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I'm not sure I understand the initial media plaudits from yesterday's unveiling.
With the latest flagship phones so far released or announced, I feel this is very much a step backwards from the competition (though, rather a smaller step forward than everyone else)
Realistically, this is a most minor iteration. We have the obligatory upgrade to the latest Qualcomm flagship SoC, then..?
We have more screen real estate, though at the expense of the notch and what, initially, appears to be a relatively minor upgrade to the camera, when compared to everyone else.
Aesthetically, I personally think, this is by far the best looking OnePlus device and it's really on a par with the competition here. I don't have an issue with the look of the notch, though having never used a phone with a notch, I may well hate it in use.
Elsewhere, it seems to lag behind. Of all the competition, i.e. those with the Snapdragon 845, OnePlus seems to be the least innovative in its use. Nowhere do they advertise use of its AI / ML capabilities. I'm not suggesting they go down the Asus route and call everything AI, but at least show your making use of it.
I appreciate that most 'AI' features are mostly marketing nonsense, but some of it appears very useful. We are seeing phones with translation apps using AI, rather than connecting to the web. We're seeing phones use AI to learn how people use the phone, and continually change how they manage apps memory and power usage to improve both performance and battery life.
OnePlus have not made any claims towards anything like this, so if they are doing these types of things, why keep quiet.
This 'season' most of the innovation has been centred on the use of AI with the camera and so far we've seen some very amazing results from that. The big hitter being the Huawei P20 pro, though an honorable mention goes to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S also, especially considering it's budget flagship price (very much in the OnePlus 6 range).
OnePlus have always lagged behind in the camera department. It seems one of its big sacrifices in order to keep the prices so low. Last year's 5T, the first OnePlus with a dual lens arrangement, was routinely savaged by critics and considered on par with the average mid range phones. So here is where many considered it needed to vastly improve.
Initial impressions do seem to suggest that great improvements have been made. However, it seems like they've really only arrived at the point other flagships were at last year. Considering the huge leap forward AI has taken in-phone photography this year, it seems that OnePlus still have a lot of work to do in order to catch up with the rest and, this year, still seem just as far behind.
Hardware wise, mobile technology is now very mature, so we're only ever, mostly, seeing small iterative improvements, so phone manufacturers can only offer iterative updates, from a hardware perspective. And this is what we've come to see over the last few years.
This year the majority of mobile innovation, on flagship models more so, has come through the use of AI, something OnePlus seems to have strangely overlooked with this latest release.
This year, this iteration feels like something I'd expect from a top end, mid range phone, not from something that used to sell itself as a flagship killer.
With some serious hard work from the OnePlus software team, much AI innovation seen elsewhere could be rolled out to the OnePlus 6 in the future, which would see it much more competitive in the flagship phone sector. Though, I imagine they'll wait until the 6T to implement such changes, which may give the competition too much of a head start.
I'm currently on my third OnePlus device but if I do decide to upgrade this year, I doubt I'll be spending my money on the OnePlus 6. I feel it's time for a change, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S anyone?
Though if by some miracle I actually win the xda competition, I'll be happy to keep the phone for the foreseeable future
I think I'll wait to see what the Xiaomi Mi7/8 will bring
That's one way of looking at it.
I think it's a fine phone compared to the Galaxy S9+ which costs approx. €250,- more.
Yes, the Samsung has a higher screenresolution, probably a better camera and a slightly higher capacity battery, but I don't want to spend that extra money on that and get a lot of bloatware in the process.
Since I'm currently still using a Oneplus One, the 6 is awesome compared to that...
Was looking forward to the oneplus 6.
I was thinking to upgrade to either a Mi Mix 2s or OP6. But I don't see what the OP6 offers, besides non-IP rated waterproofing over the Mi Mix 2s.
Same innards.
Same price
Ugly notch
Better blacks?
Arguably worse camera on paper
No wireless charging.
I don't see why you would pick an OP6 over Mix 2s. Miui sucks (got a lot better though lately), but is very easy to replace with a custom ROM.
Disappointed
Compared to the S9 and £9+, yes it is a very fine phone and probably runs it very close.
Samsung was also seen this 'season' to only come to the table with an uninspired iterative update. I think that they've suffered in being one of the first this year to roll out the release and have been caught lagging by some of the other manufacturers that came later.
Last year the S8+ was considered to have one of the best cameras in a smart phone. This year, although the S9+ camera has improved, it is only a minor improvement. Huawei and Xiaomi through heavy use of AI, have made huge leaps forward compared to last year, probably equivalent to 5 years worth of normal iterative upgrades. They have also both brought some other, worthwhile, uses of AI with their latest phones to further push themselves ahead of the competition.
OnePlus originally made 2 big sacrifices in order to keep costs low. These were LCD screens and cameras that would be typically found on mid range phones. However they were pretty much alone in the budget flagship market back then and so this wasn't seen as a big issue. With the arrival of some competition they've had to adjust accordingly.
Last year OnePlus came with a fairly large price increase, which allowed them to switch to AMOLED screens, this year another price increase sees them moving to premium camera modules expected on flagship phones.
In terms of where OnePlus was with the One and even where they were last year, yes this is a great phone and a good improvement. But considering some of the innovations some of the competition has brought this year, they have lagged behind. I no longer believe they are the first choice for those looking at the budget flagship market. Xiaomi would appear to have taken on that title.
If Xiaomi would embrace the custom ROM community the same way OnePlus have, OnePlus could find themselves losing some loyal customers.
Firipu said:
I don't see why you would pick an OP6 over Mix 2s. Miui sucks (got a lot better though lately), but is very easy to replace with a custom ROM.
Disappointed
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Only once you've got passed Xiaomi's ridiculous 360 hour bootloader unlock shenanigans.
The OP6 is a compelling candidate because of good mfg support for bootloader unlock without voiding warranty, lots of dev support for root etc., 3.5mm audio jack, now packaged with water resistance, at a lower price given the top processor/RAM specs.
Camera and display of OP6 are apparently not the tip-top of the field, but in the thin upper range where discerning the minor differences between competitors is splitting hairs IMO.
AI is a flaky gimmick that causes more problems than it solves in all phones in 2018, IMO. Same goes for voice assistants and most of the other bells and whistles. I'm going to shut off all that on any phone I get. K.I.S.S.
Watching now for more to come on OP6... extensive reviews, puddle-dunking, bootloader unlock, TWRP, root, clip cases, audio quality impressions (3.5mm output), initial OS "bug" fixes...
Robbo.5000 said:
I'm not sure I understand the initial media plaudits from yesterday's unveiling.
With the latest flagship phones so far released or announced, I feel this is very much a step backwards from the competition (though, rather a smaller step forward than everyone else)
Realistically, this is a most minor iteration. We have the obligatory upgrade to the latest Qualcomm flagship SoC, then..?
We have more screen real estate, though at the expense of the notch and what, initially, appears to be a relatively minor upgrade to the camera, when compared to everyone else.
Aesthetically, I personally think, this is by far the best looking OnePlus device and it's really on a par with the competition here. I don't have an issue with the look of the notch, though having never used a phone with a notch, I may well hate it in use.
Elsewhere, it seems to lag behind. Of all the competition, i.e. those with the Snapdragon 845, OnePlus seems to be the least innovative in its use. Nowhere do they advertise use of its AI / ML capabilities. I'm not suggesting they go down the Asus route and call everything AI, but at least show your making use of it.
I appreciate that most 'AI' features are mostly marketing nonsense, but some of it appears very useful. We are seeing phones with translation apps using AI, rather than connecting to the web. We're seeing phones use AI to learn how people use the phone, and continually change how they manage apps memory and power usage to improve both performance and battery life.
OnePlus have not made any claims towards anything like this, so if they are doing these types of things, why keep quiet.
This 'season' most of the innovation has been centred on the use of AI with the camera and so far we've seen some very amazing results from that. The big hitter being the Huawei P20 pro, though an honorable mention goes to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S also, especially considering it's budget flagship price (very much in the OnePlus 6 range).
OnePlus have always lagged behind in the camera department. It seems one of its big sacrifices in order to keep the prices so low. Last year's 5T, the first OnePlus with a dual lens arrangement, was routinely savaged by critics and considered on par with the average mid range phones. So here is where many considered it needed to vastly improve.
Initial impressions do seem to suggest that great improvements have been made. However, it seems like they've really only arrived at the point other flagships were at last year. Considering the huge leap forward AI has taken in-phone photography this year, it seems that OnePlus still have a lot of work to do in order to catch up with the rest and, this year, still seem just as far behind.
Hardware wise, mobile technology is now very mature, so we're only ever, mostly, seeing small iterative improvements, so phone manufacturers can only offer iterative updates, from a hardware perspective. And this is what we've come to see over the last few years.
This year the majority of mobile innovation, on flagship models more so, has come through the use of AI, something OnePlus seems to have strangely overlooked with this latest release.
This year, this iteration feels like something I'd expect from a top end, mid range phone, not from something that used to sell itself as a flagship killer.
With some serious hard work from the OnePlus software team, much AI innovation seen elsewhere could be rolled out to the OnePlus 6 in the future, which would see it much more competitive in the flagship phone sector. Though, I imagine they'll wait until the 6T to implement such changes, which may give the competition too much of a head start.
I'm currently on my third OnePlus device but if I do decide to upgrade this year, I doubt I'll be spending my money on the OnePlus 6. I feel it's time for a change, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S anyone?
Though if by some miracle I actually win the xda competition, I'll be happy to keep the phone for the foreseeable future
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I had similar feelings/experience. Ended up my story with oneplus by selling my op5t and bought a p20 pro. I won't buy the 6 and waiting for the 6t... Who knows. Also interested by the Mi Mix 2s.
hunhool said:
I had similar feelings/experience. Ended up my story with oneplus by selling my op5t and bought a p20 pro. I won't buy the 6 and waiting for the 6t... Who knows. Also interested by the Mi Mix 2s.
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What improvements hardware/software wise will the 6T bring do you think ?
SlyUK said:
What improvements hardware/software wise will the 6T bring do you think ?
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Maybe wireless charging..but I don't really know.
SlyUK said:
What improvements hardware/software wise will the 6T bring do you think ?
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Maybe better battery, 3D Face unlock, fingerprint sensor under display
refedit said:
Maybe better battery, 3D Face unlock, fingerprint sensor under display
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The only realistic item you listed is the battery which I 100% agree at least by a few hundred Mah.
The fingerprint sensor under the display isn't ready yet. Samsung has been trying to get this tech for their galaxy phones buts its just not there.
Huawei has a 2k device that has it and all the reviews states its not good.
They definitely could have done something special to make more of a splash but i think this rounds they did it with design.
where they fall short for me is :
1) Camera
2) Display
3) USB standard.
4) Battery
1) i think they should have done a bit more with the cameras on paper like larger pixels maybe dualpixel AF i think the 16 MP should have matched last years pixel 2 specs but with 16 MP then for the 20MP fo a wider angle monocrom so a max of LG / huawei. But i wait on official review to see if the current setup works well
2) Display i think OP should go to QHD its about time but leave the resolution at 1080p via software like what sony does but nit picking again as one plus screens are not bad its a Samsung panel so. Just they could add a AOD option via software.
3)The main let down for me why is the USB C port still usb 2.0 standard every one else uses usb 3.0 or 3.1 to allow for faster file transfers. For a lunch focused on speed this is the major let down smh the rest i was being nit picky but the usb really.
4) one plus should really try to get in the 4000 mah and 3600 mah battery capacity ranges especially since they have dash charge and goodish battery life
hunhool said:
I had similar feelings/experience. Ended up my story with oneplus by selling my op5t and bought a p20 pro. I won't buy the 6 and waiting for the 6t... Who knows. Also interested by the Mi Mix 2s.
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I bought and returned a View 10 and P20 (non-pro) and neither would play my favorite game Hill Climb Racing 2. Major stutters so bad I couldn't even play. The P20 purchase was 9 weeks after the View. I was hoping it was a fluke deal. I did try a few other games that played well but I've also seen it mentioned that the 970 has GPU issues. I held off on the Mix 2s until the curtain was pulled back for the OP6 but I'm also on the fence. Think I'll order the 6 and if not wowed just return it and get the 2s.
Glass back on the 6
hunhool said:
Maybe wireless charging..but I don't really know.
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Now that theyve swapped from metal to glass backing, i think you are correct.
I find it weird that it wasnt included in the 6 though.
Robbo.5000 said:
Compared to the S9 and £9+, yes it is a very fine phone and probably runs it very close.
Samsung was also seen this 'season' to only come to the table with an uninspired iterative update. I think that they've suffered in being one of the first this year to roll out the release and have been caught lagging by some of the other manufacturers that came later.
Last year the S8+ was considered to have one of the best cameras in a smart phone. This year, although the S9+ camera has improved, it is only a minor improvement. Huawei and Xiaomi through heavy use of AI, have made huge leaps forward compared to last year, probably equivalent to 5 years worth of normal iterative upgrades. They have also both brought some other, worthwhile, uses of AI with their latest phones to further push themselves ahead of the competition.
OnePlus originally made 2 big sacrifices in order to keep costs low. These were LCD screens and cameras that would be typically found on mid range phones. However they were pretty much alone in the budget flagship market back then and so this wasn't seen as a big issue. With the arrival of some competition they've had to adjust accordingly.
Last year OnePlus came with a fairly large price increase, which allowed them to switch to AMOLED screens, this year another price increase sees them moving to premium camera modules expected on flagship phones.
In terms of where OnePlus was with the One and even where they were last year, yes this is a great phone and a good improvement. But considering some of the innovations some of the competition has brought this year, they have lagged behind. I no longer believe they are the first choice for those looking at the budget flagship market. Xiaomi would appear to have taken on that title.
If Xiaomi would embrace the custom ROM community the same way OnePlus have, OnePlus could find themselves losing some loyal customers.
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Well no offence, but the AI in mobiles at this point of time is a bit overrated... We have been seeing phones detect scenes and boost colors based on the scene long before companies started marketing it as AI (Coming from Honor View 10 User) , predictive app mamagement has also been a thing for a long time now.... Sure AI helps do it better... But does it really have to be marketed so much.. In reality my phone with AI doesnt feel as smooth as my friends Oneplus 5t, so im willing to bet oneplus 6 will be even smoother...
Since no one has posted any real camera samples and reviews as of now... I cant say much about it...
Onething that i did notice using the View 10 is the battery life. Its great.. Maybe thanks to the NPU, lets see if oneplus is doing something similar without making a fuss about it...
Overall it looks to be a very 2018 phone with all features te current flagships have - the AI advertising
Firipu said:
Was looking forward to the oneplus 6.
I was thinking to upgrade to either a Mi Mix 2s or OP6. But I don't see what the OP6 offers, besides non-IP rated waterproofing over the Mi Mix 2s.
Same innards.
Same price
Ugly notch
Better blacks?
Arguably worse camera on paper
No wireless charging.
I don't see why you would pick an OP6 over Mix 2s. Miui sucks (got a lot better though lately), but is very easy to replace with a custom ROM.
Disappointed
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Click to collapse
Mi mix 2s disadvantages are ,very poor development & community...
If you like to modify your phone ..rooting , trying custom kernels , custom ROMs...etc.. then definitely OP6...
Otherwise Mix2s ..
I'm surprised by some of these comments. You're all asking for features that would clearly bump the price way up? I think you have unrealistic expectations - if you want it to be a s9, buy an s9 lol!
4k panel? Why? Your eyes can't see it, worse battery and more expensive.
The wireless charging, yes it's interesting, but doesn't matter at all to me. It's slower than with wires and I can't play on my phone whilst charging.
The camera is probably the only Biggie for me. I really hope it's low light shots are at least usable. I'm coming from my nexus 6P and this camera has served me very well - I hope the OnePlus 6 is better.
As for other things like the notch - I mean come on guys, if you disable it you can't even see it. With it there you get more screen size.
I think for the price it's a fantastic phone, and the software is a great experience compared to many other cheap alternatives!
cultofluna said:
Mi mix 2s disadvantages are ,very poor development & community...
If you like to modify your phone ..rooting , trying custom kernels , custom ROMs...etc.. then definitely OP6...
Otherwise Mix2s ..
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Not disagreeing, but I have a Mix 2 and redmi note 4. They both have a very active dev community. Really can't complain. Not as amazing as e.g. Nexus devices, but still very good imo. Can't comment on Oneplus dev community though.
And the 2s is a treble device.
wireless charging will always be asked for but hardly be undestood by me.
It's utterly slow compared to any charging solution on market.
Then you go on the charge for a day... it's somewhat convenient, but takes some more room in the phone internals, and on your desk with the charger.
The glass back is more for the awesome mobile network speeds and wifi reception.
As much as I hate glass for shattering, my experience always shown that metal chassis results in poor reception.
Well that's about it. I'm curiously waiting for the oneplus6 to arrive. It was a long time ago with the OnePlus One when I last saw how OnePlus fares...
I'm sure I'm gonna have the U12+ too as well this year, but I needed to check another qualcom rocketed device this year (no kirin or exynos for dev purposes on my end)
As it stands today, the Pixel Camera is considered by most to be the Gold Standard. Most of the magic happens after the picture is taken via software. Why can't One Plus figure this magic out to some degree? The sensors are more than capable. The stock camera doesn't take bad pictures, but certainly inconsistent. My Pixel 2 XL blows the stock camera on the One Plus 7 Pro out of the water. The Gcam mods help and I appreciate the work by those devs, but this should be handled by One Plus. Is the software magic that hard to replicate by One Plus?
Lesser Version said:
As it stands today, the Pixel Camera is considered by most to be the Gold Standard. Most of the magic happens after the picture is taken via software. Why can't One Plus figure this magic out to some degree? The sensors are more than capable. The stock camera doesn't take bad pictures, but certainly inconsistent. My Pixel 2 XL blows the stock camera on the One Plus 7 Pro out of the water. The Gcam mods help and I appreciate the work by those devs, but this should be handled by One Plus. Is the software magic that hard to replicate by One Plus?
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Click to collapse
Yes it's a bit difficult. Here's why...
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Nig...-Ultra-wide-cameras-on-OnePlus-7-Pro_id117647
Στάλθηκε από το GM1913 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
I always thought it looked amazing, especially on the phone's display.
I guess if you're more into cameras you notice these things.
Also looks great to me...
slayerh4x said:
I always thought it looked amazing, especially on the phone's display.
I guess if you're more into cameras you notice these things.
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All depends on your expectations. I think the pics from the stock camera looks pretty great, especially in good light. The original poster is comparing the photo quality to the Pixel 2 XL, so I can't make that comparison personally. For me, on one hand, if I really want the best image quality, I'll use my "real camera". On the other hand, I'm usually pretty impressed when I do use my 7 Pro for snapshots.
To address the original poster's question, the big difference is that Google has nearly endless cash and resources to throw at what they think is important. And it's pretty clear they look at the camera on the Pixel line as a discriminator; and versus the likes of Samsung and Apple (if not in sales numbers, than by device price and "flagship" device status). Where OnePlus is a pretty small company, content with existing in a more "value" priced space (even if the price keep incrementally bumping up with each iteration). OnePlus phones doesn't quite max out the specs in every category (we all know that), but they give us a great device for a great price.
A big notch, chin, and bezel usually comes with the pixel camera
Google and other OEMs have extensive resources in their software department. Google has AI and resources to focus on photography. It's amazing me that Oneplus cameras can rival many flagships.
galaxys said:
A big notch, chin, and bezel usually comes with the pixel camera
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This made me laugh this morning......thanks!
Robert235 said:
Google and other OEMs have extensive resources in their software department. Google has AI and resources to focus on photography. It's amazing me that Oneplus cameras can rival many flagships.
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My thoughts exactly. Not only does Google have the cash to burn, but also massive amounts of data to draw upon for their AI machine learning. Plus, development of image AI probably has tons of applications for other Google projects, besides just the camera app or the Pixel phones. So it probably makes perfect sense in the bigger picture for Google to be spending resources on the camera app and related technologies.
None of this really applies to OnePlus. They are just a relatively small company making some nice phones.
This whole subject on phones and cameras makes me laugh all the time. I'm an enthusiast photog and do a lot of photography. I have some serious equipment just to give some background. These phones are point and shoot cameras. They do extremely well in all situations really. They generally take a photo at comparable quality as a DSLR from 10 years ago. if I need serious photos, I'll look out my gear. These phones are more than enough for 90% of anyone taking photos. I can use my OnePlus 7 pro in manual mode and get photos good enough to be used professionally. In auto I can get better than most DSLR cameras from 10 years ago.
Every phone camera has flaws, including pixel, Samsung, Huawei and apple. That's why in these photo camera comparisons the op7 is best in a certain situation, Samsung is better here and apple is better there. This is why people like myself still spend $3-4k on camera like a Nikon D850. I use my phone camera probably 85% of the time, they are still that good
Hi, I have had an iPhone since day 1 in 2007.
I am very technical and have friends who have used Android, but I've never done more than play with their devices. I am adept with Linux and have used it since around 2001.
I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and am looking at upgrading to something new. 3 cameras, including Macro and 3X telephoto on the new iPhone are very appealing to me, so I wouldn't want to give those up if I get a different phone. Features wise my priorities are:
1) Cameras (10-bit video a plus)
2) 6.5"+ excellent 10-bit screen
3) At least as fast as iPhone 12 Pro (I know as far as browser and graphics go, that's tough, but as close as possible)
4) At least as good battery life
Lately I am concerned about Apple's surveillance-culture developments and have been looking into things like the PinePhone and Librem. Open hardware with no blobs and fully open software is very appealing. However, even with the PinePhone Pro coming out next year, they are not particularly performant devices. Pure Linux phone software looks quite wanting still too. Primarily, they are not great camera platforms, which is really my core use case.
So now I am looking at things like Snapdragon 888 based devices running LineageOS. What phone and software should I be looking at to get a no-compromises iPhone 13 Pro level camera experience while maximizing privacy and security protections?
I think we have come to a point where smartphones have reached a mature phase in product design where there can only be marginal improvements in terms of performance and overall experience.
Year on year, there are marginal improvements in hardware and a lot of money is spent in marketing how the current version is an improvement over previous version. Tests are 'designed' to show the current version being 'x%' better than previous iteration, although there is hardly any noticeable difference in real life use.
Today, fortunately, the premium flagships are hardly any better than phones selling at half the price in terms of performance and overall experience. The primary or only differentiating factor is the Camera. So if you buy a $1,000 phone, it is just as good as a $500 phone in terms of performance and overall experience in day-to-day use. The other $500 is primarily for the camera! Ofcourse, there are some other benefits too that come for this premium, such as IP certification, 1 or 2 years of additional software support, etc.
With that background, what are specific things you look for when buying a smartphone today?
Here are some unique features offered by brands:
SAMSUNG
1. Best cameras on an Android phone. If you have the budget, go for a Samsung flagship because the camera experience is best. Other brands are offering very good cameras too, but then overall Samsung leads here (Pixel is close).
2. Silent Call Recording (as of OneUI 5.0): Fortunately, this feature is still present in Samsung phones when other brands (including OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc.) have unfortunately moved on to replacing their dialers with Google Dialer.
OnePlus/ Xiaomi/ Oppo/ Vivo/ Realme/ Redmi/ iQOO
1. Superfast charging: This is one area where Chinese brands have nailed it. The dual battery system, and charging technology that limits heating to the charger instead of the phone make this aspect an enviable feature for owners of other brands. Not sure why Samsung and other brands are not adopting similar technology.
2. Specialized cooling hardware: Specialized cooling technologies like vapour chamber, use of graphene, etc. to reduce thermal throttling is another area where they are doing exceedingly well.
3. Built-in firewall: This is one outstanding OS feature that only some brands like OnePlus, Oppo and Xiaomi (including Redmi) provide. It is not available on Vivo. Not sure about other brands.
4. Silent call recording (available as an option):
For OnePlus/ Oppo/ Realme: Install ODialer.
For iQOO/ Vivo: Enable Alternate Dialer and Contacts under Settings/ Apps
Pixel/ Nothing/ Motorola
Stock Android experience which leaves a lot to desire.
Check out (and contribute to) the comparison of Android 13 features by brand here:
Comparing Android 13 features of different OEMs
In this post, I'm comparing the features available on Android 13 from different OEMs as of the end of 2022. Since some OEMs offer a different set of features for their budget devices, not all features available on one device will be available on...
forum.xda-developers.com
For premium smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Build quality (metal frame)
6. Price under $1000 / 1000€ not over
For budjet smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Price under $500 / 500€
I did not mentioned screens because i prefer LCD screen but most premium smartphones these days comes with oled screen. It's really hard to find premium high performance phone with LCD screen.
Dayuser said:
For premium smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Build quality (metal frame)
6. Price under $1000 / 1000€ not over
For budjet smartphone
1. Stock Android
2. Decent cameras
3. Snapdragon processor
4. "Big battery" at least 5000 mAh or near
5. Price under $500 / 500€
I did not mentioned screens because i prefer LCD screen but most premium smartphones these days comes with oled screen. It's really hard to find premium high performance phone with LCD screen.
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Stock Android is quite basic and leaves a lot to desire for. I'm talking of features, and not UI. Examples would be scrolling screenshots, screen recording, gestures for activating features (e.g. 3 finger screenshot), etc.
Snapdragon processor: why is that a must? The Mediatek Dimensity series of processors are quite capable, and so is Exynos. I don't go by standard tests and numbers shown by them. They don't reflect real-life usage, and can be manipulated.
I'm happy you didn't mention 'glass back', because without wireless charging it is a liability.
And why 'decent' cameras for a premium phone? Great camera should be the criteria since that is what you are paying a premium for.
For me, this is how they would be:
Premium Phone
1. Best cameras
2. Silent call recording
So I'll choose Samsung as this is the only brand today with the above features.
Budget Phone
1. 3.5 mm headphone jack
2. Infrared (IR) blaster
So I'll choose a Xiaomi (Redmi) phone in this category as this is the only brand offering these features.
I'm not mentioning others like display, storage, ram, etc. as pretty much all premium flagship phones offer the same hardware. Same holds true for performance and battery life.
TheMystic said:
And why 'decent' cameras for a premium phone? Great camera should be the criteria since that is what you are paying a premium for.
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I mentioned "desent" in both categories because it's mainly up to user who knows what is great camera. All premium and flagship have good cameras, or at least main camera.
Snapdragon because GCam ports mainly works best on Snapdragon phones.
Dayuser said:
I mentioned "desent" in both categories because it's mainly up to user who knows what is great camera. All premium and flagship have good cameras, or at least main camera.
Snapdragon because GCam ports mainly works best on Snapdragon phones.
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Do you really need GCam for a premium flagship phone? I think the stock cameras do a great job.
I see GCam as a nice solution for mid rangers that lack premium camera hardware and software processing required for excellent shots.
TheMystic said:
Do you really need GCam for a premium flagship phone? I think the stock cameras do a great job.
I see GCam as a nice solution for mid rangers that lack premium camera hardware and software processing required for excellent shots.
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Click to collapse
No not really needs but it's a choice. It's really what people like.
Let's say it this way and this works for many brands.
If you want over saturated colors and over sharpened pictures, then use stock camera. If you want more natural colors and decent sharp.. use gcam.
and sometimes stock cameras noise processing is too much.
But all these what i said is small things and most of people doesn't really care
Dayuser said:
No not really needs but it's a choice. It's really what people like.
Let's say it this way and this works for many brands.
If you want over saturated colors and over sharpened pictures, then use stock camera. If you want more natural colors and decent sharp.. use gcam.
and sometimes stock cameras noise processing is too much.
But all these what i said is small things and most of people doesn't really care
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is true that often the difference in quality isn't substantial among premium smartphone cameras, and also that the end result is subjective. The cameras on my S22U are very good, and I never felt a need for GCam.
GCam is often found to over sharpen things a bit though.
On a personal level, i prefer great shots over natural ones, as long as saturation and other aspects aren't overdone.
Expandable storage, 1tb minimum.
I demand a dual drive device. Screw Google cattle herding the masses for their self serving ends. To hell with the idea cloud as a viable alternative. Right from the pages of MS's playbook of control.
Spen.
Square display corners, blah, blah, blah.
It's a lost cause... lol, I'll be using the N10+'s/Android 9 and 10 for another 3-5 years. Zero faith in Google or Samsung to get their sorry assets back in line ever again at this point. Junkware.
blackhawk said:
Expandable storage, 1tb minimum.
I demand a dual drive device. Screw Google cattle herding the masses for their self serving ends. To hell with the idea cloud as a viable alternative. Right from the pages of MS's playbook of control.
Spen.
Square display corners, blah, blah, blah.
It's a lost cause... lol, I'll be using the N10+'s/Android 9 and 10 for another 3-5 years. Zero faith in Google or Samsung to get their sorry assets back in line ever again at this point. Junkware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Expandable storage is something that only very few mid range devices offer. With higher internal storage and cloud services, OEMs have made it clear that it is not something they are willing to support.
A lot of investments are being made in technology and i don't want to lose out on these advancements on a personal level, as some of these features are truly incredible. But I am careful of granting permissions like camera, microphone, sms, etc. to apps and I don't use voice assistants (I'm not comfortable with the idea that something is constantly listening to me or my environment).
But it is a tradeoff, and it has to be that way. Without input, one cannot make use of technology. So everyone must part with an amount of data they are comfortable with. There should be very strong regulations where data being collected is strictly limited and some types of data must never be collected. GDPR is a welcome step in that direction, but is grossly inadequate and therefore ineffective. While it has forced companies to show a Privacy Policy message prompt, it has hardly done anything to what data is being collected, and if it is actually necessary for the product/ service being offered in return.
i always worry ONLY about 2 things when i buy a new phone :
1. can it be rooted
2. is there custom firmware (or is someone working on it)
This is about the only thing i worry about.
i will check later if i can also make a phonecall or take a picture also
contrinsan said:
i always worry ONLY about 2 things when i buy a new phone :
1. can it be rooted
2. is there custom firmware (or is someone working on it)
This is about the only thing i worry about.
i will check later if i can also make a phonecall or take a picture also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped doing that a few years back. I would rather trust an OEM software than one made by an unknown developer. Besides, some of the developers are very arrogant.
And today, there isn't really anything a rooted device can do which a non-rooted device can't. The risk/ effort is not worth any potential marginal benefit.
contrinsan said:
i always worry ONLY about 2 things when i buy a new phone :
1. can it be rooted
2. is there custom firmware (or is someone working on it)
This is about the only thing i worry about.
i will check later if i can also make a phonecall or take a picture also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same but i look for like famous phones among XDA developers
TheMystic said:
I stopped doing that a few years back. I would rather trust an OEM software than one made by an unknown developer. Besides, some of the developers are very arrogant.
And today, there isn't really anything a rooted device can do which a non-rooted device can't. The risk/ effort is not worth any potential marginal benefit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, i am running stock for 2 months now and i wish i never flashed stock android 12 because i don't find a way to go back to custom firmware but some things i really miss
- used to have phone call recording,
- adblocking without vpn or heavy battery use,
-youtube vanced working properly,
-wifi and 4g optimized
-battery use optimized and deep sleep working properly (my stock android 12 samsung s10e can run 8 up to 12 hours when i am at work, it is 12-18 hours when running CF. I can no longer survive a day at work without extra charging..
- change splashscreen, boot and shutdown logo, change whatever sound in the firmware,..
- viper sound mod for good sound experience or removing all kinds of annoying restrictions for louder music
- something i miss a lot : configuration of phone like 2 rows instead of one at the top (very uselful to have time with seconds and date on first line and all the notifications go on 2nd line)
- i also miss android auto being able to run other apps,
- i can only shutdown or restart the phone, no other options,
- i can no longer take screenshots from a payment in my banking app (and many other apps), - i can no longer decide i want 7 icons in the first line of the dropdown menu (and many, many, many, many other handy features)
these are just a couple i think about, there is also Xposed with so many handy things
Also if you want a little bit of privacy it is not possible on a phone that is stock android, it is also full with rubbish bloatware such as facebook and other spy programs that i can not remove unless when rooted.
i really see no advantage in having stock android, it makes me feel as if i don't own half of the phone
This is my list: is it bootloader unlockable?
Is it supported by lineage os and twrp?
Is it powerful enough?
If these are yes I could consider buying the device
Price under 500 €
contrinsan said:
well, i am running stock for 2 months now and i wish i never flashed stock android 12 because i don't find a way to go back to custom firmware but some things i really miss
- used to have phone call recording,
- adblocking without vpn or heavy battery use,
-youtube vanced working properly,
-wifi and 4g optimized
-battery use optimized and deep sleep working properly (my stock android 12 samsung s10e can run 8 up to 12 hours when i am at work, it is 12-18 hours when running CF. I can no longer survive a day at work without extra charging..
- change splashscreen, boot and shutdown logo, change whatever sound in the firmware,..
- viper sound mod for good sound experience or removing all kinds of annoying restrictions for louder music
- something i miss a lot : configuration of phone like 2 rows instead of one at the top (very uselful to have time with seconds and date on first line and all the notifications go on 2nd line)
- i also miss android auto being able to run other apps,
- i can only shutdown or restart the phone, no other options,
- i can no longer take screenshots from a payment in my banking app (and many other apps), - i can no longer decide i want 7 icons in the first line of the dropdown menu (and many, many, many, many other handy features)
these are just a couple i think about, there is also Xposed with so many handy things
Also if you want a little bit of privacy it is not possible on a phone that is stock android, it is also full with rubbish bloatware such as facebook and other spy programs that i can not remove unless when rooted.
i really see no advantage in having stock android, it makes me feel as if i don't own half of the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Samsung is the only (or one of very few) OEM offering silent call recording feature today. Since Samsung flagship has (one of) the best cameras on any smartphone, this is my choice of Android for now.
2. Adblocking is possible using private DNS server (dns.adguard.com) that doesn't require VPN or drain battery.
3. Vanced YouTube (non-root) works perfectly fine on Android 13 (tested on OneUI, OOS and MIUI).
4. Viper makes a marginal difference today, especially over Bluetooth. This makes it unattractive given the efforts required to make it work today.
Many of the other stuff you mentioned are available only on custom ROMs, which I am unlikely to return to. They are non-essential and mostly 'fancy' stuff one can live without.
I use Google apps and some of their services (Photos, Drive, Gmail, YouTube, etc.) are very important for me. I have never seen any significant battery life gains with any custom ROM or tweaks as i can't uninstall Google Services.
Netguard does an excellent job of blocking unwanted apps and services from connecting to the internet.
There were essentially only a handful of things (adblocking, viper, titanium backups, ad-free YouTube) why I was rooting my devices, and pretty much all of those have proper non-root replacements today.
Hello fellow Pixel users,
In my country Google is not selling their phones officially, so from my perspective it's a tough decision to make. I will be buying it from Germany within my business travel. I am currently using OnePlus 8 Pro and before that I had a Samsung S10+ (Exynos variant). So I am familiar with having a processor that is way better than Exynos is quite the difference.
1- So my first question is how good is the Tensor chip inside Google's phone. I am aware of the better usage as we can see with Apple maintaining the iphone's own silicone. They are trying the best power output of the smartphone within it's hardware capabilities. I am no gamer with the phone so all I expect is watch some videos, use basic social media and open many chrome tabs and sometimes take pictures from my travel.
2-My second question is the material used in the phone. As I said before I never seen or used a pixel phone. I expect it to be maintain basics or better than overall quality but from the social media I am hearing that camera frame has getting damage, power button is falling inside the phone. A fellow youtuber JerryRigsEverything said about bending issue in his teardown video too. Is anyone here experienced issues like this? Or is it a %1 manufacturing mistake that can happen to anyone.
3-My third question is the battery life and camera performance from your experience. I have watched some youtube videos from MKBHD, which is just praising the Pixel 7 Pro and I am trusting his channel. Meanwhile I have watched some unbiased compare videos with the S23 Ultra and iphone 14 Pro Max and usually photos and videos from Pixel phone looks much worse than how it's announced. Maybe they are not editing their photos, just comparing them with the way it is looking straight from the camera. But since nobody here is doing a sponsorship with pixel I trust your words over them.
Thank you for your response
Clearly these are only my own opinions.
1. Tensor 2 is great, it might not look good on paper thanks to all the benchmarking people do but in the real world it is more than enough.
2. You are never going to bend the phone like Zack does on JRE and lets be fair here, the P7P didn't snap or remain bent in his test. My P7P is now 5 months old and remains scratch free with all its buttons in place.
3. Battery life in my experience is good, i don't recall having to charge in the day even when going mental with the camera on a day out or on Holiday. Photos are good but they do have that pixel look about them and despite Googles "real tone" claims it sometimes makes a right pigs ear of skin tones regardless of colour. Mainly though you will end up with a good photo just about every time, whether it is framed right is down to you. As for video, well it is a Pixel, its never been any Pixels strongest attribute but i find videos from it perfectly acceptable.