU ROM) and you will be back to how you were. My only advise as you will get your phone formatted when you unlock after 168 hour wait and you must if you change ROM branches too, so make a good off phone back up so you can restore your data.
Here is a list of the EU ROM extras...
Based on China Stable / Weekly builds
Enabled search gesture (swipe up) on the desktop
3way reboot menu (in dev settings)
Dark Mode (Night Mode) for all devices
Removed ads in MIUI system apps
MIUI Dialer and Messages apps
Face Unlock for all devices
Vertical clock widget on lockscreen
Steps counter in Assistant screen
More shortcuts on left lockscreen
Wake up gestures for all devices
AI preloading option in MIUI Lab for all devices
Fullscreen gestures for all devices
Option to auto-expand first notification
Notifications priority settings
More edit options in Gallery app
Enabled MiDrive in File Explorer
Added landscape mode for SMS app
Sunrise/Sunset in the weather app
Google apps support integrated
Removed 5GHz region restrictions
Confirm dials from call logs
Morning report on alarm at morning
More apps supported for AOD notifications
More styles for AOD screen
Raise to wake gesture
AOD notification received animation
Default volume control stream toggle
Tap fingerprint sensor to wake toggle
More Camera features
Double tap to lock screen
Battery AI scenes
Allowed disabling specific system apps
Importing theme .mtz from zhuti.xiaomi.com via ThemeManager
No useless Chinese bloatware apps
More free RAM due to less background processes
Unified flat style app icons for both system and 3rd party apps
Advanced menu with color icons
No any Chinese character under the full system
Mi Video, Mi Music, Mi Browser: No any useless Chinese content
No possibility to re-lock bootloader accidentally with flash any xiaomi.eu release
Added real 27 languages translation made by Official MIUI Fansites and MIUI Fans
Added EU T9 dialer support
Added charging sound switch
Added Screen-OFF animation
Optimized GPS settings for EU
Optimized Battery consumption
Optimized RAM consumption
Added 3D Touch to MI5S 3GB RAM version
Added GSMalphabet into SMS app options
Added more icons grid layout 4x5, 4x6, 4x7, 5x5, 5x6, 5x7 (depends on device)
SafetyNet passed (Google Pay)
Play Store Certified
Deodexed
Added automated tasks in Security app
Added game speed booster
Added erase module (magic elimination) to Gallery photo edit options
Fixed low volume sound via headphone
Charging screen for all devices
Widevine L1 (for supported devices)
And more, and more made by our 9 years MIUI mods experience.
Hey, thanks for that and the document, really appreciate it!
I am still thinking about having giffgaff as my main SIM despite getting 4G. I have 5G with EE on my Ultra but the problem with EE is its signal indoors. For any reason it is pretty bad, even when I am in Central London, while giffgaff runs smoothly. I don't know how many calls I have missed due to that, and apparently I am not the only one with this issue.
This has been happening with my Redmi Note 4 in the last 3+ years and now happens with my Ultra as well, so defo the problem is the network not the phone. I also use giffgaff for international calls, EE tariffs are 5x or more expensive for int'l calls to the same country... crazy!
Regarding the EU ROM procedure, I will try doing so in the next days following your instructions and I will write down my experience here. I reckon I am a bit scared to do so, it's first time I spend that much money on buying a flagship phone (and on any electronics I think) and don't wanna mess it up. However I will post any issues I encounter.
Cheers!
Good luck if you do make the plunge to go EU. As I said, you can always go back if you want to.
Just make sure you have an off phone back up before you start and you have the new ROM ready to copy over from your PC or usb stick. This way you can use fastboot to push twrp, then reboot straight to recovery (twrp) and flash your ROM. There is a good chance the twrp may be in Chinese, so you will need to change it to English. Once done, format data and reboot. Then wait as it will take ages but as long as you see 5G and miui then it will be fine. If you need any support, message me.