Question What did I luck out ? ❗ - Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Finally received my "Red" 22 Ultra this afternoon.
I have to say my excitement had dwindled to about nothing given so many bad reports from internet wide tech forums (including this one) on the camera, to UI lag to battery hell etc ...
I must also say my experience after 8hrs pretty much coincides with this! :
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: A phenomenal 5-star smartphone
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is absolutely fabulous, bringing the very best of Samsung in all areas of the phone experience. Here's our review of the Snapdragon-powered version.
www.xda-developers.com

My home has been butter. Zero ui lag and battery life I'm getting an extra hour sot longer then what my note 20 ultra did when it was new. No complaints.

I've had a fantastic experience so far with my WHT fly ass S22 Ultra, I love it! No issues for me, what so ever.

I had call issues but came out that solution was only an SMS from my provider.
I love this phone. I've always been a Note fan.

No complaints here on my S22U, I really, really like this phone. Coming from an S20U, - this one is smoother...

This phone (and basically any new phone in the past) seems to be either hit or miss based on your expectations. While Exynos did have confirmed issues, SD for me has been amazing. I love the camera (does require a real steady pulse), UI is smooth (and I have the 8GB variant). Once set up properly the phone is sweet.
Of course you will erad a lot of people nagging (some say the sPEN is in the incorrect side, or that Note 10 is the best thing to ever happen ) but dont let anyone's experience ruin yours.
When Note 20 U and S21 U came out there were mixed reviews as well, but if you like it then dont pay attention to what others complain about.

I'm in the same boat too. SD on T-mobile and its been great. Had some minor gps issues but that's now resolved with the latest update. Battery life is slightly better coming from my previous Note 20 ultra which is to be expected with the extra 500mAh or so we're getting with the S22 ultra. I don't even think I have to debloat at this point but never say never I guess

joancolmenares said:
This phone (and basically any new phone in the past) seems to be either hit or miss based on your expectations. While Exynos did have confirmed issues, SD for me has been amazing. I love the camera (does require a real steady pulse), UI is smooth (and I have the 8GB variant). Once set up properly the phone is sweet.
Of course you will erad a lot of people nagging (some say the sPEN is in the incorrect side, or that Note 10 is the best thing to ever happen ) but dont let anyone's experience ruin yours.
When Note 20 U and S21 U came out there were mixed reviews as well, but if you like it then dont pay attention to what others complain about.
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Click to collapse
This is totally true!! I was a little scared when placing the order for my S908E (Asia/Africa) after reading all the reviews over the internet. But I still placed the order. 2 days later the phone arrived and I put on my latex glove to inspect it. "FLAWLESS!!" I said. Put the Spigen Thin Fit and Whitestone Dome Glass on. Then, I unlocked the bootloader, root the phone, set it up, and everything went buttery smooth. I love this phone's design and also both hardware and software. To me, it beats any Note in the past. I charged to 100% and go to sleep, wake up with 98% and I am happy with that. Till the end of the day, the phone drop down to 18% after heavily usage which is also fine by me. These new phones nowadays require being charged every day anyways. I upgrade every year so no need to baby the battery. It will be traded in for new phone next year anyways.

Related

Overall speed

Would you say that the Samsung Galaxy S8 is "fast" in day-to-day use? A higher rating indicates that you think the Samsung Galaxy S8 exhibits fantastic performance. Like, is it as fast as your tears when you watch The Titanic?
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Galaxy S8 and S8+
XDA_RealLifeReview said:
Would you say that the Samsung Galaxy S8 is "fast" in day-to-day use? A higher rating indicates that you think the Samsung Galaxy S8 exhibits fantastic performance. Like, is it as fast as your tears when you watch The Titanic?
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah why not, samsung Galaxy S8 has been outstanding, because this was the time for samsung to grape their consumers back since the incident happened with samsung galaxy note 7(mod edit) of BATTERY EXPLOSION, best of luck to galaxy s8 and s8+
It's ok still has a way to go tho
I can say it, the phone is "fast", maybe not the fastest, but phone is fast, I've not used a galaxy series phone as my daily driver since Galaxy Note 2, however I've tested every Galaxy series phone, And with S8 plus finally I went back again to Galaxy series phone as my daily phone.. That's all I can say about it.
Coming from the S6, i can positively say that i have noticed an improved experience in terms of fluidity and multitasking. Really can't complain right now
Try setting your performance mode to game mode and the phone seems to be smoother and faster. Not sure if it's just a placebo effect though.
regarding to S5 - awsome
dannytgt said:
I can say it, the phone is "fast", maybe not the fastest, but phone is fast, I've not used a galaxy series phone as my daily driver since Galaxy Note 2, however I've tested every Galaxy series phone, And with S8 plus finally I went back again to Galaxy series phone as my daily phone.. That's all I can say about it.
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Click to collapse
I can agree on this. I have been using iPhone 3 years now and finally i came back to samsung android camp with release of s8+.
It's fast but it ain't so smooth than i expected it to be. I mean for time to time when i use multiple apps at the sametime, it stutters and keyboard lags time to time too.
Otherwise it's really good.
Slows down a lot after some months. camera starts slow and is not reliable. RAM Management is ****ty for a flagship.
madphone said:
Slows down a lot after some months. camera starts slow and is not reliable. RAM Management is ****ty for a flagship.
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Click to collapse
Clear your cache in recovery!
madphone said:
Slows down a lot after some months. camera starts slow and is not reliable. RAM Management is ****ty for a flagship.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same her. The slowest device i own.
Got to say I've only been using this phone for just over 1 week and the last few days it's started lagging already, which is a real surprise imo, had an S7 edge a year ago and it wasn't like this.
However after finding this thread I checked my mode and it was set to optimised mode, so set it to performance mode and will see how it goes.
prodigyX said:
Clear your cache in recovery!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, tried that already but it did nothing. only thing what helped was a full wipe. for now it's much faster ( i asume for a month or so) but still lags more than my old 6P. Let's see if it will improve when they update it to android 8 next march.
disappointed
Bought less than a week ago, previous phone OnePlus3 - used for a year.
OnePlus 3 became slower than when i just bought it after a year because of all the stuff installed etc, obviously.
So this phone i have now(s8) - feels about the speed of OP3(after a year, not new) - and often times even slower.
Really disappointed.
I factory reset my OP3 to sell it, it feels like a lightning compared to s8.
I am afraid to think how this thing will work after few months...
Yes ok great display(feels smaller than OP3 though because of weird aspect ration, also more comfortable in hand, to be honest, but smaller)
Yes very good camera(reviews say, tried to take few pics yesterday, didn't see any noticeable difference to be honest, but ok may be i dont know how to shoot).
But except for that dont feel like it justifies the price.
The fingerprint sensor is amazingly crappy after OP3(again we are talking a 1.5 generation older chinese phone!!!)
I am really afraid after few months it will go real slow.
The only good thing since its galaxy i believe it d be easier to sell if want to later, compared to OP5 which would come way cheaper if i chose it.
I ll give it some more time, if i feel like its getting even slower i ll sell it and buy an OP5.
Honestly though, for that price they should be ashamed at Samsung for selling a phone that cheaper chinese brands easily outperform it.
I've been using my phone in "High-Performance" mode for a week now and so far so good, even though I've since found out that there is no boost from the CPU in this mode it seems much more fluid compared to the "Optimised mode".
Not fast. it lags and stutters and isn't smooth but it's ok! I think I can kinda live with it?!
The problem with this thread is that not everyone who is complaining bought the phone. Some just hate Samsung, some just write based on what they read on the internet.
Its a shame XDA has so many trolls atm.
madphone said:
thanks, tried that already but it did nothing. only thing what helped was a full wipe. for now it's much faster ( i asume for a month or so) but still lags more than my old 6P. Let's see if it will improve when they update it to android 8 next march.
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Click to collapse
Lol 6p was the laggiest garbage phone I've ever owned
Blows
I kicked myself for not jumping on to the Verizon 50% off deal on the Google Pixel 2. This Samsung S8 blows, it lags way too much after some use i have to close all the apps (at times not that many are running) or just restart the phone. I would have assumed for a flagship phone this would be a lot faster. I'll have to wait for another deal before I toss this phone and get a Pixel 2.
I would give a "quickness" rating of 3/5 if I consider the performances of the phone out of the box. I mean it's ok, but can get messy.
However, after flashing a decent rom and rooting the thing, debloating most of samsung crap with package disabler or equivalent, I managed to get something really really fast that deserves a 5 stars rating.

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Samsung Galaxy Note FE, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Samsung Galaxy Note FE is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
It is simply the MOST beautiful thing... Sometimes I find myself just staring at it.
I need a life.
Estetically astonishing, an amazing swansong for the pre "infinity display" desing language at Samsung. If it weren't for all that crappy bloatware. If only I were brave enough to root it. If only i could have one N935F just released in some asian markets like Malaysia.
Much love
The FE just became available here in Manila so i quickly pounced on one. I really liked the Note 7 when it came out and was sorely disappointed when it ended so badly
This phone is magnificent, I have the N8 as well but the FE fits in my hand better and is easier for me to handle. Sort of the difference between an S7 and an S8 overall but very happy to add to my collection. This one is a real keeper here as resale is nil and barely anyone know about it.
Also important for me it's a dual SIM version!
Definite love
Great phone! Dimension, FP reader position, battery life are all to my liking. Top notch phone! Accessories are much cheaper too! lol!
Price of phone could have been slightly lower though.
4.5/5 for me.
note fe is very good, similar to note 8, the price is also affordable, if we talk about the hardware also still able to survive at least 2 or 3 more years (I think)
I just love it too, seriously. Although not being able to root it (for now I hope!) makes me a bit frustrated.. Overall, I agree that the price could have been a bit lower but it's a Note so that's quite understandable...
I'll keep it and keep loving it until there's a really more appealing phone released which I think, won't be released soon as this Infinity-whatever trend of Samsung of the newest devices is just awful to me..
I highly prefer my capacitive navbar and the 16:9 ratio lol
I'm considering buying one. But with shipping and import...that'll be at least 600 EUR, probably more towards 650. The Note8 is already sold at 750, even Dual-Sim. Is it worth shelling out that much (I actually only hate the S8/Note8 because of the rear-mounted FP sensor).
treysis said:
I'm considering buying one. But with shipping and import...that'll be at least 600 EUR, probably more towards 650. The Note8 is already sold at 750, even Dual-Sim. Is it worth shelling out that much (I actually only hate the S8/Note8 because of the rear-mounted FP sensor).
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Click to collapse
The Note FE is the last of his kind, physical front home button, 16:9 ratio.
It's not a bad thing so I ordered one instead of the Note 8 even if price is almost the same.
This phone is made for the Fan only
Hm, I thought about ordering a few so as to minimize my costs. But looking at prices for Note8 on ebay, I doubt this will be a success, if you can buy a European dual-sim Note8 with local warranty for only 50-100 Euros more. Would really need someone who appreciates the front FP as much as I do.
i just traded my s7 with the fe. reasons:
1. i skipped s8 and newer ones because i really despise having to pickup the whole phone from table just to securely unlock it. i trust biometric as far more secure, accurate and convenient compared to password, pin or pattern. the fingerprint scanner must always in the front, ready on your command only by using 1 finger. i readily accept last year hardware performance for this, i really don't mind since they are already powerful enough
2. the design is simply gorgeous and i luv it for still giving my finger some space to grip it on landscape mode because i enjoy watching video on my phone quite a lot during travel/commute. newer phone designs barely give anything to grip
i really wish the design trend will reverse but if it doesn't i think this will be the last time i upgrade my phone. lol
The main issues for me are a) no AOSP/LOS/RR (can't stand Touchwiz or Samsung Experience), b) not much community/official/3rd party development/support, and c) I just can't find it anywhere near me or I would have bought it (despite the curvy edges and non-replaceable battery).
Bought the blue dual sim Note FE about 5 months ago. Always wanted a Note device but choosing this one over the newer models, is due to the consideration of the smaller size and the much more beautiful design (imo) the the front fingerprint sensor. Kinda disappointed that the custom scene is not big, but at this moment in time and considering how stable and good the phone has been so far, rooting it will be enough for me.
Reading though about losing some samsung apps is worrisome though. Apart from the samsung pay (don't care at all as I don't pay through the phone), knox, what else won't work after rooting? Is there a list somewhere?
Feregorn said:
Bought the blue dual sim Note FE about 5 months ago. Always wanted a Note device but choosing this one over the newer models, is due to the consideration of the smaller size and the much more beautiful design (imo) the the front fingerprint sensor. Kinda disappointed that the custom scene is not big, but at this moment in time and considering how stable and good the phone has been so far, rooting it will be enough for me.
Reading though about losing some samsung apps is worrisome though. Apart from the samsung pay (don't care at all as I don't pay through the phone), knox, what else won't work after rootinng? Is there a list somewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi i was thinking the same as you till month ago . But believe me no need at all , first now we got Android 9 with all new look. Second you can install rootless substratum with andromeda , you will find many themes.
Third now there are many apps that will cover your needs instead of rooting . Just dig in xda
Finally Samsung firmware is very complicated. I used to root my note 3 . It was rootable . It works ok but with some bugs . But now i think that any custom rom will give you a hard time fixing bugs especially with latest version of samsung note .
And all custom rom will not be friendly with s pen features.
nesoor1230 said:
Hi i was thinking the same as you till month ago . But believe me no need at all , first now we got Android 9 with all new look. Second you can install rootless substratum with andromeda , you will find many themes.
Third now there are many apps that will cover your needs instead of rooting . Just dig in xda
Finally Samsung firmware is very complicated. I used to root my note 3 . It was rootable . It works ok but with some bugs . But now i think that any custom rom will give you a hard time fixing bugs especially with latest version of samsung note .
And all custom rom will not be friendly with s pen features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your response. The biggest reason that I want root is to install an ad blocker like adaway and ad-free YouTube as ads can be really annoying to me. But I will surely check the substratum that you mentioned.
Sent from my SM-N935F using Tapatalk

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Honor 7X, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Honor 7X is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Honor made a phone with impressive phone with great build quality at such price range without any doubt.
Hands on to Honor
Coming from Samsung galaxy S7 Edge and LG v20 ( sold all flagship phones because of family issues ) i can say i am in love with this phone. Really nice display. Crisp and sharp. Good battery life with normal usage. Overall very happy with Honor 7X
I got this mobile recently. I am in love with this mobile. Camera is great and overall smooth performance. Battery has power saving mode for running more than 30 hours, with full charge
fast and reliable for daily use
Came from a Nexus 6P of two years and I love this phone!!
Love how easy EMUI theming is and I can make it look like stock android if I want to all without rooting and without the slowness that I found substratum can cause.
Easily getting 5+ hours of SOT on a daily basis; and only time I've noticed any sort of lag is when I haven't used the phone while sleeping; it unlocks quickly via fingerprint but the first app i open takes a second longer to open then its back to it's snappy self.
Love it! Thing is a beast!
Joined the crowd today with the Mate SE, WOW! What a Great Phone!
Sure, it's not a flagship, but it feels like one! and if it does most of what you *really* need, with such a great price, It's astounding really. I've spent some time Mate SE vs MI A1. It's subjective of course, but the SE has all the US bands, bottom line, if I'm out in the boonies, I want the best odds of being able to make that call.
Have been using it for an hour and did app updates, map downloads, etc. Hasn't heated up at all, cool as could be. Very Happy with this choice!
Just got this phone cuz my Galaxy Note broke, and i needed something ASAP. Although i didn´t expect too much from a phone in this price range, I´m still bothered by the mediocre camera, and a poor display with horrible view angles. I´ll keep it for a bit, the build quality seems decent, but that´s all.
Just got it 2 weeks ago. Good bye all other budget phones. It rocks
My Galaxy S7 committed suicide about three weeks ago and still having payments on it and trying to get out of AT&T without having to get into more payments this was an AMAZING choice. does everything i need it too and some. works way better than my S7 IMO, One week of use and i love it!
I wish I had heard of this company before buying all these second hand Samung/Motorola phones through craigslist just to save money, when I can buy a comparable phone brand new for a price that is cheaper. This phone is just an improved version of the Honor 7X.
My review is based off replacing a Samsung Note 4 and my work phone is a Galaxy S7.
Battery:
The battery life is superb on this. Seeing how my Note 4 had all this bloatware and these Samsung extras out of the box. The Note 4 couldn't even last through out the day with constant usage. This phone lasts through out the day, set it down without charging it for the night and it still has power.
Battery life is about the same as the S7, though.
Design:
Doesn't feel like a cheap, cricket phone. Feels like it has some weight, some heft to it. I am also impressed by the fingerprint technology on the back of the handset. It is much better and responsive then what the Galaxy S7 has. I never had to 'retry' my fingerprint as if it didn't register it.
Communications:
Haven't noticed any difference in terms of call quality or signal. Yet, my carrier is AT&T. The only concern is that the phone doesn't support 5G Wi-Fi.
Camera.
Unless something was wrong with my Samsung Note 4, this camera is much better than the Note, but similar to what the S7 has, or maybe even less.
Display:
I can't tell if this is part of the android or part of Huawei, but there are animations in the display which are interesting. From where you can see the display brightness slider move automatically to where texts seem to 'bounce' when you scroll through them. There is little bloatware and I like the drawer design of the apps. Screen is also bigger than my Note 4.
Also some people state the charging cable is different, yet my cord that charges my samsung phones can charge this phone.
At the end of the day, this phone can do everything a $1,200 phone can do.
Just bought new one from amazon, I will give my review very soon.
I've had it since the day after Prime Day. Love it. My only complaint is some of the bloatware. I also find the organizations of Settings in EMUI somewhat annoying. (It's like 4 clicks to get to the screen where you can choose a new wifi network.) Overall, this is a great phone and an incredible value.
Phone still going strong. My only major issue is that GPS is horrible with this phone. From Waze to Google Maps, the signal isn't consistent and drops when it comes to GPS. Never experienced anything like this, and it's been like this day one.
Great cpu performance. great battery life.
Poor audio output. Volume boosting apps don't work.
Rooting was easy, reverting... still need to wade through that.
Screen replacement wasn't too difficult, cheap (and cheap quality) parts on ebay. BEWARE! The battery pack is a gel pack that's glued on to the chassis. I ripped the battery open trying to remove it and had to order a new one.
The chassis is FLIMSY. After disassembling the phone to replace the screen, I saw that 1. the back cover is a flimsy bit of plastin (plastic or tin) and 2. the main chassis itself is a weak and flimsy bit of cast pot metal. This phone will bend and break very easily, which is what I suspect caused the screen to break so easily.
Overall, great performer, the sound issue may be addressed with newer Android, the chassis is in need of serious reinforcement.
The Honor 7X was one of the best budget phones of it's time. For under $200, this phone is a really great deal.

My Personal Complaints/Review of the Huawei Mate 20 X

MY PERSONAL COMPLAINTS & REVIEW OF THE HUAWEI MATE 20 X
This is my personal take of the huawei mate 20X which I provide as a cautionary note to potential buyers. This is an honest critique of a phone I owned for little over a month. For comparison sake I own the samsung a70 and used that to gauge the phone's overall value. Last month I bought it going in with the mindset that the big screen and its features would be cool as hell. I was wrong.
Online I purchased it for $590. My first impression when I unboxed it was I felt horrified. The phone is monster big. It made me a bit uneasy to think that the heavy weight coupled with its sheer size would make for a perfect shattered screen in time. As I handled it I was on edge that it would fall which made me feel somewhat insecure. But after a while I got used to the size and it fit my pockets although the top protrudes out a bit. After toying with it I felt I had to always be aware that it might fall so I used extra precaution while it was on my person, but it was no biggie.
BATTERY
The first thing that constantly bothered me about the phone was the battery which is 5000 mah. The first thing I made sure to do was to put this baby into airplane mode, turn off bt and location and just keep wifi on. Also, I made sure of turning off background activity in the settings on the grand majority of apps not to mention uninstalling unwanted apps.
You might at first glance think, "wow 5000 mah, amazing I'll buy it right away!" Hold your horses buddy. Just because a phone has a big battery doesnt necessarily mean it will perform like a big battery champ. An example of this is when I charged the phone to 100% one morning. I read email, went on youtube for 10 minutes, surfed the net and made one call that lasted 2 minutes. This whole session lasted 20 minutes. The battery drained to 87%, I kid you not! Another example is when I charged it to 100% one night. After 3 hours of idleness, not picking it up or doing anything to it, the battery read a disconcerting 96%. How in god's name is that possible on 5000 mah after I disabled many apps and killed many more running in the background?? By comparison my samsung a70 which has a 4500 mah battery beats the mate 20X big time in battery. After I put the a70 through the ringer with the above same session in the same amount of time the battery showed a pleasing 97%. A user on xda commented that his mate 20x's battery is slightly (keyword, slightly) better than his samsung s9 which has a 4100 mah battery. Now youre seeing the bigger picture.
UI
The UI is the 2nd worst thing about this phone. It looks like Ice Cream - heavily outdated and disappointing. Though it navigates fast through menus, the app drawer cant be accessed by swiping from the bottom as in most phones today with Pie which is installed on this phone out the box. Even though you have an option for that feature its clumsy and not pretty.
SCREEN RESOLUTION & COLOR
Another bone of contention is the screen resolution. It looks good. But when compared to modern phones like my a70 which is very sharp it falls short. Of course the screen is large which "thins out" pixel density making it less crisp. Thats understandable. But it disappoints when juxtaposing it with sharper phones.
Color is not well calibrated even though it's set to vivid by default. Red apparently dominates the other colors which makes the reds stand out too much. Perhaps a tweak in the settings would do the trick? But with a phone debuted at $1000 you would think huawei would have the experience by now to fix that. Completely inexcusable. The samsung a70's vivid color depth blows the mate 20x out of the water.
SOUND
The sound volume and quality are quite loud and amazing respectively. The best I've ever heard in any smartphone. Huawei did a good job in this dept. But there's no way to toggle dolby atmos off unfortunately. Battery charging is fast, no complaints. Stereo is a huge plus!
GAMES AND VIDEO
For some unknown twisted reason, given the above complaints, playing games on this phone lasted a long time in battery. Playing asphalt 9 for 15 minutes drained only 4 - 5%. Same thing with playing videos. An hour of youtube drained only 6%. Very good but strange given its battery drains in other areas.
OVERALL & MY ADVICE
My great question in all this is, why the hell arent people complaining about these issues?? Battery is not efficient, the UI looks ugly and feels way outdated, the colors are off, resolution isnt as sharp as on other phones and its a bit heavy. To be perfectly honest, with all these faults the phone is worth $460, not $650 which is the lowest price as a new item selling on amazon at the time of this writing. Without any of these issues the phone would be perfect.
For those considering buying this phone take great heed of the aforementioned before you fork over 7 tall bills for it that later on you might regret. Dont be easily fooled by rave reviews of owners of the phone on xda either. Many will exaggerate it because theyre blinded by its large size. Likewise, dont be easily fooled by tech reviews elsewhere like those found on zdnet. Some of them are actually written by paid reviewers who will intentionally gloss over a product, ignoring its faults to satisfy ad revenue.
Yo - I'll bite.
I like your post. Although I am only a senior member too. I don't think that means I am anywhere near qualified to do anything more than pontificate and slander. Basically, all that means is that I have been lucky enough to experience help from other waaaay more knowledgeable people than myself.
It amazes me that none of us have anywhere near the same experience as each other. ok - i have had a wine or two and the last ime that happened I started the worst rated thread in the house. https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/goodbye-huawei-phone-t3965177/page3#post80500435
COMPLAINTS & REVIEW OF THE HUAWEI MATE 20 X
This is my personal take of the huawei mate 20X which I provide as a cautionary note to potential buyers. This is an honest critique of a phone I owned for little over a month. For comparison sake I own the samsung a70 and used that to gauge the phone's overall value. Last month I bought it going in with the mindset that the big screen and its features would be cool as hell. I was wrong.
>
I haven't owned a Samsung since the S8+ - I loved it, but the battery was nowhere near what they said it was for me. I wonder if it was because I have to use a VPN 80% of the time to access Google services. (in China - Lucky/unlucky me). How do I know that you are not some sort of Samsung plant? A70 can't be as awesome as this phone, can it?
Online I purchased it for $590. My first impression when I unboxed it was I felt horrified. The phone is monster big. It made me a bit uneasy to think that the heavy weight coupled with its sheer size would make for a perfect shattered screen in time. As I handled it I was on edge that it would fall which made me feel somewhat insecure. But after a while I got used to the size and it fit my pockets although the top protrudes out a bit. After toying with it I felt I had to always be aware that it might fall so I used extra precaution while it was on my person, but it was no biggie.
>
I'm a big guy. I like the size. I like everything about the size. Yes, if you don't want a big phone - go to something else.
BATTERY
The first thing that constantly bothered me about the phone was the battery which is 5000 mah. The first thing I made sure to do was to put this baby into airplane mode, turn off bt and location and just keep wifi on. Also, I made sure of turning off background activity in the settings on the grand majority of apps not to mention uninstalling unwanted apps.
ok - I have no idea why this is the way it is for you. I have NEVER experienced a battery experience like this in sooooo ****ing many phones. So many times that famous African American on youtube - you know who - would tell me that 'this' phone's battery life was the best. And so many times I'd get let down (never more so than the Huawei Nexus 6P. Damn I loved that phone, but damn that battery sucked). Anyway, Now-a-days I can accidentally leave my camera or torch on and it DOES NOT MATTER. This thing is a battery wizard ... for me. THe AL00 in china with Veeeeepeeeee-ENNNN
You might at first glance think, "wow 5000 mah, amazing I'll buy it right away!" Hold your horses buddy. Just because a phone has a big battery doesnt necessarily mean it will perform like a big battery. An example of this is when I charged the phone to 100% one morning. I read email, went on youtube for 10 minutes, surfed the net and made one call that lasted 2 minutes. This whole session lasted 20 minutes. The battery drained to 87%, I kid you not! Another example is when I charged it to 100% one night. After 3 hours of idleness, not picking it up or doing anything to it, the battery read a disconcerting 96%. How in god's name is that possible on 5000 mah after I disabled many apps and killed many more running in the background?? My samsung a70 which has a 4500 mah battery beats the mate 20X big time in battery. After I put the a70 through the ringer with the above same session in the same amount of time the battery showed 97%. A user on xda commented that his mate 20x's battery is slightly (keyword, slightly) better than his samsung s9 which has a 4100 mah battery. Now youre seeing the bigger picture.
I have NEVER been more impressed by a smart phone. I get a day and a bit an dI am a HEAVY user. Not sure why your phone life is ****, but I wish I knew why.
UI
The UI is the 2nd worst thing about this phone. It looks heavily outdated like Ice Cream or Kit Kat. Very disappointing. Though it navigates fast through menus, the app drawer cant be accessed by swiping from the bottom. Even though you have an option for that feature its
I actually really like EMUI despite my bashing in numerous threads. I especially like the gestures. I am even unsure if I could go back to Nova ... but the fact I can't, ****s me off more than anything. The worst and second-worst and third-worst thing about this phone is the lack of accessibility to a launcher. Damn -that is frustrating and I want to elbow all the EVR dudes right in the GD nose for their insistence that the phone is awesome!
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Another bone of contention is the screen resolution. It looks good. But when compared to modern phones like my a70 which is very sharp it falls short. Of course the screen is large which "thins out" pixel density making it less crisp. Thats understandable. But it disappoints when juxtaposing it to sharper phones.
Nah man - in my opinion, the phone's resolution is pretty good. You sure you don't work for Samsung?
SOUND & BATTERY
The sound volume and quality are quite loud and amazing respectively. The best I've ever come across in any smartphone. Huawei did a good job in this dept. But there's no way to toggle dolby atmos off unfortunately. Battery charging is fast, no complaints. Stereo is a huge plus!
You're probably right, but I couldn't give a toss about this as I mostly use Bluetooth ear. Speakers have been handy once ort twice, but essentially, I have never used the jack. Also I have no clue what the **** is Atmos - I am a philistine when it comes to musique.
GAMES AND VIDEO
For some unknown twisted reason, given the above complaints, playing games on this phone lasted a long time. Playing asphalt 9 for 15 minutes drained only 4 - 5%. Same thing with playing videos. An hour of youtube drained only 6%. Very good but strange given its battery drains in other areas.
Think you are right with this. I seem to be able to set my son up on math prodigy and t4each your monster how to read and it lasts a zillion times longer than when I use the old huawei 6P.
OVERALL & MY ADVICE clumsy and not pretty.
My great question in all this is, why the hell arent people complaining about these issues?? Battery is not efficient, the UI looks ugly and feels way outdated, resolution isnt as sharp as on other phones and its a bit heavy. To be perfectly honest, with all these faults the phone is worth $460, not $650 which is the lowest price as a new item on amazon at the time of this writing. Without any of these issues the phone would be perfect.
It is worth it, in my opinion if you live outside of China and can get the EVA version and you don't need heaps of mem or a dual sim. I need a dual sim, heaps of mem, and I live in China. Therefore it has completely sucked owning the most amazing phone EVER.
For those considering buying this phone take great heed of the aforementioned before you fork over 7 tall bills for it that later on you might regret. Dont be easily fooled by rave reviews of owners of the phone on xda. Many will exaggerate it because theyre blinded by its large size. Likewise, dont be easily fooled by tech reviews elsewhere like those found on zdnet. Some of them are actually written by paid reviewers who will intentionally gloss over a product, ignoring its faults to satisfy ad revenue.
Nah dude ... It is a solid phone. I also got my wife off Apple with the mate 20 pro. These are the best phones - period. Sady though, big business and government dictate otherwise.
HUAWEI... CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME UNLOCK MY BOOTLOADER FFS
That was me who mentioned about the battery drain being slightly better on the mate 20X , it was in relation to my s10+.
The S10+ screen is smaller at 6.4", screen on time battery drain would be greater with a larger panel regardless of battery capacity as we all know. It's all relative.
My ideal goal is 0.9 - 0.4% per hour idle drain or less. Which I get on the Mate 20X , similar to my s10+. The mate 20X larger battery provides greater in between charges when device is in idle and screen off and a slightly better SOT time with screen on than my S10+.
As we all know battery drain % has nothing to do with battery capacity. Drain is drain, regardless. I use GSAM and Accubattery Pro on all my devices to measure SOT and idle drain amongst other things. One other important point is that battery drain on same given device can be completely different to someone elses same device. There are many variables that come into play in regards to battery drain. Hence why there are users of s10+ devices that complain their battery drains faster whereby others post 10 hours plus screen on time. The S10 plus is a mere example, change the device name and it's the same scenario on other device forums on XDA.
As for YouTube reviews for phones in general, I've came to find out a while ago that most are fake. YouTube influencers are given the device for free for favourable reviews.
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk
s327374 said:
I like your post. Although I am only a senior member too. I don't think that means I am anywhere near qualified to do anything more than pontificate and slander. Basically, all that means is that I have been lucky enough to experience help from other waaaay more knowledgeable people than myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats fine I dont expect anyone to know more than anyone else. There are no absolutes here just relative critiques.
How do I know that you are not some sort of Samsung plant? A70 can't be as awesome as this phone, can it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would I or samsung gain from a phone made for the asian market if I were a secret samsung agent based in USA on an english-based website? The samsung a70 is the only phone at my disposal with which to compare the mate 20x.
ok - I have no idea why this is the way it is for you. I have NEVER experienced a battery experience like this in sooooo ****ing many phones. So many times that famous African American on youtube - you know who - would tell me that 'this' phone's battery life was the best. And so many times I'd get let down (never more so than the Huawei Nexus 6P. Damn I loved that phone, but damn that battery sucked). Anyway, Now-a-days I can accidentally leave my camera or torch on and it DOES NOT MATTER.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you actually read or just scan through the battery paragraph? I specifically explained how I set up my phone. Battery life again compared to the a70 leaves much to be desired. Why it went from 100% to 96% in 3 hours with everything turned off is completely inexcusable. As for the black guy in youtube, we dont know how HE set up his phone. Keep in mind that the mate 20x mustve been his 1st 5000 mah battery phone which came out last year at the time of his review when very few phones within that same period had the same mah capacity. This is why you cant judge a phone without comparing it to other phones. I actually tested the phone with the a70 on several occasions, being careful to take notes of observed changes in battery. Just to let you know, two phones from different companies with the same battery capacity will ALWAYS perform differently in terms of battery. This is irrefutable fact.
I actually really like EMUI despite my bashing in numerous threads. I especially like the gestures. I am even unsure if I could go back to Nova ... but the fact I can't, ****s me off more than anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant qualify your response as to the UI since you prefer a 1971 chevy when we're driving 2018 ferraris. What I can comment on is that I think the L29 version can install launchers. But I'm not 100% sure on that so dont quote me for assurance.
Nah man - in my opinion, the phone's resolution is pretty good. You sure you don't work for Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it looks like this is the only phone you may have owned. Not sure but thats what it sounds like to me. Reviewers have also entered the same judgement as to its resolution.
Nah dude ... It is a solid phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said it wasnt a solid phone. Its just not a perfectly solid 10 out of 10. Its plagued with issues serious companies arent foolish enough to make which should have been ironed out before huawei released it. Premium should be premium especially at premium price, no excuses.
Chinese phone makers are not in the habit of being keen on quality control and are slow to correct mistakes. They think they can just slap together a phone with high end specs through cheap labor as their corp revenue goal, throw it in the consumer's face like a doggy treat and expect them to bite. Thats not how you make customers happy. You keep them satisfied through constant and consistent quality control which the chinese have historically lacked for a long time in their product cycles. But admittingly they are getting better at it; in that sense I give them credit where credit is due. But china is still no korea at least not yet. The mate 20x issues are to the mate 20x what chinese companies are to customers. If china would have made a strong effort to make phones amazing in all respects they could have single-handedly put a major dent in apple, lg and samsung by now.
Limeybastard said:
That was me who mentioned about the battery drain being slightly better on the mate 20X , it was in relation to my s10+.
The S10+ screen is smaller at 6.4", screen on time battery drain would be greater with a larger panel regardless of battery capacity as we all know. It's all relative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes I remember now, it was you. Appreciate that info you confirmed. However I mistakenly said it was your s9 when it was actually your s10+. I stand corrected.
As we all know battery drain % has nothing to do with battery capacity. Drain is drain, regardless. I use GSAM and Accubattery Pro on all my devices to measure SOT and idle drain amongst other things. One other important point is that battery drain on same given device can be completely different to someone elses same device. There are many variables that come into play in regards to battery drain. Hence why there are users of s10+ devices that complain their battery drains faster whereby others post 10 hours plus screen on time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats exactly what I surmised in my review. Battery capacity means nothing. It doesnt matter how big a battery is; its how efficiently the phone utilizes the voltage and how the software is able to tie in everything together, hardware and software wise.
As for YouTube reviews for phones in general, I've came to find out a while ago that most are fake. YouTube influencers are given the device for free for favourable reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are correct. It is very unfortunate that we still cant get unfiltered honest reviews despite the "free" internet environment.
Isn't it strange that we have experiences with the phone, and yet we are both ultimately unhappy with the outcome. I am frustrated, you are disappointed.
We are like the odd couple of Huawei owners.
Except, you know, we aren't really a couple...
s327374 said:
Yo - I'll bite.
I like your post. Although I am only a senior member too. I don't think that means I am anywhere near qualified to do anything more than pontificate and slander. Basically, all that means is that I have been lucky enough to experience help from other waaaay more knowledgeable people than myself.
It amazes me that none of us have anywhere near the same experience as each other. ok - i have had a wine or two and the last ime that happened I started the worst rated thread in the house. https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/goodbye-huawei-phone-t3965177/page3#post80500435
COMPLAINTS & REVIEW OF THE HUAWEI MATE 20 X
This is my personal take of the huawei mate 20X which I provide as a cautionary note to potential buyers. This is an honest critique of a phone I owned for little over a month. For comparison sake I own the samsung a70 and used that to gauge the phone's overall value. Last month I bought it going in with the mindset that the big screen and its features would be cool as hell. I was wrong.
>
I haven't owned a Samsung since the S8+ - I loved it, but the battery was nowhere near what they said it was for me. I wonder if it was because I have to use a VPN 80% of the time to access Google services. (in China - Lucky/unlucky me). How do I know that you are not some sort of Samsung plant? A70 can't be as awesome as this phone, can it?
Online I purchased it for $590. My first impression when I unboxed it was I felt horrified. The phone is monster big. It made me a bit uneasy to think that the heavy weight coupled with its sheer size would make for a perfect shattered screen in time. As I handled it I was on edge that it would fall which made me feel somewhat insecure. But after a while I got used to the size and it fit my pockets although the top protrudes out a bit. After toying with it I felt I had to always be aware that it might fall so I used extra precaution while it was on my person, but it was no biggie.
>
I'm a big guy. I like the size. I like everything about the size. Yes, if you don't want a big phone - go to something else.
BATTERY
The first thing that constantly bothered me about the phone was the battery which is 5000 mah. The first thing I made sure to do was to put this baby into airplane mode, turn off bt and location and just keep wifi on. Also, I made sure of turning off background activity in the settings on the grand majority of apps not to mention uninstalling unwanted apps.
ok - I have no idea why this is the way it is for you. I have NEVER experienced a battery experience like this in sooooo ****ing many phones. So many times that famous African American on youtube - you know who - would tell me that 'this' phone's battery life was the best. And so many times I'd get let down (never more so than the Huawei Nexus 6P. Damn I loved that phone, but damn that battery sucked). Anyway, Now-a-days I can accidentally leave my camera or torch on and it DOES NOT MATTER. This thing is a battery wizard ... for me. THe AL00 in china with Veeeeepeeeee-ENNNN
You might at first glance think, "wow 5000 mah, amazing I'll buy it right away!" Hold your horses buddy. Just because a phone has a big battery doesnt necessarily mean it will perform like a big battery. An example of this is when I charged the phone to 100% one morning. I read email, went on youtube for 10 minutes, surfed the net and made one call that lasted 2 minutes. This whole session lasted 20 minutes. The battery drained to 87%, I kid you not! Another example is when I charged it to 100% one night. After 3 hours of idleness, not picking it up or doing anything to it, the battery read a disconcerting 96%. How in god's name is that possible on 5000 mah after I disabled many apps and killed many more running in the background?? My samsung a70 which has a 4500 mah battery beats the mate 20X big time in battery. After I put the a70 through the ringer with the above same session in the same amount of time the battery showed 97%. A user on xda commented that his mate 20x's battery is slightly (keyword, slightly) better than his samsung s9 which has a 4100 mah battery. Now youre seeing the bigger picture.
I have NEVER been more impressed by a smart phone. I get a day and a bit an dI am a HEAVY user. Not sure why your phone life is ****, but I wish I knew why.
UI
The UI is the 2nd worst thing about this phone. It looks heavily outdated like Ice Cream or Kit Kat. Very disappointing. Though it navigates fast through menus, the app drawer cant be accessed by swiping from the bottom. Even though you have an option for that feature its
I actually really like EMUI despite my bashing in numerous threads. I especially like the gestures. I am even unsure if I could go back to Nova ... but the fact I can't, ****s me off more than anything. The worst and second-worst and third-worst thing about this phone is the lack of accessibility to a launcher. Damn -that is frustrating and I want to elbow all the EVR dudes right in the GD nose for their insistence that the phone is awesome!
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Another bone of contention is the screen resolution. It looks good. But when compared to modern phones like my a70 which is very sharp it falls short. Of course the screen is large which "thins out" pixel density making it less crisp. Thats understandable. But it disappoints when juxtaposing it to sharper phones.
Nah man - in my opinion, the phone's resolution is pretty good. You sure you don't work for Samsung?
SOUND & BATTERY
The sound volume and quality are quite loud and amazing respectively. The best I've ever come across in any smartphone. Huawei did a good job in this dept. But there's no way to toggle dolby atmos off unfortunately. Battery charging is fast, no complaints. Stereo is a huge plus!
You're probably right, but I couldn't give a toss about this as I mostly use Bluetooth ear. Speakers have been handy once ort twice, but essentially, I have never used the jack. Also I have no clue what the **** is Atmos - I am a philistine when it comes to musique.
GAMES AND VIDEO
For some unknown twisted reason, given the above complaints, playing games on this phone lasted a long time. Playing asphalt 9 for 15 minutes drained only 4 - 5%. Same thing with playing videos. An hour of youtube drained only 6%. Very good but strange given its battery drains in other areas.
Think you are right with this. I seem to be able to set my son up on math prodigy and t4each your monster how to read and it lasts a zillion times longer than when I use the old huawei 6P.
OVERALL & MY ADVICE clumsy and not pretty.
My great question in all this is, why the hell arent people complaining about these issues?? Battery is not efficient, the UI looks ugly and feels way outdated, resolution isnt as sharp as on other phones and its a bit heavy. To be perfectly honest, with all these faults the phone is worth $460, not $650 which is the lowest price as a new item on amazon at the time of this writing. Without any of these issues the phone would be perfect.
It is worth it, in my opinion if you live outside of China and can get the EVA version and you don't need heaps of mem or a dual sim. I need a dual sim, heaps of mem, and I live in China. Therefore it has completely sucked owning the most amazing phone EVER.
For those considering buying this phone take great heed of the aforementioned before you fork over 7 tall bills for it that later on you might regret. Dont be easily fooled by rave reviews of owners of the phone on xda. Many will exaggerate it because theyre blinded by its large size. Likewise, dont be easily fooled by tech reviews elsewhere like those found on zdnet. Some of them are actually written by paid reviewers who will intentionally gloss over a product, ignoring its faults to satisfy ad revenue.
Nah dude ... It is a solid phone. I also got my wife off Apple with the mate 20 pro. These are the best phones - period. Sady though, big business and government dictate otherwise.
HUAWEI... CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME UNLOCK MY BOOTLOADER FFS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deloj said:
Oh yes I remember now, it was you. Appreciate that info you confirmed. However I mistakenly said it was your s9 when it was actually your s10+. I stand corrected.
Thats exactly what I surmised in my review. Battery capacity means nothing. Its how you use it that determines its longevity and drain rate. It doesnt matter how big a battery is; its how efficiently the phone utilizes the voltage and how the software is able to tie in everything together, hardware and software wise.
Yes you are correct. It is very unfortunate that we still cant get unfiltered honest reviews despite the "free" internet environment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deloj said:
Thats fine I dont expect anyone to know more than anyone else. There are no absolutes here just relative critiques.
What would I or samsung gain from a phone made for the asian market if I were a secret samsung agent based in USA on an english-based website? The samsung a70 is the only phone at my disposal with which to compare the mate 20x.
Did you actually read or just scan through the battery paragraph? I specifically explained how I set up my phone. Battery life again compared to the a70 leaves much to be desired. Why it went from 100% to 96% in 3 hours with everything turned off is completely inexcusable. As for the black guy in youtube, we dont know how HE set up his phone. Keep in mind that the mate 20x mustve been his 1st 5000 mah battery phone which came out last year at the time of his review when very few phones within that same period had the same mah capacity. This is why you cant judge a phone without comparing it to other phones. I actually tested the phone with the a70 on several occasions, being careful to take notes of observed changes in battery. Just to let you know, two phones from different companies with the same battery capacity will ALWAYS perform differently in terms of battery. This is irrefutable fact.
I cant qualify your response as to the UI since you prefer a 1971 chevy when we're driving 2018 ferraris. What I can comment on is that I think the L29 version can install launchers. But I'm not 100% sure on that so dont quote me for assurance.
Yeah it looks like this is the only phone you may have owned. Not sure but thats what it sounds like to me. Reviewers have also entered the same judgement as to its resolution.
Never said it wasnt a solid phone. Its just not a perfectly solid 10 out of 10. Its plagued with issues serious companies arent foolish enough to make which should have been ironed out before huawei released it. Premium should be premium especially at premium price, no excuses.
Chinese phone makers are not in the habit of being keen on quality control and are slow to correct mistakes. They think they can just slap together a phone with high end specs through cheap labor as their corp revenue goal, throw it in the consumer's face like a doggy treat and expect them to bite. Thats not how you make customers happy. You keep them satisfied through constant and consistent quality control which the chinese have historically lacked for a long time in their product cycles. But admittingly they are getting better at it; in that sense I give them credit where credit is due. But china is still no korea at least not yet. The mate 20x issues are to the mate 20x what chinese companies are to customers. If china had made a strong effort to make phones amazing in all respects they could have single-handedly demolished apple, lg and samsung by now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
s327374 said:
Isn't it strange that we have experiences with the phone, and yet we are both ultimately unhappy with the outcome. I am frustrated, you are disappointed.
We are like the odd couple of Huawei owners.
Except, you know, we aren't really a couple...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm both frustrated and disappointed. Honestly I wanted to make the mate 20x my main driver that I planned to replace my a70. But huawei decided for me to keep my a70.
The honor 8x max is a good big screened phone. But problems with installed google services like the playstore keep me from considering buying it.
Looks like I'll stick to my a70 until I see a better contender with a bigger screen, hopefully one with no issues that would otherwise prompt me to open a thread to complain about.
Wouldnt say we're the 'odd couple' since we're both not as frustrated with each other as with that one thing bothering us, the mate 20x. We're more like Frasier and Niles.
deloj said:
I'm both frustrated and disappointed. Honestly I wanted to make the mate 20x my main driver that I planned to replace my a70. But huawei decided for me to keep my a70.
The honor 8x max is a good big screened phone. But problems with installed google services like the playstore keep me from considering buying it.
Looks like I'll stick to my a70 until I see a better contender with a bigger screen, hopefully one with no issues that would otherwise prompt me to open a thread to complain about.
Wouldnt say we're the 'odd couple' since we're both not as frustrated with each other as with that one thing bothering us, the mate 20x. We're more like Frasier and Niles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honor 8X Max doesn't appear to support any TMobile USA LTE bands.
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk
Limeybastard said:
Honor 8X Max doesn't appear to support any TMobile USA LTE bands.
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually saw on amazon the 8x max for gsm carriers like tmobile.
deloj said:
I actually saw on amazon the 8x max for gsm carriers like tmobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Max version hasn't got any USA T-Mobile LTE bands.
The none Max version has some T-Mobile LTE bands though.
View attachment 4844367
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
For me, the terrible bluetooth quality is killing me. The signal breaks up a LOT!
Limeybastard said:
Max version hasn't got any USA T-Mobile LTE bands.
The none Max version has some T-Mobile LTE bands though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very sad to hear that. Another example of huawei disappointing potential consumers. The fact that this will hurt them in revenue makes me happy. If they dont take this as a lesson I dont know what will.
.
bigfire said:
For me, the terrible bluetooth quality is killing me. The signal breaks up a LOT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mustve picked up a defective phone. I didnt have any issues with bt. Hate saying this but try a factory reset.
My bluetooth works brilliantly. Did the factory reset work?
Well guys I'm thinking of buying back this phone. Before I do I need to see how it looks with Emui 10. If anyone has the BETA emui 10 installed I'd appreciate a few pics. Thanks guys.

Should I buy one now

Hi All,
I was wondering what you guys think of the phone now 8 months down the line. I am getting this at a good price around £650 for a good condition used phone on ebay. I was wondering if you guys think most of its problems have been fixed by now.
Just to give you a background, I currently have a note 9 and frankly I am very happy with this phone but it is old now and I am itching to upgrade to something newer, primarily for the cameras and 120hz refresh rate. I did buy the S21 ultra on pre-order but was really disappointed with the camera performance as I found the images my exynos variant produced to be very soft and noisy and not as sharp/clear as my note 9 and overall the phone felt like a big compromise (no s-pen, no sd card, no headphone jack) after paying £1300, so I sent it back. The camera and screen are the primary reasons for me to upgrade and I expect at least decent battery life (maybe 6-7 hours SOT with youtube abd browsing). I do use the S-Pen every now and then and think it would be a good to have. I know the note 20 ultra doesnt support WQHD+ and 120hz at the same time but at the price im getting it at i think this is a compromise i am willing to make since i mostly use my phone at FHD+ anyway and I can barely tell the difference.
I know there was talk about the exynos variant being bad when compared to the SD 865+ version but frankly I am not a gamer and dont need my phone to be ultra powerful. But what i would like to know from you guys is whether the software updates over the past 8 months have fixed most of the issues with battery life and camera performance. Those of you coming from the s10 range or the note 10+ / Note 9 etc. How would you say the camera is on the Note 20 U? Do you guys think its a good buy now? Or should I just give it a miss and hang on to the note 9 till they stop the security patches? Any advise is appreciated.
I have a mate who upgraded from the Note 9 to the Note 20 Ultra. He was VERY impressed with the differences...
He has the Exynos variant but when there is no other phones to compare but what you already have he's happy...
It all comes down to you, go to a store, play with a demo version and make up your mind.
I've upgraded from S10e Exynos with 4,5 screen on time maximum and terrible idle battery drain to Note 20 Ultra Snapdragon. First week was thinking to give it back because it was too big for me and those rounded edges always made me typos. Then I've get used to it, set the keyboard paddings from edges and finally bought nice case (I never used any cases before) and now I'm totally happy with it. I as far as I've read it's almost impossible to get 7-8 screen on time on Exynos variant. I got around 7 on my Snapdragon version but never tested it with gaming so I can not tell yet how good the battery is. I can tell that Qualcomm modem is much better in sense of keeping good connection and speed and very good keeping battery in idle state. Considering the camera - it's much better that in my old S10e ofcourse but I don't use it often so can't say I care about it much. What I love about my new Note 20 ultra Snapdragon is I've rooted it to tweak some small things here and there and now totally feel it's mine. I've rooted my past phones around 5 years ago last time.
Not sure if anything I said will help you but if you have any questions I would be glad to answer.
Thanks guys really useful. As mentioned I don't really need a new phone as my current phone does pretty much what I need it to. But I am itching to upgrade and I don't want to end up being stuck with something that I feel is not as good as my current phone. I currently average 4-5 hours screen on time on my 2 year old note 9 which I think is good for an old phone so hoping to get more. The S21U was good battery wise I got 7 hours SOT with 10% remaining. But the cameras were a let down for the price. I might just wait a couple of months and pick one used if they fix the camera with software updates as the price difference doesn't seem that much like a barely used S21U is going for around 850 on ebay so might be worth the extra 200 vs the note 20 ultra. Especially because I heard a lot of bad things about the n20u battery in particular.
Hi, @eldrid
I upgraded (downgraded considering the cost/storage, lol) from the Note9 (512GB) to the Note20 Ultra (128GB) with Android 11/One UI 3.1.
Have you considered replacing the battery in your Note9? Maybe have the battery replaced and purchase the N20U?
I don't use the camera much, but hopefully one of the forum members will give you some feedback on the N9 vs N20U cameras.
I can hear the Note20 Ultra camera *rattle* but I think this is normal??
If you purchase the N20, you may not want to update the phone to Android 11 (scoped storage, bugs galore, etc...).
I enjoy using the N9 more than the N20U because of the OS and the apps function without issue.
I detest Android 11, ahem, and think it contributes to my attitude of the N20U. N9 is the Beast!
I haven't had note 9 earlier but for me the note 20 ultra is perfect.
We get 1080p with 120hz (sure only 1080p but battery friendly and do you even notice higher res on regular basis?)
Sdcard slot, perfect for pictures, movies, big files and so on, also very easy to swap. (cloud exist but what about vacation or if u got limited data)
Very good cameras, still one of the best out there.
Very good performance with snapdragon 865+, even the exynos one is good. Recent updates have made it better than release version.
S-pen in a slot, no ugly weird case and all functions works perfectly.
The design is also very modern and future proof, I mean the front is almost all display.
People even speculate that this could be the last note ever, so if I were u, I would really consider note 20u if u liked your note 9 and want something better.
I've had my Note 20 Ultra Exynos version since launch, and it's a lot better now than it was when it first came out in both battery life & performance, I also don't game on phone's so it's been more than fine for me.
The camera has also been on point for me as well I've not been disappointed with any pictures or videos I've taken with it.
For 650 quid i think it's well worth it for what you get.
Thanks a ton guys for the honest advice. I finally picked an almost new one for £650 on ebay. They offer a 30 day return so fingers crossed i hope it works out. I won't be selling my note 9 just yet so I will have some time to compare side by side and see what it's like. I am sure it's an upgrade in many regards. But the three key things for me are 1)screen and I'm sure that's great I don't use wqhd and will be perfectly happy with the adaptive 1080 120hz. 2)The cameras... This is one area I am not sure how it will be... This is a very subjective area but I like my images to be sharp and I noticed on the S21U the images were soft and fuzzy not crisp like on the note 9. And 3) is battery life... I still get around 5 hours from the note 9 which is great so I hope to get at least that much. Will keep you guys posted on how it goes over the next few days. I feel like @650 there won't be much to complain about. I was really upset with the s21 ultra as I had paid full price for it and it (£1300) and it felt like a downgrade. Seems like the more modern Samsung phones while powerful are compromising on the basics and are not what they used to be 2 years ago.
Finally got the note20u and frankly I am quite happy with it. I am getting pretty good SOT and plus i used Bluetooth headphones for at least an hour. Considering that I think the battery life is good. Also the camera software seems to be ironed out and the image sharpness is much better than the current image quality on the S21U 1st pic is from note 20u and 2nd from s21u. Overall I think it was a good buy. I would never recommend anyone buying a Samsung phone at launch as the software is very unpolished and you pay a huge amount for an unfinished product. Comparing the experience i have with this nearly new note 20u for 650 is great compared to the ****ty experience the s21u offers for £1200 plus no sd card support or charger in the box. Very good value overall at £650
I upgraded from my still pristine Note 9 and found it a very worthy successor. From the enhanced Dex and S-pen features to the improved cameras, the Note 20 Ultra has provided me with a great user experience. Given Samsung's quest for becoming more -like and shedding features left and right, the Note 20 Ultra is the closest to what the Note line once was: the no holds barred, everything but the kitchen sink, no compromises, Note. I don't know if there is a Note 21 Ultra in the works and if there is it will probably include less features than the Note 20 Ultra offers.
Medevac1 said:
I upgraded from my still pristine Note 9 and found it a very worthy successor. From the enhanced Dex and S-pen features to the improved cameras, the Note 20 Ultra has provided me with a great user experience. Given Samsung's quest for becoming more -like and shedding features left and right, the Note 20 Ultra is the closest to what the Note line once was: the no holds barred, everything but the kitchen sink, no compromises, Note. I don't know if there is a Note 21 Ultra in the works and if there is it will probably include less features than the Note 20 Ultra offers.
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Absolutely agree. Probably why i was finding it hard to part with my note 9 as well. What a great 0 compromise device. I really hate how Samsung were originally the anti apple and a premium alternative for those that didn't want to chain themselves to apple. But now they're becoming more like apple taking away our choice.
Rumours are that there will be a watered down fan edition only this year and that the s-pen toting phone is going to be the fold from now on. If its true its a poor farewell to the note. I say they should bring back the headphone jack, sd card and pack the box with goodies. Make the whole experience of buying a premium flagship feel premium again.
eldrid said:
Absolutely agree. Probably why i was finding it hard to part with my note 9 as well. What a great 0 compromise device. I really hate how Samsung were originally the anti apple and a premium alternative for those that didn't want to chain themselves to apple. But now they're becoming more like apple taking away our choice.
Rumours are that there will be a watered down fan edition only this year and that the s-pen toting phone is going to be the fold from now on. If its true its a poor farewell to the note. I say they should bring back the headphone jack, sd card and pack the box with goodies. Make the whole experience of buying a premium flagship premium again.
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The 10+ was the last Note before Q. After Q things started going south and 11 is even worse.
Between Android and Samsung's "improvements" it's been a dismal year.
Everything's coming up psuedo Apples... and I mean that in the most derogatory way.
As for the Fold series it has been a self made disaster for Samsung. Overpriced and unreliable.
Samsung, you do know the definition of insanity don't you? Apparently not.
Late to the party here but I'm happy with my N20 Ultra 5G Snapdragon soc I imported from Hong Kong.
I wouldn't of been keen to buy a used phone from ebay due to the amount that get imei locked a few weeks / months after receiving it.
BandOfBrothers1 said:
I wouldn't of been keen to buy a used phone from ebay due to the amount that get imei locked a few weeks / months after receiving it.
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How can you avoid that from happening 100%?
Is it that common?
blackhawk said:
How can you avoid that from happening 100%?
Is it that common?
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It's something I've come across way too often throughout the years on forums.
A person sells a phone on ebay and then fraudulently claims it lost or stolen.
Auction Sites need to tighten up and introduce even more protection for the buyer as well as the seller.
BandOfBrothers1 said:
It's something I've come across way too often throughout the years on forums.
A person sells a phone on ebay and then fraudulently claims it lost or stolen.
Auction Sites need to tighten up and introduce even more protection for the buyer as well as the seller.
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Doing that in the USA be incurring multiple federal felonies.
BandOfBrothers1 said:
Late to the party here but I'm happy with my N20 Ultra 5G Snapdragon soc I imported from Hong Kong.
I wouldn't of been keen to buy a used phone from ebay due to the amount that get imei locked a few weeks / months after receiving it.
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Damn didn't know that happens. I got mine from a business seller with 100% ratings so looks like hes been at it for a while with no issues. He claims the phones are customer returns from the official Samsung store and would barely have any usage if at all. And everything looked the part it seemed brand spanking new, scratchless and even no signs wear or dust in the usb c port. Also he had a whole batch of 7-8 to sell so everything sounded legit. Let's hope everything works out well.
On a separate note. I thought id use the phone without a screen protector for a few days while the tempered glass one I ordered arrives and so removed the factory one. After a day or so i have already noticed a couple of micro scratches on the screen visible at certain angles. This is with careful use at home. I feel like this whole gorilla glass thing is just market hype.
blackhawk said:
Doing that in the USA be incurring multiple federal felonies.
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I wouldn't worry about it too much. The only reason someone would do that is to be malicious and most people are not. I doubt the seller has a personal vendetta against you. He got his money and will move on.
I have had the N20U since release and have no issues and at this point is a good as it gets functionally.

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