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The good:
Elegant design and great build quality
Gorgeous display
Superb front-facing cameras
Hi-Fi sound
The bad:
Expensive
The rear-facing camera lacks OIS
The Snapdragon 625 processor isn’t future-proof
No NFC
While other smartphones are battling it out on the benchmark front, vivo, a Chinese smartphone brand which ranks at No.5 in the world in terms of shipment, takes a very different approach in marketing their products. The vivo X9 is one of the newest additions to their “camera & Music” smartphone line. Rocking dual front-facing cameras, the X9 is anticipated to attract consumers with ultimate enthusiasm for selfies.
Key features of the vivo X9
• 5.5″ Super AMOLED of 1920*1080px resolution
• 20MP & 8MP dual front-facing cameras with moonlight LED, F2.0 aperture
• 16MP autofocus camera with LED flash, F2.0 aperture
• 4K video recording (both front and rear cameras)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53, Adreno 506 GPU)
• 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage
• Funtouch 0S 3.0 (on top of Android OS v6.01)
• AK4376 DAC
• Dual SIM, dual standby
• 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network: HSDPA
• 4G Network: LTE, TD-LTE
• Wi-Fi 802.11, Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Bluetooth v4.1
• USB host (dongle required)
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• 3,050mAh irremovable Li-Po battery
Retail package and Accessories
The vivo X9 comes with very elegant packaging and lots of accessories. Inside the box you will find a phone, a charger, a cable for charging and data transmission, two protective cases and two screen protectors.
Design and build
At a glance, the X9 looks like just another extremely refined smartphone from vivo: a large display is dominating the front, and there is relatively small bezel around.
The only major difference you will instantly notice is that there are dual front-facing cameras now, both located on the left side of the ear piece. On the right side, you will find a light sensor and a moonlight LED flash.
There are some less obvious differences which makes the X9 more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessors: the width of the bezel on the left and right side is only 1.59mm each, compared to the 1.82mm of the vivo X7. The black frame around the display has also been reduced. The corners are more rounded, as well.
There is an oval Home button below the display, with a built-in fingerprint reader embedded in it. This key is both capacitive and physical, and offers decent key travel when pressing on it. The oval home button on my Samsung S7 Edge often failed to read my fingerprints due to its narrow reading area, fortunately I haven’t experienced the same problem with the vivo X9, thanks to the relatively larger reading area.
The bottom side plays host to a Micro USB port, stereo speaker gates and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is quite disappointing that vivo decided to choose a Micro USB port instead of a more advanced USB Type-C port for its latest phone. As the latter becomes increasingly popular, it is for certain that Micro USB will be abandoned in the near future.
The power button and volume rocker are hosted on the right side, both of them are very easy to locate and offer tactile feedback to the users.
On the left side is a SIM Tray slot, you can use the stock tool to take the SIM tray out.
As you can tell from the picture above, the X9 supports using dual nano-SIM card in one phone.
The uniqueness in the X9’s design is more pronounced on its rear side. The plastic strips which allow signals to travel through are now located more towards the top side and bottom side, giving the back of the phone a more unified look. The rear-facing camera does pop up a little, but as the lens is covered by sapphire glass, it won’t get scratches easily. If you are still concerned, the cases which can be found in the retail package will save you from those worries.
The vivo X9 measures 152.6*74*6.99mm, about the same dimensions as the Samsung S7 Edge (150.9*72.6*7.7mm) and One Plus 3 (152.7x74.7x7.35mm), more compact than the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (158.2*77.9*7.3mm). Using the phone with one hand shouldn’t be a problem for most people, and for folks with smaller hands, there's a one-handed mode that resizes things onscreen to make apps easier to reach. The X9 weighs 154g, also about the same as the Samsung S7 Edge (157g) and One Plus 3 (158g), significantly lighter than the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (188g). Thanks to the balanced weight distribution, the X9 feels even lighter than the number suggests.
The build quality of the X9 is amazing. The front side of the phone is covered by Corning Gorilla glass 5, which is super resistant to scratches, and may be able to survive many occasional drops. The metal structure also feels extremely solid.
Display and sound
The X9 rocks a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display at the resolution of 1920*1080px. Although it is not the most cutting-edge in terms of pixel density, as most of the flagship smartphones have 2K displays now, it was still impossible for us to pick out individual pixels while using the phones in a normal distance. Putting the phones in a VR set we started to notice the difference, as my Samsung S7 Edge does look a lot sharper and more natural than the X9.
Despite the lower pixel density, the display of the X9 is still breathtakingly gorgeous. Like most AMOLED panels, the color saturation and contrast ratio here are simply great, you get very deep black and rich tones. The X9’s display looks generally more pleasing than most of the LCD panels used on other smartphones, as everything appears more vivid and alive.
Viewing angles are excellent as well, looking at the display from an extreme angle the colors are still not distorted. The brightness of the display is also great, you won’t have any problem using it outdoors in direct sunlight.
One of the major selling points of vivo smartphones is Hi-Fi. The X9 features an AKM4376 DAC to boost its audio performance. Specs-wise, this converter isn’t really so impressive as the quad-core DAC used in the LG V20 or the dual ES9028 DAC used in vivo’s very own Xplay 5. But coming from the S7 Edge, my audiophile ears did notice a significant improvement in overall sound quality when plugging in my B&O H3 in-ear monitor. The bass has a lot more punch, the vocals are crisp clear, instrument separation and positioning are as good as some of my earlier DAPs. I even asked a few of my non-audiophile, iPhone using friends to try listening to music with the X9, all of them actually said that the X9 sounded a lot better than their iPhones, although they couldn’t really pinpoint what the differences were. Acoustic nuts may still find their DAPs with Amplifiers irreplaceable, but for average smartphone users, the X9 is certainly one of the best phones out there to enjoy music.
On the speaker front, the X9 is also outstanding compared to many other smartphones. Not only are the built-in speakers louder, but the sound coming from them also has more clarity, layers and strength. Enabling the “Super Audio” mode in the settings, the X9 can sound as loud as some of the portable speakers and laptops, very impressive given the phone’s relatively small footprint.
System, UI and Apps
The X9 runs Android 6.01 Marshmallow out of the box, with a heavily customized skin called “Funtouch OS 3.0” on top. I know many folks prefer stock Android skin to those customized UIs, but vivo has really taken measured steps into developing their own UI, especially for the Chinese customers.
Like many customized skins, the Funtouch OS doesn’t include an application drawer, everything lays on the homescreens. Users can create folders to keep them in order.
And personalization freedom is what the X9 gives a lot of: You can rearrange the navigation buttons and even add extra ones. You can make the on-screen keyboard larger or smaller. You can hide the icon of the apps which you don’t want people to know that you are using. You have many interface themes to choose from. There are the so-called signature wallpapers, generated around the first initial of the user. And the list goes on.
Like I said earlier, many of the features of the Funtouch UI are tailor-made for Chinese customers, whether vivo will use a different UI on the units for oversea market is still unknown. Fortunately, this is Android and you can always install third-party launchers such as Google Now launcher to get the stock Android experience.
Cameras
Most of smartphone makers have realized now that people need better front-facing cameras for selfies. That’s why you get greatly improved front cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, the Apple iPhone 7 and many other flagship smartphones. However, no brand went as far as vivo did, as the newly released X9 has featured dual front-facing cameras: a 20MP primary camera complemented by an 8MP secondary camera and a moonlight flash, arguably the best selfie camera setup on any smartphone currently available. The 20MP front-facing SONY IMX376 CMOS lens is in charge of taking the picture and capturing all the details, while the 8MP sensor deals with blurring the background.
To everyone’s delight, the impeccable specs do translate into outstanding selfies. The dual front facing cameras capture lots of details and very rich colors under optimal conditions. HDR is available for those tricky scenes and it works pretty well.
The vivo X9 easily crushes other market-leading smartphones when it comes to taking photos with the front-facing cameras.
Even in low light conditions, the selfie cameras are still usable, thanks to the front-facing moonlight LED flash, which provides just the right amount of illumination to light up your face without dazzling your eyes.
The X9 adopts a 16MP SONY IMX298 Exmor camera with F/2.0 aperture on its rear. The lens offers a sensor size of 1/2.8" and a pixel size of 1.12μm, and has been commonly featured on lots of flagship smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi5, Huawei Mate 8 and One Plus 3. The camera focuses fairly quickly, has a fast shutter and takes nice photos in general.
In automatic mode, images are not as sugarcoated as the photos taken by some other smartphones. There are no excessive amounts of contrast or saturation to the photo, and sharpness is also kept at a reasonable level. As a result, photographs are natural, delivering a very close representation of reality. Unfortunately, the rear-facing camera on the X9 isn’t accompanied by optical image stabilization, which is now a standard feature for flagship smartphones. As a result, ghosting and blurs could happen when you are not holding the phone steadily.
The camera app also offers lots of effects and modes for the users to play around with. The users are provided with 7 modes and dozens of different filters when shooting with the rear-facing camera, including the popular time-lapse photography. With the front-facing camera, the users has many different beautification functions to choose from as well.
Videos taken by the X9 look fine, with lots of details and rich colors. The phone is also capable of taking smooth 4K videos.
Performance
The heart of the vivo X9 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz, beating alongside 4GB of RAM. It's not quite the Snapdragon 820 and 821 you'll find in those mainstream flagship Android smartphones, and the differences did show in benchmark tests.
In the Antutu V6.0 benchmark test, the X9 was returned a score of 61,544, far below the scores of the One Plus 3T and Samsung S7 Edge, and also many points behind the LG G5 SE. Only when compared to entry level smartphones such as the Meizu M5 Note and Huawei P9 lite, the X9 could have an advantage.
On the Geekbench 3 benchmark, the X9 scored 785 in single-core performance and 4,050 in multi-core. That's definitely nowhere near the Samsung S7 Edge and One Plus 3T in either category.
In the more graphics-focused 3DMark, the X9 scored 13,829 in the Ice Storm Unlimited test and 473 in the Sling Shot ES3.1 test.
In the PCMark Work 2.0 test, the vivo X9 was returned a predictable score of 4,780.
The X9 has 64GB internal storage, which is very generous considering many flagship smartphones only have 32GB storage on board. However, the eMMc 5 used here is not as fast as the UFS 2.0 used on high-end smartphones, the Androbench test scores told the difference. As you can see from the chart above, the X9 doesn’t match high-end smartphones in terms of Sequence Read Speed, but its Sequence Write Speed is actually quite similar to those flagships.
Fortunately, the benchmark scores didn’t entirely translate into real-world performance, as the X9 felt almost as fast and responsive as the Samsung S7 Edge while dealing with everyday tasks such as social networking, video feeds and web-browsing. The only difference that I noticed was it did take a little longer to install an application, and screen rotation didn’t happen as instant as it was on the S7 Edge.
Running graphics-intense 3D games, which I didn’t always do myself, the differences showed. Hiccups and lags did happen with big titles such as GTA: San Andreas, NFS17 and Asphalt 8, and we did notice significantly extended loading time and lower frame rates. With that said, the X9 still handled most of the games pretty well: Temple Run, Plants VS Zombies, Vitua Tennis and many other popular titles were as fast as they were on those cutting-edge smartphones.
Multitasking was generally fast, and the X9 could hold many applications in the background for a relatively long period of time, thanks to the 4GB RAM. Switching between applications on the X9 was not always as instant as it was on the S7 Edge, but for average users, the difference was ignorable. The internals may seem adequate for most people now, but with the upgrades of Android and many applications, how long will the Snapdragon 625 be able to keep everything running smoothly on the X9 is simply unknown.
Battery life and charging
The X9 has an irremovable 3,050mAh battery under the hood, pretty average for a 5.5-inch phone. As the X9 sports a more power-conservative processor, we actually expected it to do very well in battery life. Unfortunately, the result was just not as promising as we had hoped.
In the battery rundown test, in which we streamed full-screen videos over Wi-Fi with screen brightness and speaker volume at maximum, the phone lasted 5 hours and 38 minutes, which is 1 hour shorter than the S7 Edge’s result in the same test. In my nearly two weeks of testing, the X9 could power through a full day of moderate use, with around 30% charge remaining when I decided to call it a day. For intense smartphone gamers, carrying a mobile charger will still be inevitable.
The nice thing is, the X9’s battery consumption has been kept at minimum during standby. I once connected the phone to Wi-Fi and left it on my desk to receive messages and alerts for 12 hours, the battery only dropped 2%.
The X9 supports vivo’s very own dual-engine charging (5V-2A or 9V-2A), which supports up to 18W input, so topping up the battery takes very little time. With the stock wall charger, it only took around 1.5 hours to fully charge the phone.
Cellular and connectivity
The vivo X9 supports all major cellular networks, you can just insert any SIM card into the slot and start using the phone immediately. There are two Nano SIM card slots on board, which means the phone supports dual standby.
Like all other smartphones, the vivo X9 also features Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and all of them work like a charm. There is no micro SD card slot for you to expand the storage, but the 64GB internal storage should be sufficient for most users. For me, the real disappointment is the missing of NFC. Users with the latest iPhones and Galaxy S phones should know how convenient Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are, and with the X9, you may never be able to use similar functions. Lots of new speakers and wireless headphones also features NFC for faster pairing with the smartphone, but with the X9, you will still need to take a number of steps to get them paired, shame on vivo!
Competitions
The vivo X9 is priced at RMB2,798 ($406) in China, and in the same price range you will find many powerhouse smartphones. Although none of them offer equally impressive front-facing cameras, they do make up with horsepower and other unique features. The One Plus 3T features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clocked at 2.5GHz, 6GB RAM, 64GB UFS2.0 storage and 3,400mAh battery. The nubia Z11, which is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, has a breathtaking bezel-less design and the same AK4376 DAC. The Xiaomi Mi5s (Enhanced Edition) features a Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB UFS2.0 storage, and a cutting-edge ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Affordable flagships aside, many mid-range offerings run more capable chips like the Snapdragon 65X. Even the X9’s predecessor- the vivo X7 - is powered by a Snapdragon 652.
Verdict
For $406, the vivo X9 represents a really attractive mid-range offering. It has a simple and elegant design, great build quality and while performance isn't quite up to the level of its similarly priced rivals, it offers fantastic acoustic experiences and arguably the best front-facing cameras on a smartphone.
If you are looking for a future-proof powerhouse handset which will do very well in benchmark tests and intense 3D gaming, there are many affordable flagships out there, some of them priced even lower than the X9. But if you rank selfies and music as your top priorities, and horsepower is far down the list, then you won’t be disappointed with the vivo X9.
Hello, how can I change (or add) other language instead English and Chinese? My phone does not have google play and services. Is there a ROM with this stuff? Thanks!
Hi guys I'm @gmnabeel
This year was a comeback for MotoRola owned by Lenovo,it has launched two great gadgets moto g5 and moto g5 plus
Which have created a rush in the smartphone market and Moto g5 plus is worth getting crowned as the "Budget King"
with affordable price and great performance.
Moto g5
*Pros
Good camera
Smooth performance
Very cheap
*Cons
Lackluster design
No NFC
Poor sunlight visibility
G 5 plus
*Pros
Good camera
Smooth performance
Very cheap
*Cons
Lackluster design
Poor sunlight visibility
No infrared
No NFC (US model)
The smaller, 5-inch Moto G5 offers reliable performance thanks to Android 7.0 Nougat, and a surprisingly good 13-megapixel camera. The design is a little uninspiring though.
Motorola's new Moto G5 Plus is easily the best affordable smartphone out there right now. It features the same great camera as the g5 and its octa-core 2GHz processor paired with Android 7.0 Nougat make it a slick performer. It's design is not so good at the front with a galaxy type button at the button which supports gesture and the on screen navigation keys can also be disabled and the US model doesn't include NFC for some reason.With the G5 and G5 Plus, Motorola has continued down that road to the extent that its latest smartphones bear little resemblance to their storied predecessors
G5 series has a 13mp camera with a little hump which makes it attractive and the standard 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top edge of the G5 and on the bottom edge of the G5 Plus, next to the micro-USB charging port, but that pretty much covers the exterior differences.
The G5 and G5 Plus both sport full HD (1,920 x 1,080) LCD displays, which is the best resolution you can reasonably expect at these prices. Last year's G4 models offered the choice of 5- or 5.5-inch panels, but this time you have your pick of either a 5-incher on the regular G5 or the 5.2-inch screen of the G5 Plus
Thankfully, both Moto G5s are running Android 7.0 Nougat and support feature of the Samsung multi screen.You can use two apps at the same time
If there's one thing I like about a camera app, it's simplicity, being able to point and shoot without feeling like I should be picking a different scene mode for every snap. That's why Motorola's camera app is exactly my cup of tea. It boots up almost immediately and has a clean interface, with HDR, flash options and a countdown timer the only settings you can fiddle with from the viewfinder. In addition to familiar modes including panorama and slow-mo video, there's a "professional" option that puts additional settings in the viewfinder. They allow you to manually adjust ISO, white balance and exposure -- standard stuff. I've never been one to labor over settings when I just want to grab a quick snap, so it's fortunate that Motorola make it easy to ignore them.
That's because, even in the regular point-and-shoot mode, if you tap the screen to select your focal point, a little exposure slider appears around the perimeter of the reticle. It's a stroke of genius. How often do you look at the viewfinder and question the white balance setting? Likely never. But I bet you've been in a situation where you frame your shot and the exposure meter picks up a bright blue sky and hides your subject in darkness.
Moto G5 and G5 Plus review: Still the best budget phones
With upgrades including great cameras, these phones are the best at this price.
The year was 2013, the company was Motorola, and the device was the Moto G. It set a new standard for affordable smartphones, offering a user experience that left the existing sea of cheap, crappy Android handsets in the dust. Years later, it seems the Moto G bloodline can do no wrong. As another generation of G emerges, can Motorola do with the G5 and G5 Plus what it does best, striking an ideal balance between hardware and price point?
Another year, another pair of great affordable handsets from Motorola. The smaller, 5-inch Moto G5 offers reliable performance thanks to Android 7.0 Nougat, and a surprisingly good 13-megapixel camera. The design is a little uninspiring and the display is hard to read in direct sunlight, but this little smartphone does everything you need it to for a bargain price.
Motorola
Moto G5 Plus
from $229.99
Motorola's new Moto G5 Plus is easily the best affordable smartphone out there right now. It features the same great camera as the Galaxy S7 and its octa-core 2GHz processor paired with Android 7.0 Nougat make it a slick performer. It's a bit dull on the design front and the US model doesn't include NFC for some reason, but when you can pick one up for a mere $185 (with lockscreen ads through Amazon Prime), one can hardly complain.
Hardware
Every year since Motorola released the first G, it's made relatively minor tweaks to a common design language. Last year's G4 series represented the biggest shift at the time. The domed back was abandoned in favor of a flatter, boxier shape, making for a more serious look compared to past G models. With the G5 and G5 Plus, Motorola has continued down that road to the extent that its latest smartphones bear little resemblance to their storied predecessors. But I'm not convinced that's a good thing.
The Moto G concept has always been about putting affordability first. That hasn't changed with this generation, but the value proposition now includes metal, a premium building material that hasn't featured on any previous models. For me, though, this is little more than a gimmicky selling point. Motorola has been careful in its description of the new phones' "metal finish." That's important because you aren't getting an aircraft-grade aluminum unibody (which would be a significant leap in construction) but a lone metal panel that fills the majority of the back plate on both devices.
This is most obvious on the G5, as you have to pry off the back piece to get at the SIM and microSD slots. Looking at the entire rear panel inside-out, you can clearly see where a thin metal sheet has been bonded to an otherwise all-plastic frame. The G5 Plus uses a drawer to absorb all your little cards -- a clever double-sided one that accepts two SIMs and a microSD, in fact -- so the limited amount of metal isn't as conspicuous. There's also virtually no discernible difference in texture between the metal and plastic parts, which further disguises the marriage of materials.
I've probably labored the point enough already, but my final word would be to ignore the marketing spiel. The G5 and G5 Plus are not metal phones; they're plastic with a sliver of metal glued to the back. That said, I don't want you thinking they're flimsy or fragile. Both are solid, well-built handsets that laughed off my feeble attempts to bend and twist them.
There are other things to like about the design of the G5 and G5 Plus. For starters, both are small enough that you can easily use them one-handed, with no sharp corners digging into your palm. I'm also a fan of the bold black ring encircling the primary camera and companion flash on both handsets. It reminds me of the old Nokia Lumia 1020, though it's actually a design element borrowed from Motorola's higher-end Z line.
On the G5, this camera enclosure is flush with the back plate, whereas on the Plus it's elevated by roughly two millimeters. This hump is actually quite attractive, highlighting what's arguably the phone's only eye-catching accent. Aside from this obvious difference, the G5 and G5 Plus look almost identical. You can barely tell the G5 Plus is a couple of millimeters taller and one millimeter wider than the G5 (all in the name of accommodating its slightly larger display). The standard 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top edge of the G5 and on the bottom edge of the G5 Plus, next to the micro-USB charging port, but that pretty much covers the exterior differences.
Whereas past iterations have been colorful and playful, this year's models are just a bit boring by comparison. The little dimple on the back of previous Gs where the Motorola logo sat (also serving as a natural finger rest) is gone, replaced by a raised, shiny plaque that has as tendency to collect hand grime. I get that Motorola is going for a more mature look, but it lacks a certain refinement. There's a significant amount of dead bezel framing the displays, for instance.
Furthermore, the G5 and G5 Plus don't allow for Moto Maker customization, meaning you're torn between either the drab two-tone gray/silver color scheme or the slightly ostentatious gold. A "sapphire blue" model has begun hitting some markets and is the best-looking option from what I've seen online, but it's not widely available yet. In general, I feel the signature characteristics of the G line are progressively being eroded. The peak, for me, was the 2015 Moto G, which was the first model to offer Maker personalization and the only member of the lineage to boast true waterproofing.
The G5 and G5 Plus both sport full HD (1,920 x 1,080) LCD displays, which is the best resolution you can reasonably expect at these prices. Last year's G4 models offered the choice of 5- or 5.5-inch panels, but this time you have your pick of either a 5-incher on the regular G5 or the 5.2-inch screen of the G5 Plus -- at least you do in some parts of the world, anyway, as only the G5 Plus is sold in the US.
Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better and I actually prefer the display of the G5 over the G5 Plus, though it's worth noting that the latter is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and the former soda-lime glass. Blacks are excellent on both devices and white balance accurate, but colors appear a bit more vibrant on the smaller model. You need to see them side by side to catch this slight difference, though, and colors are still nicely saturated on the G5 Plus.
This discrepancy is likely due to the fact the G5's display has a bit more power behind it. Neither panel performs particularly well in bright sunlight. You can still check the time and read your emails, but even at maximum brightness, glare is very obvious.
The next version of Android, simply called "O" for now, is already available for developers to poke around. It would be slightly disappointing, then, if your new phone didn't have a relatively fresh public release out of the box, which is something I've experienced recently. Thankfully, both Moto G5s are running Android 7.0 Nougat. It may not appear to be lightyears ahead of Marshmallow, but many of the tweaks are hidden, designed to improve performance and stability, among other things.
If you're not familiar with the functionality specific to Nougat, there's little to catch up on. You can now run apps side by side, similar to how the deceased Xbox One Snap feature works. Except here, running two apps on a 5-inchish display isn't particularly useful; switching between full-screen apps typically gets the job done more comfortably. This leaves the richer notification drawer as the only genuinely useful improvement. The way it groups notifications and allows you to expand your recent emails (as an example) so you can see progressively more info after every tap is neat. This means you can do more micromanaging within the drawer, instead of having to go into individual apps.
Motorola has never been one to stray too far from stock Android, and the G5s are no exception. Better yet, the few customizations the company included are all much appreciated. Motorola's circular clock widget, which shows the time, date, local weather and remaining battery charge is gorgeously minimalist. Also, the icon to bring up the app drawer has been removed and replaced with an arguably more natural up-swipe gesture, giving you an empty spot for another homescreen shortcut.
With one-button navigation, you can also free up space on the screen by using the fingerprint sensor as all three standard Android keys. You tap it as if it's a normal home button and swipe left for back or right for recents.
The handy little tweaks continue on the lockscreen, should you choose to enable Motorola's special notifications feature. Move the phone to any degree after it's been left alone for a few seconds and the time plus a record of any unchecked notifications will briefly flash on the screen. Hold your finger on any of the bubble icons signaling something unseen, and it expands to show more info. From there, opening it fully or dismissing it is only a swipe away. It's not a revolutionary new take on lockscreen notifications by any means; it just looks prettier than the white bars you get when you fully wake your phone.
By far the best feature contributions by Motorola are the whole-phone gestures you can enable. Without needing to unlock the G5 and G5 Plus, two successive chop motions turns the flashlight on, while two wrist twists opens the camera. They may sound gimmicky but the camera quick-launch feature is genuinely the first I've found myself using naturally, probably because it's so physical (as opposed to more fiddly implementations like entering the Konami code on a volume rocker). It certainly made grabbing camera samples on both phones while strolling around London much more spontaneous.
Otherwise, the G5s run the flavor of Nougat you know and like, with Motorola slipping in only helpful additions that don't hinder Android performance.
If there's one thing I like about a camera app, it's simplicity, being able to point and shoot without feeling like I should be picking a different scene mode for every snap. That's why Motorola's camera app is exactly my cup of tea. It boots up almost immediately and has a clean interface, with HDR, flash options and a countdown timer the only settings you can fiddle with from the viewfinder. In addition to familiar modes including panorama and slow-mo video, there's a "professional" option that puts additional settings in the viewfinder. They allow you to manually adjust ISO, white balance and exposure -- standard stuff. I've never been one to labor over settings when I just want to grab a quick snap, so it's fortunate that Motorola make it easy to ignore them.
That's because, even in the regular point-and-shoot mode, if you tap the screen to select your focal point, a little exposure slider appears around the perimeter of the reticle. It's a stroke of genius. How often do you look at the viewfinder and question the white balance setting? Likely never. But I bet you've been in a situation where you frame your shot and the exposure meter picks up a bright blue sky and hides your subject in darkness.
It's normal -- auto-exposure is a fickle beast -- but Motorola solves that problem with one, simple slider. Between that, the wrist-twisting quick-launch gesture and the uncluttered interface, the camera app is a joy to use. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention you can use the camera to scan QR and bar codes. Not something you'll be doing all that often, I imagine, but it's convenient you don't have to install another app for this.
Though the G5 and G5 Plus carry different cameras, there's little that separates them where image processing is concerned. Shutter and focus response are basically immediate across both devices; and even in low-light conditions, or when you force HDR mode (it's set to auto by default), you're only waiting an extra few milliseconds for these photos to process before you can grab your next shot. In short, both handsets lend themselves well to moments you have to be quick to capture.
Both devices have the same front-facing 5-megapixel camera with wide-angle lens and f/2.2 aperture. You don't find many front-facers with lower resolutions than that these days, but it does the job if you're the type who doesn't demand selfies or video calls of the highest quality. There's a beautification mode if you prefer your skin homogenized, an HDR mode that works as expected, and the display will double as a makeshift flash in a pinch. So, not a great number of megapixels, but all the features you might want.
The regular G5 plays host to a 13-megapixel primary camera with f/2.0 aperture and phase detection autofocus. And for a device as cheap as this, it's a pretty impressive shooter. I recently spent time with a succession of affordable devices (for review purposes) that had 13MP cameras or better (on paper), but the G5 is on a completely different level. Images are full of detail and color reproduction is almost always accurate. The HDR mode does what it's supposed to, adding a bit more depth to already well-saturated images. White balance is on point, and only infrequently does auto-exposure require manual correction
Video clips filmed on the G5 are good enough, but not great. At 1080p/30 fps, you get a fair amount of detail
The Moto G5 runs on a 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 430 chip and Adreno 505 GPU, while the G5 Plus steps things up a notch with a beefier 2.0GHz octa-core Snapdragon 635 processor and Adreno 506 GPU. Beyond that, there are bunch of different configurations. In the UK, there's one G5 option with 2GB of RAM and 16 gigs of internal storage, as well as a dual-SIM, Amazon-exclusive config with 3GB of RAM and the same amount of memory. There's just one G5 Plus variant, with three gigs of RAM and 32GB of storage.
The G5 Plus is the only handset you can buy in the US, and you have the choice between two variants. One with 2GB of RAM and 32 gigs of storage, and another with double both those values. Other territories have different builds, too, like the 4GB/32GB model available only in Asia. Storage isn't something you need to focus on that much, since both the G5 and Plus support microSD cards as large as 128GB. And in terms of RAM, you're probably going to want to get as much as you can afford.
It's all about future-proofing. Choosing a G5 Plus over a G5 doesn't just get you a faster chip -- it also means your phone stays faster for longer as OS, app updates and general use begin to take their toll on performance. Similarly, more RAM simply means there's more to tap, whether that be to support multitasking or resource-intensive apps.
Another area where the G5s differ is battery capacity. You're looking at a 2,800mAh removable battery in the G5 and a 3,000mAh unit hidden under the G5 Plus' shell.This one's simple: There isn't any. If you're in the market for an affordable, off-contract phone, trust me when I say you want it to be running Android Nougat. But this seriously limits your options.
In the US, the 2GB/32GB G5 Plus will set you back $229 while the 4GB/64GB version costs $300. The only phone that I'd consider in the running right now is the $250 Honor 6X. It has a comparable processor, 5.5-inch 1080p display, three gigs of RAM and dual rear cameras that let you play around with focal point and background blur, among other tricks. The only issue is that it's still running EMUI 4.1, which is based on Android Marshmallow. An update to the latest version of EMUI, which uses Nougat as its backbone, is coming in the relatively near future, though.
Thank you-Jamie rigg,engadget
Hope you're not going to hate me for this question, but I'm torn and really could use some advice. Where I live I can get the OP6 or LG V30 for a similar price.
OP6: I really like the design of the device (even the notch) and I like OP's take on Android (the skin; additional features such as more options when taking screenshots or the reading mode). The mute slider seems cool. From what I could read, OP releases software updates more frequently and faster than LG, which would be important to me. The camera for the most part is praised in the reviews. It's a newer phone, so better processor, more RAM, but I doubt it will matter much if I mostly use my phone for browsing the web, Spotify, Netflix and taking pictures on the go.
LG V30: I like the idea of having a wide-angle camera and better audio quality on headphones. Also, the SD card slot will make transferring data from my current Galaxy S7 easier (and I won't have to ever worry about running low on space). The camera seems to be attracting quite a lot of criticism, however, and I want my phone to just work out of the box - I don't want to have to install the Gcam to take good pictures. Don't care about the video capabilities - never shoot videos. Don't take a ton of selfies, but if the front facing camera is as bad as they say, that would be a real bummer.
What's your opinion guys?
i would say go for OP6. You already has listed pros of OP6 + it has latest hardware + hell of XDA support. Most importantly OP is in the 2 place when it comes to delivering updates!!
I have both. I've had the v30 since launch and have tried to switch to other phones and just can't see to like another phone enough to leave it. I have the OP6 right now and as I use it I'm wanting to switch back to the V30...but promised myself I'd give it until the weekend. it is snappier/faster but the v30 is just such a great phone all around and I love the wide angle lense.
here are some photo comparisons in auto mode. I prefer the v30 in most shots.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=MWxlc052bFJVcTNIVjlKd0I1SDBPaE1tbEZmSHl3
Another thing to ask your self is if you have interest in running custom ROMS. You are on this forum so I will say that you may at least have an interest in doing so or possibly desire for root. If I am not mistaken, to-date, the only version of the V30 that is capable of being unlocked and rooted is the LGUS998 which is LGs carrier free Unlocked version. No carrier version has been able to be unlocked and rooted as of yet. Thus you will be limited to what updates LG provides and any apps that don't require root.
That said, the LG V30 is indeed a nice phone. I contemplated buying this myself but I absolutely need root. Was going to get the unlocked version however, I believe with the difficulty / not being able to unlock any other model, development support has been low. Thus lost interest in it personally. Also, price was kind of high at the time with mediocre performance in comparison to other phones (S8, S9, OP5T, etc). To me if the price is the same for both OP6 and LG V30, then it's a no brainer and go with OP6. However, if you can get the V30 for at least $100 cheaper, then I might steer to the V30 as it's a nice phone. However for same price. OP6 all the way.
I like the OP6 more than the V30 so far. The OS on the OP6 has a lot more customization and is more stock. It's a little faster feeling. If your headphones are "normal" headphones you probably won't notice a huge quality difference. If I were to rate the audio quality on recent devices it would go like this:
Exynos S7 Edge < Pixel 1 < Pixel 2 dongle < OP6 < V30. The OP6 sounds really good to me.
That's with 1More dual driver IEM's, Sony XBA-A3, Audeze iSine 20. I can't speak to trying to drive full size or higher impedance headphones.
I like the camera quality better from the OP6 in my environment, and the camera app performance is much better than the V30. The low viewfinder framerate on the V30 made framing stuff annoying. Right now, you have the option to use GCam on the V30 and it works decently. Currently there isn't a working port for the OP6.
bitwiser said:
I have both. I've had the v30 since launch and have tried to switch to other phones and just can't see to like another phone enough to leave it. I have the OP6 right now and as I use it I'm wanting to switch back to the V30...but promised myself I'd give it until the weekend. it is snappier/faster but the v30 is just such a great phone all around and I love the wide angle lense.
here are some photo comparisons in auto mode. I prefer the v30 in most shots.
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Thank you! I saw your pics in another thread and was also surprised to like the V30 photos better (surprised because of all the criticism that V30 is getting for stills performance). What is it that you like about the V30 so much that you find yourself going back to the device? What worries me is that here on Xda, V30 seems to have rather low ratings in the "Real Reviews" section, so clearly many people are not in love with the phone.
cstark27 said:
I like the OP6 more than the V30 so far. The OS on the OP6 has a lot more customization and is more stock. It's a little faster feeling. If your headphones are "normal" headphones you probably won't notice a huge quality difference. If I were to rate the audio quality on recent devices it would go like this:
Exynos S7 Edge < Pixel 1 < Pixel 2 dongle < OP6 < V30. The OP6 sounds really good to me.
That's with 1More dual driver IEM's, Sony XBA-A3, Audeze iSine 20. I can't speak to trying to drive full size or higher impedance headphones.
I like the camera quality better from the OP6 in my environment, and the camera app performance is much better than the V30. The low viewfinder framerate on the V30 made framing stuff annoying. Right now, you have the option to use GCam on the V30 and it works decently. Currently there isn't a working port for the OP6.
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Thanks! I use A-Jays for headphones, which are supposed to be good, but not audiophile headphones for sure. I am happy to hear that you're satisfied with the audio output quality on the OP6. Judging by software tours on YouTube, I was also leaning more towards the OP6. Choices, choices!
jaqubp said:
Thanks! I use A-Jays for headphones, which are supposed to be good, but not audiophile headphones for sure. I am happy to hear that you're satisfied with the audio output quality on the OP6. Judging by software tours on YouTube, I was also leaning more towards the OP6. Choices, choices!
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Yep, more than satisfied with the headphone jack quality! I was contemplating getting one of those new LG Q7+ because it would be cheap and has the Quad DAC - I'd just leave it at work as a dedicated player. But I would have no desire to do that now with the OP6. It closed the gap between the Pixel 2 dongle and the V30 a pretty good amount. I do miss GCam though.
jaqubp said:
Thank you! I saw your pics in another thread and was also surprised to like the V30 photos better (surprised because of all the criticism that V30 is getting for stills performance). What is it that you like about the V30 so much that you find yourself going back to the device? What worries me is that here on Xda, V30 seems to have rather low ratings in the "Real Reviews" section, so clearly many people are not in love with the phone.
The main thing for me is the wide angle lens. I can't tell you how many times I use it in a week. I could maybe get by without it but it would be inconvenient. I really don't see why LG is the only one doing this with the second camera. Google has proved you can do portrait mode with one lens and a 2x zoom is really nothing/pointless. Second is the screen to body ratio. It is the best feeling phone in my hands with the largest possible screen. I also love the power button and FP sensor in one of the back but I know LG is changing that and many others don't like it. I just think the less buttons you put on the sides the better. I can tell you I never accidentally press the volume button when going to power off (or vice versa) like I have on so many other phones. LG also has always on display and I just prefer how they display their clock better than any one else (I use it by my bed at night). Wireless charging and IP67 is a big plus as well.
On the downside (keeps me looking at others). Speed of the phone and updates. It is not a slow phone by any means but when you use the OP6 you notice a feeling of speed between screens. V30 won't be getting "P" this year OP 6 will. Selfie camera on V30 is bad. I don't take many selfies.
So for me the cons outweigh the pros on the v30 more than any other phone.
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Thanks guys for all your comments and suggestions. Really appreciate it.
In case anyone is interested what I've decided and why, I went ahead with the LG V30, figuring that if I hate it, it will be easier to return. Also, the wide-angle camera and SD card support were important factors. I already have a 128GB SD card from my old Galaxy S7, so switching to V30 was a breeze.
In addition, living in a non-euro country, I would have effectively paid 50 euros more for the 256GB OP6 than for the 64GB LG V30, because of the fees that PayPal/banks are charging when translating currencies. And with V30, 64GB is enough, because of the SD card I already have. So that's that.
But so far so good. V30 seems like a good phone with its own share of nice little features (especially like the quick controls in always on-display - don't know if that's LG or standard Android).
We'll see how that goes I'm fully aware this is not the most solid flagship choice, but I couldn't pass on the campaign from my carrier. 380€ brand new is way below competing offers, and there's a pretty good chance it will see official Android Pie but AOSP support looks to be slim.
Pros for me, coming from Huawei P9 Plus, is:
Better SOC in SD845 vs Kirin 955
Better audio in Quad DAC and BT 5.0LE vs BT 4.0. Huawei has weak BT.
Slightly prolonged software support, possibly Android P, both have lousy track record in that regard but the P9 Plus is already EOL on Nougat.
IP68, military spec, but the P9 Plus has been very durable.
Higher res screen and a GPU to support it.
More modern looks with almost no bezels.
Better video recording, 4K
Wireless charging
Cons:
It's an expense even if good price
Still camera is probably way worse and needs to be outsmarted in different ways unless some update corrects it. I don't use camera that much though and have excellent DSLRs if I need quality.
Probably less stable, Huawei software may be boring but it is rock solid.
Probably less battery, but with normal usage I'm nowhere near half battery at the end of the day so I can take a little less.
Stereo speakers and Super AMOLED on P9 Plus is nice.
In summary it's not a super upgrade but more of a sidegrade to stay current. I probably would have wanted another flagship phone but the prices are getting ridiculous and this was by far the cheapest alternative to be in the SD845-class of handsets. Impressions will follow.
Any thoughts?
The hardware is definitely an upgrade from P9. But The software isn't as feature rich as EMUI..so it will take awhile to forgive and adjust to LG UX. Even if it was Nougat it would have been a stable and complete exp with EMUI. But with LG UX you feel u have taken a step backwards as far the software is concerned. Also please be patient with LG on regular security updates or bug fixes..
Best of luck with your purchase..and enjoy your new device...!!
Thanks, yes, I guess I will have to do some things differently. Huawei works really solid, only big drawback is Bluetooth performance which is subpar by any standard. LG probably has a few more showstoppers, but I'm prepared for that. Better audio jack is a big pro for me, as P9 sounds great but lacks some juice and I listen to music a lot.
xeizo said:
Thanks, yes, I guess I will have to do some things differently. Huawei works really solid, only big drawback is Bluetooth performance which is subpar by any standard. LG probably has a few more showstoppers, but I'm prepared for that. Better audio jack is a big pro for me, as P9 sounds great but lacks some juice and I listen to music a lot.
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Don't knock the speakers on the G7 seriously this phone can kick
The headphone output on the LG G7 crushes everything else mobile, right now driving my Sennheiser HD600s like it was a super expensive HiFI-component system.
It sounds fantastic streaming FLAC from my server using Bubble UPNP, even the DTS-X function is useful as you can get awesome crossfeed for your headphones. And the possibility to choose digital filter is also useful, as the slow filter sounds noticeably more high res with high quality cans. In one short word, Excellent!
Bluetooth is much much better than my Huawei P9 Plus, totally drop out free and the possibility to choose from all contemporary Bluetooth codecs depending on hardware support.
As the title says........
As a long time Sony fan, (owned Z2, Z3, Z5 and now XZP) I have always loved the design and Sony's initial "lead ahead" design, i.e IP68 rating, stereo speakers, epic camera hardware, big battery) etc.
Now having owned pretty much gen after gen Sony, I've always been disappointed in the fact that their Hardware have been full proof and cutting edge, but their software implementations have been woeful to say the least.
It's a known fact that must other Android and IOS brand phones use Sony Camera Modules, yet they have always had better low light and the odd day light camera performance.
Also their Speakers. For a phone with Dual front firing speakers, the software implementations again have been [email protected]*, resorting to "knowledgeable" users having to download and mod their phones to actually utilize the phones full potential.
Anyone else disappointed with some of Sony's software limitations?
sorry for the rant.
I like the phone, only problem is the front cam is chit
amakuramio said:
I like the phone, only problem is the front cam is chit
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snapcamera in LowLightMode (multiframe shooting, up to 32 frames) on the front module gives amazing detail even in the night