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Hey guys,
I would like to start a discussion that would aggregate meta-data available on the Chinese budget phones under £200 with mid-range specs, firstly in order to help me ,but also others to decide the correct one as there is scarcity of reviews and lots of them are paid for stubs and contain lots of misleading data.
I have spent last two weeks researching on my leisure the best possible option for the chinese budget mid-range purchase. I have been hoping to get a device priced well under £200 that would field a solid camera, 4G (800mhz) ,superb hardware perf. CPU, GPU and GPS, have solid battery 2700mh+ (ideally with quick charge function) have appealing design and ideally max up to 5" of display size with the Lollipop upgradeability.
I have seen and read lots of reviews including yours and concluded on following:
- Mediatek did really break out of its shackles and these new 64bit SoCs ARM A53 Cortex with 6732 and 6752 are real deal breakers, so I have found a plenty of quad core 5" phones that satisfy my hunger for the performance stuffed by features - >
- Kingzone N3 Plus , Elephone P6000 (and possibly P3000s) , Lenovo P70 and also a bit more expensive Zopo ZP920 magic.
--- > now from what I have seen about these devices they are united under one oblivious problem that I cannot simply overlook despite being on low budget. And that is the overall quality of their cameras. Here we can easily conclude that they generally suck, although Zopo Zp920 is one of the favourites together with ZTE Blade S6 ,but here had battery life really swept all my hopes into oblivion. One of the issues I ve found here is that almost every budget manufacturer simply loves to overstate the resolution capability of these phones, I have been digging deeper just to find out that Elephone and Kingzone simply equip their devices with a lower quality Omnivision or Sony (ElE has even issued two different sensors for the same phone due to shortage of stock) that are really just 8Mpx interpolated to 13 MPx. I have not seen many useful reviews for N3 Plus despite it's appealing design and functions comparable to P3000s, but I assume the camera problem will be exactly the same (as it is with the alleged overstated battery capacity). Despite this problematic, I have found out that the camera on P6000 is kind of controversial.
P6000 is slacked as most of the same priced phones for underperformance in low light situations., however, I have found several contrasting reviews that even claim that its low light/night images are even better that on the famous Xiaomi Mi4. From pics I ve seen I wonder whether the varying quality can be a result of different sensors used or for example that pictures have been taken on its native 8MPx res rather then extrapolated 13MPx . I am writing this really because, P6000 seems to be after all my best choice together with its 32bit brother P3000s. I have tried to look out for some comparison between these two especially camera wise (talking about rear cameras, as I am not really that concerned about the front ones), but I failed. Problem is that Ele nor reviewers really state what sensors are these phones using. But P6000 seems (at least from some outdoors pictures) quite sharper and with better dynamic range, but I am still undecided.
Is camera on these phones also fixable software wise as I am not really into vanilla camera apps.
Now first questions on you. Firstly, do you know about any device currently priced under £200 that would match my criteria or at least that would have really exceptional camera for this price range ? Is Elephone P6000 superior to P3000s in terms of performance and camera or are they pretty much comparable ? Also how much of difference we talking in terms of GPU between Mali T450-M4 and T760 M2 ? It seems that finding a solid camera that would boast at least with pretty standard Exmor 214 sensor with a solid battery life is almost impossible, or I have largely overlooked something.
I also understand that if camera wise my 5" quest would prove unsuccessful I will have to go phablet wise and I am although kinda reluctantly to do so. Here I have researched my field on comparable level.
My finalists are Jiayu S3 , Kingzone Z1 and Eco E04 Aurora (P7000 and M1 are excluded as they re not supporting my LTE band 20) On E04 side I am quite baffled as it initially looked as a superb device , but many responses pointed out its inaccurate GPS and also camera seems to be exaggerated as 16MPx with unknown sensor model. I have seen some really great shots, but also some not very good - again probably due to extrapolation perhaps. Also it only comes with 2GB at the moment and without NFC support. So in phablet side S3 seems to be the king - yet, I have seen some really crap videos took on this devices, where reviewer admitted that this is a firmware error and that fix is on its way, so the S3 leaves me with the only really big concern and that is the battery recharge time that is apparently the slowest around here (up to 4hrs !!! ) which again made my enthusiasm cease. And then we have here Kingzone Z1. Apart from only HD display, it is stuffed with features and seems to be a direct competitor for all 5.5s of its price range. However, despite being out there are no reviews that I can hold on, so for me this device also represents a great unknown.
Equally, I have been checking camera comparison for the upper-midrange flagships like Meizu Mx4 and OnePlusOne just to find out that not even these guys despite their renown are capable of great shots under low-light conditions.
Also I am in a preference of 64bit processors especially the new Mediatek 6732 and 6752. I am ready for your tips and advices, also if you can bring in links to some camera comparisons among these phones and more in depth reviews I d be glad. Also will happy if you bring up some real data about camera sensors and other modules that are under suspicion to be lies presented by manufacturers.
And if you own any of the phones mentioned, state a brief overview about their pro/cons.
Waiting forward to your responses
Thanks
Six
HUAWEI fanboy here. :thumbup:
Sent from my HUAWEI Y536A1 using XDA Free mobile app
I recently discovered Xiaomi and think I will never go back! Good quality and low prices
I have RedMi Note 4G which is a fairly perfect phone for its price range. Never had a problem. It hasn't 800 MHz LTE though, but it's worth checking out other Xiaomi phones too.
---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 AM ----------
Also, I would reccomend avoid mediatek devices if you can. They are generally poorer in video performance than Qualcomm / Intel ones. I had a huawei G700, while specs say it's a great phone in my experience it was not. Lags and slowness was frequent issues.
Mediatek also has a bad reputation in open source community, modding/upgrading/installing recovery and custom ROMs would be impossible or at least harder.
I am very happy with my Xiaomi and maybe you could be too!
udda90 said:
I recently discovered Xiaomi and think I will never go back! Good quality and low prices
I have RedMi Note 4G which is a fairly perfect phone for its price range. Never had a problem. It hasn't 800 MHz LTE though, but it's worth checking out other Xiaomi phones too.
---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 AM ----------
Also, I would reccomend avoid mediatek devices if you can. They are generally poorer in video performance than Qualcomm / Intel ones. I had a huawei G700, while specs say it's a great phone in my experience it was not. Lags and slowness was frequent issues.
Mediatek also has a bad reputation in open source community, modding/upgrading/installing recovery and custom ROMs would be impossible or at least harder.
I am very happy with my Xiaomi and maybe you could be too!
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I got a Xiaomi Mi Note (Dual Sim and dual 4G) from China recently, which is fast (3G RAM), smooth (iphone style ROM) and good quality and just a little over £200.
But please bear in mind that it only supports FDD-LTE B3/B7, which means if your carrier is Vodafone UK (I'm in the UK by the way) you can not use LTE outside of London,Manchester and Birmingham.
(I don't have permission to post an outside link yet, but if wiki 'LTE-Advanced' you can see Vodafone UK is using B20 throughout the UK and B7 in 3 cities an the moment)
Only 3 and EE use LTE B3/B7.
GeorgeZZzz said:
I got a Xiaomi Mi Note (Dual Sim and dual 4G) from China recently, which is fast (3G RAM), smooth (iphone style ROM) and good quality and just a little over £200.
But please bear in mind that it only supports FDD-LTE B3/B7, which means if your carrier is Vodafone UK (I'm in the UK by the way) you can not use LTE outside of London,Manchester and Birmingham.
(I don't have permission to post an outside link yet, but if wiki 'LTE-Advanced' you can see Vodafone UK is using B20 throughout the UK and B7 in 3 cities an the moment)
Only 3 and EE use LTE B3/B7.
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In the end I went with Jiyau S3 Advanced, bout £160 and I cannot complain. Flashed it into Flyme OS and man this machine rocks the socks ! The resurrection of Mediatek - this 64bit M6752 Octacore smites Snapdragon 610 with an easy apparently.
Also camerawise - Sony Exmor IMAX 214 RS really delivers the promise - Removable battery makes it a dream. After 2 weeks of research, I am only happy I did not fell for anyother device, - plus supports Band 20 /800 Mhz @4G so it's GiffGaff & O2 ready.
Xiaomi phones are pretty good in many aspects. I'm planning on getting one in the near future. Some of my friends have Xiaomi devices and so far they haven't had any complaints.
sixtheninth said:
In the end I went with Jiyau S3 Advanced, bout £160 and I cannot complain. Flashed it into Flyme OS and man this machine rocks the socks ! The resurrection of Mediatek - this 64bit M6752 Octacore smites Snapdragon 610 with an easy apparently.
Also camerawise - Sony Exmor IMAX 214 RS really delivers the promise - Removable battery makes it a dream. After 2 weeks of research, I am only happy I did not fell for anyother device, - plus supports Band 20 /800 Mhz @4G so it's GiffGaff & O2 ready.
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Good for you. I'm still looking for the solution to unlcok LTE B20 on my Xiaomi MI Note LTE...
This post is not working for me...:crying:
yea, i'd look into the xiaomi options. it's surely gonna be my next purchase, although im also a bit of a lenovo fan.
now i have a jiayu g2f, i spent about 100 dollars on it at the time. i can say that it beats the quality of my previous(samsung) phones. In speed it is definately similar to my tab4 10.1. only thing is that it heats a bit more.
so like was mentioned, i'd also look into the jiayu s3 if i was you.
You can choose Huawei
I am a chinese and now i am in china ,I think Huawei is a good choice.Huawei have many patents and their devices is so good.Now i am using Huawei honor 6.(my english is so bad,if i had a misspelling,please pardon me)
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 .
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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 .
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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 $400 for the full priced H8 I would recommend a used Nexus 6p or a One plus 3 for flashing customs roms and developer support.
If those phones are too big for your taste theirs also the HTC 9 and 10 to consider... they have a great developer community
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I have around 450 max for a phone and the Oneplus 3 would have been great because it was 430 dollars but now they only sell the 3T for about 500 and its an import so i think it will have taxes . I looked at the One M9 and the one thing i didn't like is that it is missing a fingerprint scanner and from reviews they say if your chosing between the M9 and S6 go for the S6 so idk . The HTC 10 is good but if i had the money for it (650$) 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 .
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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).
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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.
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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 .
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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
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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).
This question is more for Developers\Advanced Users\Geeks, than the normal user\average Joe (who uses the phone 90% for Calls \SMS , Whatsapp and just a few games like Candy Crush\Fruit Ninja and a little Web surfing):
Which Phone would you prefer? Phone A or Phone B ?
I personally can't decide which I should use..
I will not (yet) post Geekbench\Antutu because:
1) The App says the name of the phone, so it wouldn't be a blind poll anymore
2) I don't really trust these more popular tests anymore because money CAN buy results or at least app optimization so less popular (but well made) apps are more likely to tell the truth
Please Read the whole text above ^ and carefully look at the Screenshots I attached before posting.. Saying that I should just choose the one with the higher numbers\benchmarks would prove to me that you do not (ever?) read the Original Post and just like troll every thread you find, OR if you did read, it would make me doubt that your IQ is enough for the xda forum.
Obviously one would choose higher benchmarks.
Thread cleaned up.
Please be civil and respect each other.
There is absolutely no need for foul language.
Let's keep it on topic please.
Thanks!
Regards
Vatsal,
Forum Moderator.
Hey.
Given your use, I would say that Phone A is the best choice. Better graphics, better Ram, onlty has a worse read and write speed (although it's half the speed, which is bad).
Still, for the type of use you describe, can't really see why you would pick phone B since it does not take a lot of read speed to open those apps decently.
Any reason for you not saying which phones they are? You clearly know that tests are not all the story, and saying wich phones these are you are letting people with that phone tell you about their experience
This does look like a Pixel vs Galaxy S7 though.
badjoras said:
Hey.
Given your use, I would say that Phone A is the best choice. Better graphics, better Ram, onlty has a worse read and write speed (although it's half the speed, which is bad).
Still, for the type of use you describe, can't really see why you would pick phone B since it does not take a lot of read speed to open those apps decently.
Any reason for you not saying which phones they are? You clearly know that tests are not all the story, and saying wich phones these are you are letting people with that phone tell you about their experience
This does look like a Pixel vs Galaxy S7 though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your reply... you understood me wrongly...I said ''This question is for Developers\Advanced Users\Geeks, {not for } the normal user\average Joe (because [average Joe- meaning most people] uses their phone 90% for Calls \SMS , Whatsapp and just a few games like Candy Crush\Fruit Ninja and a little Web surfing)'' and they don't know anything about these geeky things.. so the cannot help me with the question. ..but that doesn't matter..it's not the point here. I just wanted to see what other people think is more important: RAM speed or NAND speed.
NOW THE DISCLOSURE:
Phone A is the Lenovo ZUK Z2 (Snapdragon 820 with adreno 530, 4gb ram,-flashed with Lineage OS ) -cost me 200€ (almost a year ago)
Phone B is the S8+ (Exynos 8895, 4gb ram) cost me 900€
Of course in all other Benchmarks (Geekbench, Antutu, Basemark OS, Basemark X,Basemark ES 3.1, 3D Mark, Lightmark, Brue Bench Pro etc) the S8+ absolutely dominates\destroys the ZUK but in these 2, where ONLY the RAM (and the Storage) gets tested , the difference is not that big between the 2 Smartphones.
In daily use I cannot see a difference in responsiveness with both of them..If I could, I wouldn't have made this thread, and would have decided on my own (which one I should use daily).
P.S: It couldn't have been the Pixel because: see my Signature (phone history).. I never had that ugly ''Ferrari''
sensationvsgalaxy said:
thanks for your reply... you understood me wrongly...I said ''This question is for Developers\Advanced Users\Geeks, {not for } the normal user\average Joe (because [average Joe- meaning most people] uses their phone 90% for Calls \SMS , Whatsapp and just a few games like Candy Crush\Fruit Ninja and a little Web surfing)'' and they don't know anything about these geeky things.. so the cannot help me with the question. ..but that doesn't matter..it's not the point here. I just wanted to see what other people think is more important: RAM speed or NAND speed.
NOW THE DISCLOSURE:
Phone A is the Lenovo ZUK Z2 (Snapdragon 820 with adreno 530, 4gb ram,-flashed with Lineage OS ) -cost me 200€ (almost a year ago)
Phone B is the S8+ (Exynos 8895, 4gb ram) cost me 900€
Of course in all other Benchmarks (Geekbench, Antutu, Basemark OS, Basemark X,Basemark ES 3.1, 3D Mark, Lightmark, Brue Bench Pro etc) the S8+ absolutely dominates\destroys the ZUK but in these 2, where ONLY the RAM (and the Storage) gets tested , the difference is not that big between the 2 Smartphones.
In daily use I cannot see a difference in responsiveness with both of them..If I could, I wouldn't have made this thread, and would have decided on my own (which one I should use daily).
P.S: It couldn't have been the Pixel because: see my Signature (phone history).. I never had that ugly ''Ferrari''
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for misreading your text.
I have a S8+ but I have had just about everything that was graded as a flagship since the time when flagships were snapdragon 600s (htc one m7 and s4) and before that all galaxy S phones.
I have had phones with the snapdragons: 800, 801, 805, 810, 820 and now 835
The thing is, could you tell the difference between what you have benchmarked in the real world? I don't think so.
Can you tell the difference between a snapdragon 800 and a 805? I sure couldnt and had a few 800s; Could you tell the difference between a 800 and a 810? definetly, although subtle; Could I tell the difference between a 810 and a 820? yup, but it's even more subtle... but from a 820 to a 835? No way.
Funny enough, you can tell the difference between a galaxy s6 and a oneplus 2, or between a Mi Mix and a S7, and both these comparisons have the same processors (hell, if we are comparing exynos, the samsungs have a more powerful processor)... The chinese phones are faster
This said, if you want to chose between a SD820 and a SD835 based on real world performance, the difference if negligible at best; if you want to go by benchmarks my Exynos s8+ scores 181k on antutu (overclocked 2.5ghz scores 5-6k more) and that is a full 20k faster than a OnePlus 3t with a SD821.
My advice won't be geeky or anything like that, we got to a point where we are putting more horsepower in a car that has no more runway to run. No app laggs a 820.
If you have both phones, use as a daily driver the phone that suits your needs better.
A phone is not a processor nor a LDDR4 ram, a phone is a whole and as a whole, AT THIS MOMENT, nothing beats the S8+ in my opinion.
badjoras said:
Sorry for misreading your text.
I have a S8+ but I have had just about everything that was graded as a flagship since the time when flagships were snapdragon 600s (htc one m7 and s4) and before that all galaxy S phones.
I have had phones with the snapdragons: 800, 801, 805, 810, 820 and now 835
The thing is, could you tell the difference between what you have benchmarked in the real world? I don't think so.
Can you tell the difference between a snapdragon 800 and a 805? I sure couldnt and had a few 800s; Could you tell the difference between a 800 and a 810? definetly, although subtle; Could I tell the difference between a 810 and a 820? yup, but it's even more subtle... but from a 820 to a 835? No way.
Funny enough, you can tell the difference between a galaxy s6 and a oneplus 2, or between a Mi Mix and a S7, and both these comparisons have the same processors (hell, if we are comparing exynos, the samsungs have a more powerful processor)... The chinese phones are faster
This said, if you want to chose between a SD820 and a SD835 based on real world performance, the difference if negligible at best; if you want to go by benchmarks my Exynos s8+ scores 181k on antutu (overclocked 2.5ghz scores 5-6k more) and that is a full 20k faster than a OnePlus 3t with a SD821.
My advice won't be geeky or anything like that, we got to a point where we are putting more horsepower in a car that has no more runway to run. No app laggs a 820.
If you have both phones, use as a daily driver the phone that suits your needs better.
A phone is not a processor nor a LDDR4 ram, a phone is a whole and as a whole, AT THIS MOMENT, nothing beats the S8+ in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with everything you said..except the last sentence:
There is something faster than a s8+: a s8+ WITH CYANOGENMOD\LINEAGE OS or Oxygen OS:angel::angel::silly::victory:
I don't really don't want to spend more than $400, ($600 if it can really deliver).
I need:
Headphone Jack
Micro SD slot (or it will have to have 512gb or 1Tb models available [probably more than $600])
6-8gb RAM
OLED
Decent battery
Android 9
A decent radio would nice, maybe a must, something with good reception, but, from what i can tell mid rang phones skimp on radio quality.
My OnePlusX has all of this minus the 6gb of RAM but, ever since updating to android 9 it's been acting like hardware failure or like there is moisture the main board, GPS not updating/working, No notifications when i get texts etc etc (all worked at first after initial upgrade) One plus sells nothing over 256gb.
You should try the Xiaomi Mi 9.
Somethings it has going for it:
6gb Ram
Snapdragon 855
Android 9
super AMOLED screen
3300 mAh battery.
seems to check all of your requirements. I think B&H photo has it at $419. It's even dual sim. I currently have around 4-5 android phones because of work reasons. Xiaomi phones have always been my goto because of the build quality and it not slowing down after long term use.
cdoublejj said:
I don't really don't want to spend more than $400, ($600 if it can really deliver).
I need:
Headphone Jack
Micro SD slot (or it will have to have 512gb or 1Tb models available [probably more than $600])
6-8gb RAM
OLED
Decent battery
Android 9
A decent radio would nice, maybe a must, something with good reception, but, from what i can tell mid rang phones skimp on radio quality.
My OnePlusX has all of this minus the 6gb of RAM but, ever since updating to android 9 it's been acting like hardware failure or like there is moisture the main board, GPS not updating/working, No notifications when i get texts etc etc (all worked at first after initial upgrade) One plus sells nothing over 256gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
colew said:
You should try the Xiaomi Mi 9.
Somethings it has going for it:
6gb Ram
Snapdragon 855
Android 9
super AMOLED screen
3300 mAh battery.
seems to check all of your requirements. I think B&H photo has it at $419. It's even dual sim. I currently have around 4-5 android phones because of work reasons. Xiaomi phones have always been my goto because of the build quality and it not slowing down after long term use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620179
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1846277
Hi All,
2021 is here and I'm concerned about my privacy (finally).
I'm looking for a phone with good specs, capable of being run on Verizon in the US, and won't break the bank. ($500 is my ceiling)
I've looked into this year's budget offerings but been slightly disappointed with them enough to avoid them. What seems to be the best bet is a 1 or 2 year old flagship device.
I used to root and rom until vzw started locking the bootloaders on their Samsung lineup. I unfortunately went to iPhone a few years later, but now that I'm turning out to be more privacy minded over convenience, I've returned to the idea of purchasing an android to flash a custom privacy minded rom.
As I've been out of the game for so long and my preliminary research has been unfruitful, I waned to ask if you could point me in the direction of a few phones and roms that would run on verizon.
Thanks in advance!
jonnyboiii
You could get a used Note 10+ but it probably be around $650 from a reliable source like B&H Photo. Note 9's are less.
I go for something running on Pie as Q and up are screwed to hell in my opinion. With Pie you can use the freeware app Karma Firewall to lock it down as all it's features like logging are fully functional.
Between Samsung and Android the last year has not had many good offerings.
If I had to replace my 10+ now I be very tempted to go with another 10+... that's how bad the newer models/OS's are. I don't recommend any of the new Samsung phones as my overall impression of them is they're unacceptable.
blackhawk said:
You could get a used Note 10+ but it probably be around $650 from a reliable source like B&H Photo. Note 9's are less.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been looking into that phone in particular; perhaps I should go into the subforum Q&A, but...
It looks like there are no ROMs really available for the Note10. I could only find one ROM and some recoveries in the subforum. Didn't there used to be subforums for carrier specific models?
Apart from the Pinephone, is there a privacy-minded ROM that you know of? Just needs to be able to run on some decent phones.
jonnyboiii said:
Been looking into that phone in particular; perhaps I should go into the subforum Q&A, but...
It looks like there are no ROMs really available for the Note10. I could only find one ROM and some recoveries in the subforum. Didn't there used to be subforums for carrier specific models?
Apart from the Pinephone, is there a privacy-minded ROM that you know of? Just needs to be able to run on some decent phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can be a little hard to find:
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is a 6.8" phone with a 1440x3040p resolution display. The Exynos 9825/Snapdragon 855 chipset is paired with 12GB of RAM and 256/512GB of storage. The main camera is 12+12+16MP and the selfie camera is 10MP. The battery has a 4300mAh capacity.
forum.xda-developers.com
I'm on a AT&T stock 10+ 512 gb/Pie. Don't get the 5G variant but the 512 gb variant running on Pie is sweet. I recommend you stay on Pie.
Q and 11* are fqcked up and you will take a performance/functionality hit.
A very fast/stable, rock solid phone. 6o hz screen refresh rate but a drop dead gorgeous display.
No 3.5 mm jack so you'll want a pair of Buds+ or Buds Pro for it.
I simple use Package Disabler Pro, Karma Firewall and settings to lock it down. No force reloads due to malware yet.
I don't root and with this phone running on Pie it's not needed. Be nice but most likely be a time gravity well for me.
* the newest phones have faster ram and cpu but Android 10 and 11 handicap the faster hardware by using more cpu cycles. If you're tired of the Apple trip I'd stick with Pie