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Hello people,
For my grilfriend i ordered a Blackview P2. and will receive it next week.
Original-Blackview-P2-Smartphone-MTK6750T-Octa-Core-5-5-Inch-4GB-RAM-64GB-ROM
I thought it would be perfect for her and fun for me to try out.
Unfortunately there is not much to find about it yet, altough it has good specs (and reviews on youtube) in my opinion.
If anyone has some info, experience with it, or knows a thread (which i can't find), i would be most thankfull.
getting mine tomorrow
good luck with it.
My P2 died after 2 weeks of normal use.
Not rooted, some standard apps on it.
From the start quite a few of google apps crashed, and after 2 weeks...
battery was still 60% full, a few hours after last use, she took the phone and it was off.
Never booted again after that.
Not normally, no recovery mode...nothing.
I am still argueing with Aliexpress about it.
Off course that happend after expiration of the buyer protection, so not possible to open a dispute.
At the moment i get help from the ali helpdesk, i'll have to wait and see.
I bought the phone from amazon and it seems fine. Would love to see some custom ROMs developed.
Hello,
I would like to recommend, to make a ROM dumb for the device in case something happened.
I have one: good phone, like it a lot, but the camera is awful. Would really benefit from some driver redesign from XDA. Read the indepth review I put on amazon here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/custome...=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B06X93K74K
Quick summary:
- excellent phone, great battery life, good display, good sound, great signal quality & strength, premium feel, well built, solid, and as a phone highly recommended - especially for the price.
- May be a little heavy for some but not scarily so - and to me it doesn't feel as heavy as the specs suggest. And is worth it for the astounding battery capacity.
- Great phone signal strength, good GPS, Wi-fi, fingerprint unlocking; supports VoLTE, & feels like it runs quicker than the specs suggest, despite the older Mediatek 28nm processor;
- Fast charging (2-3 hours) - but you need the right charger (which wasn't supplied) - as well as decent video & gaming playback without judder;
- Easily customisable, great set of provided basic apps that are kept to a minimum, but the gold icon theme is a matter of personal taste
- Marshmallow 6.0 shipped on the phone - but not easily upgradeable unless you are very techy and don't expect to be able to upgrade over-the-air;
- Very poor 13MP rear camera, despite it apparently being Samsung - this could be a deal clincher if you use your phone camera as your main camera & need decent quality pics. I'm sure this could be improved with a decent camera driver/app but I've not found one as yet;
- Headphone sockets have channels wired the wrong way round.
d8smt said:
I have one: good phone, like it a lot, but the camera is awful. Would really benefit from some driver redesign from XDA. Read the indepth review I put on amazon here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/custome...=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B06X93K74K
Quick summary:
- excellent phone, great battery life, good display, good sound, great signal quality & strength, premium feel, well built, solid, and as a phone highly recommended - especially for the price.
- May be a little heavy for some but not scarily so - and to me it doesn't feel as heavy as the specs suggest. And is worth it for the astounding battery capacity.
- Great phone signal strength, good GPS, Wi-fi, fingerprint unlocking; supports VoLTE, & feels like it runs quicker than the specs suggest, despite the older Mediatek 28nm processor;
- Fast charging (2-3 hours) - but you need the right charger (which wasn't supplied) - as well as decent video & gaming playback without judder;
- Easily customisable, great set of provided basic apps that are kept to a minimum, but the gold icon theme is a matter of personal taste
- Marshmallow 6.0 shipped on the phone - but not easily upgradeable unless you are very techy and don't expect to be able to upgrade over-the-air;
- Very poor 13MP rear camera, despite it apparently being Samsung - this could be a deal clincher if you use your phone camera as your main camera & need decent quality pics. I'm sure this could be improved with a decent camera driver/app but I've not found one as yet;
- Headphone sockets have channels wired the wrong way round.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A fast charging charger was included with my phone. And for camera, try Open camera, it has alot of settings to offer. Maybe it helps.
the phone is perfect
hi all
I need blackview p2 android 6.0 rom
I searched all the internet without finding any smell of it
all what I found is android 7.0
also when I tried asking in blackview forum they deleted my question also my id
I don't know why they put that forum
maybe you ask why I need android 6.0 my reason is android 7 as upgraded on my p2 lite was very bad
and have a lot of touch problems so that's why I am not willing to upgrade my p2 phone without a go back
steps if things gone not good ..
thank you all
Theknown said:
hi all
I need blackview p2 android 6.0 rom
I searched all the internet without finding any smell of it
all what I found is android 7.0
also when I tried asking in blackview forum they deleted my question also my id
I don't know why they put that forum
maybe you ask why I need android 6.0 my reason is android 7 as upgraded on my p2 lite was very bad
and have a lot of touch problems so that's why I am not willing to upgrade my p2 phone without a go back
steps if things gone not good ..
thank you all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on 7.0 and not have any problems.
xell75 said:
I'm on 7.0 and not have any problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for those who need to downgrade to android 6.0 private me to give you the link
i couldn't link you because i have less than 10 posts
I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S7 (Exynos Version) and been thinking of switching to the Blu Vivo X for the 4010+ mah battery, 64gb internal storage, and 4 cameras. Both phone has 4 GB and rams and an Octacore CPU. The Blu Vivo X is currently more than a $100 less than the Samsung Galaxy S7 (Exynos Version).
What's your thought on the Blu Vivo X and would it be worth switching to it from a Samsung Galaxy S7 (Exynos Version), even though the Blu Vivo X uses a 720p screen, and Blu has been known for having adwares in their phones in the past?
specs info:
- Samsung Galaxy S7 (Exynos Version) gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s7-7821.php
- Blu Vivo X gsmarena.com/blu_vivo_x-9072.php
My thoughts (which are only MY thoughts, I'm not pretending to have the absolute truth):
- Blu Vivo X has a mediatek CPU which isn't at the same level as Exynos or Snapdragon CPU, still it will do the job.
- Blu is know for adware but is also known for having malwares installed
- 4010mAh battery, I would be very careful with that number. A high quality manufacturer will announce the capacity of their battery and you can almost be sure that it is true. Now, when you go to less known, less top quality manufacturers, when they say 3000mAh, you test the battery and it's in fact like a 2000mAh. So before making a choice, find concrete tests which tells you how much time you have with a full charge. Don't listen to people on Youtube with no test protocol who say "Yeah, I can last 2 days with it" because you can't know their perception of things, you can't know if they have been paid, you can't know what they do with their phone. If I turn off Wifi, LTE, and keep the screen of on my OnePlus One, I can last 1 week! Now if I use it normally, I last 1 day, 2 days at the most, but real screen on time is like 6 hours. So be careful and don't trust fanboys or people who just throw numbers like this.
About battery capacity, I give you an example I have read some years ago when Xioami released their external battery pack (10.000mAh). When tested, it was almost good but more around 9000mAh. They had compared to unknown brands found on Amazon, and some batteries announced like 10.000mAh, had in fact less than 5000mAh in capacity. So be careful, Blu isn't such a great highly recommended trusty manufacturer, so I would tend to think their numbers are enhanced for the commercial speech, but in real like, will a 4000mAh battery last a lot longer than a 3000mAh from Samsung, I doubt it.
So in the end, what do you think you will do with the Vivo X than you can't do with the Galaxy S7? That's the real question. You want more storage space? The Exynos version of the S7 has a SD card slot. More battery, better buy an external battery pack, it will cost you less.
That's my point of view, I would never trade a flagship from a very well known brand some model from a brand known for cheap phones and who put Mediatek processors in their phones. I highly doubt that the Blu Vivo X will have internal memory that has the same speed as a Galaxy S7, I highly doubt the pictures from the Vivo X would beat the S7, I also highly doubt you will have more "Screen on time" with a Vivo X as Samsung has spent time to optimize their system (you can also debloat it to gain battery life by removing all Samsung crapware). That's only my point of view, but I don't think it's a good idea. You should make your own idea by reading LOT (not just 1 or 2) reviews on the Blu Vivo X, watching videos on Youtube and read between lines, don't trust people that aren't even tech journalists ; )
EDIT: Here are some interesting reviews I've found on Amazon of people not only putting 5 stars and saying "great phone!":
Review 1: "This phone does exactly what the description says. It takes Ok pictures, is thin and comfortable in the hand, and is relatively easy to use. However, the processor speed and user interface, are not up to par with a Snapdragon or Galaxy S. I thought it would be a good idea to upgrade my Galaxy S7 to the VIVO X. I was not impressed. The system response was slower than what I'm used to and the UI just feels "cheap" to me. On a brighter note, the front camera was awesome for using Google Duo to talk to my son while I'm on the road. Its not a bad phone, I just feel like my S7 is a better phone."
Review 2: "I'm pretty conflicted with this phone. I want to adore it, however there are some pretty major setbacks that I'm not sure if I can look past. With that being said, I'd still recommend this for the price.
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Pros:
- The screen is big but you don't get a big phone. I've strayed away from 6" because I'm a little person, but I quite like holding this because it's skinny enough that small hands can hold it and also enjoy a "big boy" screen.
- It's smooth. It's definitely faster and more smooth than my last phone (HTC Desire Eye). Installing apps is lightning fast, scrolling through google is a breeze, and having multiple apps in the background doesn't slow it down.
- Sound quality is quite good. It's bass-y, which I like. It picks up the slightest noise though, which could be great or bad depending on the situation I guess. It goes quite loud as well.
- Plenty of storage. You'll be able to fit thousands of photos, songs, and quite a lot of apps onto this phone.
- Fingerprint scanner is awesome. I've never had a phone that did this, so it's kind of fun.
- Messaging notification drop-down is AMAZING. I LOVE this feature. I was pleasantly surprised when someone texted me and I was able to read/reply from the drop-down, all while staying on whatever page.
- You can do split-screen. I think it depends on the app though. In theory, it's great that you can have two pages up at a time.
- Android nougat is so nice. I had Android 5.0 with my last phone. Upgrading to 7 is definitely what I needed, and hoping for an update to Android 8 in the next year, maybe?
- The actual feel of the phone is high-end. It feels like a top-rated phone, but without the pricetag.
- All of Google's apps come already installed. I personally don't use many of Google's features, so luckily it's easy to remove them and add some extra storage to the phone.
- It came with a screen protector already on, an extra screen protector in the box, and a case as well! It also came with the standard charging accessories and some earbuds.
- Fast startup/reboot. The initial startup is a bit slow and worrisome, but it's just the one time as it gets itself ready for you! After that, turning it on is quick.
Cons:
- The camera. So many problems with it. I'll go into detail at the end of this post. This is the biggest obstacle holding me back from possibly sticking with this. My last phone had a superb camera that was clear, could focus on micro surroundings, adjusted perfectly to light... And this camera fails in all those areas.
- The resolution IS as advertised. No you won't be getting the clearest of words on your screen, but it's passable. It's noticeable if you switch from a better resolution phone like I did though.
- The lack of cases is strange, I must admit. Hopefully some more come out soon.
- No theme, at least not that I could tell. I think all of my past Androids of recent years have had an option for different interface themes. This doesn't seem to have this feature.
- I couldn't access ANY ringtones/notification alerts. I had to download a ringtone app.
- 14GB of my 64GB was already taken up. I can't figure out what's taking up so much space. I've gotten rid of any bloatware (luckily wasn't a lot, so great job, BLU), but 14 is still a lot.
----------
I'd love to give it 5 stars, but there's just one thing that's so jarring to me, and I don't understand it at all... When you use your camera (back and front), the window on your screen is crisp and beautiful (back is, front is lackluster). But when you go to look at the image, it's blurry. It's like it goes from the supposed 13MP+, down to maybe an 8MP (at best) once the picture is actually taken. I'm pretty miffed at this. I mean, really, the camera specs are a lie.
To go along with the camera, it also has a hard time focusing on things close to it. For example, selfies are a joke. You get that perma-airbrushed look even without the beauty filter on. I have freckles, but you can't see them in the photos. Some different camera apps make the clarity and focusing a bit better, but you'd more than likely have to deal with obnoxious ads unless you want to pay for a different camera app.
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Overall, I'm not exactly happy with it, but I'm not mad either. I really wish the camera was better. I switched from a 2014 phone which excelled in that area, so it's sort of hard to downgrade after spending a couple hundred bucks. I did upgrade in many areas which is nice though. I sort of want to return the item, but I might keep it. Luckily I'm not a huge selfie taker, so I may not care too much about the problem a week from now."
So all in all, I've also read some reviews from tech websites, the Vivo X seems to be a good phone FOR THE PRICE. So if I were you, I wouldn't expect a 250$ phone to have the same quality of components of a 700$ phone. Mediatek processor, Only Gorilla glass 3, LCD screen not Amoled, Camera with only "ok quality". If you extrapolate, that can give you an hint of the quality of the internal memory, of the quality of the RAM used, the quality of the GPS chip (will it fix your position as fast as a S7? Don't know, but I doubt it).
To me, your question is similar as saying "I have a Ford Mustang, is it worth switching to a "add name of any common cheap car" ?" You see what I mean?
No way!!! Why you would do that? It`s more like a downgrade.. If you really want a change, something stock, more storage, more ram, quickly software updates and maybe a better battery backup, you can change the s7 for a OnePlus 5T, or simply you can wait for OnePlus 6 which is launching in june..
cristiandiaconu6 said:
No way!!! Why you would do that? It`s more like a downgrade.. If you really want a change, something stock, more storage, more ram, quickly software updates and maybe a better battery backup, you can change the s7 for a OnePlus 5T, or simply you can wait for OnePlus 6 which is launching in june..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it's true, these are the best alternative to my point of view too, but the only thing is that it's not on the same budget level (250$ for the Blu Vivo X and 500$ or more for the OnePlus phones). Though, you summed up all I said very well, S7 to Vivo X is a downgrade.
Hey guys, I just want to know your experience after using Xiaomi Poco f1 for months.... Are you guys satisfied with your phone or do you guys regret buying it?
And please rate the phone.
Yes, I'm very satisfied with the device, it surely is an upgrade from my Lenovo P2. The device is very responsive. It was the transition to Miui that kept me deciding wether I wanted it. After using Miui for 2 months now.. I definitely recommend a Xiaomi device to all my friends.
Upgraded from Galaxy S5 two months ago. Thought that the screen downgrade would bother me but it really doesn't - it's a decent screen for an LCD (and I love a very low minimal backlight level for night reading, usually for me a most useful feature of an amoled screen). Of course, it's extremely snappy and I find even the camera excellent (gcam is a big help here but even a built in app is decent). While I really like the photos, I don't care much for the video. It's detailed enough, with a good dynamic range and the EIS on 1080p is excellent but it's aggressive 'local' HDR is very apparent. It really looks bad when only a certain part of the image keeps changing in brightness while panning. The video is much better if you don't pan around. I rarely take videos so it's not much of a downside for me and maybe a gcam video has a different HDR algorithm (forgot to try it). I am not a gamer (bought a high-performance phone mostly for future-proofing and to run a Linux desktop on) so haven't really been hit that hard with a often mentioned touch responsiveness (seems perfectly OK to me). I have a custom built widget for always on homescreen notifications that I vastly prefer to tiny notification icons so the lack of the latter doesn't bother me. I actually hate notification icons as I am usually running 4-5 background services with permanent active notifications that eat up all the available space. This way I only get dismissable notifications that are actually notifications.
I can't comment on the cell signal quality as I haven't got out of a city lately and here the signal is decent everywhere. Band coverage shouldn't be a problem in Europe, I think. All in all, I haven't regretted the purchase and don't underestimate the 'smug factor' of owning a phone that's a much smarter purchase than all the fancy branded ones.
My dream came true with this legendary phone.... I used to think that when I will use flagship processor.... But my budget not that much high to purchase flagship mobiles ... But after seeing this mobile with high end processor .. I felt that I too have a legendary mobile in my hands... I don't see any brand before purchase ... Just I saw the snapdragon 845 processor and I bought this phone and I felt happy ... This phone is awesome and Google camera is working like a charm ... And I am using pixel experience ROM ... I love that ROM ....
POCO (LOVE )
srabon debnath said:
Hey guys, I just want to know your experience after using Xiaomi Poco f1 for months.... Are you guys satisfied with your phone or do you guys regret buying it?
And please rate the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the camera warps when you try to stabilize a video because no ois, further note all phone cameras suck at low light video. Google camera by far enhances this phones zoom and low light capabilities greatly.
Remember guys this phone is full of compromises
Of course there are better phones with better screens if your expecting a phone with an amazing Samsung display or flashy looks then best to buy a samsung phone. The only positive side the phone is the copper heatsink and 845 processor. The screens display is praised as not complete garbage.
If your a casual phone user it's better to go with a used s8 because this phone is only for pubg
Pros
Xiaomis support of modding is insane even providing warranty when rooting.
Lenovo and Huawei are terrible in comparison you would be lucky to even have 1 custom kernel or rom on those phones.
I was iphone user ever since 3gs, switched from iphone 7 to pocof1 last year and fell in love immediately. First vacation with my wife took maaaany pics, incomparable to her s7 edge or my iphone 7, so much better. Paid 300€ for 128gb version, unbeatable. Countless custom roms, updates coming fast, of course there r better phones, but they cost 700€ or more, so no, thank you, no more "flagships" for me. Been using poco for 4 months now, no regrets not for a second. AND...i dont need a f..... screenprotector or cover or any other protecting sht like before, not scared of getting scratches, and i dont have any yet, still as new. By far the best phone i ever had
Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm going for an upgrade.
Need help here guys. I am one of those who's suffering on their previous Poco F1 issues, ghost touch and hang just a couple of times this past years.
My main issue is the "touch reponse" always has the "DELAY" mix with screen freeze mostly triggered while gaming.
To those who already own it there:
• I'm just asking if their 240hz touch is TRUE and PRECISE, or too good to be true?
• Does it beats the other brands offering 90hz ref. rate / 120hz touch, 60hz ref. rate / 120hz touch in terms of gaming or not?
'Coz the phone price for the specs like the Poco F1 offers more bang in the buck rather than it's competitors, again I'm worried if the CUTS is on it's "touch reponse and screen issues again." Just don't want to lose money again on something not.
If not I'll just try other brand out there.
To answer both if your questions, it's yes to both.
I came from a Samsung Galaxy A71 which I paid WAY more for what it was worth and you get everything it says on the box.
120Hz is fluid and buttery smooth and touch response is lightning fast and precise, yes even in games.
Just be sure to download Arrow OS and use that because MIUI is filled to the brim with crap that will make your device very slightly sluggish.
I'd say each to their own. Go to a shop (if their open where you are) and try for yourself. If not then find one online with a good returns policy. Just as a side note my GF has an A71 and it is a way better phone overall. IMHO 60Hz Amoled beats this cheap 120Hz LCD (grey is my new black now lol). It's painful to look at, especially in low light environment. 240Hz touch responsiveness is just a number to me. Can't tell the difference. Then again it's a personal preference and I admit that I got this phone thanks to high numbers on the spec sheet for a low price.
Fellow Poco F1 user here.
Although the entire internet was plagued with problems with the F1, I however faced none of those. It does not mean your issues are invalid, but I'm just saying the group mentality made people believe their phone had issues that it never had. Things like Light Bleed and stuff were blown so much out of proportion that people actually recreated scenarios that they would never face normally just to make them feel bad about themselves. My Poco F1 is still an amazing phone and it also takes some of the best pictures with the right mods.
Back to the point, I see way too many AMOLED fan boys always claiming AMOLED is better even though they don't want to accept the draw backs or technical limitations. They see a phone selling AMOLED and immediately think it's better.
And back to the main main point...
240hz is hardly differential from nearer touch response rates and not even the most stock, unless the stock is absolutely garbage. On a phone, touch response hardly matters because there isn't enough IPC to make that response any worth it.
Summary :
Is Poco X3 truly responding to touch at 240HZ?
YES.
Will you notice the difference from a decent refresh rate from a modern phone and this phone which is so proud of its 240hz
NO
Enjoy your phone and don't fall into these technicalities. You're only putting your mind into this anxiety mode whether the purchase you made was worth it or not. This is a great phone and I love it and I've come from 1+, Samsung, Moto (Google owned Moto), Nexus and even Pixels.
Even when using an iOS device side by side, I can definitely feel there's a difference, it is certainly better.
But I'll talk about 2 issues first.
1. But sometimes, the touch doesn't work (like it needs grounding), like when my phone is lying flat on a certain bedsheet, I can't casually swipe, I need to hold it in my hand.
2. And long swipes need some polishing (software side) to be more natural, e.g. when u swipe up from launcher to open app drawer, u need to move ur thumb straight up, instead of slight natural diagonal movement else it may just swipe to next home screen or vice versa: opening app drawer instead of swiping to next screen. I come from color os, and it is certainly tuned to be more natural. (less feature rich than MIUI but better polished than other iOS inspired OEM skins)
Now pros:.
Touch responsiveness is way better than most android phones (I have used upto Samsung S10+ ceramic edition, oppo reno 3 pro) and iphone 8, X, XS series (before Apple fans flame, I'm talking just about responsiveness and accuracy).
You definitely feel it with gaming, no sensitivity settings is wrong (no aiming stutter or slip) infact it'll register the slightest movement and adjust your aim accordingly. Sometimes when my hands get sweaty I turn down the touch sensitivity in game space to 70 percent.
Yepi69 said:
To answer both if your questions, it's yes to both.
I came from a Samsung Galaxy A71 which I paid WAY more for what it was worth and you get everything it says on the box.
120Hz is fluid and buttery smooth and touch response is lightning fast and precise, yes even in games.
Just be sure to download Arrow OS and use that because MIUI is filled to the brim with crap that will make your device very slightly sluggish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, just wanted to know a few things, animations and transitions are jittery for some apps in MIUI, since you suggested arrow OS, does that get rid of these jitter and animation lags? Or is it a bad chip (which i doubt)
Moreover, does Arrow OS use MI Camera? Since it has option to use all sensors, do we get that in arrow? How is overall smoothness and camera quality?
ramnoob said:
Hey, just wanted to know a few things, animations and transitions are jittery for some apps in MIUI, since you suggested arrow OS, does that get rid of these jitter and animation lags? Or is it a bad chip (which i doubt)
Moreover, does Arrow OS use MI Camera? Since it has option to use all sensors, do we get that in arrow? How is overall smoothness and camera quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want jitter free experience, use ArrowOS + F1xy kernel.
F1xy custom kernel is focused to bring lower latency and reduce jitter as much as possible.
And no, ArrowOS doesn't use ANX Camera (Miui Camera). You need to flash it yourself.
crDroid comes with it if you want it.
I guess if you're here and changing from China spying crap rom and unlocking bl and bypassing ARP, no..
You will probably not find a better working drvier/setup for that if you install unofficial roms. Meaning you can expect lower performance on these pieces of hw. For the cpu, some unofficial roms can have better performance (not sure about camera and screen drivers, dependents if manufacturer releases src code).
SkaboXD said:
If you want jitter free experience, use ArrowOS + F1xy kernel.
F1xy custom kernel is focused to bring lower latency and reduce jitter as much as possible.
And no, ArrowOS doesn't use ANX Camera (Miui Camera). You need to flash it yourself.
crDroid comes with it if you want it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll try it asap.
NiTrOwow said:
I guess if you're here and changing from China spying crap rom and unlocking bl and bypassing ARP, no..
You will probably not find a better working drvier/setup for that if you install unofficial roms. Meaning you can expect lower performance on these pieces of hw. For the cpu, some unofficial roms can have better performance (not sure about camera and screen drivers, dependents if manufacturer releases src code).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a lie if I ever saw one, I have ArrowOS with it's stock kernel (using MIUI's kernel sources) and everything works better than stock rom. Not to mention devs can implement driver updates for Qualcomm/Adreno chipset (AKA CAF versions) which improve performance much better than Stock ROM (manufactures usually take months to implement new drivers, if they ever do).
Yepi69 said:
That's a lie if I ever saw one, I have ArrowOS with it's stock kernel (using MIUI's kernel sources) and everything works better than stock rom. Not to mention devs can implement driver updates for Qualcomm/Adreno chipset (AKA CAF versions) which improve performance much better than Stock ROM (manufactures usually take months to implement new drivers, if they ever do).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to add that it's also dependable to skill of developers. We are covered here since we have so many talented developers, so you can except great ROM performance + battery life. Custom ROM experience is also dependable on quality of sources and Xiaomi is not the best in this regard compared to Google, but it gets the job done. Also good developers modify sources in a good way, which leds to improvement in source code.
All in all, good developer for the device can make custom ROM which performs much better than stock ROM. Especially MIUI.
I think we have come to a point where smartphones have reached a mature phase in product design where there can only be marginal improvements in terms of performance and overall experience.
Year on year, there are marginal improvements in hardware and a lot of money is spent in marketing how the current version is an improvement over previous version. Tests are 'designed' to show the current version being 'x%' better than previous iteration, although there is hardly any noticeable difference in real life use.
Today, fortunately, the premium flagships are hardly any better than phones selling at half the price in terms of performance and overall experience. The primary or only differentiating factor is the Camera. So if you buy a $1,000 phone, it is just as good as a $500 phone in terms of performance and overall experience in day-to-day use. The other $500 is primarily for the camera! Ofcourse, there are some other benefits too that come for this premium, such as IP certification, 1 or 2 years of additional software support, etc.
With that background, what are specific things you look for when buying a smartphone today?
Here are some unique features offered by brands:
SAMSUNG
1. Best cameras on an Android phone. If you have the budget, go for a Samsung flagship because the camera experience is best. Other brands are offering very good cameras too, but then overall Samsung leads here (Pixel is close).
2. Silent Call Recording (as of OneUI 5.0): Fortunately, this feature is still present in Samsung phones when other brands (including OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc.) have unfortunately moved on to replacing their dialers with Google Dialer.
OnePlus/ Xiaomi/ Oppo/ Vivo/ Realme/ Redmi/ iQOO
1. Superfast charging: This is one area where Chinese brands have nailed it. The dual battery system, and charging technology that limits heating to the charger instead of the phone make this aspect an enviable feature for owners of other brands. Not sure why Samsung and other brands are not adopting similar technology.
2. Specialized cooling hardware: Specialized cooling technologies like vapour chamber, use of graphene, etc. to reduce thermal throttling is another area where they are doing exceedingly well.
3. Built-in firewall: This is one outstanding OS feature that only some brands like OnePlus, Oppo and Xiaomi (including Redmi) provide. It is not available on Vivo. Not sure about other brands.
4. Silent call recording (available as an option):
For OnePlus/ Oppo/ Realme: Install ODialer.
For iQOO/ Vivo: Enable Alternate Dialer and Contacts under Settings/ Apps
Pixel/ Nothing/ Motorola
Stock Android experience which leaves a lot to desire.
Check out (and contribute to) the comparison of Android 13 features by brand here:
Comparing Android 13 features of different OEMs
In this post, I'm comparing the features available on Android 13 from different OEMs as of the end of 2022. Since some OEMs offer a different set of features for their budget devices, not all features available on one device will be available on...
forum.xda-developers.com
For premium smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Build quality (metal frame)
6. Price under $1000 / 1000€ not over
For budjet smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Price under $500 / 500€
I did not mentioned screens because i prefer LCD screen but most premium smartphones these days comes with oled screen. It's really hard to find premium high performance phone with LCD screen.
Dayuser said:
For premium smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Build quality (metal frame)
6. Price under $1000 / 1000€ not over
For budjet smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Price under $500 / 500€
I did not mentioned screens because i prefer LCD screen but most premium smartphones these days comes with oled screen. It's really hard to find premium high performance phone with LCD screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock Android is quite basic and leaves a lot to desire for. I'm talking of features, and not UI. Examples would be scrolling screenshots, screen recording, gestures for activating features (e.g. 3 finger screenshot), etc.
Snapdragon processor: why is that a must? The Mediatek Dimensity series of processors are quite capable, and so is Exynos. I don't go by standard tests and numbers shown by them. They don't reflect real-life usage, and can be manipulated.
I'm happy you didn't mention 'glass back', because without wireless charging it is a liability.
And why 'decent' cameras for a premium phone? Great camera should be the criteria since that is what you are paying a premium for.
For me, this is how they would be:
Premium Phone
1. Best cameras
2. Silent call recording
So I'll choose Samsung as this is the only brand today with the above features.
Budget Phone
1. 3.5 mm headphone jack
2. Infrared (IR) blaster
So I'll choose a Xiaomi (Redmi) phone in this category as this is the only brand offering these features.
I'm not mentioning others like display, storage, ram, etc. as pretty much all premium flagship phones offer the same hardware. Same holds true for performance and battery life.
TheMystic said:
And why 'decent' cameras for a premium phone? Great camera should be the criteria since that is what you are paying a premium for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mentioned "desent" in both categories because it's mainly up to user who knows what is great camera. All premium and flagship have good cameras, or at least main camera.
Snapdragon because GCam ports mainly works best on Snapdragon phones.
Dayuser said:
I mentioned "desent" in both categories because it's mainly up to user who knows what is great camera. All premium and flagship have good cameras, or at least main camera.
Snapdragon because GCam ports mainly works best on Snapdragon phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you really need GCam for a premium flagship phone? I think the stock cameras do a great job.
I see GCam as a nice solution for mid rangers that lack premium camera hardware and software processing required for excellent shots.
TheMystic said:
Do you really need GCam for a premium flagship phone? I think the stock cameras do a great job.
I see GCam as a nice solution for mid rangers that lack premium camera hardware and software processing required for excellent shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No not really needs but it's a choice. It's really what people like.
Let's say it this way and this works for many brands.
If you want over saturated colors and over sharpened pictures, then use stock camera. If you want more natural colors and decent sharp.. use gcam.
and sometimes stock cameras noise processing is too much.
But all these what i said is small things and most of people doesn't really care
Dayuser said:
No not really needs but it's a choice. It's really what people like.
Let's say it this way and this works for many brands.
If you want over saturated colors and over sharpened pictures, then use stock camera. If you want more natural colors and decent sharp.. use gcam.
and sometimes stock cameras noise processing is too much.
But all these what i said is small things and most of people doesn't really care
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is true that often the difference in quality isn't substantial among premium smartphone cameras, and also that the end result is subjective. The cameras on my S22U are very good, and I never felt a need for GCam.
GCam is often found to over sharpen things a bit though.
On a personal level, i prefer great shots over natural ones, as long as saturation and other aspects aren't overdone.
Expandable storage, 1tb minimum.
I demand a dual drive device. Screw Google cattle herding the masses for their self serving ends. To hell with the idea cloud as a viable alternative. Right from the pages of MS's playbook of control.
Spen.
Square display corners, blah, blah, blah.
It's a lost cause... lol, I'll be using the N10+'s/Android 9 and 10 for another 3-5 years. Zero faith in Google or Samsung to get their sorry assets back in line ever again at this point. Junkware.
blackhawk said:
Expandable storage, 1tb minimum.
I demand a dual drive device. Screw Google cattle herding the masses for their self serving ends. To hell with the idea cloud as a viable alternative. Right from the pages of MS's playbook of control.
Spen.
Square display corners, blah, blah, blah.
It's a lost cause... lol, I'll be using the N10+'s/Android 9 and 10 for another 3-5 years. Zero faith in Google or Samsung to get their sorry assets back in line ever again at this point. Junkware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Expandable storage is something that only very few mid range devices offer. With higher internal storage and cloud services, OEMs have made it clear that it is not something they are willing to support.
A lot of investments are being made in technology and i don't want to lose out on these advancements on a personal level, as some of these features are truly incredible. But I am careful of granting permissions like camera, microphone, sms, etc. to apps and I don't use voice assistants (I'm not comfortable with the idea that something is constantly listening to me or my environment).
But it is a tradeoff, and it has to be that way. Without input, one cannot make use of technology. So everyone must part with an amount of data they are comfortable with. There should be very strong regulations where data being collected is strictly limited and some types of data must never be collected. GDPR is a welcome step in that direction, but is grossly inadequate and therefore ineffective. While it has forced companies to show a Privacy Policy message prompt, it has hardly done anything to what data is being collected, and if it is actually necessary for the product/ service being offered in return.
i always worry ONLY about 2 things when i buy a new phone :
1. can it be rooted
2. is there custom firmware (or is someone working on it)
This is about the only thing i worry about.
i will check later if i can also make a phonecall or take a picture also
contrinsan said:
i always worry ONLY about 2 things when i buy a new phone :
1. can it be rooted
2. is there custom firmware (or is someone working on it)
This is about the only thing i worry about.
i will check later if i can also make a phonecall or take a picture also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped doing that a few years back. I would rather trust an OEM software than one made by an unknown developer. Besides, some of the developers are very arrogant.
And today, there isn't really anything a rooted device can do which a non-rooted device can't. The risk/ effort is not worth any potential marginal benefit.
contrinsan said:
i always worry ONLY about 2 things when i buy a new phone :
1. can it be rooted
2. is there custom firmware (or is someone working on it)
This is about the only thing i worry about.
i will check later if i can also make a phonecall or take a picture also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same but i look for like famous phones among XDA developers
TheMystic said:
I stopped doing that a few years back. I would rather trust an OEM software than one made by an unknown developer. Besides, some of the developers are very arrogant.
And today, there isn't really anything a rooted device can do which a non-rooted device can't. The risk/ effort is not worth any potential marginal benefit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, i am running stock for 2 months now and i wish i never flashed stock android 12 because i don't find a way to go back to custom firmware but some things i really miss
- used to have phone call recording,
- adblocking without vpn or heavy battery use,
-youtube vanced working properly,
-wifi and 4g optimized
-battery use optimized and deep sleep working properly (my stock android 12 samsung s10e can run 8 up to 12 hours when i am at work, it is 12-18 hours when running CF. I can no longer survive a day at work without extra charging..
- change splashscreen, boot and shutdown logo, change whatever sound in the firmware,..
- viper sound mod for good sound experience or removing all kinds of annoying restrictions for louder music
- something i miss a lot : configuration of phone like 2 rows instead of one at the top (very uselful to have time with seconds and date on first line and all the notifications go on 2nd line)
- i also miss android auto being able to run other apps,
- i can only shutdown or restart the phone, no other options,
- i can no longer take screenshots from a payment in my banking app (and many other apps), - i can no longer decide i want 7 icons in the first line of the dropdown menu (and many, many, many, many other handy features)
these are just a couple i think about, there is also Xposed with so many handy things
Also if you want a little bit of privacy it is not possible on a phone that is stock android, it is also full with rubbish bloatware such as facebook and other spy programs that i can not remove unless when rooted.
i really see no advantage in having stock android, it makes me feel as if i don't own half of the phone
This is my list: is it bootloader unlockable?
Is it supported by lineage os and twrp?
Is it powerful enough?
If these are yes I could consider buying the device
Price under 500 €
contrinsan said:
well, i am running stock for 2 months now and i wish i never flashed stock android 12 because i don't find a way to go back to custom firmware but some things i really miss
- used to have phone call recording,
- adblocking without vpn or heavy battery use,
-youtube vanced working properly,
-wifi and 4g optimized
-battery use optimized and deep sleep working properly (my stock android 12 samsung s10e can run 8 up to 12 hours when i am at work, it is 12-18 hours when running CF. I can no longer survive a day at work without extra charging..
- change splashscreen, boot and shutdown logo, change whatever sound in the firmware,..
- viper sound mod for good sound experience or removing all kinds of annoying restrictions for louder music
- something i miss a lot : configuration of phone like 2 rows instead of one at the top (very uselful to have time with seconds and date on first line and all the notifications go on 2nd line)
- i also miss android auto being able to run other apps,
- i can only shutdown or restart the phone, no other options,
- i can no longer take screenshots from a payment in my banking app (and many other apps), - i can no longer decide i want 7 icons in the first line of the dropdown menu (and many, many, many, many other handy features)
these are just a couple i think about, there is also Xposed with so many handy things
Also if you want a little bit of privacy it is not possible on a phone that is stock android, it is also full with rubbish bloatware such as facebook and other spy programs that i can not remove unless when rooted.
i really see no advantage in having stock android, it makes me feel as if i don't own half of the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Samsung is the only (or one of very few) OEM offering silent call recording feature today. Since Samsung flagship has (one of) the best cameras on any smartphone, this is my choice of Android for now.
2. Adblocking is possible using private DNS server (dns.adguard.com) that doesn't require VPN or drain battery.
3. Vanced YouTube (non-root) works perfectly fine on Android 13 (tested on OneUI, OOS and MIUI).
4. Viper makes a marginal difference today, especially over Bluetooth. This makes it unattractive given the efforts required to make it work today.
Many of the other stuff you mentioned are available only on custom ROMs, which I am unlikely to return to. They are non-essential and mostly 'fancy' stuff one can live without.
I use Google apps and some of their services (Photos, Drive, Gmail, YouTube, etc.) are very important for me. I have never seen any significant battery life gains with any custom ROM or tweaks as i can't uninstall Google Services.
Netguard does an excellent job of blocking unwanted apps and services from connecting to the internet.
There were essentially only a handful of things (adblocking, viper, titanium backups, ad-free YouTube) why I was rooting my devices, and pretty much all of those have proper non-root replacements today.