Database Info

which phone offers the most similar experiecne?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodbye V10 Hello V20

As the Release of V20 will soon be upon us we reflect back on the failures and success of the V10. Me as a person who waited to get the V10 until it was rooted was very excited for this phone,I was happy with all the specs that it had and the design that had a commanding look but that didn't come without issue also. The fingerprint reader had issue not able to read with a case on it,fake second screen bleed issues. wi-fi is slow or dropping out, data and call issues and last be not least screen retention issues. luckily the phone didn't suffer issues from the G4 which had the death reboot which had the same 808 SD. I have done one replacement and that is because of the calls ,data and screen issues was getting worse which I couldn't take, Since the new one came in I've had little issues with it. thank god
Now with the V20 coming right around the block and after watching the press release I'm very interested to see how this V20 holds up. The looks of the phone could be more desirable but its not bad on the eyes especially with the colors that are being released Titan (very dark grey), Pink, and Silver. People will definitely ask what phone is that( The New Iphone) LOL . The specs are on point with this year flagships 5.7in screen 2k screen , 820SD,4GB ram,64 OBS, 3200mAh battery nothing to brag about and android 7.0 out of the box big plus for them.This phone brings a similar rear camera look and function of the G5 but with improvements of presentation and software which I like, they removed the rear buttons which is kinda a disappointment that they took there LG look away that separated from the rest now it looks like every other phone. In the end this is phone is upgrade worthy and I will most surely deserve a look. With other flagships phone coming out the V20 may have some tough competition only time will time.
Now I wanted write a full blow article but i wanted to keep in short and sweet and also see how well I can put this together seeing it as my first . I hope this small review helps.
Peace

I want to buy lg
01. I never get afraid again lg phone to receive :silly:
02. No support
03. never good option for root
04. power consumption sucks

I have been thinking of getting the 20 also. I have to say my 10 has been a great phone. I am worried about getting root.

I am seriously considering the v20!
Sent from my awesome T-Mobile LG V10!

If you find yourself on XDA frequently this may not be the ideal device to upgrade to. Just my opinion.
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA-Developers mobile app

sabresfan said:
If you find yourself on XDA frequently this may not be the ideal device to upgrade to. Just my opinion.
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
while it looks great, it honestly isn't enough for me to make the jump. The SD820 is nice, and the DAC is probably a good upgrade, but i just cant see making the jump...

I'm getting the v20. It satisfies all the hardware requirements that I am still clinging to (removable battery, memory expansion, great camera). I'm hoping this upgrade solves the issues I had with the v10 (poor power consumption, crappy speaker quality, weak bluetooth). But I will hope and pray that it gets root, but I'm ok with waiting for that. If I need rooted capabilities, I can go back to one of my old nexus devices.
As it stands, the V20 is a great upgrade for me.

$700 is a lot to just upgrade from the 808 to the 820. Not sure about gamers but i have yet to do anything on my phone that the 808 wasn't able to handle.
That b&o earphone is nice but would be more practical just to buy it lol.

My thoughts are it might be worth it. Couple things I'm weighing:
1. Is 2nd screen a true 2nd screen?
2. The audio improvements only seem to apply to wired headphones?
3. Android 7! Yes!
All else seems equal and I do like the rooted V10

TheFuzz said:
My thoughts are it might be worth it. Couple things I'm weighing:
1. Is 2nd screen a true 2nd screen?
2. The audio improvements only seem to apply to wired headphones?
3. Android 7! Yes!
All else seems equal and I do like the rooted V10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it not a true 2nd screen that what makes me mad
Audio improvements are for Mics, speaker and headphones

Airtioteclint said:
$700 is a lot to just upgrade from the 808 to the 820. Not sure about gamers but i have yet to do anything on my phone that the 808 wasn't able to handle.
That b&o earphone is nice but would be more practical just to buy it lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where do you get the 700 from? this phone is worth that much

young0ne said:
where do you get the 700 from? this phone is worth that much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just going by how much the v10 cost.
It's worth it if you're coming from another phone. But not coming from the v10.

Airtioteclint said:
Just going by how much the v10 cost.
It's worth it if you're coming from another phone. But not coming from the v10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the v10 cost 599 on t mobile when it was released last time i checked.may for other carriers it cost that much

young0ne said:
well the v10 cost 599 on t mobile when it was released last time i checked.may for other carriers it cost that much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking at my receipt right now. 629.99 with tax came to 685.11.
They charge prepaid more to buy it outright.

Airtioteclint said:
I'm looking at my receipt right now. 629.99 with tax came to 685.11.
They charge prepaid more to buy it outright.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay that would make sense for the high price.
So let me ask you this.What do you think it is worth with these upgrades?
820SD
upgraded camera software for stills and videos
upgraded audio 4 24bit DACs
update modem

I'm tired of the v10.. Getting the v20 no doubt..

With all the hype it's getting, I think the V20 will have a bigger development community. I'm a long time Nexus user and Samsung dev and I'm jumping over to the V20 side of the fence. Grass looks greener there than the Google Pixel side of the fence.

12MaNy said:
With all the hype it's getting, I think the V20 will have a bigger development community. I'm a long time Nexus user and Samsung dev and I'm jumping over to the V20 side of the fence. Grass looks greener there than the Google Pixel side of the fence.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I enjoy my v10 but lack of development & some small issues make me want to upgrade. I am still considering the Note 7.

I love the flagship LG phones but fact is they are becoming more and more locked down and when root finally does come out a new version of android comes out then we have to wait another 3-5 months for a root for that version to come out. This fact that the bootloaders and everything else is so tightly locked down now makes developers shy away from the device which in turn slows down the rooting/unlocking process even further. I think buying the v20 or future LG flagship devices means you accepting that there will be little to no development for it.
In a nutshell.... Before buying flagship LG phones (as awesome as they are), the main question you should be asking yourself is are you comfortable with using it as is out of the box until you get your next phone. I'm a root junkie and always trying to squeeze as much performance and battery life out of my devices as possible so as awesome as it is I'm prob going to team nexus once my v10 goes up the river.

I was gung ho for the upgraded dac, but this time I am waiting it out;
-LG took too long to actually release the phone.
-LG did not upgrade the screen quality, my phone has SERIOUS image ghosting. Basically you can not run this device on full bright (my choice, not everyone), without damaging the screen and the warranty sucks.
-LG did not really offer enough difference vs every other device that has been out for months. Why not add use the 821 or the 823, so the device has some long term life.
-LG seems to have locked the devices down, such that developers don't even care about this device. If you can't root an android device, their is NO BENEFIT over the latest Iphone 7.
It does not appear that LG is going to match the Samsung 256mb sd card freebie, so considering the amazing price drop of the V10 (the phone is only worth $200ish resale and its not even 1yr old), I am going to wait until the resale price drops in a few months, and I certainly won't buy one at $700+ with no ability to root the device.

Thoughts about the Moto X Pure/Style after extended usage

The point of this post is just to share my thoughts about the direction Motorola has taken with flagships. After using this phone for more than a year I can conclude:
Besides near stock Android and Turbo charging, the phone is mediocre at best. I have never felt as good as what i felt with my previous flagships (a Oneplus One).
The Battery life is way below average. After using the phone for a year the battery has really started to show its age and its not lasting as long as it should.
Another annoying issue I noticed is the fact that Motorola implements almost the same design language for their lower end G series and X series. Apart from the size, someone who isn't a tech geek can easily mistake my Pure for a lower end Motorola phone. The new Z series has fixed this, but again it would be difficult for the uninitiated to tell the difference between a Moto Z Play and the more premium Moto Z. Samsung, LG, HTC, Xiaomi go to great lengths to ensure that their flagships stand out and look very different from the budget phones.
I dont think i need to mention the fact that ever since Lenovo has taken over, the update wait time has increased a great deal, new reports suggest that the Pure will only get Noughat in May 2017
The developers that choose to work on the Pure deserve a lot of credit, but the fact is that a lot of developers chose to develop for other devices rather than the Pure.
A lot of accessory manufacturers decided that the moto X Pure didn't deserve any attention. To find a decent case was not very easy, (I especially missed using a Spigen case) and the fact that there is not a single working tempered Screen glass protector proves this. (I know the Pleson works almost 100% but its not available freely in all countries neither is it perfect.)
In conclusion I'm pretty sure this will be my last Motorola phone simply because it would be smarter to spend a little more and get a Galaxy, and with phones like the Oneplus 3T it makes little sense to buy a phone like the Moto Z which is priced considerably higher.
Would love to hear from other people what they think and if they are going to stay loyal to Motorola.

Heavy weight
Easy to get heated

The point about sharing design with mid range Moto phones is dope. People often ask if it's a Moto X Play or a Moto G 3rd Gen and then we need to tell them it's X Style ??

Well ... I understand your point of view, but what I think is that you chose badly the device, since you found him "mediocre at best"
The points listed:
Comparing the most powerful AND STABLE 32-bit processor to the second in line of Qualcomm's 64-bit generation SOC's with new architecture and everything else, I believe to be extremely wrong, since after the SD810 fiasco the creation of the SD808 was the fix the company used (and i think it was a good one, but this is something mostly disagree with me '^^)
About the OnePlus One, it is really a beast phone with the SD801 (the 32bits GOD) and i understand that you had a remarkable experience with it, since i had (now it is with my girlfriend) an Xperia Z3 with the same SD801 as the OnePlus One i understand when you say it was a more fluid usage, since i think the same, but... I don't think you can compare something that is pretty stable with some new technology.
I never had any problems with the battery because i use as a normal phone and i play games only at home and waiting in lines (bank/medic/...), it gives me something next to 18 hours (stock ROM/kernel) of use with 3 hour SOT or 7 to 8 hours SOT when i use it to watch movies/series/animes in my bed, mostly at weekends. Through the week i unplug it from charger at 6:30, go to work, and at 18:00 i go back home (40 ~ 35% left), the weekend is always a mess for battery stats,
As for the design I don’t have much to say, because I find it very beautiful, and being same design language is a plus for me, i like to have a “invisible phone” in the croud, only people that asks me what is my phone should know the answer.
Now the two really bad points ...
As for Lenovo acquiring Motorola, I fully agree that it was dumb, at least it should keep Motorola working as it always did.
And the lack of smartphone accessories really is laughable
We can keep talking about it, but i really think is a good phone and the testing Nougat ROM's are amazing, i can't wait for the official Nougat update.

btw all samsungs look the same too, comapre new A series with S: very simmilar glass on glass design.
other than that, you're right there are some dissapoitments but it's not real flagship phone, it's more like very good mid-end device, It was never priced like a flagship so don't expect it to be real flagship - that's my opinion. OPO is a differen't story, they managed to get price down with other ways like it's distribution, services ect.

It is a flagship phone. Why would you think otherwise? SD 8xx, 5.7" 2K screen, 21 MP back camera, etc. Upon release the starting price for 16gb was $399, while most mid range phones hit at $250-$300. At this point, nearly 2 years later, it could be considered a mid range but that is because hardware moves forward.
As to my thoughts: I think this is a great phone, even now. I run unrooted stock and pretty much it is a Nexus device with a few extras for customization thrown via Moto apps. These apps are few and I appreciate that they add actual additional features and not just replicate what Android and Google actually does already. The phone runs smooth, has a good camera for good lighting, and handles everything I throw at it. I will admit that battery life could be better, but it is acceptable and at least the turbo charge makes up for this shortcoming. I don't regret this purchase, even if the update process is dismal.
Update: I have hit the end of my warranty period, so I unlocked the bootloader and rooted. I have applied my favorite rooted apps and settings (Xposed, amplify, Greenify, TiBu to disable/uninstall certain apps and services, BBS to track wakelocks, and AdAway) so hopefully I will see improved battery life.

I bought the phone 6 months ago and I love it. I always used to be a android tinkerer. But recently most of the features that I used to root for have become stock. All I really need in a phone is stock android (although I wish we would get updates sooner) and the front facing speakers (because anything else is stupid). While I will probably be buying whatever google has out when I decide that it is time to upgrade in a year or two. It isn't due to anything motorola did wrong in particular. I also tend to keep phones a long time and upgrade to a tried and tested phone (which 6 months ago was the moto x pure, getting great reviews.) I upgraded from the Galaxy Note 2, and this was a wonderful step up.

I bought mine used last summer, upgrading from a Galaxy Note II. I'm a little disappointed in the battery life, but it gets me through most days. I agree about the lack of accessories and the slowing speed of updates. I'm also amazed at how well my Note II still stands up while running a custom MM Rom. I hope the X Pure works that well when it is that old.
But there are things that I really love about this phone too. I am amazed at how good the front speakers sound. I never thought I would care this much, but they are really good. I'm happy with the camera, since most of my photography is in good lighting conditions. This is my first phone with a camera that was good enough to not bother with a point and shoot. I'll move to a custom ROM if the updates stop altogether, but they haven't stopped yet. I'm happy that it still has a headphone jack, I use it all the time. Speed is fast enough to never annoy me, where my Note 2 was fast enough to rarely annoy me.
I choose this phone as an aging flagship instead of a midrange (Honor 5X, Asus Zenfone Laser 2, Moto G 3rd Gen) and I'm glad that I did.

Note2 versus Moto X Pure Edition
Znomon said:
I bought the phone 6 months ago and I love it. I always used to be a android tinkerer. But recently most of the features that I used to root for have become stock. All I really need in a phone is stock android (although I wish we would get updates sooner) and the front facing speakers (because anything else is stupid). While I will probably be buying whatever google has out when I decide that it is time to upgrade in a year or two. It isn't due to anything motorola did wrong in particular. I also tend to keep phones a long time and upgrade to a tried and tested phone (which 6 months ago was the moto x pure, getting great reviews.) I upgraded from the Galaxy Note 2, and this was a wonderful step up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
smallmj said:
I bought mine used last summer, upgrading from a Galaxy Note II. I'm a little disappointed in the battery life, but it gets me through most days. I agree about the lack of accessories and the slowing speed of updates. I'm also amazed at how well my Note II still stands up while running a custom MM Rom. I hope the X Pure works that well when it is that old.
But there are things that I really love about this phone too. I am amazed at how good the front speakers sound. I never thought I would care this much, but they are really good. I'm happy with the camera, since most of my photography is in good lighting conditions. This is my first phone with a camera that was good enough to not bother with a point and shoot. I'll move to a custom ROM if the updates stop altogether, but they haven't stopped yet. I'm happy that it still has a headphone jack, I use it all the time. Speed is fast enough to never annoy me, where my Note 2 was fast enough to rarely annoy me.
I choose this phone as an aging flagship instead of a midrange (Honor 5X, Asus Zenfone Laser 2, Moto G 3rd Gen) and I'm glad that I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 2 holdout here too . I'm just finishing up my first week since the upgrade and am quite pleased so far. I have the feeling that the MXPE is going to be a good low maintenance, long haul phone that I can get a few good years of service out of without too much hand-holding, just like with the Note. And with a nice, bright LCD screen instead of Led, I won't ever have to worry about burn-in or custom kernels to help correct green tint; pretty much everything just works. In fact, there's a ton of features that used to require a special app or a custom rom on the Note 2 that are built right in to the X, so there was a lot less effort required out-of-the-box to get everything to work, and on the stock Rom, no less! Even tethering works on the stock rom, which is something that I've never seen on any smartphone in my life.
Comparing the battery life of the two devices, I have yet to conclude any formal tests, but so far, the Pure Edition looks like it's going to be delivering 3-4 hours of screen-on time at best, while the Note 2 delivered as much as 4-5 hours on a good day. That said, I used that phone much more conservatively, so that could have something to do with it, but overall, the runtime of the Pure Edition isn't looking all that great. I think it's just got too much power for its own good, and when you combine that with a ludicrously-high screen resolution, (which demands more effort to render those high-resolution fonts and animations) it strains the CPU and GPU more. Time will tell if things improve after I settle in with it.

Overall I am happy with my X pure, though I share some of the others gripes.
Pros
-Screen
-Above average camera
-Good front camera with flash
-Good CPU, 3GB RAM
-front speakers
-no complaint on call quality
-Sd card slot - I have a 64GB card split as 20GB adopted and 40GB external
-moto ROM is near stock
-Moto features are well done (lock screen notifications)
-Simple unlock/root process
-GSM & CDMA = yes on VZ
-Quich charge 2
-understated design (I like it, others not as much)
- PRICE for these features unmatched
Cons
-Gets hot under load
-Battery life could be better - depends on how much I use it. GPS OFF helps. QC is a necessity with this phone
- lack of choice for accessories
- curved back - one handed is a chore and can't use on the table face up. It does feel nice to hold for a call though.
Other
- upgrade cycle has been slower than some would like. However it still exists at least. Other phones would be dead by now, this one is still alive.
Overall, Pros outweigh the cons and there is a lot for me to love about this phone.
I think I have been spoiled, because I'm finding it hard to find a device to upgrade to without sacrifices. The only phones I would consider are the Pixel and Moto G4 and one is expensive and the other underpowered.

well, i did the poll but i did it as a yes i would buy another, with condition of course.
i came from the original disappointed motorola fans, the Photon 4G fan. back then... it was the photon of the era. It had the ability to work as a PC, GSM capabilities, 4G wimax and at the time was the best performance with dual core 1 gigahertz and qHD. really a prime of a phone at that time compared to the S2 and the evo. cyanogenmod came out and did wonders on that phone because moto blur was so trashy. Then... the worst happened. Sprint ordered motorola to lock down the bootloader to 2.3.6 which is severely locked and no modifications were allowed to be done anymore. those who were lucky to not have 2.3.6 were able to mod to ICS but those who had 2.3.6 had to bootstrap the phone to work with cyanogenmod and that even was a piss poor attempt at making it work.
now i buy the moto x pure with alot of resentment from the photon but after hearing the reviews is when i bought it. after plagues of hardware problems with hte nexus 5 i simply needed a way to go back and the best device was the moto x. i was so sure i wanted this phone i custom ordered it (after reading rave reviews), i ordered the black leather with red accent 64 gig with 2 years protection. with over a year on this phone... i will admit i still love it.
there were a few hardware problems but i do have the 2 year protection and they did repair it for me... replaced the screen and the battery and wireless modules. i since then have not had problems with it (and believe they remedied the issues that i had with the older devices). i own an HTC M9, and my sister has the s7 edge. the only thing i like about the m9 is the dolby atmos and the carrier aggregation (hoping for a wireless update for the X). other than that... my phone is still superior despite older technology.
why?
i love my moto x because of the moto display. my absolute favorite! i also love the flash light and camera gestures.
the camera works great, signal is still better than most other phones, it barely crashes, the speakers still work very well, still speedy, turbo charge is still an amazing product and i bought the car charger for it. battery had 90 mins on screen time and still has 41% battery and i like the fact its unlocked gsm. i tried freedom pop a few weeks ago and i put that sim in. switched over quickly and it worked great then when i was done... i put my sprint sim back in and it worked just as great too.
the reason i dont see much to switch to however is because samsung, LG, and HTC hasnt really enticed me yet as to why their phone is better. samsung i have to see what will make them different... but LG really hasnt enticed me and im curious on what HTC does, though im not a metal phone fan (feel the feraday cage idea disintegrates the signal, IMO). Pixel is nice... but i simply dont have the money.
what would make me switch to another phone...
1) 4 gig of ram (preferably 6 gigs)
2) HPUE has to be baked in for Sprint LTE at a minimum but 5 channel aggregation would be amazing, AND GSM UNLOCKED
3) best camera software
4) minimum 5.5 inch screen
5) battery that will last for full 24 hours without need of charge or quick charge 4.0 with dual pol
6) shatter resistance and waterproof
for now... the moto x meets my demands without incremental improvements until i see whats next. hopefully a moto z successor that actually works on sprint

In the 2 years it has been out the update cycle has been slower than Samsung's Motorola did not deliver on the support side the main selling point they had with this device was it was going to be similar to the Nexus upgrade cycle well my warranty was up before the first update came out... In addition to the fiasco that is accessories for this phone I am really regretting not going with the LG v10

I don't know why everyone still complains about the accessories. This was never a mainstream device since it was completely carrier independent and sold unlocked. The previous Moto X (and Moto G) line was sold as both branded and unlocked so they were actually seen at pretty much any company that sold cellular service. For those looking for contract or payment plan pricing, they could get it from the carrier. With limited visibility, and the lack of payment plans through carriers the Pure was just not that popular. Companies that make accessories are going to focus on popular selling phones first as that is where they will make the most money... At least we have some options.

I sold my Moto X Pure to buy a Google Pixel XL.
If I were to sell the Pixel XL, then the Moto X Pure is the only phone I'd consider buying.
It was the best all-around phone I've ever had.
I'd even go with it over the new OnePlus 3 second edition or Galaxy S7 variants.
Regardless of price.
Moto Z. lmao what a stinker that phone is compared to Moto X Pure.
Unless you want pretty. Then you shouldn't even be on XDA if that's all you care about.

Interesting comments. I've been a Nexus owner for years, with the 6P being my prior phone. It became my prior phone due to the all too common Boot Loop of Death (BLOD) that seems to be impacting more and more owners. While Huawei did replace it with a refurb'ed model, not in mint shape like the one I sent, but it did come back with 128g instead of the 32g I sent. The battery is terrible as compared with the MXPE, I've been through most of the custom roms/kernels and nothing has really helped and I don't do social media nor play games on it. The built in features of the Moto really impressed me, they are actually functional and add value. The Moto Display is excellent as is the voice recognition of the Moto voice. The bluetooth stack seems to have issues (with me at least), my cell signal is a bit worse and the lack of updates is sad.
I've considered the Pixel, but the price is insane and after having the Pixel features on the 6P I'm happy with the Moto.
When I got my 6P back, it took about a week to change my sim back to it from the Moto, I put it back in the Moto the next day and don't plan on taking it out.

I've had several issues with my Moto X Pure:
1. Frequent static emanating from the headphone jack, which puts a real damper on quiet classical music. I've read on discussion boards that this is a known problem with jacks on the Moto X.
2. Failure to recognize SD cards. I'm now on my third card, and the phone is less than a year old.
3. The camera now fails to operate because of a "lack of disk space" -- although I have more than 24GB available.
Like you, I will never buy another Motorola phone.

Gourdman said:
I've had several issues with my Moto X Pure:
1. Frequent static emanating from the headphone jack, which puts a real damper on quiet classical music. I've read on discussion boards that this is a known problem with jacks on the Moto X.
2. Failure to recognize SD cards. I'm now on my third card, and the phone is less than a year old.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. This is interesting and must be sample-specific. I'm a pretty avid music listener and haven't had any problems with the headphone output on either of my MXPEs (had to RMA my first toward the end of the warranty period). I'd definitely notice and complain if there were any perceptible noise.
2. This one I do have experience with. I bought a brand new Samsung EVO 64 GB mSD card at the same time as the phone, and it gave me fits, but seems to work in other devices. Tried an older SanDisk I had laying around and it's worked fine.

ominousnimbus said:
1. This is interesting and must be sample-specific. I'm a pretty avid music listener and haven't had any problems with the headphone output on either of my MXPEs (had to RMA my first toward the end of the warranty period). I'd definitely notice and complain if there were any perceptible noise.
2. This one I do have experience with. I bought a brand new Samsung EVO 64 GB mSD card at the same time as the phone, and it gave me fits, but seems to work in other devices. Tried an older SanDisk I had laying around and it's worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had issues with static, but only on some select 3.5mm plugs. I just figure it was that specific plug itself.
Have had no issues with my SanDisk plus. I use it as removable storage and not as adopted storage. But going back to your statement, I have owned a multiple phones and have noticed some don't play well with certain brands of cards but do well with others. I'm not sure why this is but it does happen.

I really hope I don't get SD slot troubles. My Note 2 did that and it drove me crazy. Maybe next time I should just shell out for a 64+ GB phone.

Times have changed
smallmj said:
I really hope I don't get SD slot troubles. My Note 2 did that and it drove me crazy. Maybe next time I should just shell out for a 64+ GB phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Newer versions of Android (and their apps, along with the stock Rom apparently) are not nearly as frugal with the 16GB of storage as the Note2 was. I'm already at 7.8/9.6GB used with just a basic load of apps and data (music is on the card and camera photos are also directed to be stored there) on the MXPE.
For comparison, my Note2 has a massive load of software & data, plus a ton of camera photos, all on the main storage volume, and only 6.26GB out of the total 10.95GB available are used.
All that to say that 16GB used to be plenty, but "modern" software is just too bloated for that. If I do upgrade phones anytime in the next ~2 years, it'll probably be to a larger Moto X Pure Edition, but for now, that 64GB MicroSD card should be plenty adequate.

[Q] Replacement for Nexus 5 (2017 edition)

Hey all, I've seen a few posts out here similar that were older. My wife has a Nexus 5. It has been alright but she runs into space issues and hasn't been super thrilled with the battery. I have a 5x that I've loved (except it does a weird thing now where the screen won't come on when its in a call, but that's a whole other matter). She's dropped the phone and it's old enough to make me not want to mess with that, so it's time to look for something else.
I was wondering currently in June 2017, what a decent replacement would be for a Nexus 5. I would imagine there are all kinds of options out there that should be decent quality and cheap. Main goals at this point are 32 gig and a good battery. Wouldn't mind SD card capability and replaceable battery but from what I understand, you can't get as many replaceable battery phones anymore.
I'm not 100% opposed to buying one used if there are some that hold up well, but obviously new would be nice. I'm not looking for latest/greatest, just something she will appreciate that will work for awhile. Before we had our Nexus phones, we had the Moto G line, which obviously are kind of bargain basement types and it showed, so I hate to make that mistake again.

Lenovo P2: SD 625, 5100mAh battery and 32/64GB storge with dual sim or single sim + sd card.

hipsterdo0fus said:
Hey all, I've seen a few posts out here similar that were older. My wife has a Nexus 5. It has been alright but she runs into space issues and hasn't been super thrilled with the battery. I have a 5x that I've loved (except it does a weird thing now where the screen won't come on when its in a call, but that's a whole other matter). She's dropped the phone and it's old enough to make me not want to mess with that, so it's time to look for something else.
I was wondering currently in June 2017, what a decent replacement would be for a Nexus 5. I would imagine there are all kinds of options out there that should be decent quality and cheap. Main goals at this point are 32 gig and a good battery. Wouldn't mind SD card capability and replaceable battery but from what I understand, you can't get as many replaceable battery phones anymore.
I'm not 100% opposed to buying one used if there are some that hold up well, but obviously new would be nice. I'm not looking for latest/greatest, just something she will appreciate that will work for awhile. Before we had our Nexus phones, we had the Moto G line, which obviously are kind of bargain basement types and it showed, so I hate to make that mistake again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pragmatically and from my perspective, since I am in the same situation searching for a replacement, the short answer is no. Never. I came over from Apple due to the easier customization ability of Android at the time.
I bought the N5 I have now, second-hand, originally for a family member (but they wanted an Apple), so I got stuck with it. Already rom'd. After getting used to the Android system, I said fine, I'm ditching Apple. Not say their stuff is bad. It just wasn't for me.
A broken screen, a new battery, and constantly rebooting to get a signal and nearly 3 years later and updating through first CM and now Pure Nexus.
I run this thing like a nuclear reactor especially during semester months.
Nothing beats it's simplicity. Nothing. It's one of the best pieces of tech I have ever owned and continues to be my daily driver. I did jump ship to an M9 and while a very impressive device. I yearned for my N5 (I thought it was dead). Got it back to functionality and haven't been back. Needless to say, here's what I am mulling over.
Pixel
Nexus 6p
Htc u11
Samsung S7 (or if I hit the lotto S8)
The Moto's. Since the Pure Nexus community is giving them a lot of love right now, especially the one with the crazy battery life but the 625 processor (if it was Daydream compatible I would've gotten it already).
One plus 3t
The high end xiaomi (I forget the model name)
An HTC 10. Another nice and underrated phone.
I can wax poetic about the N5 for days. Nothing beats it's flexibility, simplicity (aforementioned), and usability. Us N5 users do not need the bells and whistles and yet that's nice but we do more with less. I, too, will lament the day my hammerhead finally goes. In the meantime​, I hope my long-winded account helps you out.
Edit: I forgot about the Axon 7.

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately most of them are quite a bit higher in price than we paid for this Nexus. We had actually used the Moto G line prior to this.
I also have to say that since this is for my wife, I may need to watch out on the screen size being overly gigantor. She may not want something that is too much bigger than the N5. That Lenovo is the best in price so far, but for some reason it doesn't have very good rating on Phone Arena. Wonder why?

I still have my nexus, but upgraded to a Huawei Nova, not the Nova Plus, mainly due to spec improvements and similar screen size. Got 4gb memory and 64gb storage, about the exact same size as the Nexus. I hate the Huawei UI, but CM is available for it now, so not really an issue. It might be a bit pricey though. The Huawei Honor, I think 6x, also has a model that is 5.5in screen.
Not trying to sell Huawei, was just checking the price in the US of the one I have and noticed the Honor was similar. I got the Nova CAZ-AL10 for the specs, price, size, and because it is compatible with the mobile networks here in China. The Nexus was not unfortunately.

I think an Asus Zenfone 3 might not be a bad option. It has great battery life and it's not too expensive
I had a nexus 5x and just came back to my nexus 5 with a custom rom and I am loving it!!!

After the lost of my N5, I got an OP 3T and not even rooted it, sweet and fast on stock.
Edit: Actually rooted it and still sweet and fast, the best; more than 8 hours SOT

What about leeco pro 3. I own one and it is for sure one of the best phones for its price if not the best (USD 199, might be even lower now) the stock ROM isn't much to chant for but put a custom ROM on it and you're golden. They were running a sale on amazon a few weeks back but I'm not sure about its current availability. Snapdragon 821 with 4 to 6gb of ram and 64gb of storage. The camera is its weakest point but it's honestly not that bad. Battery life is also great averaging 6 SOT on nougat and around 8 on stock. 100% recommend.

How about OnePlus 5? I was considering replacing my N5 with it, but I'm not convinced by their previous software support.

gr__or said:
How about OnePlus 5? I was considering replacing my N5 with it, but I'm not convinced by their previous software support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can it be rooted?

maybeme2 said:
Can it be rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a device that can't be rooted? I think so far all of the OnePlus devices where pretty open and got root quickly. Given that the OP5 has just been announced today, there is no root yet, but I'd be surprised if there isn't a root mid-july.

I don't know. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know. I think some devices are said to be easier to root than others which is what I meant to ask. I own a couple of nexus 5s and an old nexus 7 and they are easy to root. Just don't know enough about the op5.

Sorry I dig up the subject
I think to replace my nexus 5 and I hesitate between the nexus 6p (I find one at 190 euros used) or a nexus 5x (has 100 euros used too) what would be the best choice for you?
Thank you for your answers

Here's why I am switching from a Galaxy S9+ (That is right an S9+)

Hello, all it is great to be back on XDA after long not being able to do anything with my phone because Samsung locks it down so you can't touch the US variants of their phones anymore! I decided to "downgrade" to a Moto G6 and save my money and free myself from Samsungs crapware etc. My thoughts from playing with it so far are that for the price it is incredible! Fast charging is faster than my S9+, battery life is better, overall system responsiveness is very consistent, and the screen is not at all bad! This barely feels like a downgrade at all. It feels like a breath of fresh air in an over saturated market of very pricey devices. I had the original Moto G and it is still to this day the most bang for my buck device ever. It still works and still runs Android 8 even! The OnePlus One is a close contender but I really need something that works on all major US networks. Only Samsung, Apple, HTC, LG, and Motorolla were really options for me. Out of those, I thought the G6 would likely be the most tinker friendly and budget friendly. So far that seems to be holding true as development looks to be on the horizon and there are open kernel sources! Who knows maybe I will take a crack at doing a simple AOSP ROM! Cheers everyone!
P.S. Enjoy the extra money in your pockets from not buying something overpriced like the iPhone X.

And you needed to post this... Why?

Dadud said:
And you needed to post this... Why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not? I do not think that this goes against the purpose of the News & Discussion section. I figure something like this would be welcome. :silly:

Yeah, try to do some custom ROMs please. Or fix bugs on treble ROMs, if you're able to do it ?

Hey there!
I just bought a G6 today and i'm coming from S6 Edge Plus.
Of course, this is not like a S9, but I was using the "port" version of S9 rom and i don't think Samsung's changed that much. After buying this phone I agree and understand what you are talking. I feel like I'm upgrading to a more expensive phone. Everything has this stock animations, smoothness and the battery... Omg... The baterry is fantastic!
I stopped to think about why spend so much i Samsung's phone if you can get even better experience with another phones on the market? Just because of a design that certainly will be covered by a case and a good screen.
Of course I miss the camera, but I can get over it

Loved reading the post. Don't mind the guy up above and his poor attitude.

Just like the OP i have 3 of these moto G6 play's and 1 iPhone X. The G6 is by far the bang for the buck in everyway. These phones even have facial recognition !
BTW, i picked up these phones for less than $100 each.................................

chokers said:
Just like the OP i have 3 of these moto G6 play's and 1 iPhone X. The G6 is by far the bang for the buck in everyway. These phones even have facial recognition !
BTW, i picked up these phones for less than $100 each.................................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow how did you manage that deal? Used!? That is a great deal even from the play!
calage1234 said:
Hey there!
I just bought a G6 today and i'm coming from S6 Edge Plus.
Of course, this is not like a S9, but I was using the "port" version of S9 rom and i don't think Samsung's changed that much. After buying this phone I agree and understand what you are talking. I feel like I'm upgrading to a more expensive phone. Everything has this stock animations, smoothness and the battery... Omg... The baterry is fantastic!
I stopped to think about why spend so much i Samsung's phone if you can get even better experience with another phones on the market? Just because of a design that certainly will be covered by a case and a good screen.
Of course I miss the camera, but I can get over it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I am going to miss the camera a lot but for the price it is making me like it a lot more. Also Samsung needs to up their quick charge game. Thinking about the camera again though... For the difference in price you can get a killer used DSLR or maybe even a new one not including lenses.

This is evidence that price does not equal quality. I'm glad you like your phone as much as I like mine.

Markon101 said:
Hello, all it is great to be back on XDA after long not being able to do anything with my phone because Samsung locks it down so you can't touch the US variants of their phones anymore! I decided to "downgrade" to a Moto G6 and save my money and free myself from Samsungs crapware etc. My thoughts from playing with it so far are that for the price it is incredible! Fast charging is faster than my S9+, battery life is better, overall system responsiveness is very consistent, and the screen is not at all bad! This barely feels like a downgrade at all. It feels like a breath of fresh air in an over saturated market of very pricey devices. I had the original Moto G and it is still to this day the most bang for my buck device ever. It still works and still runs Android 8 even! The OnePlus One is a close contender but I really need something that works on all major US networks. Only Samsung, Apple, HTC, LG, and Motorolla were really options for me. Out of those, I thought the G6 would likely be the most tinker friendly and budget friendly. So far that seems to be holding true as development looks to be on the horizon and there are open kernel sources! Who knows maybe I will take a crack at doing a simple AOSP ROM! Cheers everyone!
P.S. Enjoy the extra money in your pockets from not buying something overpriced like the iPhone X.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"...and the screen is not at all bad!"
Actually, I think the screen is gorgeous and looks amazing, bright and colorful without being oversaturated.
Hi, Markon101...
Wow, what a great post, and I agree with much of what you say, although I live in the UK and carrier networks are somewhat different here. Things aren't quite so locked down.
So, anyway, like yourself, I've also been away from XDA for quite a while, primarily because I'm not rich enough to afford the latest Premium Flagship devices. And over the past few years, I've been running fairly old devices, namely the (HTC built) Nexus 9 tablet and the HTC One M8 phone, both of which hail from 2014.
This hasn't been much of a problem in terms of regular day-to-day use, but to be a contributing member of XDA, it helps if you have more up to date hardware.
I remember buying my HTC One M8 phone way back in September 2014, which cost me over £500 - a fair chunk of cash for me even back then.
Today's Flagship phones are even more expensive (unless you go the contract route, but I prefer to actually own my phone outright), so when my HTC One M8's battery began to fail earlier this year (which is pretty respectable after three and a bit years of use!) ~ at the beginning of July, the phone would shut down when the battery dipped below 70% ~ well, I knew then that I needed a new phone, it couldn't be delayed any longer!
But you develop certain expectations, largely fed by what you read online and by the focus placed on them, that the only phones worth bothering with are Premium Flagship devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S9, Google's Pixel phones, the iPhone X, etc...
...and that any phone not costing an arm and a leg (ie., anything less than around £800) is basically not worth bothering with.
And it's so easy to fall into the trap of believing that. I certainly did, which is why I delayed replacing my M8 for as long as I did, not wanting (and not really able to afford it anyway) to spend upwards of £800 to £900 on a new phone. I guess I could have found the money, but the sacrifices elsewhere in my life, as a result, would have just have been unacceptable to me.
And then I read this article...
The Moto G6 exposes the identity crisis plaguing Android's top-end...
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/moto-g6-release-date-uk-price-specs
This article 'recalibrated' my expectations and changed my perspective about a phone costing only a quarter of the price of a Flagship device ~ just £220, network unlocked.
So, I bought one. Just over a week ago now.
I transferred the SIM card from my antiquated HTC One M8 and I haven't regretted my purchase for a single minute!
The Moto G6 is a singular delight to look at, to hold and most importantly of all... to use. Smooth and responsive, great screen, fast charging, looks good - what's not to like.
You could buy nearly five of 'em for the price of an iPhone X - all I can say is that the iPhone X must be an extraordinarily and an astonishingly amazing piece of technology, but is it worth £1000? A slightly rhetorical question I know, because value, when it comes to such things, is highly subjective.
Clearly, it's worth it to some people, otherwise Apple wouldn't have sold any of 'em ~ I just couldn't personally justify such an extravagant purchase, even if I did have a spare Grand lying around somewhere!
But going back to the Moto G6 ~ it's a great phone, at a great price, and I doubt I'll ever pay much more than a couple of a hundred pounds for a smartphone ever again, which also means I won't leave it so long until I upgrade again - I mean, £220 (or thereabouts) every couple of years is something I can easily scrape together. Thick end of a £1000... well, not really.
It seems to me that something has recently changed in the smartphone world, and that good quality phones no longer require remortgaging the house! The Moto G6 is evidence of that.
---------------------------------
As far as custom mods for the Moto G6 are concerned (ie., root via Magisk, TWRP, Custom Kernels, Custom ROMs, etc.) and all that kind of stuff... well, I guess it will all happen at some point. It's still early days yet, the Moto G6 has only been on the market for around three months, and the dev guys who understand the intricacies of Android required for building the tools needed for these things need time to work on them.
And in any case, I generally wouldn't even bother thinking about unlocking the bootloader until I've had a device for at least six months, primarily for warranty reasons. What's the rush?
And ideally of course, you'd need some means of restoring/re-flashing the Moto G6 back to its factory state before messing around with all of that - and which I don't think there is currently.
Root is certainly nice to have, for things like AdaWay, Greenify and Titanium, but it brings problems of its own, for example when an OTA is imminent ~ it won't install over anything other than unmodified stock. Maybe Magisk has changed that ~ I haven't used Magisk myself, and I'm only familiar with Chainfires SuperSU, which I do know had to 'patch' the boot image/partition for root to work. I had to use Chainfires FlashFire to run an OTA on my rooted Nexus 9, but with Chainfire retiring from the field, I suspect that FlashFire no longer works, and probably wouldn't be supported on the G6 anyway.
Anyhow, whatever the complexities, root doesn't seem to me to be that much of a deal breaker these days. Or maybe I'm just getting old, and I can no longer be bothered with the hassle of it all anymore. I remember (cue: pipe, slippers, cardigan, grumpy old man routine)... I remember back in ICS, Jellybean and KitKat days when root was just so easy to acquire, and you could even flash an official OTA via ClockWorkMod recovery...
...well, those days are long gone, probably for the better actually, because it means Android is now considerably more secure with things like Secure Boot, DM-Verity, Selinix Enforced/Permissive and a whole load of other things I don't really fully understand (but sort of pretend to).
Android is certainly much more slicker and polished these days (anybody here remember Éclair, Froyo and Gingerbread!), with Nougat and Oreo and whatever P will eventually be called, but it doesn't seem to be quite as much fun as it used be back circa 2011-2014 or thereabouts.
---------------------------------
Well, having ruminated on all manner of diverse topics here, I'll conclude this ever-so-slightly rambling post by reiterating my opinion on the Moto G6, and totally agreeing with Markon101 and his post above.
It is unquestionably a delightful phone, at an equally delightful price. I'm still amazed that it only cost me a little over £200. I doubt you could even buy a half-decent TV for that kind of money.
Hope everybody else here is equally happy with their Moto G6... I know I certainly am.
Cheers everybody.
Ged.

I like the Moto G6 but S9+ is by far a better phone. Better cpu,gpu,camera,screen. S9+ feels more premium than the G6 as well. Just my opinion tho. I would never trade an S9+ for a moto G6 tho i do have the G6 as a back up phone

no kidding dude
supergear said:
I like the Moto G6 but S9+ is by far a better phone. Better cpu,gpu,camera,screen. S9+ feels more premium than the G6 as well. Just my opinion tho. I would never trade an S9+ for a moto G6 tho i do have the G6 as a back up phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
obviously the s9+ is better but is costs over 4 times more than a g6... and you can do a bit more with the motorola. im glad to see some developers have noticed it recently. **** ive had pie since july and ive been able to get like 5 different oreo gsi and three different pie gsi (descendent has a few flaws) to boot and run successfully. the best bang for the buck is the g6. honestly you sound like a fool if you have a g6 as a backup lol. you need a backup phone for a 1000 dollar s9+ ? good thing samsung is letting you get that ota for their best phone this fast because your locked bootloader and ridiculous knox security wont let you even try without cancelling your warranty and after it says void odin tells you that it has failed to flash right as the phone shorts out and tells you that it cant turn on because of moisture in the charge port(my buddy had this issue)and youre like damn, now i gotta use the G6. sorry to be so hard on ya bro but reality is harsh and you sound like a guy that needed a check.

I sort of understand what you mean like when It comes to being a developer It's simple to unlock a Moto bootloader and simple to flash stuff to em and build custom stuff for em. Compared to Samsung you need to use Odin for everything and it might not work right still. along with Samsung knox and there bootloader's being pains to unlock sometimes through unofficial means. You gotta worry about it being a exynos variant or not and there verison of android is not as much of a stock Android experience compared to moto. There's a bunch of stuff I'm sure I'm missing on why you think Moto is better lol. But I mean i have the g4 play, g6 play, and the z2 force and I bought the z2 force just so I can play games on it lol if I was you I would have just kept the s9+ and used it for the things I couldn't use my other phones for lol

I think G6 is decent for the price.
Frankly, I'd prefer IPS over AMOLED all the time.
Now Samsung is way too locked down so I quit. LG isn't that bad on open market model.
I just hope G6 has more development, and G6 plus will come to America because I prefer bigger screen.
The way to wake the phone requires some learning curve but it's not bad.
The only thing I don't like is Google Play Music. I have to close all other apps or local playback stutters.
NFC doesn't matter because I barely use it.
It works well with PD charging
USB-C digital headphones works too

Markon101 said:
Hello, all it is great to be back on XDA after long not being able to do anything with my phone because Samsung locks it down so you can't touch the US variants of their phones anymore! I decided to "downgrade" to a Moto G6 and save my money and free myself from Samsungs crapware etc. My thoughts from playing with it so far are that for the price it is incredible! Fast charging is faster than my S9+, battery life is better, overall system responsiveness is very consistent, and the screen is not at all bad! This barely feels like a downgrade at all. It feels like a breath of fresh air in an over saturated market of very pricey devices. I had the original Moto G and it is still to this day the most bang for my buck device ever. It still works and still runs Android 8 even! The OnePlus One is a close contender but I really need something that works on all major US networks. Only Samsung, Apple, HTC, LG, and Motorolla were really options for me. Out of those, I thought the G6 would likely be the most tinker friendly and budget friendly. So far that seems to be holding true as development looks to be on the horizon and there are open kernel sources! Who knows maybe I will take a crack at doing a simple AOSP ROM! Cheers everyone!
P.S. Enjoy the extra money in your pockets from not buying something overpriced like the iPhone X.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downgraded too from Galaxy S9 to Moto G6 Play and Moto G6 and I've never been happier. I love to tinker with my phones and was sick of Samsung locking everything up. So I'm happy now with some extra money on pocket.

Markon101 said:
Wow how did you manage that deal? Used!? That is a great deal even from the play!
Yeah I am going to miss the camera a lot but for the price it is making me like it a lot more. Also Samsung needs to up their quick charge game. Thinking about the camera again though... For the difference in price you can get a killer used DSLR or maybe even a new one not including lenses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to let y'all know magisk has a camera port from a rog phone. Imo it's a significant upgrade. Not as good as the S9 camera of course but still.?

luvcustom said:
Just to let y'all know magisk has a camera port from a rog phone. Imo it's a significant upgrade. Not as good as the S9 camera of course but still.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where?

madbat99 said:
Where?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install magisk then search downloads for AZUS Style Suite. Install, reboot, try it out.

luvcustom said:
Install magisk then search downloads for AZUS Style Suite. Install, reboot, try it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found it. Not worth another magisk module messing with my stuff. Everyone should keep them to a minimum, only what's needed to keep stability and needed features. Thanks though.

i have moto g6 .. You can't compare G6 phone with S9. SAMSUNG S9 is a 2018 most selling flagship device and have a good value in market.