Hello,
I've been looking to replace my Nexus 5 and having reviewed several phones I am considering a Mi4.
I do have some concerns though listed below.
1. MIUI - Can I still give this a vanilla look and feel i.e. Nova launcher? I don't like the idea of having all my apps on my homescreen.
2. The MI4i is much cheaper and will be newer - should I consider this instead especially at that price.
3. It doesn't have Lollipop - does this really make a difference if you are running MIUI - the Mi4 and Mi4i look the same.
4. Spec wise it doesn't look to different to the Nexus 5 and maybe I should just wait - is there a newer version due out soon?
Not sure how much longer my Nexus 5 will last - plus the front camera is awful and battery doesn't last a full day.
Thanks
J
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-mi-3/general/android-5-1-ivan-t3056153
Ivans Lollipop might be better if you don't like MIUI.
I think you will like the device. I am a Nexus 5 owner and just got my girlfriend the FDD and TD ("China Telecom") version of the Mi4. She's had an iPhone 5 until then and is very happy with the device.
The fact that it still runs Android 4.4 annoys me more than her. Even though the device is better/newer hardware-wise (3GB vs 2GB RAM, Snapdragon 801 vs 800, camera...) there are some minor hiccups here and there. More so than the N5 already has. Lollipop is coming I heard and I keep an eye out. However, the Ivans Lollipop is supposed to run rather smoothly. However, I will leave MIUI on hers for now in the hope to smoothen the transition phase from iOS to Android. She likes the look of Material Design better so I will eventually replace MIUI at some point.
From my point of view as a N5 (and every other Nexus before it) user: fantastic device, especially at this price point. Can't go wrong with it.
EDIT: let me address your points a little better:
1) Yes, saw a how to for Google Play Launcher. Should be the same. Note: installing Google Play Services was extremely easy. Simple downloads. No flashing/rooting involved.
2) Get the MI4. The MI4i just has less RAM (2GB) iirc and is just 100RMB cheaper.
3) See 2)
4) Apparently there will be a MI5 in June/July. But that is supposed to be the announcement date if I am not mistaking. Availability is something entirely different. They are keeping it extremely low on purpose. That's their marketing strategy. Creating a hype through low availability. And I can tell you from what I see every day: it is working. So don't expect to be able to get the device any time soon. I went for the MI4 even though I knew there will be a MI5.
1. MIUI - Can I still give this a vanilla look and feel i.e. Nova launcher? I don't like the idea of having all my apps on my homescreen.
I have a MI4 and use Nova Launcher for the very reason you mentioned. Works pretty well and very smoothly.
2. The MI4i is much cheaper and will be newer - should I consider this instead especially at that price.
You don't want to go for the MI4i. Way lower specs and a cheap look and feel. The MI4 together with a wooden backcover looks and feels like a phone that Samsung and Co would charge you 500$ for.
3. It doesn't have Lollipop - does this really make a difference if you are running MIUI - the Mi4 and Mi4i look the same.
I had MIUI installed until yesterday. What I did not like is, that it has plenty of bloatware which I deactivated with Titanium backup. You can uninstall it, but there is an update every Sunday and it will be back again. Also my patience for waiting on Lollipop had come to an end. Thats why I flashed (today!) the Ivan Stock Lollipop version which works like a charm, no forced closes, no nothing, just great. MIUI has some more features though and looks pretty beautiful if you asked me.
4. Spec wise it doesn't look to different to the Nexus 5 and maybe I should just wait - is there a newer version due out soon?
From what I heard so far, the specs of the new Mi won't be that much better. Also, it is said that the new one would be bigger than the 4, which I wouldn't like. If the new one had a SD-card slot, I personally would wait for that, but Xiaomi policy doesn't look like there will be one.
So all together, I would definitly go for a Mi4 with the Ivan Lollipop. It's simply awesome.
you're welcome!
-> You hate iOS UI.
-> You won't install custom ROMs.
Answer: Don't buy it.
-> You hate iOS UI
-> You are willing to install a custom ROM.
Answer: Go for it.
-> You love iOS UI
Answer: Go for it.
Hey Guys,
I would like to ask you some questions about your experiences with the mate 9 (especially software experiences, performance .. ).
I actually use a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and I will upgrade my phone asap. I didnt waste any thought on getting a new Samsung Device like the S8+ or the note8, just because I hate Touchwiz and the laggs coming with it. Thats why I thought about getting the upcoming mate10 or the pixel 2 xl.
What i really like about the pixel 2 xl is the greeeaaat camera and the stock android experience. What i dont like about the pixel 2 xl is the design and the huge huge bezels.
Thats why i think about getting the mate 10 instead of the pixel 2 xl. But i'm a it afraid of getting a Huawei Device because of its Software.
How is EMUI on the Mate9? What about microlaggs? What about longevity, smoothness and functionality in comparison to touchwiz or to stock android?
I would be really grateful for a few opinions. Thank you very much, guys.
Kind Regards
I've had 3 Huawei phones. Mate 2, 8, 9
I don't use the default/stock launcher. I've always used Nova Launcher Prime.
I've had great experiences with all 3 phones. I got the 2 because of the large battery. Even for a snapdragon 400, 720p
phone it was very snappy. I bit slow on screen rotation, but, that didn't bother me.
Got the 8 because of the battery life of the 2. It was VERY fast. Not a bit of problems.
The 9 has been very good. Not one issue.
To some, not me, the only "glitch" is Huawei is not known for being very quick about updating the phone.
They may release, or leak a firmware update, but not for every regional version of the device.
For me, personally, doesn't really matter. Their stock firmware has been very clean, mostly bloat free, easy to
block/uninstall the little bloat, and very STABLE.
So, I had the opportunity to check out the Mate 10.
The screen is - a little bland!
It's not as bright, and it's very difficult to make out the higher resolution.
Also, there's something not quite ok with the icon/font size arrangement....bits of the OS look too big and out of place.
It feels beautiful in the hand... Very solid... But then again, so does the Mate 9. It IS very fast to use, though. L
The experience with the camera was also VERY similar.
I think perhaps Huawei is using this phone to address the US market, so there's not very much difference.
You can hardly tell the difference with the bezels either, the Mate 9 is already so good.
It's convinced me to wait until next year to upgrade.
Anyone else?
I'd love to hear from those who made the switch up...what is it like living with the Mate 10?
First I wanna start by saying that I love what this phone represents. I actually love Xiaomi as a company for a while now... I love what they’re doing, I love their hardware, and I really love their innovations (in regards especially, to the Mi Mix series). I’m not bashing Xiaomi here, but just trying to share my experience and have an open discussion.
Gonna be upfront, I’m writing this post on the iPhone 8 Plus. Long story short, it’s a gift and I’ve actually had the iPhone X in the past (before I got the Redmi Note 5).
As a general package, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is very impressive. It does everything fairly okay. And I think that’s my main problem with it. I’m the type of person that needs a phone to do only a few things, but do them VERY well. And this phone just doesn’t, unfortunately...
It has a big edge to edge screen, but it’s just not bright enough for using in the summer and its viewing angles are not good. I don’t know if the Canadian sun is acting up this year, but I can’t see much when the sun is out. It was so frustrating during my recent long road trips.
The battery is absolutely amazing. I’ve never used a phone with battery this good. If the only thing you need in a phone is battery life, please get this phone without even thinking twice. FYI, I’ve had the iPhone X, Galaxy Note 8, LG V20, Redmi Note 3, Galaxy Note 5, and many more...
The speaker is... okay. I don’t use the headphone jack or the IR blaster. The Bluetooth is not good. My headphones cut off all the time when I turn my head (Jaybird X3). This doesn’t happen with other phones. The camera is very decent.
My main issue with the phone, however, is that it lags. Stock Rom, custom rom, it just lags. All the reviews praised the Snapdragon 636, but I got what I paid for here. On top of that, if you try to use the phone when it’s charging you’re in for a frustrating experience. It REALLY lags. Now, this may be my unit, ok. But I have no way of knowing that. Coming from the iPhone X, I was excited to use MIUI overall and the navigation gestures specifically in MIUI 9.5 or 10 beta. They suck. You can’t use it. I mean, it lags beyond anything acceptable with the gestures. If they can’t make it work properly, why release it? I don’t get it... Is this the fault of android? Probably. But customers shouldn’t care. I don’t think it’s the processor or the RAM. Because from what I’ve seen, similar lag behaviour happens on the Mi 8. It also happens on their new tablet? Just to be clear, every android phone I’ve owned in the past had some lag issues, even the Galaxy Note 8. I’m starting to think that no matter how much you pay and what phone you get, android is just a lag factory after one week... I’m a bit confused as to why the reviews of this device don’t mention the problems I’ve raised.
Does the iPhone 8 Plus/X lags? Yes. But only like a few times a day, maybe. You forget about it. I wish iOS had Picture in Picture with YouTube and all the customizations of android, but at least it’s a joy to use overall. And YouTube Red plays in the background, even with the screen off, which definitely helps. But god damn it, why can I only have four apps in the dock?! That’s just plain dumb...
All I’m basically saying here is that after using a budget device, I was willing to pay more than twice the amount just in order to get a better experience on the phone itself. Was about to pull the trigger and get a OnePlus 6, but got the iPhone 8 Plus as a gift instead. I’m not saying the iPhone should be compared here, obviously. Was also contemplating on getting the Xiaomi Mi 8, but after my experience I was a bit scared that many issues I had are MIUI related... Like, you can’t even change the lock screen to be a live wallpaper. Even on iOS you can do that. Come on... The camera is actually cute. But the official MIUI ROM that came with the phone, it took about 5 seconds to open the camera app. Are they for real? This was official firmware, I don’t understand this.
If you survived this long post please tell me, (1) did you have the same experience as I did? Should I give this phone another chance? (2) What about the Mi 8? Care to share if you own one? (3) Should I have gone with the OnePlus 6 to have a corrective experience?
In terms of lagging there is something wrong with your phone. I have 240 apps and it is superspeedy. I am on 9.5.17.
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk
juvjunior said:
In terms of lagging there is something wrong with your phone. I have 240 apps and it is superspeedy. I am on 9.5.17.
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with the same setup. Even more apps, like 300+ and no lag at all! Love my RN5 Global! Such a great device and outstanding battery life!
No lags here as well. Sometimes Facebook messager "chat bubbles" tend to lag when opening (but never when closing for some reason). Phone is fast and fluid, holds battery very well and even PUBG on HD wasn't able to make it hot (it was barely warm)
Camera is decent but its a budget device. C"Mon
Viewing angles aren't great but it doesn't bother me at all. Speaker is very good and loud . I"m very happy with my whyred
Sent from my flo using XDA Labs
I experience lag navigating on MIUI aswell, just update to the lastest version. About lags I feel none! Also the screen seems way too bright for me, brighter than any other device I've been in contact with and also the darkest. Speaker, well, it's a cheap phone, they had to cut somewhere. About bluetooth I don't have an opinion, I'm still a 3.5 jack man.
Seriously, you are comparing it to the Iphone 8 / X ?
Wow, there is a huge price difference, I am using Redmi note 5 Global, doesn't experience any lag
DrPglixq said:
Seriously, you are comparing it to the Iphone 8 / X ?
Wow, there is a huge price difference, I am using Redmi note 5 Global, doesn't experience any lag
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wasn’t really making a direct comparison, there is none of course. More of making the point that ANY android phone I’ve had (and this includes Custom Roma and Kernels) has some lag issues. And this doesn’t trickle down well to the budget range at all. And it’s strange that I’m noticing this on any phone I’ve had, including the iPhones. But people say they have zero? It’s just strange... maybe we’re defining lag differently?
My old screen guard lowered my max brightness, I got a better one and now I have better sunlight legibility...
Don't know about miui, but I've never had lag issues except when I underclock the cpu and GPU while playing heavy games...
using Redmi Note 5 AI (China）here with MIUI 10 8.7.5 Beta and no lags. Was previously on MIUI 9.5 nd had no lags or problems with it
either.
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk
Change your unit. (And/or) Upgrade it to miui 9.5.17
Its fluid...Maybe you have a different definition of lag.
Most probably you got ripped off or some shiet.
Overall device performance is buttery smooth and can give you ATLEAST 24-30 fps animation.
Screen can get hella bright (even for indian standards) and very dark aswell.
Good luck to you.
Everything you experienced is completely opposite to what I experience in my rn5p. It works great, brightness is good enough, lags? Nope. Nope. Nope.
Something might be wrong with your device..
No issue on my device as well. Something wrong with your device or one of the all you use is malware.
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk
lt's Pretty Clear To Me...
You Just Prefer An iPhone...
It's As Simple As That For You. :angel:
When I Can Buy FOUR Redmi 5 Pro's For The Price of ONE i8 Or X That Can Perform At The Level A Redmi 5 Pro Can....
It's A "No-Brainer"
It's As Simple As That For Me.
I have issues with the bluetooth audio as well. Any solution? Lags? Nope. Experienced app crashes sometimes and minor bugs that's it.
.
Using RN5 Pro AI here in Saudi Arabia with none of these issues. Bluetooth is working fine , decent range and sound quality with my Sennheiser HD 4.40 headphones. Had to root to enable AptX streaming though.
Everything you're saying is true.
I feel the phone is laggy as ****. Every xiaomi i've owned (RN4 and RN5 and a Mi5) have lagged. Comparing, even the Mi5, to my last non-xioami phone(Huawei P9), RN5 is laggy as fu*k. They are using bad screens that tend to ghost a little and makes everything seems laggy. But that isn't the only problem, the main problem is the software. I can't understand how Xiaomi is one of the best phone company(money-wise) but their software is garbage. They somehow tend to just break everything for no reason. Qualcomm gives them everything to make a good phone and they fu*k everything with their *****y software/drivers/blobs/everything.
my old nexus 5 feels smoother.
I agree on the brightness part but lag? I don't have noticable lag at all and the navigation gestures are fluent. but I experienced horrible lag on the xiaomi.eu rom but not global.
Robert- said:
Everything you're saying is true.
I feel the phone is laggy as ****. Every xiaomi i've owned (RN4 and RN5 and a Mi5) have lagged. Comparing, even the Mi5, to my last non-xioami phone(Huawei P9), RN5 is laggy as fu*k. They are using bad screens that tend to ghost a little and makes everything seems laggy. But that isn't the only problem, the main problem is the software. I can't understand how Xiaomi is one of the best phone company(money-wise) but their software is garbage. They somehow tend to just break everything for no reason. Qualcomm gives them everything to make a good phone and they fu*k everything with their *****y software/drivers/blobs/everything.
my old nexus 5 feels smoother.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U have defect phone or you cant use it wright - you do not know how to use it (every xiaomi phone u owned)....
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk
spaxon said:
U have defect phone or you cant use it wright - you do not know how to use it (every xiaomi phone u owned)....
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, blame me.
You indians (because i can bet 1000$ you are indian) owned ****ty 50$ samsungs and think that Xiaomi is the holy grail. Well, it's not. My old nexus 5 is smoother than this garbage.
Hi all,
I love battery life and a good camera experience in a phone. I have had both with my iPhone 11 Pro Max for the last two years. However, I can't deal with iOS anymore. I really would like to switch back to Android for many reasons.
What is the most stable / least buggy Android experience on a phone right now? It does not have to be stock Android if that comes with a bunch of bugs.
I ordered a Pixel 5A 10 days ago but Google has still not shipped it. Not sure what is going on.
I think you have the wrong idea about stability of Android in general.
Nevertheless, I use two phones atm, runing stock firmware and nova launcher pro
Xiaomi redmi note 9 pro, still holds up well, never had any serious issues. Bootloader unlocked, just rooted. Batteries on these are bests it can comfortably get me through the day. Camera is ok, still on the upper segment.
OnePlus 9R - a beast of a phone, but the battery is just not comparable to the note9 pro. Software is so-so, there are some bugs that can easily be fixed, for example some apps can keep the CPU awake and waste the battery, camera flash can heat up the phone and heat in general.
I think you should be fine with the pixel 5a. SD 765g runs much much cooler.
I have just been following the new Pixel 6 series for a while and wanted to upgrade but they seem to have so many bugs and issues. I have a Pixel 2XL and I loved it. Being in the US now, I was kind of forced to use an iPhone because of iMessage and I certainly enjoyed the battery life and the camera but I miss Android a lot. The iOS keyboard is just so bad in comparison for me and Apple does not really support third party keyboards very well. Still to this date and I am on iOS 16 dev channel. That is just one reason but certainly a big one for me.