Related
I've seen a few hit or miss issues that have been coming to light since the release of the TF700 infinity. On some devices, it seems to work and on others, not as well or not at all. From this, it seemed quite necessary to have a thread to identify the issues that others may encounter and for what they should check to know if they have a "good device" or whether it should be returned. Please let me know if their are any items that should be related to this list. If you wish to discuss your tablet's attributes (both good and bad) further, Pretoriano80 has made such a thread: [Infinity issues/defects/good features] Share your issues, defects or best features
Make sure you charge your tablet before using! Explanation in point 3.
Also, do not update past 9.4.5.26 during these tests if you want to use NVFlash!
1- Does your device have good build quality?
Some people have found that there are scratches on the device, frame's bent, the display is poorly set, the ports may be improperly mounted or other such things. It is recommended that if you encounter any of these that you return the device to get another one since you paid a lot of money for a "good" device. The tablet might click at corners, some of the backlight might bleed through around the edges of the display, or maybe show a slight but often not serious protrusion of the screen from the device. It's up to you to judge whether the extremity of this occurrence on your device are serious enough to warrant a return depending on your definition of "quality".
A possible test for "light bleed" is to take a picture from the camera in either a dark room or the camera lens covered (objective is to take a "black" photo). Open the image in the gallery app and turn up the brightness on the device. In this fashion you should be able to notice any "severe" cases of light bleed like this. If the light bleed is little and only noticeable during startup, then it's probably nothing to worry about.
2- Does your device have haptic feedback? (Does it vibrate properly?)
When you turn on and off your device, it should vibrate. This vibration will be subtle like the feeling of a working electrical appliance and not like a console joystick. If it doesn't, then it probably is defective. There are various methods to getting some type of jiggle out of the tablet if you want a more extensive test. One example is to add such feedback to your on-screen keyboard via Settings -> Language & Input. I'll just go over the basic "Android Keyboard". Select the sliders button next to the keyboard, look for "vibrate on keypress", put a little check next to that, then go into "advanced settings". By default, these vibrations are set to 1ms which is a duration too short to provide any feedback. Adjust the "Keypress vibration duration settings" to something like 100ms in order to ensure that the buzz happens. Finally, verify that your default keyboard is set to the "Android Keyboard" and then open up something like SuperNote where you can type. You should have some buzzing upon every keypress. When done with this test, just go back into the keyboard settings and disable the "vibrate on keypress".
3- Is your battery life ~9 hours in power-saving mode or ~6 hours in balanced mode?
Some people have noticed that they either never reach this amount or never come close to it. This is kind of an expected behavior since on the first page of the instructions manual (you did read the manual, right?) it mentions this:
"Fully charge the battery up to eight hours for the first-time use. The battery reaches its maximum capacity after one full charging and discharging cycle." Therefore, one is supposed to charge the battery for up to an 8 hour period prior to use and then discharge the battery (until ~10% or so). You may encounter a variant of this concerning "a few cycles" but still, right after tearing the plastic off the box like a rapid child at Christmas, ensure that you just plug it in and forget about it for 8 hours (or until the charging light turns off). Otherwise, it can have a lasting negative impact on battery life.
More information about Li-ion can be found here.
4- Does the GPS work?
The TF700 shares a few things with the TF201 Prime (which had notoriously bad wireless, including Wifi communication, Bluetooth, and GPS). Some owners of the Prime didn't remember to check GPS even when everything else worked and later needed to get a Dongle. Ergo, why I put it here high on the list. I believe many of the issues dealing with hardware and software have been addressed by ASUS so if your GPS doesn't work, try updating (not past 9.4.5.26!) the device or send it back since it might be hardware related. Make sure that when testing, you have the "find location via wifi" option turned off if using Maps. Otherwise, test with a tool from Google Play Store like GPS Status or GPS Test. Note: testing may involve going outside and dancing with the device as the first connection is often the most difficult to get.
When GPS is working, you should see a little circle with a blinking dot inside in the lower right-hand corner. Sometimes, the dot might not blink and can seem to influence how well GPS programs work. Its a strange thing but with a simple solution (from myself encountering it on both the TF300 and the TF700): just open the notifications bar and close it again. The dot should be blinking. If not, try actually turning off and then turning back on the GPS via the notifications bar.
5- Does mini-HDMI work?
Though not necessarily a tendency of faults in the infinity, it is important to check all the offered functionality of the device prior to making it a permanent fixture in your life. Remember that if you don't have a friend with a mini-HDMI cable, Walmart (and many other stores) will accept returns provided they are within a particular time period. Feel free to use this return policy to test your device.
6- Can you watch video/youtube/netflix/etc while using a bluetooth headset?
Some people have noticed that there is a huge decrease in speed when watching a video while using a bluetooth headset for audio. The cause of this is unknown and the only explanation we know of is "because wifi and bluetooth share the same antenna". This seems plausible except that many other devices also use the same antenna for both functionalities yet do not display this behavior. Due to the underlying fact we do not know whether it is software or hardware related, it is advisable to return the product.
7- Does the headphone jack work?
Just for thoroughness and ease-of-testing, plug in a set of ear buds and make sure you hear sound. Some have complained that the quality is mediocre due to a humming noise but that the noise is negligible. If the noise is too pronounced, there still is the mounted speaker and if point 6's test was successful, bluetooth is still an option.
8- Does your device feel quick to respond? If not, are you on firmware version .26?
It has been widely noted that version .26 of the firmware made the tablet very snappy. This also helped the device to recognize more microSD cards but also caused problems with NTFS-formatted drives. If you aren't getting the response you want, try upgrading to .26 (not beyond that). Additionally, if your microSD card is NTFS, you may want to reformat it (backup whatever you want to keep first) to FAT32 or exFAT until the issues with NTFS are ironed out. This point also concerns point 9 further down.
9- Can you receive OTA updates? (This should be fixed since Aug 7)
Provided that you are on version .21 or .22, you should be able to receive updates from ASUS for your device via the "About Tablet" option in settings. If you cannot, this might be indicative of another issue which has yet to be identified. You can apply updates without OTA via these methods:
(easiest way)[HOW TO]Tired to wait the .26 with WW TF700 device?
(another way)*** Firmware News & Alternative Install Methods*** Ver. 9.4.5.26 27/07
(requires root)[HOWTO] Manually updating firmware using "dlpkgfile" download via Asus FOTA server
(requires unlocked bootloader)[HowTo] Restore Stock Recovery and Install .26 OTA Manually with Unlocked Bootloader
(requires unlocked bootloader and TWRP custom recovery)[CWM] Repackaged OTA update 9.4.5.26 US/WW versions
Make sure you do not update past 9.4.5.26 if you want to use NVFlash!
10- (Only if this is important to you and then only if you are willing to forego any ASUS warranty) Can you unlock the bootloader? (This should be fixed since Aug 7)
Bonus Warning: ASUS has noted that using their bootloader unlocker will void your warranty and all OTA updates for your device will cease. However, without this unlocking, you will not be able to run custom ROMs nor will you be able to use NVFlash to make your device brick-proof.
[Device is unlocked][Video Added] Bootloader Unlock Tool Released [25.7.2012]
If you are still within your store's "grace period", you may want to try this out to verify if your device will ever be able to run non-ASUS android systems. There's no way of knowing at this moment if the bootloader unlocker will work on your device without actually trying to unlock it. If it does not work, it might be due to their service being unavailable, your serial number might not yet be in their database of devices for the unlock to succeed, your device serial number internally might not match your external serial number (on the sticker), or the problem might be something else entirely. Many of those whose bootloader would not unlock did not receive OTAs either so this shares the "issue which has yet to be identified" from point 9.
If you can give your tab a :good: to all of these points, then you have a good device! Congratulations! :highfive:
Maybe check out these threads next:
[INDEX]-[Updated -25 July 2012]-ASUS INFINITY TF700 - INDEX THREAD-DEVELOPMENT-PART#1
[RESOURCES] How to Root, Unlock, ROMs, Recovery, Tips & more [VIDEO TUTORIALS]
1.Yes
2.Yes
3.Yes
4.didn't try that yet
5.yes
6.yes
7.I don't care
Sent from my GNexus
Yep, mines a keeper.
Build quality is acceptable .. (I own an ipad also) ...I'm going to say 80% the build quality of the ipad. It does OTA and manual updates just fine. Headphone jack works. Has slight click if you press the screen by the speaker ...but only noticable because I read here that it clicks if you press by the speaker . Speed, temps, light bleed, battery life ....all as expected ...not perfect but perfectly acceptable. I am enjoying the tablet, and have no major complaints. I can only assume it will get better with JB when it comes out.
The ipad is more polished, faster, easier to use ....but not by a huge margin. And I make allowance for the immaturity of android tablets and the OS compared to ipad and iOS. I think the trade off is worth it for the additional control... and eventual rooting of the device.
Price ....hmmmm... perhaps a bit high compared to the ipad.... about $75 less would have been nice ....but it's basically a toy for me so I can't complain too much. And part of the whole thing is I wanted a tablet....and I wanted to support the Android market so it would stand a better chance at competing with the ipad... because honestly I think Andriod is the future of tablets ...not iOS.
I'd say the single disappointment is ....I bought the tablet to watch motorcycle racing videos from MotoGP.com, which I pay about $120 US a year to be a member ..... guess what...the tablet will not play the archived videos from this site ....it will stream live video fine, it will play all other "current" content fine...but will not play the archived videos ...... my iPad plays them just fine. I'm in contact with MotoGP.com trying to solve the problem ...but it's not a new problem ....its across the Asus tablet line.
Still.... I enjoy the TF700T, and think it's a good product ....although perhaps should be offered at a bit more of a discount compared to the iPad ....for now.
I have no regrets.
JohnnyB
ray3andrei said:
1.Yes
2.Yes
3.Yes
4.didn't try that yet
5.yes
6.yes
7.I don't care
Sent from my GNexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just want to mention these numbers are apt to change due to new things becoming evident as community use increases.
dataway said:
I'd say the single disappointment is ....I bought the tablet to watch motorcycle racing videos from MotoGP.com, which I pay about $120 US a year to be a member ..... guess what...the tablet will not play the archived videos from this site ....it will stream live video fine, it will play all other "current" content fine...but will not play the archived videos ...... my iPad plays them just fine. I'm in contact with MotoGP.com trying to solve the problem ...but it's not a new problem ....its across the Asus tablet line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread is really just supposed to be a developing checklist for people to verify their tablets since it seems that not all problems are experienced by all users and some problems are more extreme than others. That being noted, how did you try to access said videos? Is there a specific program or application you are required to use? Did you try other such programs from the Play store? Since you are paying for your access, I doubt it would be something that a non-member would be able to assist much.
Yes it is a keeper
Plays HD content flawlessly
The GPS is sooper dup on the road
The WIFI sensitivity is exceptional
Can be viewed outside easily
I really like the hotspot tethering performance also
Pretty much a sweet package
I use it a lot around the house to help me with DIY project info...
1- Does your device have good build quality?
10/10, clicks a a little but IDGTF.
2- Does the GPS work?
Yes.jfif
3- Does mini-HDMI work?
Never tested, never will.
4- Can you watch video/youtube/netflix/etc while using a bluetooth headset?
>2012
>bluetooth headphones
ISHYGDDT
5- Does the headphone jack work?
Yes, makes beeping rarely when I start videos.
6- Does your device feel quick to respond? If not, are you on firmware version .26?
Yes, like butter. I still want jelly Bean though.
7- Is your battery life ~9 hours in power-saving mode or ~6 hours in balanced mode?
6 hours in balanced, yes. Never go to power saving because lag.
8- Can you receive OTA updates?
No, bootloader unlocked.
9- (Only if this is important to you and then only if you are willing to forego any ASUS warranty) Can you unlock the bootloader?
Already did
The only issue I've really had with my device after upgrading to .26 is occasional lock-ups. One lock-up concerned me enough to feel a need to return the device. The screen filled with vertical (if holding landscape) white bars. Has anyone else experienced such issues?
I haven't tested the HDMI yet. And other then the inability to OTA or unlock everything is working perfectly on the latest build
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
funtapaz said:
The only issue I've really had with my device after upgrading to .26 is occasional lock-ups. One lock-up concerned me enough to feel a need to return the device. The screen filled with vertical (if holding landscape) white bars. Has anyone else experienced such issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My friend found one at Best Buy here in NJ. I told him to return it (not exchange) because of the amount of light bleed alone. He was not able to update it, and it just kept crashing on him which made it almost impossible to use. He's going to try hard reset it again to see if any of that helps.
1- Does your device have good build quality?
Mine is perfect.
2- Does the GPS work?
GPS so far works great without using the AGPS to assist.
3- Does mini-HDMI work?
Have a cable from my Prime, both worked flawlessly as does my Bionic.
4- Can you watch video/youtube/netflix/etc while using a bluetooth headset?
Funny thing it does drop from about 20 Mbps to about 3Mbps down, but that won't change no matter how far from the router. The upload is 4Mbps on both no matter how far from the router. It's not the dual antenna that's the problem, it's that they both use one controller chip for the two.
5- Does the headphone jack work?
No problems on mine.
6- Does your device feel quick to respond? If not, are you on firmware version .26?
Was definitely laggy on .21, on .26 MUCH better especially in performance mode. I'm excited for JB.
7- Is your battery life ~9 hours in power-saving mode or ~6 hours in balanced mode?
I charged about 4 hrs till green/fully charged. Funny thing is you can't overcharge these new batteries now and days. They are set to auto stop charging once full (that's the benefit of them now) So I have never "overcharged" because it's not possible. That being said I did a full charge, and am working on the first full depletion to recharge. I'm at 62% and that's 3 days later lol. I have been using it light/moderate the past few days. At least 3.5 hrs of Netflix streaming, setting it up, and not turning it off overnight. We'll see but so far so good and Ifinitely (like that ) better than my Prime.
8- Can you receive OTA updates?
Not OTA, manual worked just fine
Good list, thanks. Mine has passed all of these so far but the headphone test. I forgot that one. I guess I'll give it a shot tonight.
" "Fully charge the battery up to eight hours for the first-time use. The battery reaches its maximum capacity after one full charging and discharging cycle.""
It says" upto 8 hours" It doesn't mean you NEED the full 8 hours. Once you go green and are 100% fully charged, the charger shuts down on its own so not to overheat the battery. The "upto 8 hours" is for folks charging their device via USB on their PC - - which can take up to 8 hours to getting that full charge.
I just got mine yesterday, and while I haven't had time to test either HDMI or full battery cycle (though it's doing pretty well so far) all else is wonderful. Great screen, OTA update to build 26, great wifi and gps, headphones work fine. Sound out of headphones and BT headset is actually great. I do have a millisecond lag with BT audio and watching streaming video, but I could actually live with it, it's not that bad.
This one is definitely a keeper.
I have a quick question while I'm checking my tablet, which arrived yesterday... my screen is uniform across the edge, no creaking or inconsistencies, but the entire surface is raised, or at least isn't flush like my previous Prime. Is that normal? Anyone have a completely flushed screen on their 700? Thanks.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda app-developers app
androidxen said:
I have a quick question while I'm checking my tablet, which arrived yesterday... my screen is uniform across the edge, no creaking or inconsistencies, but the entire surface is raised, or at least isn't flush like my previous Prime. Is that normal? Anyone have a completely flushed screen on their 700? Thanks.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Gorilla glass has about a quarter inch beveled edge going all the way around
xRevilatioNx said:
My Gorilla glass has about a quarter inch beveled edge going all the way around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I guess the screen is higher due to the hardware improvements from the Prime. Good to know, just wanted to be cautious.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda app-developers app
xRevilatioNx said:
My Gorilla glass has about a quarter inch beveled edge going all the way around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here - more like 1/16th inch, maybe?
Mine looks perfect, but if I press a bit harder on the screen (you won't do this with normal usage) I get a hissing noice which sound like air is escaping from between the screen. At that moment I can see deformations on the screen. I have read other people do have the same issue, but wondering if this is normal (so all TF700 have it?) or if I should exchange. Any advice?
I have one really big scratch on the dockingstation. Going back to the store tomorrow to get another one.
Added xRevilatioNx's and neo1738's clarification regarding initial battery charge and the green charging light turning off.
Yeah, I agree with you that the new batteries can't be overcharged in the literal sense. It was merely to emphasize the fact that a "full charge" is necessary to receive optimum life out of the device's battery. We don't really know what type of charge existed on the device prior to our receipt, so it's best (or in a worse case scenario) just to charge it for the 8 hours regardless of the status of the light. Does it make a difference if it's 8 hours or until the green light turns off? Probably not. But for the Android neophytes just getting their hands on a tablet for the 1st or 2nd time, I think that my explanation is still applicable and satisfactory to provide a perspective easy to understand and beneficial to the consumer. Thanks for the detailed clarification though.
Received my champagne gold today and doesn't seem to be any issues at all. No light bleed, WiFi and bluetooth are perfect, and no I/O issues (updated as soon as I turned on the device). Seeing as the champagne golds seem to have come latter in the production cycle, it seems they are improving their processes slowly but surely.
Hey guys, I just received my Pipo M6 today so I thought I'd offer my experience so far. Keep in mind that I am coming from an iPad mini and my daily driver is a HTC One X running Cyanogenmod 10.1.
Build Quality:
TBH, I was hoping for something a little better after reading some user reviews. It's still quite good overall but there's just a few too many seams and the edges are a little rough at certain points. Nothing major but it just feels like a made and designed in China product. It doesn't bother me so much though since I won't notice it after putting it in a case.
I was glad to find that underneath the temporary screen protector which comes with all new products these days, there was another one underneath it which means you won't need to bother with putting on one yourself.
Screen:
VERY pretty. Viewing angles are good and colours really pop. Brightness level is amazing and will surely be sufficient even if you are in the dessert. In terms of resolution, you can set it to HD mode or Normal which requires a restart. I couldn't really notice any differences although I might if I had another one sitting side by side. Only thing is, I used both AnTuTu and Android System Info to find out the resolution and there seem to be some discrepancies.
Under HD Mode, both apps reported a resolution of 1536x1952 with 320dpi. Now that's still within Retina level territory but they were advertising 2048x1536. Not a huge difference I know but still a little annoying.
At Normal Mode, AnTuTu reported 1600x1128 and Android System info reported 1200x1528. Not sure why the two differed but the difference is negligible when you do the math.
User Interface:
As you may know, you have the choice of using the standard Jelly Bean interface or the special Pipo interface which makes everything look a bit like Windows 8. I chose to go with the latter. Everything is quite smooth although perhaps not quite as flawless as my iPad mini but with Android devices, I've come to accept that.
I really like where they're going with this interface although there are some definite rough edges. It comes preloaded with 5 home screens labeled: Home, Media, Apps, Office and Web. These can not be removed. Within each, there are some widgets which corresponds to their respective headings. These widgets cannot be changed or removed. The other objects that cannot be changed or removed are the boxes ala Windows 8 which are predetermined to be either editable shortcuts or folders. I find this a bit annoying because sometimes I don't need so many folders and would prefer to just launch an app immediately when I tap it. You can add more homescreens and name them how you like but you can't change their colour or the types of boxes they contain. Overall, it all looks very nice but needs to be more customisable.
Performance:
I haven't had a chance to install any games yet but so far the "feel" of the device seems very solid. I do have a problem when trying to install N.O.V.A. 3, i can't even find it in the Google Play Store. After finding it through Google, it says that my device cannot support it. I don't get it. My One X can install this game and it's far below the specs of the M6. If anyone can let me know why this is, I can install it and let you know how it performs.
Battery Life:
When I opened the box, it was already switched on and showed that it had been running on battery for about 28 hours (so it was probably opened by customs since it was posted out a week ago). Since then I've had the screen almost constantly on doing various things for the last 5 hours and it still has 40% juice left. Pretty good then!
Conclusion:
Overall, I'm quite happy. It has some small niggles but then it was pretty cheap. For the people who are worried that the RK3188 can't handle a retina display, I think you can relax. Everything runs smoothly enough. Plus, if you really prefer a lower resolution, you can change it in the settings to conserve battery life and increase performance. It beats having an M7, M8 or M9 purely because they have much smaller batteries. The 2x5000 mAh battery in the M6 was designed for the retina screen so if you use the normal resolution, it would wipe the competition clean.
MarcusJKX said:
Only thing is, I used both AnTuTu and Android System Info to find out the resolution and there seem to be some discrepancies.
Under HD Mode, both apps reported a resolution of 1536x1952 with 320dpi. Now that's still within Retina level territory but they were advertising 2048x1536. Not a huge difference I know but still a little annoying.
At Normal Mode, AnTuTu reported 1600x1128 and Android System info reported 1200x1528. Not sure why the two differed but the difference is negligible when you do the math.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is normal. Physically, the screen resolution is 2048x1536. The bottom of the screen is allocated for soft buttons, hence you get smaller vertical resolution available to apps.
Do a test - change the tablet orientation, and check the resolution again.
Thank you for this comprehensive review. I myself also own a M6 3g and can mostly agree with your points. I myself think the build quality is quite good. No gaps or loose buttons.
Sent from my JB 4.2.2 powered HTC Desire using Tapatalk
pulsar124 said:
This is normal. Physically, the screen resolution is 2048x1536. The bottom of the screen is allocated for soft buttons, hence you get smaller vertical resolution available to apps.
Do a test - change the tablet orientation, and check the resolution again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh i see, that makes sense. I never owned a device without physical or capacitive buttons so it didn't occur to me.
andbroe said:
Thank you for this comprehensive review. I myself also own a M6 3g and can mostly agree with your points. I myself think the build quality is quite good. No gaps or loose buttons.
Sent from my JB 4.2.2 powered HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I think it's also not bad. I wouldn't really call them gaps, but the seam that runs around the edge of the device definitely doesn't look consistent on my machine; some parts look a tiny fraction wider than the rest. Maybe you had better luck. bBy the way, do you have any idea why the Google Play Store won't let me download N.O.V.A. 3? I'm sure the specs are enough since even my HTC One X running a Tegra 3 can download it. Only thing I can think off is that the internal storage doesn't have enough space but then shouldn't it download into the NAND Flash? I have plenty of space there.
UPDATE: Been spending some more time with it. I am liking it less now that it's frozen up twice (both times requiring a hard reset by sticking a little needle in the small hole next to the back camera - didn't lose anything though). Also, I have a few apps that force the tablet into a vertical orientation and every time, they would force it into an upside down position (where the power button would be on the bottom as well as the front camera). I guess this indicates that the tablet's natural position is contrary to its physical design. I find this quite annoying to be honest and should hopefully be easily fixable with a firmware update. I hope they get on it! God I wish I can install Cyanogenmod on this.
MarcusJKX said:
God I wish I can install Cyanogenmod on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
About the freezing. It happened also to me. Once even during a cold boot! But I am confident it is only a software problem. Maybe one day, when some of the excellent developers of XDA - developer take care of this baby we will get Cyanogenmod.
For the meantime I run RileyROM 1.2 (rooted and cleaned up, based on latest ROM from Pipo) and that works quite good.
See you
andbroe said:
+1
About the freezing. It happened also to me. Once even during a cold boot! But I am confident it is only a software problem. Maybe one day, when some of the excellent developers of XDA - developer take care of this baby we will get Cyanogenmod.
For the meantime I run RileyROM 1.2 (rooted and cleaned up, based on latest ROM from Pipo) and that works quite good.
See you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip! So you didn't encounter any more problems after installing this rom?
MarcusJKX said:
Thanks for the tip! So you didn't encounter any more problems after installing this rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another m6 user here also with a one x...
I also had the few freezes but since stopping using chrome, which runs like a dog anyway on this, it hasn't done it. Mines rooted and using the late June firmware. Only issue I've had other than that is a battery hiccup where it went from 65% to 13% in minutes and then back to 65% when the charger was plugged in. I have since ran it dead charged to 100% and calibrated the battery. The battery also doesn't have the correct MV reported
Other than that fast smooth even in retina mode and decent build. Can't find a hw 4k player yet tho like the a31
Steve
5teve said:
Another m6 user here also with a one x...
I also had the few freezes but since stopping using chrome, which runs like a dog anyway on this, it hasn't done it. Mines rooted and using the late June firmware. Only issue I've had other than that is a battery hiccup where it went from 65% to 13% in minutes and then back to 65% when the charger was plugged in. I have since ran it dead charged to 100% and calibrated the battery. The battery also doesn't have the correct MV reported
Other than that fast smooth even in retina mode and decent build. Can't find a hw 4k player yet tho like the a31
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the first time it froze on me, I was also using Chrome. Can't remember what I was doing the second time. Anyways, I'm using the default browser now which suits me fine. Whats the difference between that and chrome anyway? i dont think ive had any issues with the battery although it did go from 14% to 4% awfully quick earlier. What do you mean the battery doesnt have the correct MV? Do you mean its not 10,000 mAh as advertised? How do you check that by the way?
I've been testing the more recent chinese builds (#17 is the latest one I've used) and have had no issues with Chrome or games. They apparently use the new Rockchip SDK 2.0, but I'm hoping we'll see these integrate the latest Mali drivers in the future. You can find the latest releases (currently #20) here http://pan.baidu.com/share/home?uk=1946954351 and if you don't want it in chinese, you should use the Rockchipfirmware kitchen to debloat and modify it. There are no changelogs included with these ROMs though, so you'll be flying blind.
MarcusJKX said:
Yeah the first time it froze on me, I was also using Chrome. Can't remember what I was doing the second time. Anyways, I'm using the default browser now which suits me fine. Whats the difference between that and chrome anyway? i dont think ive had any issues with the battery although it did go from 14% to 4% awfully quick earlier. What do you mean the battery doesnt have the correct MV? Do you mean its not 10,000 mAh as advertised? How do you check that by the way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On mine which is on the SDK2 firmware - there is a big difference with chrome and the stock browsers - chrome is massively laggy, freezes, stutters and is generally rubbish. Stock browser is fast and smooth. The only issue I have is not being able to scroll down on translated pages (htcmania) but change of orientation solves that..
regarding the mV issue, I am using GSam battery monitor and it reports the voltage as being 7mV
Steve
matnl said:
I've been testing the more recent chinese builds (#17 is the latest one I've used) and have had no issues with Chrome or games. They apparently use the new Rockchip SDK 2.0, but I'm hoping we'll see these integrate the latest Mali drivers in the future. You can find the latest releases (currently #20) here http://pan.baidu.com/share/home?uk=1946954351 and if you don't want it in chinese, you should use the Rockchipfirmware kitchen to debloat and modify it. There are no changelogs included with these ROMs though, so you'll be flying blind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm that all sounds a bit too complicated for me. I went through quite a bit of trouble trying to put Cyanogenmod on my One X even with so many instructions available out there. Dont know if I can handle installing a ROM on a device that's not so commonly supported.
5teve said:
regarding the mV issue, I am using GSam battery monitor and it reports the voltage as being 7mV
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm well when I use Android System Info, it says my battery is 8mV. Does that mean its 8000mAh? If so then I'm gonna be a bitnpissed coz the whole reason chose the M6 over the M7 was because the battery. I actually prefer a slightly smaller tablet.
MarcusJKX said:
Hmm that all sounds a bit too complicated for me. I went through quite a bit of trouble trying to put Cyanogenmod on my One X even with so many instructions available out there. Dont know if I can handle installing a ROM on a device that's not so commonly supported.
Hmm well when I use Android System Info, it says my battery is 8mV. Does that mean its 8000mAh? If so then I'm gonna be a bitnpissed coz the whole reason chose the M6 over the M7 was because the battery. I actually prefer a slightly smaller tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No voltage and current are different. eg a USB port outputs 5v (5000mV) at 500mA (or 0.5A)
Updating firmware on this is easy.. you use software on the PC to upload and flash.. the only panic I had was a very very long boot time the first time while it updates, I thought I had broken it. I was surprised how painless it was.
Thanks
Steve
5teve said:
No voltage and current are different. eg a USB port outputs 5v (5000mV) at 500mA (or 0.5A)
Updating firmware on this is easy.. you use software on the PC to upload and flash.. the only panic I had was a very very long boot time the first time while it updates, I thought I had broken it. I was surprised how painless it was.
Thanks
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I think I can flash it since they provided the instructions themselves and I found some other instructions online but when matnl mentioned debloating and modifying the ROM to make it English, that worried me. Do you think it's really worth it? Did u notice a big performance increase?
MarcusJKX said:
Well I think I can flash it since they provided the instructions themselves and I found some other instructions online but when matnl mentioned debloating and modifying the ROM to make it English, that worried me. Do you think it's really worth it? Did u notice a big performance increase?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was supplied with the pre SDK2 firmware, and it was a big difference going to the SDK2.0 firmware. I didnt debloat at all, I installed the one that said english, it booted in chinese, so i had to work my way through to changing the language to english. On first boot i opted for standard jellybean launcher and then installed apex for a bit of customisability. there didnt look like too much in the way of chinese apps and bloat?
Rooting was easy as there is a batch file on Htcmania that does it for you.
Steve
5teve said:
Mine was supplied with the pre SDK2 firmware, and it was a big difference going to the SDK2.0 firmware. I didnt debloat at all, I installed the one that said english, it booted in chinese, so i had to work my way through to changing the language to english. On first boot i opted for standard jellybean launcher and then installed apex for a bit of customisability. there didnt look like too much in the way of chinese apps and bloat?
Rooting was easy as there is a batch file on Htcmania that does it for you.
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did the debloat bit because otherwise you're stuck with apps in chinese which are difficult to remove. But as Steve said, it's fairly simple to figure out how to switch the UI to english or anything you like once you've installed the ROM. Like Steve, I also use Apex Launcher rather than the Pipo one.
Another thing I did was use a different parameter file so that I have 4GB of user space rather than the standard 2GB. But this probably is beyond the scope of this thread.
matnl said:
I just did the debloat bit because otherwise you're stuck with apps in chinese which are difficult to remove. But as Steve said, it's fairly simple to figure out how to switch the UI to english or anything you like once you've installed the ROM. Like Steve, I also use Apex Launcher rather than the Pipo one.
Another thing I did was use a different parameter file so that I have 4GB of user space rather than the standard 2GB. But this probably is beyond the scope of this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, my M6 froze again today whilst using Pulse so I think I've had enough. I'm gonna try to flash it with a rom. A couple of questions first. How can I check which SDK I'm on? It says my Kernel version is 3.0.36+ from June 25th. Does that mean I'm on SDK2.0 already since it's the latest?
Anyways, I don't wanna bother anyone here with writing out a full instructional so can someone please just confirm that all I need to do is follow this guide: http://www.freak-tab.de/rrileypm/First Time User Guide_pr0_rev5.pdf Of course, instead of using the RileyROM 1.2, I will use the M6 4.2.2 #20 from http://pan.baidu.com/share/home?uk=1946954351 . Also, why are there two files with the same name there? One uploaded on the 13th and one on the 15th of July? Thanks alot guys!
i already posted this to other threads
i bought my pipo m6 a week ago.. so far so bad!.. first off, i got a dirt INSIDE the screen, i was forced to remove the screen guard to see if its not a dirt in between the screen and the screen guard. unfortunately its inside the screen so there's no way of removing it without opening the whole system.. 2nd, im experiencing lags and forced close, QUAD CORE? 2GB RAM? what the!! my friends dual core phone is much better! mine doesnt even have to many apps yet. 3rd, i tried to play 1080 movies, mp4, it lags and crashes at me. aside from all this disappointing experience PIPO luncher form time to time force closes. another worse experience is that i experience FREEZE UP. the whole system froze while browsing facebook, for 20 minutes, all hardware buttons, touchscreen are not responding. i was forced to reset it via the little whole at the back of the device....i already updated to the 6/26 firmware release... but still getting the same issues. battery was good YES. but performance was disappointing. NOT TO MENTION the other users who comment about the SPEAKER! GOD! speaker sucks! based on a video i watched it was loud! but my SONY NEO V is way better! i hope that there is a FIRMWARE FIX to all this! except ofcourse about the screen dirt.. i was expecting to much about the new processor (QUAD CORE, better the DUAL CORE, RIGHT???), the ram but was getting to much frustration. the only GREAT thing about this device is the RETINA SCREEN, not including the DIRT of course, the the BATTERY!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SquallDNA said:
i already posted this to other threads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand your frustration. I've experienced everything you mentioned except for the dirt (although I do have a small black smudge underneath the glass near the right speaker). I'm really starting to regret getting this thing (especially with news of the Nexus 2 7" coming out soon at a possibly cheaper price point). I'm really hoping installing something like the RileyROM 1.2 will help fix these issues.
MarcusJKX said:
I can understand your frustration. I've experienced everything you mentioned except for the dirt (although I do have a small black smudge underneath the glass near the right speaker). I'm really starting to regret getting this thing (especially with news of the Nexus 2 7" coming out soon at a possibly cheaper price point). I'm really hoping installing something like the RileyROM 1.2 will help fix these issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hope so too. thanks
SquallDNA said:
i hope so too. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just flashed the RileyROM 1.2. They were right, it really was very easy. I'm in the process of restoring everything. I'll report back with my impressions on the performance later.
I've just changed the cracked screen on my nexus 5 and after fitting the new screen I've found that the frame rate has dropped to less than 2 frames per second (using fps test as shown). Apart from the frame rate being ruined the phone is perfectly fine. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
wojoe said:
I've just changed the cracked screen on my nexus 5 and after fitting the new screen I've found that the frame rate has dropped to less than 2 frames per second (using fps test as shown). Apart from the frame rate being ruined the phone is perfectly fine. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you actually observing that low frame rate? If your system was really running at less than two frames per second it would be nearly unusable. Could it possibly be a misreport?
Yeah the rate is actually that slow and it is near enough unusable. It takes so long to do anything on it and I can't watch videos on it at all, although when I record a video it is very jumpy but when sent to my tablet is completely smooth so the processor must be fine right?
Bump
Did you get an OEM Screen replacement? It could be that it's not playing nice with the GPU drivers. Have you tried flashing stock to fix the problem?
No it's not OEM and I already have stock installed. Do you think a factory reset would help?
Definitely sounds like a hardware compatibility issue. Not sure you'll find a fix.
That makes sense. I was worried that I'd somehow made a mistake when changing the screen and damaged the internal hardware. I've bought a Z3 as a replacement anyway and it's awesome, I'll get a working screen for the nexus as my backup.
Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated.
wojoe said:
That makes sense. I was worried that I'd somehow made a mistake when changing the screen and damaged the internal hardware. I've bought a Z3 as a replacement anyway and it's awesome, I'll get a working screen for the nexus as my backup.
Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's definitely worth trying a factory reset or using the stock images to completely redo the phone so you can see if the screen can work.
It may be that it's not quite a working replacement, though, in which case you can hopefully get a refund.
Yeah I will give that a go. I've already been offered a refund but I'll see if I can get it to work
Hi guys,
I've been browsing multiple forums and have tried multiple solutions to get Android running as a second OS next to Windows 10 but haven't been able to get a stable working touchscreen.
I see a few posts saying that Bliss has added drivers for the Microsoft Surface touchscreens. I've tried multiple installations containing the tag "surface-pro-4" and "sp4". My findings are that the touchscreen is indeed working after installation, however it stops working after a while. Sometimes a minute after I boot up without doing anything, sometimes during a game, it seems completely random.
I've also tried different versions of the Phoenix OX, which gives me exactly the same issues. I've been searching the interwebs and found more people with this issue. I also found some posts of people claiming they have been able to stabalize the touchscreen, however I haven't been able to get in contact with them.
I'm pretty new to Android when it comes to running the OS on an x86 machine, but I know my way around Linux. If there's anything that should be modified I'd like to hear your thoughts as well. I don't need a complete how-to, just some directions for what to look for and I'll figure it out.
When I look at the issue, my gut points me to power saving options. However the fact that the screen so randomly stops working is not really in line with this thought.
My question: Has anyone managed to get a stable version of Android running on the Surface Pro 4 with a working touchscreen? If so, could you let me know which image you used for installation? I don't really care about the Android version (it doesn't have to ben 8.1), as long as I can get it running stable (not too old of course).
I'd love to hear your experiences or thoughts on this.
Thanks in advance, if anyone needs more information, please let me know and I'll be happy to supply.
Should I get it working at some point, I'd be more than happy to write a full how-to and post it here on the forums.
Kind regards.
I have one dual booting Bliss and working well. You'll need a bleeding edge rom. I'm running Bliss-v10.1-Beta-android_x86_64-OFFICIAL-20180602-1820_k4.16.8-ipts-blissified-ath_18.1.0-devel_w14_sp4.iso. In fact, I'm posting this from my Surface Pro running Bliss.
daze62 said:
I have one dual booting Bliss and working well. You'll need a bleeding edge rom. I'm running Bliss-v10.1-Beta-android_x86_64-OFFICIAL-20180602-1820_k4.16.8-ipts-blissified-ath_18.1.0-devel_w14_sp4.iso. In fact, I'm posting this from my Surface Pro running Bliss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do I need to do to boot the dual (win10-Android)
daze62 said:
I have one dual booting Bliss and working well. You'll need a bleeding edge rom. I'm running Bliss-v10.1-Beta-android_x86_64-OFFICIAL-20180602-1820_k4.16.8-ipts-blissified-ath_18.1.0-devel_w14_sp4.iso. In fact, I'm posting this from my Surface Pro running Bliss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you install a different kernel or just the blissOS rom mentioned? Thx
Running as is. A few caveats from 3 months use: 1. Battery usage is not monitored; 2. Seems to run the processor flat out, so battery life is not great and the tablet runs on the warm side; 3. Buttons don't work, so no external volume control and powering off takes a long button hold to force shut down; 4. You'll need the keyboard attached to select boot options.
The rom I'm using has been moved.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/blissos-x86/files/Official/
I've been looking at later builds, but they seem complicated to set up.
For me, I'm using surface pro 2017 (which I think not really different from the sp4) running phoenix os. It works fine but without Bluetooth, warm on the back, sleep mode doesn't work and there's no battery percentage (it's always 100%)
Try Prime OS (mainline) version on Surface Pro
I'm playing around with PrimeOS on SurfacePro1 in liveboot mode. Almost everything seems to be working well.
Pros
Bluetooth and wifi works
Hardware buttons work well.
Games like PubG run smoothly. Button mapping is baked into the ROM
Even the pen works with well. I've tried the skechbook Android app
*One note app says that it does not support Android app on Intel devices
Cons
Sleep mode does not work like it does on phones and tabs. It'll just turn the display black and it's probably still running. Screen bleeding is obvious which is a surfacePro1 issue.
Hi, anyone know how possible fix flicker on surface pro 4 i7 8gb ram? I try all from youtube.
battery drain when the surface pro 3 screen is turned off
gulams said:
I'm playing around with PrimeOS on SurfacePro1 in liveboot mode. Almost everything seems to be working well.
Pros
Bluetooth and wifi works
Hardware buttons work well.
Games like PubG run smoothly. Button mapping is baked into the ROM
Even the pen works with well. I've tried the skechbook Android app
*One note app says that it does not support Android app on Intel devices
Cons
Sleep mode does not work like it does on phones and tabs. It'll just turn the display black and it's probably still running. Screen bleeding is obvious which is a surfacePro1 issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello, have you found a solution to drain the battery when you turn off the screen? my surf is the 3 pro
Hi,
how did you install this?
i cant install it.
i set safe mode off .
thx
What's the deal with the Samsung Galaxy A41?
For reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_A41
https://www.samsung.com/A41
There is no XDA-Forum for this smartphone
There also seems to be no community for this phone.
Searching the internet for A41 compatible Custom ROMs ends in less than nothingness even in the darkest corners.
What's going on? The phone is on the market since March 2020. The phone is pretty good in specs (middle-class).
AND it is the ONLY phone under 200 bucks today that is NOT larger than 150mm in length and therefor usable in pockets.
I don't get it why it doesn't get the same attention as the other competitors in the same price class.
Can anybody enlighten me what's happening?
Please XDA mods and admins, if this is just a mistake, please open a samsung forum for the A41!
yepp - I have such an 'outbreak of hell' product - still struggling to root this beast. 90% of the references in the i-net are fake/copied from other Axx or just bla-bla.
Up to now odin (different versions) seems only to be able to flash Samsung CRAPROM (needed it several times after ended bricked)
- magisk patched boot img not working/ending up in boot-loop,
- magisk patching AP dies before finishing (img is 3.5GB instead 4GB)
Samsung - not a success story
avalanche1609 said:
Up to now odin (different versions) seems only to be able to flash Samsung CRAPROM (needed it several times after ended bricked)
- magisk patched boot img not working/ending up in boot-loop,
- magisk patching AP dies before finishing (img is 3.5GB instead 4GB)
Samsung - not a success story
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
omg.. I was hoping to be able to root the phone at least with magisk.. but what you say doesn't sound well. I saw all those copy-paste tutorials for A41 on the internet too.. thought at least something gotta work.
I still don't get it. this should be a popular phone by its smaller size, low price and good super amoled display.
unbelievable there is no community, roots, custom roms, or at least discussion threads.
friends are getting a few A41 phones.. now that'll be a funny mess to root and handle. :/
@avalanche1609 just curious, you said you let magisk patch AP and it dies before finishing (3.5gb/4gb).. why did you let it patch the 4gb AP file? isn't the way to root the phone with magisk like:
-> get the same original firmware that is currently installed on the phone and extract the boot.img.tar from it.
-> copy that to you phone, let magisk patch the boot.img.tar (about 20mb in size)
-> copy patched_boot.img.tar to you pc
-> flash patched_boot.img.tar from pc with odin back to your phone in download mode (using AP(!) not BL in odin) and that file is about 20mb, not more!
shouldn't that be it?
why did you let magisk patch a 4GB AP?
also: which odin3 version did you use? 99% floating around are fake and malicious, all these 3.14.4 verisons are fake.
If you can unlock the bootloader you're already half way there. Then boot into a TWRP using fastboot boot recovery.img and flash Magisk from there. You might also have to disable DM verity somehow.
Good luck
lebigmac said:
If you can unlock the bootloader you're already half way there. Then boot into a TWRP using fastboot boot recovery.img and flash Magisk from there. You might also have to disable DM verity somehow.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unlocking the bootloader should be no problem as far as I heard. but I also heard there is no TWRP version that actually really supports the device (and encryption afterwards). installing twrp with fastboot could be possible, also booting TWRP with fastboot could be possible, but for what? just for installing magisk that way? Isn't the other way easier? -> installing magisk manager, patch the boot image, and flash it back? especially when there is no fitting TWRP version anyway?
Zirila said:
unlocking the bootloader should be no problem as far as I heard. but I also heard there is no TWRP version that actually really supports the device (and encryption afterwards). installing twrp with fastboot could be possible, also booting TWRP with fastboot could be possible, but for what? just for installing magisk that way? Isn't the other way easier? -> installing magisk manager, patch the boot image, and flash it back? especially when there is no fitting TWRP version anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The samsung brick is rooted now - one successful act of self defense !
- the newest magisk from github (21410) is able to do the job of patching.
(feeding magisk only with an extracted boot.img doesn't work! six different odin versions (<3.14.4) are not able to flash the created boot-image tar file)
- Magisk definitely needs the complete extracted 4GB AP file from the stock firmware - and the canary/github version of magisk is able to patch it (without crashing) and created 4GB patch.tar-file which odin accepts.
fastboot isn't an option - the device is detected but nothing else works/is implemented by samsung
If there is a suitable TWRP around - let me know.
avalanche1609 said:
The samsung brick is rooted now - one successful act of self defense !
Spoiler
- the newest magisk from github (21410) is able to do the job of patching.
(feeding magisk only with an extracted boot.img doesn't work! six different odin versions (<3.14.4) are not able to flash the created boot-image tar file)
- Magisk definitely needs the complete extracted 4GB AP file from the stock firmware - and the canary/github version of magisk is able to patch it (without crashing) and created 4GB patch.tar-file which odin accepts.
fastboot isn't an option - the device is detected but nothing else works/is implemented by samsung
If there is a suitable TWRP around - let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great news! So there actually is a way to get root on A41 and I'm glad it worked out fine for you so far.
I'm eager looking forward to root one of them for myself, I guess in a few days I'll have the chance to do so (I'll report then).
I'll take your advice and look for the latest magisk build from github.
It still looks very strange to me that magisk requires more than the boot image to patch. maybe it has something to do with dynamic partitions/ram disk the phone might use or the like. idk. maybe it then needs these files also. or probably the firmware is a little bit different from the one installed on the phone. I'm just guessing, not knowing. At least it works and when it takes to patch a 4gb file, well, then let it take that much.
That's the point where it'd be fine to have a XDA A41 forum with community and already people with experience, since it's a phone almost 1 year old now..
regarding the suppported TWRP version.. idk.. I would just trial and error things out. maybe it works with the latest version already. But better check it out before you plan to use the phone regularly..
I also don't know much about the fastboot options, I thought it works like usual as long as the bootloader is unlocked.. but flashing TWRP with odin or the twrp app itself could work too.
oh and the original question from the opening thread still remains open:
where is the community? where are the custom roms?
avalanche1609 said:
[...]
fastboot isn't an option - the device is detected but nothing else works/is implemented by samsung
If there is a suitable TWRP around - let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh right. I forgot that Samsung intentionally cripples the fastboot for its users... How awesome.
Hi all!
I have one of these since a couple of days and I have to say it is a really nice phone with a really bad issue: the jpg compression is super aggressive and photos that should look great given the lens and sensor look bland and smudgy. As far as I understand, there is no camera api2 exposed at all by default. All camera apps that I have tried produce worse images and gcam does not work (I have tried about 20 different ones, for Mediatek and otherwise). If Samsung could just let me bump up JPEG quality to 95% I would be completely satisfied with this phone, but I guess that would never happen.
I therefore wonder, is there any chance that your success rooting the phone could lead to bumping up the JPEG quality of the stock camera app, eventually expose camera api2 or somehow allow us to install a version of gcam down the line?
Cheers!
I bought a new Galaxy A41 for 180€ and I'm just setting it up.
I want to share my thoughts so far about:
the hardware, the software, things like rooting.
The Installation and Software:
The phone starts and already wants to trick you into signing data collection agreements (Terms of Service (not optional), marketing, analytics, 3rd party shares (3 optional)).
If you select by common sense and only check ToS you'll get fooled when you check the last radio button which says "I've read all of the above and agree (..)" which enabled all optional radio buttons again right before you click next. What a dirty play.
Also it is not possible to skip the WiFi selection screen ("skip" is greyed out) making it impossible to setup the phone without internet access. This has nothing to do with FRP, this is before anything google related is setup. Samsung clearly states it requires internet to setup the phone and install necessary provider software. Once it gets internet it gets activated and the "skip" option becomes clickable after the next factory reset. This practice makes me really angry. It's obviously the price you pay when you buy a low- to mid-range class phone - you'll pay the rest with your personal data.
I setup the phone without creating google and samsung accounts (I never got one of these anyways) and got to the home screen. If you havent enabled WiFi yet, there aren't many apps at all pre-installed, just a few useful and a few bloatware apps (like Facebook, MS Office, etc).
If you give it WiFi however, it kinda explodes with leeching, loading and updating Apps you never asked for. Only some of these can be "disabled" and only some of them can be "uninstalled" the normal way. Some of the unwanted you can't uninstall nor disable. (This is where you wish you had root access)
The phone had Security Patch Level installed from August 2020. Making OTA firmware updates 3x (about 1-3gb) will get you to Sec.Patch Level November 2020 which is the latest available OTA (we have February 2021 now). That's not a good sign IMO.. so it's already a few month behind the patch cycle..
So, software wise there aren't many useful apps for me installed, really just the utter basics and much more 3rd party bloatware and Samsung nonsense apps. It's not as much as with the Poco X3, but still much...
The Hardware:
The super amoled display is the biggest feature of the phone. and it's really great, the colors, the viewing angle, the brightness.. all top notch.
Battery is with only 3500mA/h not that big, but it's astonishing strong and it holds up the uptime it promises so far. I can only hope it stays like that even after a few years.
The size of the phone is what actually made me buy this phone. its the only phone under 6.5" under 200€ and not older than a year. all newer phones are bigger. The size is great, it's slim, but long. (6,1" ~15cm long)
I didn't expect it to be that heavy, though. well, the weight is not really heavy, but compared to older phones it is a good bit heavier.
The Camera is just Mediocre, I already knew this from reviews before but playing around with it and seeing the results underscores it. The final pics alltogether look always a bit washen out if you zoom in. There aren't enough professional advanced settings in the camera settings compared to open camera or mx camera. you have to stick with what you get. The Sensor of the camera is despite 48mpixels only mediocre. the widescreen lens is a nice feature but quality wise not that good either. Selfie cam is subjectively good enough though.
HDR setting and results are a joke compared to mx camera.
Rooting:
I actually planned to root the phone with magisk and installing TWRP. However, I ended up not rooting or installing TWRP at all. The reasons are various.
First, It's possible to unlock the bootloader in developer settings (after the phone called home..). You'll get a nagscreen every time you boot the phone up after it's unlocked. From this point on you might be able to root the phone with Magisk (following the advices a few posts above), but it'll probably trigger and brick KNOX status.
I decided to NOT do that and relocked the bootloader, because there seems to be no lively community for this phone, there are no Custom ROMs available nor any custom bootloaders. And I might want to sell the phone again if it doesn't fit my likings and that'll be more difficult with broken KNOX status. Also that way I can get OTA stock updates as long as the phone is supported.
There is also no supported version of TWRP for the A41. And TWRP on phones like this is tricky as you can read at the A40 TWRP page: TWRP A40 read chapter "This device uses system-as-root in an A-only partition configuration." Also the device is using File Based Encryption and not Full Disc Encryption. I don't know if TWRP works with that environment at all yet.
So currently the only benefits of getting root would be to be able to completely uninstall some bloatware. The rest (firewall, adblocker, backups, etc) is pretty much possible without root access.
I really hope this phone is able to get custom ROMs and community in the future, though.
korpenkraxar said:
Hi all!
I have one of these since a couple of days and I have to say it is a really nice phone with a really bad issue: the jpg compression is super aggressive
Spoiler
and photos that should look great given the lens and sensor look bland and smudgy. As far as I understand, there is no camera api2 exposed at all by default. All camera apps that I have tried produce worse images and gcam does not work (I have tried about 20 different ones, for Mediatek and otherwise). If Samsung could just let me bump up JPEG quality to 95% I would be completely satisfied with this phone, but I guess that would never happen.
I therefore wonder, is there any chance that your success rooting the phone could lead to bumping up the JPEG quality of the stock camera app, eventually expose camera api2 or somehow allow us to install a version of gcam down the line?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I exactly know what you mean as I watch the pics I just made with the same phone. I don't know if you could change anything in this regard after rooting but it actually looks to me like it's rather the built in camera sensor that makes the quality not that good and not so much the jpeg compression. It doesn't really look like jpeg artifacts, it's more like a washen out painting. I doubt you'll get anything better by rooting the phone, but thats just guessing. Also: did you check out the Image format options? "4:3" vs "4:3 48mpixels"?
Hi!
I checked out all the various formats and played around with the ISO settings grabbing some indoor pics in a relatively poorly lit environment.
First, it is a shame that the HDR is inactivated when using the "4:3 48mpixels" mode or PRO mode because I kind of like that HDR effect otherwise. It seems to me like the aggressive compression automatically kicks in on ISO levels 400 and above, while levels 100 and 200 look alright to me: edges with high contrast look more natural and I find the "natural" pixel noise more tolerable than the washed out smudge effect from the compression.
A "4:3 48mpixels" photo with ISO 200 looks acceptable IMHO and with a little bit of tweaking in Snapseed, I was quite pleased with the result. More grain and a bit darker than what I get from a Zenfone 5 with GCam, but tolerable for a modern phone.
With "4:3 48mpixels" ISO 200 we get quite large file sizes and there is no pixel binning or HDR, but for those random pics that I would like to share with friends in social media, this mode is ok.
Overall, the screen and form factor of the phone is great and it is a fun and comfortable one to use, aside from the camera snafu. I suspect there are some artificial configuration restraints here put in by Samsung. I stand by my original remark that a higher JPEG compression ratio would be great. No idea if it can be configured via root.
As a side note, coming from a Pixel 1 and then a Zenfone 5, it is amazing how well GCam captures photos...
Has anyone rooted successfully?
Reading elsewhere, it's hinted people managed to do it.
Zirila said:
the ONLY phone under 200 bucks today that is NOT larger than 150mm in length
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The A40 is even better in this regard, but is sadly underspeced.
Zirila said:
currently the only benefits of getting root would be to be able to completely uninstall some bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And call recording, I believe?
Got the phone yesterday (about 120$) and got it rooted with Odin and Magisk took a little back and forward.. been a while sines I have been on Samsung phone.
I like this small cheap compact phone, tired of the big bricks.
Was installing from a new phone with latest update from Samsung.
So wrote a small guide to help out..
Everything on phone will get wiped/factory reset , so take backup , you have been warned.
Take no responsibility of brick etc. (or typos!)
!PLEASE CHECK WHAT VERSION PHONE YOU HAVE MINE IS SM-A415F AND THE GUIDE WAS WRITTEN FOR THAT PHONE!
Quick guide:
1* On PC or phone download you stock firmware for you region: https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-A415F
My was NEE witch is Nordic Europe.
Unpack or Transfer the AP_* file to you phone, i used microsd so didn't unpack on phone.
(sd card need to be exFAT , you can format to that in Windows, so it cant handle big files over ~4GB)
2* Install lates Magisk manager from https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/latest (Used v22.0) on phone.
Install Magisk patch the AP_* file from before
Transfer it back to PC, we will use this later!
3* Start phone, (if new phone don't bother sign in google/samsung etc.. it will all be wiped/factory reset!)
Enable Developer mode:
Setting, about device tag 7 times on Build..
(If its not shown connect to the internet and wait ~5min..)
Check "OEM unlocking" , "USB debugging".
4* Turn off the phone, press volume +/- while you connect PC to Phone with USB-C.
When screen "WARNING...Custom OS can cause problems.." press and hold Volume +, and press Volume + to confirm what you are doing!
Let it reboot.
5* Enable Developer mode:
Setting, about device tag 7 times on Build..
(If its not shown connect to the internet and wait ~5min..)
Check to see if "OEM unlocking" is greyed out enabled , check enable"USB debugging".
6* Turn off the phone, press volume +/- while you connect PC to Phone with USB-C.
Press Volume +(don't hold like last time.)
7* On PC open latest Odin (used v3.14.4) from https://odindownloader.com/ (no sure it that the official site but what i used, please let me know if there is a better one.)
Unpack the folder to your PC hard drive and start Odin3*.exe, uncheck "Auto reboot" make sure "F.Reset Time" is checked.
Use the original firmware files from (1*) "BL, CP, CSC" BUT the AP_* that you transferred from Phone.
Press start and hopefully you will get a "<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)" when it's done!
Restart phone.
I had to download magisk and install it again but everything seems to be working..
Cheers
Minuz said:
Got the phone yesterday (about 120$)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only $120 ?!
hkjo said:
Only $120 ?!
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Click to collapse
128$ to be exact.
Samsung - Køb nyeste Galaxy telefoner her - CBB Mobil
Samsung har nogle af de mest populære mobiler. Find bl.a. Samsung Galaxy i stort udvalg, og få en ny mobil til Små Priser her.
www.cbb.dk
Don't think you can order from out side of Denmark. you can always move
@Minuz
Half the price? The ad there might actually be truthful: 800 DKK instead of the normal 1800. Not bad, unless you have to commit to the operator. Are they clearing the stock to make room for the disappointing A42?
Is Samsung's call recording enabled on the NEE firmware? Any idea if one can flash stock firmware from other regions?
@hkjoThey have similar deals every month, getting customers, cleaning storage for "older/cheap" phones witch are flooding the market atm.
No binding of to the cellphone company, but i'm pretty sure you have to be a danish citizen.
Can see any record options in call settings or phone options, but with root it should be possible to find a app.
-
Regarding of the experience so fare on the phone is great.. coming from a Xiaomi Note 9 Pro , Samsung S10+.
I really like this compact phone, it does everything i need.
The sound is not the best and the plastic back tend to vibrate with the sound from the speaker, but a case will help that.
Update : Had some problems with a danish authentication app Nemid but got it working!
Having some ustabile crashes witch is all on me trying to get a authentication app to work on root phone.. doing some less stable solution.
Got the authentication app working on previous rooted phones, but something is triggered on this phone/software.. With may be the reason for me not using this phone in the future.
(App Nemid)
Hopefully there will come some custom roms or workaround.
Well hello you all!
Actually I'm lucky to now finally find some other people with the same phone...
So about my little story in the Android universe:
--- Skip if not interested ---
Spoiler: Little story
Coming from a Samsung S3 to an OnePlus 3T. I rooted the OP3T and installed Lineage OS some years ago.. I traded it in for an iPhone 6S from my mom and giving the OP3T to my sister.. I just had enough of this Android because you often get stuck with something, the apps are less mature and it just all feals like you always need to be enthusiastic about the phone.. So I had a lucky year with the iPhone but somewhat I wanted to get an Android device again. Then I found a refurbished Google Pixel - 1st Gen, 2 years ago and bought it for 200€. The battery seemed to be pretty ripped since the phone had to be in the package for months or even years.. Since I didn't want to have the reseller sent me a new phone with maybe similar problems I decided to repair it on my own..
I then damaged the display in the process, needed to replace it as well with the battery and in the end spent about 350€ for the Pixel... I was kind of pissed but it was a nice phone.. Until I dropped it and the display was completly dead but wasn't shattered last year.. So then I just thought I had enough of smartphones and went with a rework of the Nokia 8810 (the 4G edition) and my iPad until I then decided in September 2020 that I needed a new phone. I somehow could still get the Pixel to work but didn't want to spend 150€ again for replacement parts. For the same phone which wasn't better since then.. But the chip the Snapdragon 820 is pretty neat, 4GB RAM enough and the camera great. Just the Display isn't that nice and modern looking... Maybe I should have gone that way..
--- End of my story what was before my A41 ---
So then I did some research - which phone looks nice for less than 300€, isn't big - since big screen phones are just bulky and you need two hands and I don't like that..
I found the A41 and thought since I don't do gaming and stuff on the phone, just a bit Twitter and messaging, it should be fast enough. Turns out after now several months of use since September 2020 it feels often slow.. I as well didn't like many Samsung Bloatware stuff but somehow got it configured that I don't bother that much now.. But I always wanted to have a custom ROM and it's just frustrating to do research on the device and just finding crappy articles as someone before mentioned.. You just get redirected etc... or find websites with auto generated content.
So to my experience so far:
Coming from the Pixel (and the iPhone 6S) I just have to say the camera is crap. I just don't like it and I think they shouldn't have gone with the trend and go for dual or even triple cameras. But with one lens and doing that one great. I share the criticism that the 48MP mode is somehow the one you want since the images look blurry when not using this mode. But then you don't have HDR as said, cant zoom in (software design isn't great here - you could switch to not 48MP here but now...) and images need to be taken with a calm hand because they often are blurred otherwise. And even then: The images are just in every point then those from the 12MP pixel. (In general this is easy to be explained bc each pixel has less light and is smaller resulting in less quality of the information per pixel. And if this is just really bad you need great software and often bigger sensors to don't just shrink the pixel size on the sensor..)
The chipset as mentioned: Ok, but somewhat sluggish... It feels pretty slow and everything in the UI seems to be a bit delayed on the screen.. But you just get used to this.. (Which still doesn't make this a good point)
I then had issues for months with my GPS module which often seemed to not work but then suddendly worked and I don't know why... Since then everything seems to be working fine regarding to locations.. It did work sometimes before and was pretty accurate but it just didn't work in 90% of the situations I tried it..
I actually like the display and battery. Both are great, I get maybe 60-70% usage per day and this is great. The display is also pleasing and I like the size although it could be a bit smaller..
The reason why I found this thread now is my latest problem though..
Since 2 months or so I tried to install an update but it just doesn't work. I somewhere found a OTA file (I think sammobile and I hate it that I needed to register there and Samsung isn't providing the files on their own).. And after booting into recovery and starting to sideload it... It just keeps stuck there as well with just 0%... I just hate this phone now and don't want to use it anymore since it just has no community, it feels sluggish sometimes, the camera isn't great and it's a Samsung phone with no possibility for a custom ROM...
What are your thoughts? Where do you agree - should I maybe try to just wipe it, sell it for 100€ on ebay and repair my old pixel? I just thought I might be luckier with that one ... Or maybe get an iPhone again but then.. those are even used that expensive, but just are so good usable in everyday use.. I am a pretty technical competent person, used Linux for like 3 years on the Desktop with no windows on dual boot don't have any problems solving most problems with software what so ever.. But I just don't want to run into problems with the devices I use daily and need to be reliable. If I want projects to waste my time I find them. I install software on servers and configure them.. But this phone and android in general... I sometimes like it, but then I feel like I need a brake and use something that has less bugs.. (up to the point that I like it again.. I'm pretty ambivalent on that topic)
@atriom
If it's working now, why waste time on trying to update?
Minuz said:
Can see any record options in call settings or phone options, but with root it should be possible to find a app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it'd be easier to use semi-official means to enable recording, rather than root.
Found a thread listing Samsung country codes where recording is enabled, but the list is pretty slim. Intersecting it with the list of countries in which this phone is available (based on one of the firmware sites), I think there's actually no official version with recording enabled.
I'm not sure if that rules out official recording. Maybe CSC selection is generic and not per phone, so all countries would be available.