Database Info

Best cell phone upgrade deal ?

Currently I have a Galaxy s5.
I am seeing tons of deals this thanksgiving.
I have a post on Honor 8 forums (THANK YOU FOR COMMENTS SO FAR ) but figured it may be better to post in general since I am looking at all different kinds of phones now.
Here is my original post:
I have had a galaxy s5 for 2 years, and noticed over time things have become slow.
With multiple apps I had to use some tools to get these to run from the SD card VIA app.
Seems that 16 GB of room isn't that much when you keep adding (some apps take up 2 GB)
I am also enjoy custom rom, recovery, root.
Here is the current ones I am looking at and my concerns.
Honor 8:
Concerned about speed and if enough of an upgrade
LeEco Le Pro3:
Concerned about development and lack of SD
OnePlus 3T:
Development and lack of SD
HTC 10 :
Concerned about 32 GB internal
ZTE Axon 7:
Looks ok but worried about performance
LG G5:
Looks good but worried about review and quality
There are so many phones and so many deals my head is spinning.
Any help on narrowing it down would be great.
Thank you,

Go for development and SD card supported devices
eracet said:
Currently I have a Galaxy s5.
Here is the current ones I am looking at and my concerns.
Honor 8:
Concerned about speed and if enough of an upgrade
LeEco Le Pro3:
Concerned about development and lack of SD
OnePlus 3T:
Development and lack of SD
HTC 10 :
Concerned about 32 GB internal
ZTE Axon 7:
Looks ok but worried about performance
LG G5:
Looks good but worried about review and quality
There are so many phones and so many deals my head is spinning.
Any help on narrowing it down would be great.
Thank you,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My suggestion to go for any phone with good development and SD card support. Take devices without SD card if internal is >64 GB. Sad thing is most of flagship phones won't come with SD card slot. Here are some good devices ,
1) One Plus 3T [128GB] (No SD slot)
2) MI 5s [128GB] (No SD slot)
3) MI 5s Plus [128GB] (No SD slot)
4) Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe [64GB / SD card slot] (Lack of development)

That is definitely a problem I am running into . Not sure why they do not include an SD card
Same goes with removable battery . Maybe its a thing of the past.
From what I have seen from development and power , right now I am leaning towards the HTC 10.
It does only have 32 internal is the only problem , but with the SD it makes up for it.
Going to go to Best Buy today and look at there phones (They have the most phones in one spot)
Seen HTC has the phone for 500$.
Nihal @A-JAX said:
My suggestion to go for any phone with good development and SD card support. Take devices without SD card if internal is >64 GB. Sad thing is most of flagship phones won't come with SD card slot. Here are some good devices ,
1) One Plus 3T [128GB] (No SD slot)
2) MI 5s [128GB] (No SD slot)
3) MI 5s Plus [128GB] (No SD slot)
4) Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe [64GB / SD card slot] (Lack of development)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Oops

eracet said:
Oops
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there!
HTC 10 development is not that good. Android 7.x roms are not started yet also. My suggestion is to reconsider your options.
Regards
Nihal

Nihal @A-JAX said:
Hi there!
HTC 10 development is not that good. Android 7.x roms are not started yet also. My suggestion is to reconsider your options.
Regards
Nihal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Checked out Honor 8 today some.
Best buy Rep has a HTC 10 and suggests the Honor 8.
I was concerned about speed but that may not be an issue after seeing some benchmark videos .
As far as development I have seen tons on XDA with the HTC 10.
As far as Honor 8 I have seen some development but not overwhelming yet.

eracet said:
Checked out Honor 8 today some.
Best buy Rep has a HTC 10 and suggests the Honor 8.
I was concerned about speed but that may not be an issue after seeing some benchmark videos .
As far as development I have seen tons on XDA with the HTC 10.
As far as Honor 8 I have seen some development but not overwhelming yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can go for HTC 10 then.
Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using XDA Labs

Verdict about MiA2 Lite.

Hello! I have been using A2 Lite for about six months now. I liked Mi phones. But I think A2 Lite is not up to mark as per the price charged. Especially, Android One experience. It lacks lots of features as compared to other MI phones in this range running on MIUI.
What are your thoughts on this?

Mohib86 said:
Hello! I have been using A2 Lite for about six months now. I liked Mi phones. But I think A2 Lite is not up to mark as per the price charged. Especially, Android One experience. It lacks lots of features as compared to other MI phones in this range running on MIUI.
What are your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the point of this phone. Stock android with no features. That's why you do your research before buying something. You could've bought Redmi 6 Pro which is basically the same device with MIUI rom.

Mohib86 said:
Hello! I have been using A2 Lite for about six months now. I liked Mi phones. But I think A2 Lite is not up to mark as per the price charged. Especially, Android One experience. It lacks lots of features as compared to other MI phones in this range running on MIUI.
What are your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What features do you really need? I had redmi 4x before and miui sucks, I dont remember any feature which would be missing...

marstonpear said:
That's the point of this phone. Stock android with no features. That's why you do your research before buying something. You could've bought Redmi 6 Pro which is basically the same device with MIUI rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did my research before buying the phone. The hardware specs are great of this phone, I'm talking about software features.

wenna.speedy said:
What features do you really need? I had redmi 4x before and miui sucks, I dont remember any feature which would be missing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some very basic features, like scheduling a SMS, adding speed dial number, double tap to wake etc. Its camera's hardware is good, but it's software is not.

Mohib86 said:
Some very basic features, like scheduling a SMS, adding speed dial number, double tap to wake etc. Its camera's hardware is good, but it's software is not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, why dont you try custom rom? Btw, sms scheduling works with non-native app. Dt2w - Iam using fingerprint unlocking, the fastest. And I dont think miui has this feature.

Mohib86 said:
I did my research before buying the phone. The hardware specs are great of this phone, I'm talking about software features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I said. You should've bought the Redmi 6 Pro then. Which means you didn't do your research.

marstonpear said:
Exactly what I said. You should've bought the Redmi 6 Pro then. Which means you didn't do your research.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted app drawer, that's why I didn't go for Redmi 6 Pro.

wenna.speedy said:
So, why dont you try custom rom? Btw, sms scheduling works with non-native app. Dt2w - Iam using fingerprint unlocking, the fastest. And I dont think miui has this feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Redmi 5A and Note 4, both have Dt2w, and they both run MIUI.

I bought this phone specifically because it didn't have MIUI on it.
Stock Android, unlockable bootloader. It's the first phone I've had that gets security updates too.
I've had it for a few months now and I still love it.

MIUI suck, give so many features that u might never use.
Those features consume CPU and battery, while stock Android has lesser feature but any feature you want you can just get them from PlayStore.
My last Xiaomi phone (Mi 4i), became super laggy until cannot unlock the screen.
Turn out it was MIUI fault because it became normal again after I flashed it with custom ROM.

From my point of view it's the perfect Android terminal.
I only miss one feature from MIUI : Scheduled turn on and off :crying:

sinthemau said:
From my point of view it's the perfect Android terminal.
I only miss one feature from MIUI : Scheduled turn on and off :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flight mode, almost zero consumption. -+1%/night

This phone absolutely lives up to its price point of the $159 I purchased two of them at. Great screen, great battery life, decent processor that can handle mostly everything except high end gaming, metal body, 2 of 3 American LTE bands for T-Mobile, FM radio, IR blaster, security updates monthly with Android One. MIUI is a dumpster fire and if you wanted MIUI you should've bought a Redmi.
It's a great phone.

I'm still wondering why so many people who prefer MIUI over stock android bought the A2 Lite instead of the Redmi 6 Pro which is even cheaper. Personally, I wouldn't even touch a MIUI phone with a pair of pliers.

wenna.speedy said:
Try flight mode, almost zero consumption. -+1%/night
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know but love to turn off during the night. Anyway, doesn't matter so much. Thanks

I am one of the users who has the problem of slow wifi in 2.4ghz when the bt or gps is active. The problem arises from the month of December following the update to android P. From December to today Xiaomi has not produced any patch to solve this serious problem. For me this is a serious bug and leads me to say that it was not a good buy.

Durotan said:
I am one of the users who has the problem of slow wifi in 2.4ghz when the bt or gps is active. The problem arises from the month of December following the update to android P. From December to today Xiaomi has not produced any patch to solve this serious problem. For me this is a serious bug and leads me to say that it was not a good buy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed a custom rom on mine and have no such problem, actually no complains about the device. It's just hardware, with a proper OS on it (stock is never that) it works really good.

I bought this smartphone right after it was available version 4/64. I can tell is the best smartphone i never had, The best quality/price ratio, Battery last 9 hours sot, now you can install many custom rom, gcam makes photos great.... its fast and the display is great. Im totally satisfaited with this device. If you miss Miui than its you that bought the wrong models phone

celrau said:
I flashed a custom rom on mine and have no such problem, actually no complains about the device. It's just hardware, with a proper OS on it (stock is never that) it works really good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which rom did you use? Does it support gcam?

Question this phone will have many custom rom/ development?

Hi, I like the phone but also I want to put some tweaks like 90hz display, custom roms, pixel 6 camera features(motion mode), kernels...
will we see a lot of development as in the xiaomi poco f1 or not?
thank you

If you have a Xaomi, i recommend keeping it a little longer. Roms for this devive are in a weird situation because the only 2 stable ones are calyx and graphene which arevboth great, but they are both very barebones and kind of difficult if you aren't experienced with degoogling

Twilightsparklez said:
If you have a Xaomi, i recommend keeping it a little longer. Roms for this devive are in a weird situation because the only 2 stable ones are calyx and graphene which arevboth great, but they are both very barebones and kind of difficult if you aren't experienced with degoogling
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you, but with the same cpu as pixel 6 and 6 pro, it will be easy to port roms from pixel 6?

charly30 said:
thank you, but with the same cpu as pixel 6 and 6 pro, it will be easy to port roms from pixel 6?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, adding Bluejay is possible. Whether developers choose to do it is another question.

Velocity will be ready for public release soon. I'm just buttoning up a few more things.

I noticed with the phones I've own, custom ROM seem to get me frequent as the phone gets older and the stock rom releases begin to vaporize. If the phone has enuff hardware power n memory AND there's no more factory support (as in many older midrange Motos). The Moto G5+ and G5S+ had active 'post' communities as did the G6...I got a G7 cuz of 4gb memory figured it'd be a big post EOL project/rom phone BUT I missed the fact that moto was following google with the whole dynamic update w/ dual A/B slots which killed our beloved TWRP custom recovery and nandrive image backup.
BUT is u weren't into rooting/tweaking then that explains why Android Police named it the #1 phone for running LOS! Esp. after Moto released thr Android 10 kernel source code!! This is the main reason I didn't sell/trade it off...and ofc my wife put one of those sky-blue 2pc cases from Poetic and claimed it! lol

Question POCO X5 5G

Maybe i should

I want one too, just seems like no one has been interested in developing after the Poco x3 pro was dropped, being to do with the SoCs being used or something. I don't want to be forced to use garbage miui :'( or whatever the Poco reskin is called.

LaikaTheBigRedDoggo said:
I want one too, just seems like no one has been interested in developing after the Poco x3 pro was dropped, being to do with the SoCs being used or something. I don't want to be forced to use garbage miui :'( or whatever the Poco reskin is called.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so there will be no custom roms for x5?

Would help if Xda opened a sub forum for the non pro model.

Yeah. I know this device just launched 5 weeks ago, but if I'd suspected the X5 5G would get so little love here at XDA, I might've gotten the X4 Pro instead...
I'm actually looking into compiling my own TWRP recovery for it, and an AOSP ROM when I've learned enough about custom ROM development.

Is there any way to request XDA consider opening a forum for a particular phone?

Spaceboy60 said:
Is there any way to request XDA consider opening a forum for a particular phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I guess you could PM one of the admins/mods, but final decision would be up to their goodwill (or lack thereof), evidently.
It would make a lot of sense to create a dedicated forum though, as the X5 is powered by the Snapdragon695 and not a 7xx series as the X5 Pro is, which *probably* means that ROMs for the latter wouldn't be flashable on the former -not without incurring risks anyway...

Snakeforhire said:
Well I guess you could PM one of the admins/mods, but final decision would be up to their goodwill (or lack thereof), evidently.
It would make a lot of sense to create a dedicated forum though, as the X5 is powered by the Snapdragon695 and not a 7xx series as the X5 Pro is, which *probably* means that ROMs for the latter wouldn't be flashable on the former -not without incurring risks anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't the Poco X4 Pro and Poco X5 5G use the same ROMs as both have same CPU, GPU, chipset, architecture, flops etc?

chrome99 said:
Can't the Poco X4 Pro and Poco X5 5G use the same ROMs as both have same CPU, GPU, chipset, architecture, flops etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's usually a firmware, boot and vendor img difference which does make it incompatible, in most cases, and would need some tweaking to make it work right. But you're welcome to give it a test run, learn from experience. There are times with OEMs are lazy and it does actually work.

EricEsq said:
There's usually a firmware, boot and vendor img difference which does make it incompatible, in most cases, and would need some tweaking to make it work right. But you're welcome to give it a test run, learn from experience. There are times with OEMs are lazy and it does actually work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even for custom ROMs? Incase the X5 does't gain popularity (which seems to be the way it's going), I was wondering if we could use custom ROMs for X4 pro in the future.

chrome99 said:
even for custom ROMs? Incase the X5 does't gain popularity (which seems to be the way it's going), I was wondering if we could use custom ROMs for X4 pro in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. It's uncommon to be able to use a different device's ROM even when the specs are similar. Unless you're using a gsi. It takes a while before custom roms start appearing after a phones release. Debloat and use as is would be my recommendation till then, if you already bought the phone. The Pro version is also likely to be more popular, among the enthusiast community, from what I can see.
So there's likely to be some trickle down effect of roms from the Pro versions to the non-pro

EricEsq said:
Yep. It's uncommon to be able to use a different device's ROM even when the specs are similar. Unless you're using a gsi. It takes a while before custom roms start appearing after a phones release. Debloat and use as is would be my recommendation till then, if you already bought the phone. The Pro version is also likely to be more popular, among the enthusiast community, from what I can see.
So there's likely to be some trickle down effect of roms from the Pro versions to the non-pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is ironic, because the X5p does not have any kind of possibility of storage expansion by SDcard (while the vanilla X5 does provide a shared SIM/SD slot), making even the 256Gb version utterly useless for my use cases...

Snakeforhire said:
Which is ironic, because the X5p does not have any kind of storage expansion by SDcard possibility (while the vanilla X5 does provide a sgaredl SIM/SD slot), making even the 256Gb version utterly useless for my use cases...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair, it's been a while since I've seen anything that has the 7 series chipsets to have a hybrid or dedicated SD slot. Just how the market playing field is, once you enter the mid-high range. Not great for the customer but that's capitalism for ya.

The Poco X5 5G may not be as popular as the Pro, but it's actually a very smooth phone if you don't play demanding games. Just received Android 13 update last night. My biggest gripe is the MIUI, which I don't like. After installing Nova7, the user interface is a lot more familiar and better.

priority1 said:
The Poco X5 5G may not be as popular as the Pro, but it's actually a very smooth phone if you don't play demanding games. Just received Android 13 update last night. My biggest gripe is the MIUI, which I don't like. After installing Nova7, the user interface is a lot more familiar and better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For daily use, it is quite smooth, the camera performance is trash though. GCam fixes most of it but the videos are still grainy. The X5 might be catching on now as it has received a big discount on an e-commerce platform recently. Nova or Lawnchair makes the experience pleasing but you miss out the gesture navigation which is a bummer.

Hello!
Is it possible to turn off the images of the camera settings in the Portrait mode of the Poco X5 5G/Poco X5 Pro 5G?
If possible, then it would be possible to shoot video in video bokeh mode.

My phone turned itself off today. Has anyone had this issue before?

priority1 said:
The Poco X5 5G may not be as popular as the Pro, but it's actually a very smooth phone if you don't play demanding games. Just received Android 13 update last night. My biggest gripe is the MIUI, which I don't like. After installing Nova7, the user interface is a lot more familiar and better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seconded !
I've used the Microsoft Launcher for a long while before I bought the X5 5G a week after its global launchdate, but in the long run on MIUI 13 it turned out to be just too goddamn much of a battery hog...
So upon reading a comment from another member here that he was very satisfied with Nova I decided to give it a try, and felt so at ease with it that barely 20mins passed before I bought the Premium version. xD
But I do sorely miss the MS launcher's leftmost pane tho (the one where you can take quick notes and display your Outlook calendar, which is what I used it most for). :/

priority1 said:
My phone turned itself off today. Has anyone had this issue before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I traced it down to a dirty fingerprint sensor : some oil or grease traces would make it wrongly detect a long press or multiple short presses and trigger a shutdown.
A good, energetic cleaning with a rubbing alcohol-imbibed tissue then a thorough drying fixed it right up!

Any new news on custom roms? I want to get the phone on sale but I dread using MIUI

Question Xiaomi 13 - Battery life and drain

Hello all, how's your phone battery performing?
I'm not so satisfied with mine...
4-5hrs SOT is max i could get in theese few days i had the phone.
Also, is this Android system drain normal (pic attached) ?

First day of using it and my experience is great.

Darkoholic said:
First day of using it and my experience is great.View attachment 5865573
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, that looks impressive...
Im not sure what's happening with mine

I am really happy with the battery life.
China version EU ROM.

Gankadin said:
View attachment 5866517I am really happy with the battery life.
China version EU ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did hou get your device from trading shenzen? are there any differences to Chinese version of the devices? if you got the device from them, can you fast boot flash global or any other version?
sorry for the off topic

I got it from eBay, if you want i can send you the link.
They did the bootloader unlock and pre-installed the EU ROM, i just fastboot updated it.
My unit is the China version, so you can't flash global rom and lock the bootloader, so EU ROM is the best option.

with Chinese version ROM, are there any downsides? I am just worried if I have unlocked bootloader, Google pay will stop working eventually or won't at all as it does on custom ROM s
please share the link

ond96 said:
with Chinese version ROM, are there any downsides? I am just worried if I have unlocked bootloader, Google pay will stop working eventually or won't at all as it does on custom ROM s
please share the link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xiaomi Mi 13 5G Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Limited Color NFC 12GB+512GB 120Hz IP68 54MP | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Xiaomi Mi 13 5G Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Limited Color NFC 12GB+512GB 120Hz IP68 54MP at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Well the EU ROM makes google and banking apps think that the bootloader is locked, so as long as the developers will continue to make updates there shouldn't be any problems. but check here more posts lots of people talking about China vs Global.
i just discovered that global version have eSim support...

Well, I live in Europe and that missing 4G frequency B20 might be pretty essential, I might just wait until they lower the price on Global device. They will eventually, it has been just a month since the device released.

Gankadin said:
Xiaomi Mi 13 5G Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Limited Color NFC 12GB+512GB 120Hz IP68 54MP | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Xiaomi Mi 13 5G Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Limited Color NFC 12GB+512GB 120Hz IP68 54MP at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Well the EU ROM makes google and banking apps think that the bootloader is locked, so as long as the developers will continue to make updates there shouldn't be any problems. but check here more posts lots of people talking about China vs Global.
i just discovered that global version have eSim support...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The xiaomi eu doesn't support eSim?

Djeloan said:
The xiaomi eu doesn't support eSim?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it's a hardware limitation, any way i don't have it on my device (CN, EU ROM)

ond96 said:
with Chinese version ROM, are there any downsides? I am just worried if I have unlocked bootloader, Google pay will stop working eventually or won't at all as it does on custom ROM s
please share the link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Global ROM will cause your wallet to stop working

One more day that i would consider bad. Is there a way to check why is android system consuming most battery?

Wi-Fi is more energy intensive than data especially for streaming and downloads.
https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/does-mobile-battery-drain-faster-on-mobile-data-or-wi-fi.html

I am getting about 7 SOT and I am OK with that.

NOSS8 said:
Wi-Fi is more energy intensive than data especially for streaming and downloads.
https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/does-mobile-battery-drain-faster-on-mobile-data-or-wi-fi.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it actually true, and makes any sense "for a normal user"?
I always thought and lived in that mindset that data drains more, (and it makes more sense for me) due to that when you travel around, and the connection to the cellular towers always changing, sometimes back-and forth.