OEM skin/software

OEM skin/software - Google Pixel XL Real Life Review

Are you comfortable in your own skin? Is your phone comfortable in its skin? Rate this thread to express how you deem the skin on the Google Pixel XL. A higher rating indicates that you love it: it adds just the right amount of features, it's visually pleasing, and overall it's additive to the experience. If this is a Nexus phone (you didn't think we hand-wrote all of these prompts, did you?) then use this rating to indicate how the latest version of Android looks to you.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Clean and simple without any of the bloat found on other skins. Very nice.

I just wish you can change the blue color scheme even though it works out for my state color#NC
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

The software is fast as hell, very easy to understand and intelligent.
It's the google phone I've been waiting for and that's largely due to smart software they've brought together that give you all of the features you need.

It's the little things. Had mine for two days now, was on the OPO. And a brief stint with the uberly crappy Nexus 5X before ditching it and going back to the OPO.
Anyways... I just want to talk about the sounds the phone makes and touch latency. For notifications, power button, typing clicks, etc. They are amazing. Nothing special about them to the naked eye, or ear. But I feel like Google put some time and effort into creating them. There is nothing loud about the text and email notifs, but I hear every single one of them. I don't get it. One simple little ding that grabs my attention each and every single time. No other phone has done this for me, nor has a phone that I have been around. They are all pleasant to hear, non obtrusive, and yet they are distinct and cool.
Touch latency. I ask anyone to go and grab an Android phone, Tell google you want to play pacman, and actually be able to play it without dying over and over again because PacMan can't make a quick turn. Then get on your/a Pixel and do the same thing. That is the best way I can try to show you how much of a difference i makes.

I love the skin/software. Only the gesture navigation needs a revamp (which it will in Android Q!) and the multitasking needs better efficiency.

Related

Honest review of pixel XL coming from Nexus 6p

Before i begin i want to point out that I have never reviewed a device before and to be honest I'm not that great at typing but the nexus is going through a phase it has never been through before. The nexus line is at and end and the most recent nexus devices aren't even getting the full features of its predecessor as they normally would for years to come. With that said the pixel has made me feel as though it is worth sharing my thoughts with people who may be sat on the bench or wondering about the new pixel devices that are replacing our beloved nexus phones and whether or not they should make the pricey jump over. I also would like to know how you guys that have purchased a pixel are finding the new google devices.
I have been a massive fan of the nexus line since the birth back at the nexus one and have owned every nexus phone released, and have had most nexus tablets apart from the 2nd gen nexus 7, so i really love the pure android experience. Having used the nexus line for so long and spending a short amount of time now with the pixel XL i wanted to give my honest opinion and feelings about the new line coming from the nexus 6p...
There are sacrifices and gains to be made when upgrading from the 6p. First of all the front facing speakers are gone which is quite a big downer for me. Perhaps I've been spoilt with having front facing speakers on the 6p and nexus 9 that i use, but it feels like a step backwards here. The speaker on the pixel XL is OK dont get me wrong and can be quite loud and full sounding but its nothing like having front facing stereo speakers.
I want to talk about the software/google photos backup/assistant. My nexus was on 7.1.1 preview when i sold it so I had some time with that to compare.
The google photo backup feels like a marketing scam to me in a way. They advertise unlimited storage in full resolution forever with the pixel phones. Now you already get that to the most extent. It backs up pictures in an unaltered quality up to 16 mega pixels. The pixel phones have a 12.3mp camera same as the 6p and a lot of other devices so nothing changes there. The 6p and other devices also get full resolution video backup for 1080p so the only real gain is the 4k resolution videos.
The assistant again is being played up big time by google. Now lets be honest most people don't stand there talking to their phones or at least not people that i know. I tried both google now and assistant and to me assistant is the same as google now. They have just given it a new voice with some jokes and put it into a conversation card format. Google now worked pretty much the same and did a good job. This isn't something new that google have released that hasn't been seen before. It's simply a revision of google now that we have had for a while.
The software is beautiful on the pixel XL. I know it has better internals that will be helping a lot but the user interface is so smooth and fluid. Even 3rd party apps seem to behave better and don't have no where near as much micro stutters. Everything just feels fluid and very very snappy. This is where the pixel for me really excels over the 6p. The new launcher is also very nice. I was on the bench when i first saw it but once you use it, it makes perfect sense. The swipe up motion for the app drawer frees up a dock position for an additional app. The new search button top left frees up more screen real estate instead of having the full length bar spanning the width of the screen.
The display is very slightly smaller on the XL, however i don't really notice this at all to be perfectly honest. The display on the pixel XL is definitely better than the 6p. Its much much brighter and the white point is much better... At least for my taste. I prefer a cooler white than the more yellow hue of the nexus 6p. I held the two phones side by side in the store and i cant stress enough how much more improved the new pixel phones display is. This is a gorgeous display that honestly rivals my wife's S7 edge.
The pixel XL is noticeably thicker than the 6p when held out of a case. I'm not too sure how i feel about this one personally. The pixel XL is easier to hold and doesn't feel like it will slip from your hands when using one handed but then again it has the same battery as the 6p and is a similar size shell. It doesn't have anything extra that would warrant the thickness so again this feels like a step back to me in a way. I don't understand the need for the extra thickness given the internals. I know they may have thickened it slightly to remove the camera bump but the pixel phone still actually thickens up as at the top end of the phone compared to the bottom.
The chin is a talking point for a lot of people. I have come to accept this now for the simple reason of the bottom facing speaker. On the larger bezels you have more room to hold the phone without covering the speaker with your palm. I have gone for the black version of the phone which somehow hides this a bit better than the white and doesn't look as obvious.
The camera is simply great on the pixel. Even though it has exact same spec camera as the 6p the end product after the image has been processed is awesome. For simple point and shoot the camera is amazing and there is 0 lag with the HDR+ like there is on the nexus 6p. I often missed a chance to snap my kids doing something with the 6p because it took forever to actually take the picture after pushing the button. This issue is gone with the pixel and photos are snapped almost instantly.
The price is still definitely a big question mark for me. The phone feels great and overall is does make the nexus lines feel like beta's to what the pixel is and how it performs. However... No wireless charging... No water and dust proofing... No dual front facing speaker... There are other phones out there with these things that don't cost as much. The price being charged for this leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially with it being the first pixel phone which a lot of average consumers wont understand the history behind and how it came to be. The phone isn't a house hold known name like the galaxy line or the iphones so people may be scared away by the price for this new unknown brand of phone.
Overall summary for me is that the pixel XL phone is definately an upgrade from the 6p, and using the phone feels night and day better but the price point is a huge question mark. The pixel phone somehow has a polish and unification to the whole google branding that i just cant put my finger on but i can honestly say this is by far the greatest android experience i have ever experienced. The smoothness of moving around the ui is unrivalled by any other device i have ever used including windows phones and iphones (I've never owned an iphone but my brother is an avid apple fan so we dont see eye to eye, however I do play with his iphone to compare speed etc).
So how are you guys finding the pixel XL phone? which device did you come from and how does it compare?

Are you comfortable in your own skin? Is your phone comfortable in its skin? Rate this thread to express how you deem the skin on the OnePlus 5. A higher rating indicates that you love it: it adds just the right amount of features, it's visually pleasing, and overall it's additive to the experience. If this is a Nexus phone (you didn't think we hand-wrote all of these prompts, did you?) then use this rating to indicate how the latest version of Android looks to you.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

I haven't had much urge to flash a source-built ROM on this device. OOS gives you a lot of features while still maintaining the AOSP-style look. I'm running some OOS-based ROMs, but nothing AOSP/CAF based yet.

Oxygen OS for me personally it's the best OEM "improvements" over stock Android.
However i don't like that we have no scheduled DND (you have to always move the slider to dnd position) . Very useful when you want to schedule every night dnd.. hope they will reconsider this.

It's nice, and I will probably continue to use it until Lineage becomes quite stable.
Things it's missing for me are pretty much all in the status bar.
Middle Clock
Battery percent inside the icon
Show battery bar on Bluetooth devices that support it.
Also, make the ambient display clickable like it is on Nexus phones. Like when the black and white screen comes on after picking the phone up or whatever, you can click the play button for media apps on Nexus phones and it starts playing, but it's non interactive on OOS.

The only thing that I need for OOS is fully substratum support. Nothing else.
The rest is good as it comes.

Oxygen OS is, from an aesthetic standpoint, what Android ought to be and what some many other phone makers fail to achieve.

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Google Pixel 2 XL, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Google Pixel 2 XL is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Great upgrade for me coming from Nexus 6P.

Coming from Moto X Pure. Totally digging it. Having to get used to thinner phone overall but the speed of this thing is awesome and everything just works

fantastic so far!

Best in the West! ???️

Come from Pixel XL and minus the headphone jack I love it

wow this thing is fast and I love the camera and stereo speakers!

I come from Pixel. Everything is so much better. The blue tint doesn't bother me much, either.

Coming from a Nexus 6, loved that phone to death. I tried to get a Galaxy s8+ but without root, I couldn't do it. After playing with the pixel 2xl, I'll be returning the s8+. Wasn't worth it. I have no problems with my 2 xl. I don't really care too much about with my screen getting a slight time of blue when seen at off angles (please, it looks great when you are actually LOOKING at the device). It has realistic colors overall too. Nothing with a huge amount of contrast.
I dislike the overall feel of the device, but I always have a case on mine, so no worries there.
It charged the same as any other device I have and I don't use wireless charging ever, besides, it is usually slower overall than plugging it in.
Literally no other problems I've noticed with my unit. I plan of keeping it, and when Google decides too send an ota to fix software issues I'll already be on a custom rom and not care anyway. If there is a huge problem and in need of a recall, I'm relatively sure Google will provide proper compensation. I'm not really worried.

Coming from a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S5 with a 15 chip (BL unlockable) I'm obviously loving this device. I installed the Quick Settings app to enable immersive mode "just in case" for the nav buttons. Got mine on 10/23. Charges fast with the included charger, latest camera app update fixed selfie portrait problems. No display issues other than the blue off axis tint. Overall happy.

Absolutely loving mine! The in hand feel is off the charts, a sure handed grip without a case and flat sides that you can actually grip. The PXL2 is so much more comfortable to use than my Note 8, looks like Swappa will have a new listing.

Love mine as well. I don't have much of a blue tint (slightly more than the original Pixel XL). I think the screen is otherwise awesome. I like the coloring and unless you're comparing to a highly-saturated screen, you won't notice.
It's very fast, has awesome battery life, can't go wrong with Pure Android, and the camera is out-of-this-world. I use Bluetooth headphones, so no worries without a jack (haven't used a headphone jack in over two years). I think this is a very worthy upgrade and people who are canceling or returning because of screen issues, I would say to reconsider and if your screen is truly bad, RMA it versus returning it altogether. I think there was a bad batch.

This badboy is sweet! XL 2 is rocking!

On the other thread guys are complaining of poor charging speeds, how Is it for you guys enjoying the phone?

marvi0 said:
On the other thread guys are complaining of poor charging speeds, how Is it for you guys enjoying the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first night i had it i woke up after having it charging for 6 hours and it was only at 88%. Unplugged it and plugged it back in and it went to 100%
Updated to the 8.1 beta and my charging is all back to normal now

I love how fast this phone boots up. The display is fine for me too.
What could be the deal breaker is the bluetooth microphone issue. I use my headset daily.

Coming from a Nexus 5X, this phone is exactly what I've been wanting. I really would be love the design of the 2 XL in the "regular" size but I'll take it. The bigger screen and battery is worth the larger size.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I am so blown away by this phone. Everything, the speed, the screen, the battery....I can't imagine anything better.
All I need now is to root. After going years without ads, it's tough. I MIGHT stay stock if I can just get used to the ads, but it seems overwhelming. I would have no problem paying a flat rate for apps and such so that they would be ad-free, but so many do not offer that. Never realized how bogged down many sites are with ads.

I am loving this phone. I went from a Nexus 6P to this phone and I am blown away.

I love it so far. The screen is meh, but nowhere near as bad as people say. It's blazing fast and everything works. My only real complaint so far is that fast charging is pretty slow.

I wish I knew this before buying the HTC U Ultra (Owner review)

Preface: I am posting this here because I think it will be buried otherwise, and I want it to reach as many people as possible, since personally I wish I knew all of this before buying it.
…And kind reminder: If you feel you are an HTC combatant, please click the Back button and save yourself, and probably myself, from getting aggravated.
This review was prompted because I feel like swimming in a sea of superficial “reviews” online, which are mostly advertisements rather than real reviews, and a lot of peculiarities are unearthed only after the device is used for a sufficiently lengthy period of time.
The HTC U Ultra, in my humble opinion, is a double-edged sword (one of the edges is pointed towards the owner, sadly).
The screen is spacious at 5.7” and even though the phone is very large it can be managed in one hand, if you make a concerted effort. The overall size is exacerbated by the 2nd screen on top, which is reasonably useful, i.e. not utterly pointless.
The screen is a very good IPS-variety screen, with moderate brightness (visible enough in bright daylight). Note that the Oreo update, I believe, did considerably increase the maximum brightness, which could be very useful when the need comes, but absolutely not recommended for long-term use because of the borderline insufficient battery capacity. At least, the option to blast out the brightness in a pinch is there.
Performance is overall very good to great, games play well, day-to-day internetting, newsfeeding, facebooking, vibering (or whatever messaging app floats your boat) is great, and so is the multitasking.
The sound from the bundled headphones is outstanding (in combination with the proprietary HTC USonic EQ shenanigans), provided you like deep sub-bass and high brilliance without muffling the vocals (as I do). The sound is definitely V-shaped. The downsides of the headphones are that (a) they don’t have volume buttons, which, given the size of the phone and the inherent difficulty related to getting it out of the pocket to increase or decrease the volume, is moderately frustrating, (b) they are of the USB-C variety, which means you can’t simply plug them into most other phones or HiFi devices, and means that (c) you can’t charge your phone and use the headphones simultaneously, which, however, I wouldn’t do, since I would like the battery to have as longer life as possible, given the difficulty of replacing it (1 – the phone is a glass sandwich which means I can’t just pull the battery out and slap a new one in; 2 – HTC service centers, at least where I live, are few and far between, and 3 – the availability of spare batteries and the costs related to replacing the battery leave a lot to be desired). A negative too is that there is no USB-C to mini-jack adapter in the box, which means you have to buy one, which is easier said than done - a lot of those being sold do not work with the HTC U Ultra (unless you use apps such as Sound About or tinker with the OS) and the original HTC adapter is very hard to buy anyway, most places listing it as out-of-stock. Let’s not forget that routinely plugging cables into the USB-C connector on the phone (one for charging, another for USB-C headphones) will surely shorten the already-not-that-great durability of the said USB-C connector on the phone (and again the glass sandwich which makes it hard to replace said USB-C connector comes to mind). Also, here in Bulgaria people are not buying phones every year and the probability of me being at a place where someone could lend me their USB-C charger to top up my battery midday or mid-party are close to nil, so I have to carry my USB-C cable too.
The battery is not for power users. At 3000 mAh it is not well-suited to the power requirements of that huge and very high resolution screen (2560x1440 + 160x1040, that’s a lot of pixels). Overall, I get 3.5-4.5 hours of screen-on time from a full charge over one day, with some gaming and camera use. If you don’t use the stock camera (the phone automatically maxes out the screen brightness in the stock camera app, and you cannot turn it down, very dumb idea), don’t play games, and use the phone only on WiFi and not on 3G/4G, probably 5 to maximum 6 hours of screen-on time would be possible.
The digitizer of the phone uses snap-to-grid which cannot be switched off which is in effect when the finger is moving slowly. I tried very very hard to figure out the purpose of this seemingly dumb idea, and couldn’t find any sensible reasons for it, and also could not find any other phone with that function. I wonder why... The result is that some games, which require very precise finger movement, are much harder to play on the HTC U Ultra than on any other phone I have tried (granted I have not tried any other HTC phone).
The body of the phone is pointless, a.k.a. pretty. (To me it’s not even that pretty, apart from the logo-less fully black front glass, which I adore. But I digress.) That possibly resulted in the less-than-needed battery capacity and the fact that the phone seems extremely fragile. There is no wireless charging (which I personally don’t need) as an excuse for the glass back. HTC couldn’t even manage to make the sandwich seamless, you can definitely feel ridges where the glass meets the metal, and this even makes the phone uncomfortable to hold for prolonged periods of time. The saving grace (ironic as it may be) is that the hard-plastic case provided in the box makes the phone much more comfortable to hold and much less slippery, whilst also possibly protecting the glass back from shattering when dinged. This hard-plastic case almost entirely defeats any and all prettiness goals there may have been, so why not just make it out of that material, at that increased thickness, and then you could even cram in that much-needed larger battery… Oh, right, every other maker’s phones are made of glass too; prettiness above utility (certainly not my thing).
The second screen has some useful perks, such as having a “widget” of most used contacts or most used apps (then why have a dock too, hmm…), you can pick up the phone and the second screen will activate so you can glance at the time, battery charge, etc., you can activate the flashlight or control your music app from it. Also, and something that I particularly like, incoming notifications pop up on it, which means they don’t pop up over what you are currently doing. Yay!
There are problems with the fingerprint scanner (On Nougat, at least, have not used it since the Oreo update). Sometimes it just refuses to do any scanning but still activates the screen when touched. You are then required to enter your PIN to unlock the phone and then the scanner would work again as if nothing ever happened.
The vibration motor does not vibrate, it buzzes instead. I’m not attempting a pun or a joke, it is indeed a buzz. This feels super cheap, even compared to my 5 year old LG Optimus G Pro (great haptic feedback!). I thought it was a fault of my unit initially. Then I spoke to other owners of Ultras. Thankfully, I got used to it. That does not mean I don’t dislike it anymore.
The screen is not calibrated to sRGB standard but something much wider in terms of color gamut (allegedly DCI-P3, I don’t have instruments to test, or maybe and most probably they just wanted it to be “like Samsung”…). This cannot be corrected anywhere in the OS (you can correct the white point, though, which is good). If you like eye-popping colors you’re in luck, and conversely, if you like more natural colors – you’re certainly out of luck. The reds, especially, are rather eye-watering. On the other hand, the screen has very high clarity with no appreciable over-sharpening, rather high brightness (after Oreo update), low minimum brightness thus can easily be used in pitch black environments, and very little color inversion when viewed at angles (e.g. when showing your friends your awesome photos and videos). Of course, as any IPS screen, it is the brightness which rapidly drops when the phone is tilted, but the picture does not become yellowish or purplish, or grey instead of black. Which is very good.
The sound from the rather inaptly named BoomSound speakers is anything but Boom. The Xiaomi Redmi 4X (~ EUR 100) or the Huawei P8 Lite (2015) easily trounce it in terms of sound quality (especially bass). The sound is also rather imbalanced, most of it coming from the bottom firing speaker (which is also very easy to inadvertently cover and mute whilst holding the phone horizontally). At least it is rather loud, can create a sense of spaciousness when held horizontally and overall it is not “bad” like on many other phones I’ve heard. What is not good at all, however, is that it has an undefeatable volume ramp-up curve, which means that any sound is produced with the volume being gradually increased in the beginning, omitting the initial attack. For songs, such as for example Brain Stew by Green Day, this could be rather hilarious (or to me, rather aggravating). Unsurprisingly then, there is no attack from most notification sounds. So, the good thing is the phone’s notifications could never startle you which means you won’t get a heart-attack if you forgot to reduce your notification volume. Yay… I guess…? Nah, this is just plain dumb and awful.
I wish HTC engineers knew what “centering” means. Then the capacitive buttons wouldn’t have been in the places where I least expect them to be during my day-to-day use of the phone. They are not in the middle of the chin centrally, they are not in the middle of the chin vertically, they are just simply not in the middle of anything. I thought I’d easily get used to that. I was wrong. Their sensitivity zones are also barely extending beyond their graphical symbols. Thus, I have to depress them with my entire thumbs to make sure I’ll catch them. Sneaky bastards. Even turning on the constant backlighting of the buttons does not help as much as I thought it would.
The capacitive scanner/homebutton is also a double-edged sword – easy to use when you want to, but also very easy to accidentally touch and activate when you don’t want to – especially during heated gaming this stinks a lot.
The camera may not be obliterating any DxOMarks any time soon, but to me it is really really good. For one, the wide aperture, combined with the OIS, means you get good night and indoor shots, which I sorely desire. It is fast to snap a picture, it can be activated with a double-click of the power button, it shoots great and reasonably stable 4K video, and even more stable FullHD video if you can sacrifice the clarity of 4K. Great sound recording too! (for the videos) Overall, the camera experience feels “flagship”. Also, given that the phone is with a Snapdragon 821, Google’s ported cameras work pretty well (mind you, there are bugs, sometimes the apps just close, sometimes they don’t produce the intended results, if any at all). When using Google’s ported camera apps the HDR photography results are quite phenomenal (at least to me) and even a lot better than the stock camera app (which is very good to start with) especially for high-contrast and night-time/indoor shots. Also, portraits come out pretty stunning (provided the app doesn’t crash, of course, but that’s not a fault of the phone).
A caveat is that both the front and back cameras of the phone are very prone to flares. It certainly looks like the image is being reflected by something inside (the lenses or the sensor assembly, I have no idea which exactly) and then this reflection gets picked up by the sensor. For instance, at night when shooting shops’ neon signs, I can easily see the vertically flipped ghost flares of those signs. I, personally, am not overly bothered and find those flares more interesting than troublesome, though. Some surely might not.
All in all, it is the high-quality spacious screen (side note: a 5,8” 18.5:9 screen has ~5 cm2 smaller area than a 16:9 5.7” screen, not counting the 2nd screen on the Ultra too), the awesome headphone sound, the great camera quality and experience that make this phone worth the ~ EUR 275, provided you can live with its shortcomings, which are quite a few in my view. You’d be really hard pressed (I’m pretty sure it is impossible but maybe the ZTE Axon 7 could do the trick) to find such a screen, such sound or especially such a camera on any other phone retailing for ~ EUR 300 brand new. At its original price I’d never buy it, though.
But, if you want off-the-charger longevity, a screen with realistic colors, really good speaker sound, durable body and good ergonomics, this is certainly not your phone, even at its current price.
To me it is quite the bipolar experience – sometimes it overjoys me with its sound or camera chops, sometimes it makes me want to smash it against the wall for its absurdly stupid quirks (Which I believe someone thought were “good design ideas”. No, they are not good at all.)
So it is quite the paradoxical one – it can be both extremely good value and extremely bad value, depending on what you want. Hopefully my personal observations can help you make your own well-informed choice.
Love it or hate it. I don’t see any middle ground.

Glad to see another bulgarian with htc u ultra. I thought that i am alone. Reading the title i expected another rant against htc but in fact the review is very good and completely confirms what i observed for the 5 months with this phone. I am not fan of games and the good screen, headphone sound quality and camera are very important for me so i am quite happy with this phone. I am not so heavy user so battery lasts between 1 and 3 days (usually 2) and i also have power bank with me supporting quick charge so battery life is not a problem for me. Generally i am quite happy with the phone at that price but definitely would not pay the initial price which was over 500 eur. Regarding the type c to 3.5mm adapter - i bought original one from here and it is working very good:
http://www.citytel.bg/adapter-htc-from-3-5-mm-to-usb-type-c-dc-m321

Great review, I agree with most of yours notes. I just wanted to add, IMO - currently there is no better phone for the price it goes these days.

Agree with some fancts, bottom line is at the current price, you cant get anything better.

The Speaker of this phone is pure cancer. My old Galaxy s6 and my business(forced) Iphone SE were way better. I'm not even able to hear Music while cooking etc. IT just fu*** the ears. This is without a doubt the worst phone I've ever bought. I really should have bought the honor 7x

I am a HTC Combatant and die hard, but your review is clear and very honest. Thumb Up! All the negative point you gave really need to be reviewed and improved by HTC. I'm facing the same issues. Overall I like the phone for my everyday use..
Thanks. This honest review will definitely help

FatManYelling said:
The Speaker of this phone is pure cancer. My old Galaxy s6 and my business(forced) Iphone SE were way better. I'm not even able to hear Music while cooking etc. IT just fu*** the ears. This is without a doubt the worst phone I've ever bought. I really should have bought the honor 7x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an Honor 8 for six months. It was awful. Just didn't like it. Camera, interface, sound... The U Ultra is a far superior phone for a similar price.

You Sir should do phone reviews. very detailed, objective and honest review!
Thank you!

Hello, I own a Moto G4 Plus and I'm going to replace it very soon. Your review helped very much, as I can't decide between a HTC U Ultra and a Moto G6 Plus, as they both retail for the exact same price currently, at least here, in Romania. On one hand, the U Ultra is closer quality to a flagship, has a nice screen, good processor (maybe a bit old, I'll admit it) and a very good camera, at least when compared to competitors from the same year. On the other hand, the G6 Plus has near stock Android, treble support, a very easy to unlock bootloader, and still has a nice screen and decent camera and processor. I really cannot decide between those, as I am looking at the U Ultra's shortcomings as potential deal breakers. What would be your recommendations? Thanks!

For me its no brain picking the right phone.I would allways buy older flagship instead of similar placed midranger.
Yeah Ultra have some bad things battery is short-ish but all other things are beter.Build quality,sound on headphones is awesome,phone is fast no lags,slowdownds or anything like that.Camera is good and screen is ok for me.
But ur the one who needs to pick.
Only thing questionable now is Android Pie.

Thank you for this review. I ordered HTC U Ultra yesterday. Price was pretty cool - 200€. Can't wait to test it!