Database Info

[Q] Looking for information

Hey, as of today I bought the Lenovo A880, I know this is an A850 forum but there doesn't seem to be any A880 forums. I looked at the specs and there are little differences between the two phone, same OS, processor etc. But different GPU (Mali-400), 8GB storage etc.
This is my first time buying a phone from China, or even outside of my home country (Ireland), but may I ask is there anything I need to do to the phone in order for it to work in the European market or even in Ireland?
I'd love some decent advice as I said, I'm a noob at this!
Thank you

MichaelCycleTheBycle said:
Hey, as of today I bought the Lenovo A880, I know this is an A850 forum but there doesn't seem to be any A880 forums. I looked at the specs and there are little differences between the two phone, same OS, processor etc. But different GPU (Mali-400), 8GB storage etc.
This is my first time buying a phone from China, or even outside of my home country (Ireland), but may I ask is there anything I need to do to the phone in order for it to work in the European market or even in Ireland?
I'd love some decent advice as I said, I'm a noob at this!
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most shops sent the device ready for use (inside Europe). There are some people saying that they have signal problems (in USA for ex.) but generaly i think you will not have any problems
If the phone does not have a playstore, rooted and install it or flash it with a pre-rooted rom... most times all these are by default.

GreatApo said:
Most shops sent the device ready for use (inside Europe). There are some people saying that they have signal problems (in USA for ex.) but generaly i think you will not have any problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This kinda has me confused, the phone is made for the Chinese market but I can use it in Ireland as if I walked to my local phone shop and bought any phone? Am I getting this much right?
GreatApo said:
If the phone does not have a playstore, rooted and install it or flash it with a pre-rooted rom... most times all these are by default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind explaining this to me? I'm well used to working with computers, this will be the first time I having done anything technical with phones, I just generally used them for calls, texts and social media.

MichaelCycleTheBycle said:
This kinda has me confused, the phone is made for the Chinese market but I can use it in Ireland as if I walked to my local phone shop and bought any phone? Am I getting this much right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, most times it is like getting the phone from your nead store.
ZTE are chinese phones but you can go out and buy one from a near store. On the other hand, Lenovo has not expand its phone devices in europe, so there may not be your language in the phone (but good devs have cooked the officials ROMs so these things are available).
An other issue is when the phone is "locked" and this means that is ment to be for only specific companies (ex Vodafone) but most phones are unlocked
MichaelCycleTheBycle said:
Would you mind explaining this to me? I'm well used to working with computers, this will be the first time I having done anything technical with phones, I just generally used them for calls, texts and social media.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root means gaining administrator access over your phone. Normally, when you buy a phone you are a user not an administrator. When we talk about android, root access is having administrators rights, on iPhone it is called jailbreak (also on playstation 3 or PSP ). Why to gain access? Then you will have the full control of your phone, which for a normal android user it is not so usefull BUT since you have an XDA account your are not a normal user
The Google Play is the largest app store on androids (most devices have it as a default) but if you do not have it you need root access to install it. Then you can download apps easily from there
Flash means sth like formating/changing the operation system (ex. windows) of your phone. There are ROMs (phone firmwares) made by some developers that may be better than the one you may have. Example: you may be able to move apps to SDcard, the google play will be installed and the phone will be rooted. Most chinese stores install such ROMs before they sent the phone to you
The difference with the PCs is that each ROM is specified for each phone (drivers issues). So you can't just grap a ROM from a850 and put it in a880. The flashing process is also defferent from phone to phone (most times between companies). Ex: if you want to flash a sony phone you do not use the same program you use for a MTK device (like Lenovo's), and yes you flash your phone while you have it connected with your computer.
I wrote you some general info, you can google anything for more details. I hope you got the general idea

GreatApo said:
Yes, most times it is like getting the phone from your nead store.
ZTE are chinese phones but you can go out and buy one from a near store. On the other hand, Lenovo has not expand its phone devices in europe, so there may not be your language in the phone (but good devs have cooked the officials ROMs so these things are available).
An other issue is when the phone is "locked" and this means that is ment to be for only specific companies (ex Vodafone) but most phones are unlocked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotchya, I definitely made sure that the phone was unlocked before I actually bought it, I just can't get over the price difference between Chinese phone companies and International phone companies, for the A880 I paid in the region of €100-€150 I've done a bit of research and what not on it and it's a tad more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S3 which would cost someone €600-€700
GreatApo said:
Root means gaining administrator access over your phone. Normally, when you buy a phone you are a user not an administrator. When we talk about android, root access is having administrators rights, on iPhone it is called jailbreak (also on playstation 3 or PSP ). Why to gain access? Then you will have the full control of your phone, which for a normal android user it is not so usefull BUT since you have an XDA account your are not a normal user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha! :highfive: I know what you're talking about now, the word 'root' was throwing me off
GreatApo said:
Flash means sth like formating/changing the operation system (ex. windows) of your phone. There are ROMs (phone firmwares) made by some developers that may be better than the one you may have. Example: you may be able to move apps to SDcard, the google play will be installed and the phone will be rooted. Most chinese stores install such ROMs before they sent the phone to you
The difference with the PCs is that each ROM is specified for each phone (drivers issues). So you can't just grap a ROM from a850 and put it in a880. The flashing process is also defferent from phone to phone (most times between companies). Ex: if you want to flash a sony phone you do not use the same program you use for a MTK device (like Lenovo's), and yes you flash your phone while you have it connected with your computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a slight idea of it now, I nearly **** myself earlier because I thought I made a HUGE mistake aha! I'll definitely look into it more, thanks for the replies, really appreciated. I'll definitely let you know how I get on and how well the phone works, if you are interested

MichaelCycleTheBycle said:
Gotchya, I definitely made sure that the phone was unlocked before I actually bought it, I just can't get over the price difference between Chinese phone companies and International phone companies, for the A880 I paid in the region of €100-€150 I've done a bit of research and what not on it and it's a tad more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S3 which would cost someone €600-€700
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Price differences are true. Lenovo a850 (my phone) costs 120€ from china and 240€ in Greece. This is because of the taxies, some stores order these phones (since lenovo has not open its phones in Europe) so there are more taxies.
On the other hand, there are some good choises made by Lenovo to hit the market with a lower cost. Your screen is not the same with S3, it may have twice the pixels your phone has, with a better screen quality. Is this so important? For me, no, but it is for sure more expencive.
The phone's camera most times is lower, and most people (people that do not know anything of computers) search for a new phone based on the camera and the logo on the phone, plus it is more expencive to have a better camera. Less RAM is an other feature of Lenovo phones, based to other devieces you can compare them...
From my stand point, you take what you pay. The trick is to take the phone from China, its half the price. Since i want to have a fast phone, i am ok with a lower camera, i do not care. About the screen, MY TV IS FULL HD, why the hell should my phone also be??? This is far too much...

GreatApo said:
On the other hand, there are some good choises made by Lenovo to hit the market with a lower cost. Your screen is not the same with S3, it may have twice the pixels your phone has, with a better screen quality. Is this so important? For me, no, but it is for sure more expencive.
The phone's camera most times is lower, and most people (people that do not know anything of computers) search for a new phone based on the camera and the logo on the phone, plus it is more expencive to have a better camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always had an under-powered phone compared to family and friends, and being into computer I'd much rather have processing power, RAM and the likes. The screen on the A880 will be probably be the best screen I ever had as well as the camera. The most pixels I ever had is probably 2.5 haha
GreatApo said:
Less RAM is an other feature of Lenovo phones, based to other devieces you can compare them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? The A880 has 1GB of RAM I thought that was good since the bog standard desktops at work have 2GB of RAM
GreatApo said:
From my stand point, you take what you pay. The trick is to take the phone from China, its half the price. Since i want to have a fast phone, i am ok with a lower camera, i do not care. About the screen, MY TV IS FULL HD, why the hell should my phone also be??? This is far too much...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah and you could buy a half decent camera for €50/60 and still save a couple of hundred Euro!
I just found out that the phone comes already rooted with Google Play installed, sweet!

MichaelCycleTheBycle said:
Really? The A880 has 1GB of RAM I thought that was good since the bog standard desktops at work have 2GB of RAM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lenovo A850 is a cheap edition of Samsung Note 2 (no in the appearance). Note 2 has 2 GB of ram... i do not know if is is too much but i know 1GB is good enough for me
MichaelCycleTheBycle said:
I just found out that the phone comes already rooted with Google Play installed, sweet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I told you, most sellers take care of such things.

[Q] Huawei or HTC? (odd question, sorry!)

Hi there quick questionif anyone can help I'd be so so grateful.
1:So I know a lot of this is subjective, but I'm in the very fortunate position of having an HTC One M8 and the Mate 7. I like them probably equally in terms of all of the things I have access to now, but I'm someone who is on Android for control and support (from XDA!)
I've noticed there's very very little about the Mat e7 on XDA, and Huawei in general to be honest. is this because they're still relatively new? Would it be fair to expect new roms/kernels lollipop etc to eventually come to this device? Or is the mate 7 a far more niche and limited device, and I'd be better off with my HTC in that respect? (For example, it feels like developers rush to make things work for popular devices, eg when the HTC M9 comes out Cyanogenmod, Carbon Rom etc will all be working on a veri=sion for that straight away, but the Mate 7 might not get that kind of attention?)
I'm very happy with the M8, it's just the fingerprint scanner and mega battery life are lovely on the Mate 7. I suppose basically the question is, is this a phone I can put my faith in enough to sell my HTC? I've barely even heard of Huawei :s If someone is either able to reassure me OR tell me I've got plenty to be worried about, either would be fantastic!
And maybe if anyone is able to comment on which phone they would choose, that might help me even more!
Cheers

For dev support, you can always rely on big names as samsung, lg, sony, motorola and htc. What you said is true -- there is little to no dev attention to the likes of huawei, lenovo, etc.
That said, I came from samsung tab and samsung note 2. The dev support was overwhelming. I flashed differnt custom rom every week just for the fun and thrill of using something new. But I got tired too.
Then I got the lenovo vibe z2 pro-- a relatively new monster of a phone too! But it does not even have a separate thread here in xda, and I could not even get a phone case locally! Lucke enough, my brother got my vibe z2 pro coz he loves the aluminum build so much and he will just continue to pay for it.
I have been eyeing the mate 7 since it was announced. Loved the unibody design, the humongous battery and the fastest fingerscanner in android! So when it was launched in the philippines about 2 weeks ago, I preordered and was the first owner officilaly in thr philippines! Thats how excited I am!
I was looking to have the silver color though, but only the gold one was released locally. Also the silver one is the 16gb/2gb combo. So for the future, its nice to get the 32gb/3gb combo.
I think it is somewhat guaranteed that the mate 7 would receive the loliipop update considering its the new flagship of huawei. I just dont know when.
Do I miss my old note? You bet I am! Inspite of touchwiz being bloated, there is so much you can do with it! Plus the spen has a while wide use and functionality I have never found in any phone!
For now, I am contented with my mate 7, unlocked and unrooted. I guess its the thrill of using something new. And for its many features, its definitely value for you rmoney.

your experiences with alcatel phones?

I am planning to buy this awesome phone
But I want to hear some user experiences, because I never have had an Alcatel before.
So....
- How is the service of Alcatel? Especially when it comes down to warranty
- Is this phone future proof? (talking bout the idol 3 5,5'')
- How about the support on XDA? ROMS, kernels, ability to root, unlock bootloader....
- Last but not least, if you had an Alcatel before, how was your experience with it?

Rene_ajax said:
- How is the service of Alcatel? Especially when it comes down to warranty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know it, sorry. It's my first Alcatel too.
- Is this phone future proof? (talking bout the idol 3 5,5'')
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I dont' believe. I may mistake.
- How about the support on XDA? ROMS, kernels, ability to root, unlock bootloader....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good.
Root and TWRP available, bootloader unlocked. Few custom Rom (only 1) for the moment, but source code delivered juste some day ago, so... I do think the phone should get a intersting rom development.
- Last but not least, if you had an Alcatel before, how was your experience with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not concerned personnaly

I've owned an Idol 3 for about five weeks now (got it for $200 on Amazon Prime Day). It's everything I need in a handset, and I give props to Alcatel for making a prompt firmware update (in the U. S. anyway) available that addressed the Stagefright issue and significant bugs involving Google Voice and native SMS. I hope to get further updates to 5.1/Marshmallow, but even if that doesn't happen I'm more than satisfied.
I'm on T-Mobile in New Orleans, BTW.

so, at this point it is not sure if it gets updated to Android M?

Can you explain what you mean by "future proof" ? This phone has a 64 bit , Octa core, ARMv8 chip . In that respect, it has quite the latest hardware. The software it is running today - is clearly under-performing. But there is no guarantee that in future , a custom ROM (or a future Android version) , will not be able to take advantage of the latest instruction set, 64 bit architecture, and all 8 cores running simultaneously.

I think the key with considering a purchase of this phone is to keep expectations in check. It's not comparable to a flagship from one of the big name companies. The Nexus 6 I'm using has its faults, but it's way faster and smoother. It feels more solid. Plus it has the advantage of the enormous dev community and user base for ROMs, kernels, fellow users, all kinds of things. A phone like the Idol 3 is not likely to ever have more than a tiny fraction of that.
The Idol 3 is light, thin and has great whites and natural colors. Blacks aren't as deep as on some displays, but it's all tradeoffs. That light weight is worth something, too. It's one of my favorite features of the device. The sound from the speakers is surprisingly decent. I like the near stock Android ROM. Now that TWRP is available, it's simple to root. It's also plain, plasticky, occasionally sluggish. What the company's plans are as far as updating to 5.1.1 or M is anyone's guess. Same for whether or not there'll be ROMs, kernels and such.
It's a very nice phone for the money that should be usable for most as a daily driver. Just don't expect it to be something it's not.

maigre said:
I think the key with considering a purchase of this phone is to keep expectations in check. It's not comparable to a flagship from one of the big name companies. The Nexus 6 I'm using has its faults, but it's way faster and smoother. It feels more solid. Plus it has the advantage of the enormous dev community and user base for ROMs, kernels, fellow users, all kinds of things. A phone like the Idol 3 is not likely to ever have more than a tiny fraction of that.
The Idol 3 is light, thin and has great whites and natural colors. Blacks aren't as deep as on some displays, but it's all tradeoffs. That light weight is worth something, too. It's one of my favorite features of the device. The sound from the speakers is surprisingly decent. I like the near stock Android ROM. Now that TWRP is available, it's simple to root. It's also plain, plasticky, occasionally sluggish. What the company's plans are as far as updating to 5.1.1 or M is anyone's guess. Same for whether or not there'll be ROMs, kernels and such.
It's a very nice phone for the money that should be usable for most as a daily driver. Just don't expect it to be something it's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good post and very true. It is a solid entry into the market at a good price. Re: upgrades... I emailed Alcatel and was told there are no plans to update to 5.1 OR 6. Not that they can't change their minds, but I'd say assume this is EOL for the phone's OS. That said, it's a good phone if you like 5.0 and can live with its bugs.
Sent from my secret lair in a hidden mountainside.

Thinking about trading my S6 Edge for a Ascend Mate 7

I'm deciding if I should make the trade. The main reason is the battery. I found the S6 Edge battery is not enough for me (getting 3 SOT max and it does not last more than 10 hours). So I want to install a Stock ROM on it (is it possible?) and have "infinite" battery life with a good phone.
Any feedbacks on this decision?

Go for P8 Max. It also has 6inch screen, 4000mAh and 16mp camera. The specs are better than Mate 7.
I admit Mate 7 is a good phone but why settle for an old model when there is a new one. Plus, P8 Max has a more updated software, and can be upgraded to Marshmallow in the future.
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-TL10 using Tapatalk

The only advice I can think of is that if you like custom roms and rooting then you can't go wrong with samsung phones, i had a note 2 for 3 yrs and then got a mate 7 and i am a bit sorry as trying to root the phone has been a nightmare and i am VERY worried about bricking this phone..
the note 2 is ALMOST impossible to brick and the support for samsung is brilliant on this forum where as the mate even after one year is still iffy.
please don't get me wrong the Mate 7 is a fantastic phone but i am still very uncomfortable to root it as there are SO may opinions and different ways ... (

Mine runs rock solid rooted, still on kitkat.
Rooting is the best for it as you can strip out the google bloat from /system/app.
I've kept most of the Huawei extras but the launcher is rubbish and I installed Smart Launcher Pro. I also installed Viper4Android for awesome sound, poweramp for quality music playback UE. For convenience of screen use, kinscreen, and to help the battery and keep data use under control, leandroid. I also flashed in the Xperia kitkat keyboard through CWM and removed google keyboard.
An older version of xposed is installed with some modules.
All up, it runs well, battery lasts well and it's set up to suit me better. The hardware is good for the price. Connectivity is great.
Apart from the poor Huawei launcher, the Huawei software is actually quite good and even has built in tools to manage permission and memory residence.
The launcher is no big deal when you can just install another and set it as default even if not rooted.
Happy I got mine.

Not for the Mate 7. I have had nothing with issues with the screen on mine. Replaced 2 times by service center. There were lines across the screen that were brighter than the rest of the screen. Got the S6 a week ago.

XenSA said:
The only advice I can think of is that if you like custom roms and rooting then you can't go wrong with samsung phones......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree, while i love the build quality of the mate 7 i cant stand the software. i "upgraded" from a nexus 5 and it just isnt the same. if the mate 7 came with a snapdragon soc rather than the huaweis proprietary soc it would truly be the best phone around. i suggest you wait, zte and other Chinese manufactures will be coming out with snapdragon 820 phablets this year.

droidbot1337 said:
i agree, while i love the build quality of the mate 7 i cant stand the software. i "upgraded" from a nexus 5 and it just isnt the same. if the mate 7 came with a snapdragon soc rather than the huaweis proprietary soc it would truly be the best phone around. i suggest you wait, zte and other Chinese manufactures will be coming out with snapdragon 820 phablets this year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you find so annoying about the software? I quite like the look and feel, very very stable and in my case it has even made up for the urge I normally have to flash roms, simply because there is no need. I appreciate that some may have had issues with the device but I guess you'll find that with every other device on the market.
I've had samsungs for quite a while before switching to the mate 7 and to be honest after so many years I got tired of Touchwiz with degrading performance or a CM alternative with poorer camera quality.
Instead of flashing one ROM after the other I find myself spending more time using the device enjoying its massive 6" screen [emoji1]
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk

kta said:
What do you find so annoying about the software?........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i find it annoying that i cant fully control what i do with my phone. on my nexus 5 i was able to do many things that i now see is not possible with my mate7. yes, i as well love the massive screen but after playing with a few nexus 6p's i have become very jealous. this is how the mate 7 should be. all custom ui stuff should be an optional addon "feature". what makes things worse is that companies spend alot of time building this stuff which many often end up not liking.
look at motorola and sony. they have converted to damn near stock android. whatever customization is present fits nicely into aosp android. last night i installed the stock firmware for my mate 7 (B328) and its honestly..... meh! huawei really bastardized what is the best visual android update. they even managed to completely screw up the recent apps view. huawei should really consider this.
for now im just going to get over it and keep using my mate 7 as is. not fully happy but whatever. thankfully there will be a few full metal phablets with snapdragon 820 chips being released this year. i cant wait!

droidbot1337 said:
i find it annoying that i cant fully control what i do with my phone. on my nexus 5 i was able to do many things that i now see is not possible with my mate7. yes, i as well love the massive screen but after playing with a few nexus 6p's i have become very jealous. this is how the mate 7 should be. all custom ui stuff should be an optional addon "feature". what makes things worse is that companies spend alot of time building this stuff which many often end up not liking.
look at motorola and sony. they have converted to damn near stock android. whatever customization is present fits nicely into aosp android. last night i installed the stock firmware for my mate 7 (B328) and its honestly..... meh! huawei really bastardized what is the best visual android update. they even managed to completely screw up the recent apps view. huawei should really consider this.
for now im just going to get over it and keep using my mate 7 as is. not fully happy but whatever. thankfully there will be a few full metal phablets with snapdragon 820 chips being released this year. i cant wait!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, the Nexus 6p is very nice with an even better screen, although tiny smaller.
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk

Just switched my mate 7 out for a Nexus 6p - like many people on this thread while I thought the hardware was great (especially the battery life!), the iffy software and half assed updates got to me in the end (I came to the mate from a Nexus 5).
The 6p is spot on - shows what huawei can do when running Android as its meant to be. Battery life not so good as the mate 7, but plenty good enough. If you are coming from a high end phone like an s6 edge I'd say the 6p would be a better bet. As regards screen size... I'm not really noticing any reduction in what I can see on the 6p, but going down to 5.7 with a slim width does really help with holding the phone one handed.

I sold my note 5 and for the huawei mate 7, it hasn't arrived yet...I paid 250 for it, however I'm a tad concerned now , have I made a unwise decision .I did it so I could give huawei a chance and I'm seeing and hearing negatives.

psn1819 said:
I sold my note 5 and for the huawei mate 7, it hasn't arrived yet...I paid 250 for it, however I'm a tad concerned now , have I made a unwise decision .I did it so I could give huawei a chance and I'm seeing and hearing negatives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, all phones have their negative sides. I love this phone because of the big screen and long battery life. It has a decent camera. It doesnt lag when playing games.
Give it a chance and I hope you will love this phone too. If ever your Mate 7 still runs on KK just leave it be. Lots of bugs in LP.
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-TL10 using Tapatalk

I'm confused ...is the stock lollipop rom buggy ...how can that be lol? Did I jump the gun a bit selling the note 5? Are they're any stable cutom roms you could recommend. I just want it to last me a while and be a wise investment is all...I'm usually fine but this will be my first huawei anything and now a bit ehh lol

psn1819 said:
I'm confused ...is the stock lollipop rom buggy ...how can that be lol? Did I jump the gun a bit selling the note 5? Are they're any stable cutom roms you could recommend. I just want it to last me a while and be a wise investment is all...I'm usually fine but this will be my first huawei anything and now a bit ehh lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To each his own I guess, but Lollipop is running super stable on my Mate 7.
Custom ROMS are not really an option on this device, there's pretty much no development going on, just have a quick look at the development sub forum and you can easily tell there's not so much going on there.
Make sure that if yo need to upgrade your device try following the official path first, allowing the phone to update itself to LP 5.1.1. If for some reason you don't get the updates just make sure you follow the instructions properly to update with an official ROM from Huawei's website and you should be just fine [emoji6]
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk

psn1819 said:
I'm confused ...is the stock lollipop rom buggy ...how can that be lol? Did I jump the gun a bit selling the note 5? Are they're any stable cutom roms you could recommend. I just want it to last me a while and be a wise investment is all...I'm usually fine but this will be my first huawei anything and now a bit ehh lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did have lollipop running on mine for a while, and to be fair it was OK. However, it did seem to be missing some things that were included in KK - the carrier aggregation toggle, and after a hard reset it lost the motion control gesture settings etc.
Hence my point about it being glitchy. The other things that I found annoying is the EMUI customization made it difficult to access some of the underlying android screens (such as data usage etc). Also, I found that Google Voice when used in the USA would not dial out with the correct caller ID and number due to Huawei dialer I couldn't change. The other thing is that it is a bit laborious to change ROMs - you've got to download this, incremental update that, flash this to go back to the start etc.....a bit of pain really and one I couldn't really work out why it was necessary - again points to Huawei releasing all sorts of different confusing updates worldwide some of which were not complete.
Don't get me wrong, fundamentally there's nothing wrong with the phone - its just not a good tinkerers phone, nor is is well supported - none of the ported over more 'pure android' roms have yet been able to make the fingerprint sensor operate and can have iffy result with bluetooth etc.

p20 pro overrated?

Hello.
I've had this phone for 6 weeks now and I must admit that when I got it I had very high expectations.
All the reviews made this phone look like the best phone, both performance wise and camera wise.
Now, I can't really complain but I must admit that it's overrated: the camera quality is great but I don't think the phone deserves the "Best smartphone camera" title simply because some pictures lack detail/when you zoom in on a normal picture it's always slightly blurry (something I noticed in every Huawei phone).
Performance wise I can't really complain, the phone is smooooth!
And before you say anything, yes, I've used every camera mode and messed around with all the settings (pro mode/raw is very useful).
Last but not least, it seems like not a lot of people own this phone? The forums seem a bit quiet.

MrGiovanni said:
Hello.
The forums seem a bit quiet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, development is pretty dead since Huawei stopped unlocking bootloaders and the average cost is now £30 to unlock it. There is also a lot of controversy around the kernel released to the public and the actual one used by the company. They are not a good company.
For me, the phone was a mistake, I should have stayed with OnePlus and their open approach to developers and users.

maddoguk said:
Yep, development is pretty dead since Huawei stopped unlocking bootloaders and the average cost is now £30 to unlock it. There is also a lot of controversy around the kernel released to the public and the actual one used by the company. They are not a good company.
For me, the phone was a mistake, I should have stayed with OnePlus and their open approach to developers and users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wholeheartedly agree and I wish I checked better before getting it - especially since I'm paying it monthly (I mean, it's €15 a month but still).

maddoguk said:
Yep, development is pretty dead since Huawei stopped unlocking bootloaders and the average cost is now £30 to unlock it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a factor indeed but I don't think this is the only explanation for lack pf development. Every phone that hasn't been officially released in US has much worse development section. Moreover xda development used tp be a lot better in the past in general. My old HTC legend didn't have unlocked bootloader,. no soff possibility either.. Still we got fully worked cyanogenmod 7. Just an example.
Today only few devices can be really proud of its development section = Oneplus, pixel, pocophone, maybe htc (du to soff) For me personally neither of them is the option. Pixel is overpriced and offers only 4gb of ram. Pocophone lacks nfc anf its camera is mediocre. Oneplus lacks support for usb otg, notification/charging led, no video output, has mono farting speaker, worse camera than P20 Pro. P20 pro has its flaws indeed but for me it was still te best option in the August 2018. Today i'd probably choose sth else.

Add me to the list. The camera is awesome but the rest is pretty average. It also doesn't feel special to look at or hold and this is where other manufacturers like Samsung/Apple/Sony shine.
This is my first phone away from Samsung and I don't know how Huawei have managed to fool everyone into thinking this is more than a mid range phone with a decent camera setup.

Yes, I agree. Camera is great, battery is good but i think rest is awful. I cant even play Pubg on high settings. A lot of apps too laggy.
CLT-L09 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi

I think everything is pretty good... Except kirin 970.

I think it is a decent Phone with a fantastic camera. I think there's no doubt about the camera quality especially in comparison to other phone models available.
But I can't comment on development issues, that's where the expert can evaluate its worth better.

erdignss said:
Yes, I agree. Camera is great, battery is good but i think rest is awful. I cant even play Pubg on high settings. A lot of apps too laggy.
CLT-L09 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am quite surprise that you had problem with PUBG,
What firmware version are you on ? Is it got GPU Turbo enabled already ?

forever_lol said:
I think everything is pretty good... Except kirin 970.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the Mali inside it is a turd (even on the 980) and the frequency of updates stink.
Every Month the P20 Pro is dropping in price by £50 and judging by how the Chinese are flooding the market with newer phones it will be sub 200 by the middle of next Year. Oh and I would be pizzed if I had paid It's launch price of £799 for it to be worth £200 a year later.

Coming from iPhone X and pixel 2, I also feel cheated by reviewers. Its front camera is terrible and my phone is too laggy even with nova launcher and emui 9

tenchu_712 said:
Coming from iPhone X and pixel 2, I also feel cheated by reviewers. Its front camera is terrible and my phone is too laggy even with nova launcher and emui 9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EMUI is unfortunately choppy UI.
I hope AOSP will get stable soon.

Phone on paper isn't bad, I was worried about the chipset but it's been decent. Ppsspp runs perfectly, GameCube / dolphin runs perfectly which is no mean feat.
Development is odd, but not totally dead, plus you can flash treble and honor view 10 ROMs.
I'm currently on AOSIP and it's stupidly smooth,, EMUI is horrific IMHO.
Now root is available on pie so things will certainly pick up.
Personally wouldn't buy it now but it's not a bad phone overall and development hopefully will pick up.

I bought this phone on a upgrade from the s8 plus on the basis of the camera. Never used emui before and never owned a Huawei before. The camera(S) have earned me some money so I cannot complain. To get the best out of it you have to know its limitations. As a phone in general, I wasn't assed about the chipset. It does a great job. My phone is very responsive, but does have a random pause once in the blue moon. It runs everything without a hiccup and I am very happy with it still. I am in no rush to upgrade, but when I do, I'm goin.. Goin.. Back.. Back.. To.. Sammie.. Sammie..
Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

I don't agree.
The camera is awesome. EMUI is nothing bad, I would never buy an aosp phone without for example the desktop mode.
Updates are coming fast.
Unlocking bootloader is the only problem, I personally don't care, but I know that this is a real problem.
My next phone will be huawei.

I'm very satisfied with the P20 Pro. The battery is awesome, the design is great, no lag at all, I don't have any problem with Emui. And most important, I know the limitations of a mobile camera.
Enviado desde mi CLT-L09 mediante Tapatalk

forever_lol said:
EMUI is unfortunately choppy UI.
I hope AOSP will get stable soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out AOSIP for the Honor view 10. Works on the p20 pro.
NFC and stereo are the only two things not working.
The treble p20 camera in the treble forum works with gallery, the speed is sublime.
I can't go back to emui now.

dladz said:
Check out AOSIP for the Honor view 10. Works on the p20 pro.
NFC and stereo are the only two things not working.
The treble p20 camera in the treble forum works with gallery, the speed is sublime.
I can't go back to emui now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its kind a pitty about NFC
i need it in my country for easier highway payment

After pie update, phone becomes worse..

otonieru said:
am quite surprise that you had problem with PUBG,
What firmware version are you on ? Is it got GPU Turbo enabled already ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on 161 now. It s disabled but does it really matter? It shouldnt be laggy anyways.
CLT-L09 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi