Recommendation to a phone with small screen? - General Topics

Hello,
there are so many android phones out there, and i just wanted to ask whether you have any recommendations to a model which fits my needs and can be bought used for cheap, should be no problem if it's a few years old.
things it needs:
small size (like iPhone 6 or 12 mini)
nfc for Google Pay
maybe Snapdragon 8xx
good battery time
good custom Rom support
Phones like the Pixel 2 or Axon 7 seem to be good, but their Display is a large 5,5" 16:9... and the "lite" phones are often the "cheap" less powerful variant of their bigger brothers.
Thanks in advance

If you're ok with an older phone the Sony Xperia XZ2 is my favorite compact phone I've ever used.

XZ2 Compact with LineageOS 17.1 [OFFICIAL]

Have you seen Unihertz ? https://www.unihertz.com/store-products.html

anonymousfun122 said:
Have you seen Unihertz ? https://www.unihertz.com/store-products.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not knew them, but this is not especially this i was searching for. Thanks anyway

I'd also like to recommend a Sony: the Xperia XA2. Released around the same time as the other models suggested in this thread. I bought this one specifically because it's the most "modern" phone that I could find that still had a 16:9 screen.
Officially supports LIneageOS as well as SailfishOS if you're a die-hard Linux nerd.

That Sony Xperia XA2 would be a good possibility....

Related

Is there any true android alternative to iphone 5s?

Is there an android phone with spec similar to iphone 5S?
- 4" screen (or max 4.3")
- lightweight: 130grams or less
- Slim 8.5mm or less, not too big
- FAST user interface. Fast photos. Fast opening apps.
Thanks
The closest thing to that is moto g. And it costs only 1/3 of an iPhone.
the closest that you will get is the Motorola Moto G, which is considered a low-end device in contrast to the iPhone. So the price for the Moto G is much lower, but I assume you won't get the same great performance as on iOS.
There's also the HTC One Mini or the Galaxy S4 mini. Both feature a mid-range processor and over 1GB RAM. Because Samsung and HTC use their own customizations and User Interfaces I'd recommend using a custom ROM, like cyanogenmod. There is currently no official CM support for either devices, but I'm sure there are many ports available. These would offer a smoother user experience compared to the stock ROMs.
The best choice is to wait for the devices releasing early 2014. The Sony Xperia Z1S is said to arrive 2014 and this one beats all the "Mini"-Versions of other manufacturers, at least spec wise. It is said to offer a Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM and an outstanding 20.7 megapixel camera. If price doesn't matter, what I assume when you're searching an iPhone-alternative, I'd wait for that one. I will probably consider it myself.
error0x0000034 said:
There's also the HTC One Mini or the Galaxy S4 mini.
The Sony Xperia Z1S is said to arrive 2014, offer a Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM and an outstanding 20.7 megapixel camera.
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thanks error,
kind of disturbing how superior the iphone 5s is to the S4 mini...
http://versus.com/en/apple-iphone-5-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-mini
How can there not be a superior android phone with the same compact form factor???
edit: the huawei ascend p6 is slimmer, but taller. higher resolution i think.
fatjoez said:
thanks error,
kind of disturbing how superior the iphone 5s is to the S4 mini...
http://versus.com/en/apple-iphone-5-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-mini
How can there not be a superior android phone with the same compact form factor???
edit: the huawei ascend p6 is slimmer, but taller. higher resolution i think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The mini versions have always been inferior to their flagship counterparts. Sony will release the Xperia Z1 mini next year though, same procesor and camera as its big brother but with a 4.3" screen.
Z1 mini has good specs,
But is bigger and bulkier
Not really a true competitor

[Q] Finding a flagship phone that's not massive

I'm trying to find a phone that suits my needs, but it's proved difficult.
Currently I have a Galaxy SIII GSM phone.
I'd like a newer phone that's of similar size, 4.7 - 5.1 in or so, nothing remotely close to a Note3 in size. Also 2gb+ of RAM is mandatory, 1gb phones have all been ridiculously slow regardless of CPU. And rootable so I can install CM11+ on it.
Any suggestions?
phazei said:
I'm trying to find a phone that suits my needs, but it's proved difficult.
Currently I have a Galaxy SIII GSM phone.
I'd like a newer phone that's of similar size, 4.7 - 5.1 in or so, nothing remotely close to a Note3 in size. Also 2gb+ of RAM is mandatory, 1gb phones have all been ridiculously slow regardless of CPU. And rootable so I can install CM11+ on it.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the current flagships "phones". are 5.0-5.2". I say "phones" because I'm not including phablets like the Note or One Plus One or LG G3, HTC One M8 is 5.0", but is a pretty large phone because of the front speakers, ditto the 5.2" Sony Z2. The G2 is small for its 5.2" screen, and the smallest flagship, without going too far down in specs, is the Nexus 5. Smaller than that, and you're going to be compromising on processors. The Moto X has a 4.7" screen, as does the HTC One M7, but the specs aren't the latest or even the second latest. 2GB of RAM on each though, and both do run smooth and snappy. The Moto X is very compact despite the 4.7" screen.
The one exception to this is the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. It has the same internals as the full size Z1 (Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz, 2GB RAM), but in a smaller size with a 4.3" screen. Personally though, I'd wait a month or two for the Z3 Compact (they skipped the Z2), which'll have the same height and width (but be a bit thinner) yet pack a bigger 4.6" screen. And front facing speakers and it's waterproof. One hell of a phone.
There are 3 threads already established that are devoted to discussions about devices, please read, and if necessary, repost your question in one of these threads: The what should I buy thread or the The Device Suggestion Thread or the The Device Comparison Thread.
There are also several other discussion threads that you probably should review to help you. They are What phone do you wish you had? or
The Worst Android Device That You've Ever Had & Why or even this place that talks about The best phone you ever owned.

[Q] Xperia Z3 - Thinking of coming from a OnePlus One

Hi Guys,
So as the title suggest I have the OnePlus One 64gb.
I am thinking of swapping it for an Xperia Z3, I haven't seen a lot of comparison videos, well none actually, so just wondering what you users of the Z3 think?
One thing that i am concerned about is development, it seems quite slow on the Z3 so far will the one plus has a plethora of roms available. What is the stock rom like?
Another thing that is slight swaying me is the size and camera.
If you guys could offer could offer me some advice that would be great!
Dwayne01 said:
Hi Guys,
So as the title suggest I have the OnePlus One 64gb.
I am thinking of swapping it for an Xperia Z3, I haven't seen a lot of comparison videos, well none actually, so just wondering what you users of the Z3 think?
One thing that i am concerned about is development, it seems quite slow on the Z3 so far will the one plus has a plethora of roms available. What is the stock rom like?
Another thing that is slight swaying me is the size and camera.
If you guys could offer could offer me some advice that would be great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't get a Z3 for myself yet but these are the info I knew
First of all,the OnePlus One uses the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC Quad-core 2.5GHz chipset which was the same as the Xperia Z3
Both of them have 3GB of RAM & 3100mAh battery
Of course,you will get a smaller screen on the Z3 at 5.2" versus the OnePlus One at 5.5" but the Z3 has the brightest display in an IPS display
For the size,the Z3 is very slim at only 7.3 mm & weighs 152 grams while the OnePlus One was 8.9 mm thick & weighs 162 grams
The new design, rounded corners on the Z3 feels more better in holding & rated at highest IP 65/68 for dust & waterproof
Talking about camera,Z3 boosts a 20.7MP 1/2.3" camera with 25mm wide G-Lens,should be able to win the OnePlus One
Xperia UI is very nice.Sony has make it more like stock Android with some small modifications & some addons
I'm excited about what Sony will make in their Android 5.0 Lollipop UI
That's all I can tell you
Please post questions in the Q&A section
Thread moved

Choosing developer friendly, reliable smartphone for a person with poor vision

Hi all.
I am a developer (mostly web, just occasional mobile) with poor vision since birth and I'm looking for a smartphone which should meet the following criteria:
- budget under 350 EUR
- has no problems installing custom launchers; I'd like to install Launcher WP8 style . I have used Xperia Neo V and Lumia 920, and my eyes really enjoy minimalistic WP tile interface. I seriously consider to develop my own launcher some day for special needs of my eyes (and other people like me). I know that there is a magnifier built-in but I'd like to avoid using it, if possible - it's just simpler, if I can get text sizes, colors and usability without using those somewhat inconvenient triple tapping gestures
- has an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow available or planned for sure (rumored does not count)
- at least 16GB RAM (have heard complaints that 8GB is too little space for Android today)
- screen size - 5" seems to be the sweat spot
- other features - like any midrange phone - 13MPx camera, microSD is mandatory
- solid build quality. I don't change phones more than once in three years, so I'd like the phone to last and survive normal everyday use.
- no glass back (I've heard bad reports of Sony Z being too fragile). Strong plastic or aluminium is good
- has repair services in Europe (and also in my country, Latvia). I'll be using the phone as my main "work horse", so I want to get repaired it fast and hassle-free, in case if...
- has not locked out normal development support (with "normal" I mean remote debugging and installing self-compiled apks )
- can be rooted and flashed with custom ROM and has reliable and stable ROMs available (most probably, I won't need this in next 2 years, anyway, but who knows... I just want to be sure)
So, I looked through the options available, and now I have three candidates:
HTC One M8s
Asus Zenfone 2 Laser ZE500KL Dual 16GB
Huawei P8 Lite ALE-L21
I intend to buy the phone from a reliable local shop, which means that I might receive a model which is definitely not locked to any carrier, but it might be not meant for my country (Latvia) Most probably, it will be some European model. However, my current Lumia model was targeted at Saudi Arabia, but it had no problems with installing European updates on it. I hope that Android won't disappoint me and I won't be stuck with something totally Arabic or Chinese, but from the other hand I've heard that sometimes those regions get updates even faster that Europe
So, the main question for the time being is:
Is it worth paying for HTC One M8S instead of buying Asus Zenfone 2 or Huawei P8 Lite?
M8S seems really attractive, but I'm not sure if it won't turn out to be PITA to install and develop custom launchers, considering deep SenseUI integration into the core Android. And there might be other factors, unknown to me which might make Asus Zenphone or Huawei P8 Lite a better choice for my requirements.
I'd really appreciate your feedback, especially from owners of the mentioned devices and developers who know HTC, Asus and Huawei ecosystem and their attitude to developers (support, ignore or fight against unauthorized software).
There where some attractive models which matched specs-wise and price-wise but unfortunately I had to neglect them because of unknown Marshmallow upgrade or because of glass back:
SAMSUNG G903F GALAXY S5 NEO 16GB
Samsung A500FU Galaxy A5 16GB
Huawei Ascend P7 Black
Sony E5603 Xperia M5
Sony Z2
Sony C6603 Xperia Z Black
Sony D6603 Xperia Z3
So, as nobody tried to convince me otherwise, I'm going to order HTC One M8s. I just hope that it won't turn out to be less development friendly than ZenPhone 2.

Would you recommend the Honor 8 ?

Hey guys im looking to buy a new phone and for my budget i can get the Honor 8 , Sony X performance or the Galaxy S6 . Does the honor 8 have any bugs and would you recommend it over the other phones i listed ? Also how is the root ,rom , kernel support and is it easy to flash because i saw a guide for rooting with 12-13 steps including typing imei in huawei's site to get a code and so on .
Tarbruh said:
Hey guys im looking to buy a new phone and for my budget i can get the Honor 8 , Sony X performance or the Galaxy S6 . Does the honor 8 have any bugs and would you recommend it over the other phones i listed ? Also how is the root ,rom , kernel support and is it easy to flash because i saw a guide for rooting with 12-13 steps including typing imei in huawei's site to get a code and so on .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got mine on a black friday sale and I'm happy with it. but at full price I would consider something else.
This phone has the Kirin processor and you can root it but the custom rom's will be few because of the processor
The Galaxy S6 is a nice phone but the bootloaders are locked.
I don't know anything about the Sony.
If you have $400 for the full priced H8 I would recommend a used Nexus 6p or a One plus 3 for flashing customs roms and developer support.
If those phones are too big for your taste theirs also the HTC 9 and 10 to consider... they have a great developer community
Tarbruh said:
Hey guys im looking to buy a new phone and for my budget i can get the Honor 8 , Sony X performance or the Galaxy S6 . Does the honor 8 have any bugs and would you recommend it over the other phones i listed ? Also how is the root ,rom , kernel support and is it easy to flash because i saw a guide for rooting with 12-13 steps including typing imei in huawei's site to get a code and so on .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly how clsA said,it's a very good phone. It's fast and have a nice design. But it's Huawei after all, so the custom roms will be a problem. I would sugest you to look for OP3 or OP3T if you want a good development comunity. If you don't care about development too much and want a fu**ing nice looking phone i would recommend it xD
IDK what to say about S6 and Xperia X, as i know the S6 is bad in battery and Xperia X doesn't seems to be as good as the Honor 8.
Other phones to look : Axon 7, Nubia Z11,Xiaomi MI 5,Asus Zenfone 3 (No custom roms).
There are more but i dont remember them.
clsA said:
I got mine on a black friday sale and I'm happy with it. but at full price I would consider something else.
This phone has the Kirin processor and you can root it but the custom rom's will be few because of the processor
The Galaxy S6 is a nice phone but the bootloaders are locked.
I don't know anything about the Sony.
If you have $400 for the full priced H8 I would recommend a used Nexus 6p or a One plus 3 for flashing customs roms and developer support.
If those phones are too big for your taste theirs also the HTC 9 and 10 to consider... they have a great developer community
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have around 450 max for a phone and the Oneplus 3 would have been great because it was 430 dollars but now they only sell the 3T for about 500 and its an import so i think it will have taxes . I looked at the One M9 and the one thing i didn't like is that it is missing a fingerprint scanner and from reviews they say if your chosing between the M9 and S6 go for the S6 so idk . The HTC 10 is good but if i had the money for it (650$) i would have bought the S7 Edge .
Sheldd said:
Exactly how clsA said,it's a very good phone. It's fast and have a nice design. But it's Huawei after all, so the custom roms will be a problem. I would sugest you to look for OP3 or OP3T if you want a good development comunity. If you don't care about development too much and want a fu**ing nice looking phone i would recommend it xD
IDK what to say about S6 and Xperia X, as i know the S6 is bad in battery and Xperia X doesn't seems to be as good as the Honor 8.
Other phones to look : Axon 7, Nubia Z11,Xiaomi MI 5,Asus Zenfone 3 (No custom roms).
There are more but i dont remember them.
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Click to collapse
The Xperia X has the edge in performance over the H8 but it overheats when using the camera idk if sony fixed it or not.Axon 7 is pricey for me 600 dollars but its a great phone.The Xiaomi MI 5S is cheap and packs perfromance with the SD 821 but being a Xiaomi doesn't it have poor software ?
Tarbruh said:
Hey guys im looking to buy a new phone and for my budget i can get the Honor 8 , Sony X performance or the Galaxy S6 . Does the honor 8 have any bugs and would you recommend it over the other phones i listed ? Also how is the root ,rom , kernel support and is it easy to flash because i saw a guide for rooting with 12-13 steps including typing imei in huawei's site to get a code and so on .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought the Honor 8 after a long evaluation and endless comparisons (price for me was 320 EUR discounted, so really mid-range price territory).
The hardware is great and having such a fast fingerprint sensor is really awesome. Biggest two drawbacks for me are:
- the user interface: I don't like EMUI at all and it's pretty far from the Android standard, but you can use a custom launcher and hopefully an unofficial near-stock theme will be available soon;
- the screen: has a quite poor calibration and looks like a significant step back from my previous Sony Z1 Compact.
Sony devices are nice but heavily bloated. Also I was quite disappointed with my Z1 Compact camera: it looks like they didn't provide adequate support in the transition from KitKat to Lollipop and there was a performance degradation killing an otherwise interesting sensor. I haven't tried a Samsung since the death of my S3 due to eMMC failure and my experience with that device had not been stellar (given I did paid full price for it), but I have read that the UI has improved in the latest interations.
As for root and custom ROMs the thing is: while every device can be rooted one way or another, for a good custom ROM support you should consider only Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets (the Honor has a HiSilicon Kirin) and even in that case the proper support for camera and other advanced hardware features could be not easy. So you may root the Honor but don't expect an AOSP / LineageOS ROM to work properly (there is some work underway but if Huawei doesn't change its politics I wouldn't expect acceptable results).
As for me the only device I could have bought instead of the Honor was the HTC 10, but at a cost significantly higher.
P.S.: Xiaomi devices are interesting but most of them have limited LTE band support, so you may want to check against the bands used in your country (the GSMArena website has a great search tool you could take advantage of).
maxlnc said:
I just bought the Honor 8 after a long evaluation and endless comparisons (price for me was 320 EUR discounted, so really mid-range price territory).
The hardware is great and having such a fast fingerprint sensor is really awesome. Biggest two drawbacks for me are:
- the user interface: I don't like EMUI at all and it's pretty far from the Android standard, but you can use a custom launcher and hopefully an unofficial near-stock theme will be available soon;
- the screen: has a quite poor calibration and looks like a significant step back from my previous Sony Z1 Compact.
Sony devices are nice but heavily bloated. Also I was quite disappointed with my Z1 Compact camera: it looks like they didn't provide adequate support in the transition from KitKat to Lollipop and there was a performance degradation killing an otherwise interesting sensor. I haven't tried a Samsung since the death of my S3 due to eMMC failure and my experience with that device had not been stellar (given I did paid full price for it), but I have read that the UI has improved in the latest interations.
As for root and custom ROMs the thing is: while every device can be rooted one way or another, for a good custom ROM support you should consider only Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets (the Honor has a HiSilicon Kirin) and even in that case the proper support for camera and other advanced hardware features could be not easy. So you may root the Honor but don't expect an AOSP / LineageOS ROM to work properly (there is some work underway but if Huawei doesn't change its politics I wouldn't expect acceptable results).
As for me the only device I could have bought instead of the Honor was the HTC 10, but at a cost significantly higher.
P.S.: Xiaomi devices are interesting but most of them have limited LTE band support, so you may want to check against the bands used in your country (the GSMArena website has a great search tool you could take advantage of).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im in the same state of endless comparisons and watching reviews for phones . From reviews and speed tests the Honor 8 seems like a great deal , in app opening comparsion it was leading 15 to 5 againts the Iphone 7 Plus if 100% true in normal use its a pretty fast phone and is concidered as one of the best 400 dollar phones . My concern is the UI and support i will slap google now launcher but for support updates and so on its a Huawei after all and i don't have experience with them . Most of my root and rom adventures were made with my Galaxy S3 Neo because it came with Android 4.4.2 and never got an update and with the help of roms it had 6.0.1 from the S6 with an overclocked Kernel and slow motion camera mod. All of the reviews for the X performance say that Sony are asking too much (700$) for the flaws it has . I put a thread on the Sony forum but no response yet . For me the price is lower 430$ for the Xperia but if the bugs are not fixed by Sony its dissapointing . I really like the Galaxy S6 but after all its a 2015 model . Xiaomi MI 5s supports my 4G network but being a Xiaomi software wise i think its badly optimized.
Sheldd said:
Exactly how clsA said,it's a very good phone. It's fast and have a nice design. But it's Huawei after all, so the custom roms will be a problem. I would sugest you to look for OP3 or OP3T if you want a good development comunity. If you don't care about development too much and want a fu**ing nice looking phone i would recommend it xD
IDK what to say about S6 and Xperia X, as i know the S6 is bad in battery and Xperia X doesn't seems to be as good as the Honor 8.
Other phones to look : Axon 7, Nubia Z11,Xiaomi MI 5,Asus Zenfone 3 (No custom roms).
There are more but i dont remember them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Honor 8 and have been using it for the last 3 months or so.
I'm not into all these tests but I know that the phone has stood up to everything that I have thrown at it and I use my phone allot.
If you want a good, solid phone that looks good and will be kept upto date for the next couple of years then get the Honor 8
My flat mate has got the pixel and after using it I really can't see how it's worth the extra couple of £100
John
In my mind, the only phones that are worth getting if you want to flash roms are OnePlus and Google, the rest are not worthwhile. These two phones are the only ones that will get great support on XDA. If this is your purpose then don't even bother considering any other brand, it's just a waste of your time. Even if it is available for other phones you run into hassle with losing warranty by unlocking bootloader and doing more steps than needed. It's better just to get a OnePlus where all the custom rom features are already built in.
If you can get the Honor 8 for $300 new or less and wants a good camera it's worth it. I'm very happy with the camera for still shots which is what I mainly bought the phone for. It's the best camera I've used outside of Samsung so far, I think the Huawei and Samsung are the tops right now for camera. It's better than the Nexus 6P in term of dynamic and colors. Also Huawei currently make the best fingerprint scanner, albeit on the back. The hardware is fast, but expect lots of thermal throttling while gaming.
You will have to deal with some goofy battery management which turns off notification and background running apps, although there is a way to fix this but you have to whitelist the apps in two different nearly hidden places in the settings, although the new Nougat updates is supposed to improve this.
In term of updates support, I think it's pretty poor, at least in term of speed. Many phones are already on Nougat before this one. I do like the fact they made the stock firmware publicly available. The main thing that hampers this phone is the software.
Hey there. I was in the dilemma you are right now two months ago when I bought the Honor 8. I'm not disappointed at all, in the past few years I've used almost every brand there is, HTC, Samsung s3, Lg G2, Sony z3 Compact, Moto G 1 and 2, Sony z3, z3+ and m5, and my last phone was the Huawei p9 lite, I was astonished as to how that "cheap phone" camera could beat my Sony z3+ that I loved so much. That's when I paid attention To Huawei, and man they're doing a great job. Yes maybe in development you won't be able to do much, if that's what you're looking for, maybe it's better to look elsewhere, but in terms of battery, daily use performance and heavy usage, camera, good looking phone, this is a great deal. I bought for 400 when it was released. A few weeks ago my brother got it at 330, which was like stealing haha. And I know this month it will get Nougat. Emui software will be better with the update, not saying it was bad but many disliked it, I'm fine with it to be honest. And Honor offers 2 years of support after the date of release. So you'll get Android updates until mid-2018.
Hope this helps.
I really don't recommend buying a phone at the moment, as u know it's a new year
New phones and chipsets are released and prices eventually will drop. I recommend waiting for couple of months if you can.
Regarding the Honor 8 itself, I know there's something about this phone makes you want it although u can just save a little and get axon 7 or 1+3 and it's not a perfect phone either it lacks some things like OIS for videos and 4K for video.
Other than that it offers a great camera you should check threads here for camera samples, it does take very great still images!
I saw lots of comparisons too between that phone and others. Well in everyday usage there's no difference between it and a snapdragon 820 powered phone regarding opening apps and so .. The kirin 950 is pretty strong scoring 90K+ in antutu benchmark which is okay.. You shouldn't be worried about a game that won't run smoothly on it at the moment! But it's not the best developer friendly unlike snapdragon chipsets!
Beside all that it's a pretty phone ( sexy design, great camera, decent battery & good performance ) it has USB C and fast charging and the chipset supports Vulkan API which makes somewhat it future proof. Also about the EMUI, it can grow on you over time it has neat features not laggy as people might suggest it has theme engine too plenty of customizability and gestures, I don't see it lacking other than the looks of the pure android but that can be fixed by using nova launcher.
Bottom line, if u don't mind the UI and the development area ( it exists but it may take a while ) definitely go for it .. Otherwise u may consider saving or buying One Plus 3 if you're a flashaholic there are plenty of ROMs for the one plus, And a strong development community!
I have the FRD-L14 (64 GB USA version) for $340 total from Amazon. It has replaced my Sony Z3 Compact that I had for two years bought for $500. Tell you what the Honor 8 is worth the money. Fast and responsive. The 4 GB of memory is awesome since apps stay in memory so multitasking is mostly instant. 64 GB memory + 64 GB microSD = awesome. Camera is fast enough with good quality. The screen is the only downside compared to flagship phones costing $600+ but I came from the Sony Z3 Compact display so it's not a problem for me. Maybe I am also lucky but I don't have a blue-ish tint on certain reviews.
The best thing about this is it has Band 12 LTE for TMOBILE. I now have 3 bars of signal sitting in my office instead of 1 or zero or searching all the time. The HD Voice call is also super clear. The speaker phone, though, could be better. The fingerprint scanner is just as good as the Samsung or Apple. Two THUMBS UP. I would upgrade to the Honor 9-10 down the road assuming they keep the price competitive.
Price of Honor 8
Tarbruh said:
I have around 450 max for a phone and the Oneplus 3 would have been great because it was 430 dollars but now they only sell the 3T for about 500 and its an import so i think it will have taxes . I looked at the One M9 and the one thing i didn't like is that it is missing a fingerprint scanner and from reviews they say if your chosing between the M9 and S6 go for the S6 so idk . The HTC 10 is good but if i had the money for it (650$) i would have bought the S7 Edge .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought a Honor 8 from a dealer on ebay..paid $250....New but no box..
Exactly as the others say the Honor 8 is a great phone! It is fast, good looking and has a great camera! So in 2015 I was looking for a new phone to replace my old Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and this seller showed me the Honor 7 but it didn't really appeal to me that much (Mostly because of EMUI) and I decided to keep on using my S4 Mini.
But a few weeks ago I got the Honor 8 for 325€ (Discounted) even if I didn't really like EMUI that much I must say, it is better than I expected! Now there is a few things I still don't like in EMUI (Like the split Notifications and Shortcuts) but in the new EMUI 5 update that is currently being rolled out, it will just get a whole lot better and many of the things I find annoying is fixed
So would I recommend this phone? Yes I would definitivtly recommend this phone for someone who is looking for a great phone but still not to expensive, even though it doesn't have that many custom ROMS yet (Coming from someone who used Custom ROMS a lot previously) I think we will get more custom ROMS within a few months
Tarbruh said:
Does the honor 8 have any bugs and would you recommend it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using it since 1st December 2016 and I wouldn't recommend it, 'cause:
1. It has no system-level equalizer;
2. It has no system-level audio balance tweaker(?);
3. When using the app com.rubycell.pianisthd, the audio output is full of "clicks"; no longer with android 7
4. It's kirin-based, therefore "good luck" with custom roms.
edit:
I'm not gonna sell it any soon 'cause I can kinda live with it thanks to Poweramp, but come on, the audio subsystem of this phone is sh*t. You should only get it if you're deaf or for some reason you don't enjoy listening to music.
I apologize for being this rude.
The aesthetics are amazing and the performance is really decent. The software is mediocre, though it might be better with the Android & UI update--but that's been a slow process and I've yet to see the update myself.
The hardware is impressive and in many ways exceeded my expectations. The Kirin 950 opens apps quickly and the 4gb of what I believe to be DDR3 memory allows for multiple app usage without any trouble. DDR4 would be amazing, but it holds its own with what it has.
The GPU is only OK. It runs a bit hot when in 1080 mode, playing games like War Robots. 720 seems to cool it down a bit. No problems with older games like the GTA series, no problems with Real Racing 3 or the Riptide series.
Still, the 3d AnTuTu benchmarks combine for a score of about 20k, where as the OP3T is over 40k combined. Overall, my phone grabbed a 94,000. The overall for the OP3T is over 135,000. The difference in the score is due to the GPU and memory being slower than the OP3T's Adreno 530 and 6gb of DDR4. The Kirin 950 itself, holds its own against the Snapdragon 820 and 821.
The price point is all over the place in the US market. I picked mine up for $319.00, but I've seen them on shelves for $400.00 USD. At 300, it's not bad, but if you are going to hit the 400 mark, might as well go with the OP3T.
I have 2 weeks left to return mine, if I don't see the update by then, it will go back and I'll drop few extra for the OP3T. If I get the update and it feels smooth, I'll probably stick with it.
Would I recommend it? If you can get it for 300 USD or close to it, yes, it's a good phone for that price point. If you see it in your market and it is closer to 400, go for the OP3T. If you LOVE mods, regardless of price, go for the OP3T.
Note: The ZUK Z2 Pro is in the same price range, but I hear the software is awful and build quality questionable, that's why I didn't bring it up in comparison.
Note II: I've updated to B360 via Firmware Finder. So far the phone doesn't feel too much different, but there are changes. The UI is a bit cleaner, my benchmark went up by 6000 overall, but no change in GPU scores. The app drawer is laid out nicely, the notification bar looks better, the native sms message system is upgraded and more functional.
I have to stick with my original opinion. If you can get the phone for 300-ish USD, if you are OK with WYSIWYG, it's a solid, aesthetically beautiful device. If you are creeping into the 400.00 range, take a very serious look at the OP3T. Again, if you are a modder or love the bleeding edge, OP3T is your device.
PErsonally, I like it over the S7 Edge. Faster and smoother.
Handful of reasons the S7 Edge is the daily driver:
Larger screen
Better video and slightly better camera shots
Audio can be tweaked
Only major con is the ugly IOS skin on the Honor 8. Personally i like it a ton.
Sheldd said:
Exactly how clsA said,it's a very good phone. It's fast and have a nice design. But it's Huawei after all, so the custom roms will be a problem. I would sugest you to look for OP3 or OP3T if you want a good development comunity. If you don't care about development too much and want a fu**ing nice looking phone i would recommend it xD
IDK what to say about S6 and Xperia X, as i know the S6 is bad in battery and Xperia X doesn't seems to be as good as the Honor 8.
Other phones to look : Axon 7, Nubia Z11,Xiaomi MI 5,Asus Zenfone 3 (No custom roms).
There are more but i dont remember them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately the OP3 and OP3T have no microSD-cardslot.
You have to consider this.
the Honor 8 has the following advantages.
- fairly fast (Arm Cortex A72 CPU's) and due to a FHD-screen the gfx-perfomance is even slightly faster than e.g. the galaxy S5.
--> so many (older) high-end games run quite good.
- great screen (wide gamut LCD screen)
- IR-blaster
--> and reviewers don't mention this but the Honor's IR-blaster is both output AND input, which means it can "learn" codes from other remotes while the e.g. Samsung's can't.
--> works also good with other IR-blaster apps too.
- microSD-slot
- price compared to known-brand flagships and mid-range devices (bar the oneplus models)
--> the standard Honor 8 (32GB) has a great price/performance-ratio IMHO and there's usually some sale somewhere
--> got mine with a free 64GB card so it was even greater value for money
- camera is good for the price
--> great quick shortcut (with volume-keys or fingerscanner-button)
- EMUI has some nice tricks with the fingerprint-scanner
--> e.g. there's a "safe" to store private files which can be locked/unlocked with fingerprint
- bootloader CAN be unlocked and is fairly easy to root.
--> Huawei themselves supply the unlock codes which is great, isn't it?
- beautifull design. It looks great and the camera is completely flush
- mirrorcast (to non-Samsung TV's) works fine without rooting and tampering with the build.prop
disadvantages.
- it is VERY slippery
- not as fast as particularly Oneplus 3 (and 3T) which cost the same
--> Honor 8 premium cost the same as OnePlus 3/T and has the same internal storage capacity
- some people prefer QHD
--> this doesn't bother me personally but it might be a dealbreaker for some
- no EQ on the standard music app or anywhere else on the device
--> so you need another music-player if you really want this or other audio-enhancements.
- Samsung's still have better camera's for low-light photography especially the S6 (IMHO the S6 is even better than the S7 in this respect)
- no DLNA so you'll need an optional app for this. Though screencast works fine.
--> I tried the old Skifta-app myself from qualcomm and it works great. Unfortunately you have to look hard to find this though asit isn't on Play anymore.
IMHO the Honor 8 is a great little device. Sufficiently powerful and it has most of important points covered.
As for me, the SD-card slot, IR-blaster and the better deal (with a free 64GB card) were the main reasons to go for the Honor8 instead for the OP3T
There's probably a lot more that I haven't covered but I have my device just 4 days so I'm not a "pro" just yet
So I hope this is helpful.
LaserChicken said:
The aesthetics are amazing and the performance is really decent. The software is mediocre, though it might be better with the Android & UI update--but that's been a slow process and I've yet to see the update myself.
The hardware is impressive and in many ways exceeded my expectations. The Kirin 950 opens apps quickly and the 4gb of what I believe to be DDR3 memory allows for multiple app usage without any trouble. DDR4 would be amazing, but it holds its own with what it has.
The GPU is only OK. It runs a bit hot when in 1080 mode, playing games like War Robots. 720 seems to cool it down a bit. No problems with older games like the GTA series, no problems with Real Racing 3 or the Riptide series.
Still, the 3d AnTuTu benchmarks combine for a score of about 20k, where as the OP3T is over 40k combined. Overall, my phone grabbed a 94,000. The overall for the OP3T is over 135,000. The difference in the score is due to the GPU and memory being slower than the OP3T's Adreno 530 and 6gb of DDR4. The Kirin 950 itself, holds its own against the Snapdragon 820 and 821.
The price point is all over the place in the US market. I picked mine up for $319.00, but I've seen them on shelves for $400.00 USD. At 300, it's not bad, but if you are going to hit the 400 mark, might as well go with the OP3T.
I have 2 weeks left to return mine, if I don't see the update by then, it will go back and I'll drop few extra for the OP3T. If I get the update and it feels smooth, I'll probably stick with it.
Would I recommend it? If you can get it for 300 USD or close to it, yes, it's a good phone for that price point. If you see it in your market and it is closer to 400, go for the OP3T. If you LOVE mods, regardless of price, go for the OP3T.
Note: The ZUK Z2 Pro is in the same price range, but I hear the software is awful and build quality questionable, that's why I didn't bring it up in comparison.
Note II: I've updated to B360 via Firmware Finder. So far the phone doesn't feel too much different, but there are changes. The UI is a bit cleaner, my benchmark went up by 6000 overall, but no change in GPU scores. The app drawer is laid out nicely, the notification bar looks better, the native sms message system is upgraded and more functional.
I have to stick with my original opinion. If you can get the phone for 300-ish USD, if you are OK with WYSIWYG, it's a solid, aesthetically beautiful device. If you are creeping into the 400.00 range, take a very serious look at the OP3T. Again, if you are a modder or love the bleeding edge, OP3T is your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the long and explained point of view it seems that only on the honor 8 forum people comment on stuff like this because it made a thread on the x perfromance forum still 0 comments . The OP3T is a great phone and comes for about 470 dollars . Over the past few days i've got the conclusion that im not getting the honor 8 because its priced at 420 ish dollars and for and for the same price i can get the xperia which has the SD820 with a 1080p screen so it will perform 23 MP camera will fine compared to my current 12 or i can get for 460 the Zte Axon 7 also with SD820 2k display and amazing audio and if i go even higher i can get the S7 for 490 . But im thinking on not going too far for the S7 because the Xperia and Axon offer the same performance just losing on camera and ips sertification if i got with the axon but it has one of the best if not the best speakers and headphone output.
I just got a used one off of Amazon for $235. Honestly, I think it's worth that price, but I would recommend waiting for MWC at the very least. I only pulled the trigger on it right now because the only other phones in the price range I had (about $200 - $300), were the upcoming MOTO G5 series. I have been using a Moto E 2015, but I felt that since the Honor 8 had higher specs, a better design, a better camera, etc. that it was worth it.
Additionally, I think Huawei promised 2 years of support and the phone just came out, so we will definitely see Android O at the very least (which is pretty great).

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