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Quick opinion on someone who has the phone...

I, like most of you, was waiting impatiently for this device for the past few weeks. I was given a retail model on Thursday early and wanted to let my thoughts after 48 hours.
I have to say I haven't been this disappointed in a phone in a while. While the phone is a looker, fundamentals are quite lacking.
Battery life - Same as the S7 and that's not a good thing. Has the same inconsistent issues of quick drains while running idle. As an example, was working on my house yesterday for roughly 4 hours and left the phone down with out being touched. Left it at 90% and came back at 74%. Again no usage. I have 3 other Android phones with more apps running and this doesn't happen except on Samsung. They will never change in this regard. Every year I have hope and get sucked into buying one. Same results.
Fingerprint sensor- I was one of the people that thought all the complaining was unwarranted about the fingerprint sensor placement. I thought this is just an issue for certain people with finger dexterity issues or just looking for something to complain about. Boy was I wrong. It's actually worse! It works maybe75% of the time and that is only using my right hand. Forget about the left hand.. way too awkward and difficult to do with one hand. At first, I thought no biggie, I'll just use face scanning or supplement with Iris scanning. Face scanning again is hit and miss and forget about Iris scanning if you are anywhere outside of bright light. I had the note 7 and that seemed to work a ton better. Maybe a software fix coming? Back to the fingerprint issue.. Samsung Pay doesn't even come preloaded on the phone! Why?!?! Because the NFC chip is on back so have fun using the sensor and holding it to a pay device. I was perplexed how this was a main selling point with the s and note series of last year and how it couldn't be preloaded. Hell it is on the gear S3. I used it 3 times yesterday at 3 different stores. I had to hold the phone upside down and the back facing the terminal. Picture that for a second... Holding your finger on a sensor which is located on the back and also having to have the back of the phone facing the CC reader at the same time. It's unreal. It's absolutely crazy that they threw this phone with the sensor placement at last minute and gathered...Oh yeah how are they going to use Pay? Ah just don't preload it and we won't get so many complaints. If you think I'm full of it.. go try it.
As mentioned with unlocking with the fingerprint, the new home button is virtually useless. I am trying to understand why they are trying to reinvent the wheel and not just use the tried and true method that every Android manufacturer has used for the past few years. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to unlock this phone. Too many steps.touch the side button or home button, wait for face unlock to work and if it doesn't then do finger gynastics with the fingerprint sensor. Seriously I wind up just using pattern after both fail. I use my V20 as my DD and it's 100% unlocking with the fingerprint on one touch Everytime. What the [email protected]#&$ were you thinking Samsung?
Audio - I love music and media and I am a wanna be audiophile. The headphone jack output and sound is no better than the S7. Lower output than most phones and music has a tight soundstage. Sound is tinny and missing elements you would hear on other high end phones. The Bluetooth audio is actually better but that was the same as the S7. It's nothing to write home about to be honest. I knew it wasn't going to be V20 quality but I was hoping for better with the akg tuning and Harmon partnership.Maybe those changes will come to the note 8?
Not all is bad with the phone, I love the screen and how I missed wireless charging! But there are fundamental ergonomic design issues that make this phone clumsy to use day to day. It's like you have to think to unlock it instead of it being second nature. People will see what I mean when they get their device. It feels like Samsung rushed again to market a product. I am praying that the note 8 is the next big thing.

sillyphillie said:
It feels like Samsung rushed again to market a product.
I am praying that the note 8 is the next big thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is this "rushed"? Samsung has had a full year since last year's Galaxy S7, and all the manufacturers have a team actually start working on the NEXT release before they launch the current one. So, OVER a year.
Are you suggesting Samsung do what Apple does? Release a new phone EVERY TWO YEARS? And then the ones in between are just to fix what they screwed up? iPhone 4S = iPhone 4 antenna fiasco fix.
And as for "big", the Notes are TOO big. I will never own a Note phablet.

Just giving my take. This phone is definitely not ready for prime time in my opinion. RAM management is also an issue I forgot to list but that has always been an issue with Samsung so nothing to see here on that. Knew that coming in. Just disappointed they didn't do much to address. Again these are my opinions.
Camera is definitely improved though... Sweet shots I'm getting.

Samsung pay didn't come preloaded in my Verizon S7 Edge, I had to download it. But I do see what you're saying about paying with your fingerprint. But I, myself, have the gear S3 so feel there's no need to use Samsung pay on my phone since the watch does it.

sillyphillie said:
Just giving my take. This phone is definitely not ready for prime time in my opinion. RAM management is also an issue I forgot to list but that has always been an issue with Samsung so nothing to see here on that. Knew that coming in. Just disappointed they didn't do much to address. Again these are my opinions.
Camera is definitely improved though... Sweet shots I'm getting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may not be ready for Prime Time, but they had plenty of time. Any design failures is on Samsung -- their skill set, their design/manufacturing expertise.
Whereas "rushed" is like Google's 2016 Pixel with the HUGE bezels because Huawei turned them down for a Google Pixel phone with no manufacturer branding, and they had to go to HTC and use a re-purposed frame HTC already had -- and they only had 9 months to design/test/release a phone. THAT is "rushed". They couldn't even make it waterproof like they wanted because they ran out of time.
The Pixel and Pixel XL aren’t waterproof because Google ‘ran out of time’
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-xl-waterproof-724120/
According to Pierce, when he asked Google why its phone isn’t waterproof, its response was, rather simply: “We ran out of time”.
Pierce states that the development cycle for the smartphone was uncharacteristically short, reportedly “nine months and a week” from design to launch, as Google abandoned its original plans for the phone at the end of 2015.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung has no such excuses, unless you are just saying they are incompetent.

I completely agree hence why I sold my pixel months ago. I'm not saying other manufacturers aren't rushing either. Just making a note that Samsung is as well. Anyway.. my take as someone who has the phone already. Hoping software fixes some of the concerns. But that fingerprint sensor and Samsung pay is there to stay.

ChazzMatt said:
Whereas "rushed" is like Google's 2016 Pixel with the HUGE bezels because Huawei turned them down for a Google Pixel phone with no manufacturer branding, and they had to go to HTC and use a re-purposed frame HTC already had
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on its a brand new design... http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=8346&idPhone2=8297
Any phone coming out after the s8 and g6 with ugly ass bezels will be dead on arrival, lets see if htc has enough time to shrink those bezel's.

Re: Samsung pay, there are more than a few phones with rear fingerprint scanners and NFC chips that have been out for some time. I've never found this an issue nor have I heard complaints like this. As of right now the technology you're longing for (a front facing under the screen fingerprint scanner, since that's the only feasible alternative with the infinity display) simply hasn't been released. Unfortunately, the reality is it's these shortcomings that are debatably left out (intentionally?) to keep interest in the next iteration and keep overhead down. Hence why we never get the perfect smart phone. I'll you know when I get the device but I assume it's no different then the others: shiny, new, with some improvements, likely the best phone out, but still short of the perfect phone. (Never get too high of expectations, these companies are here to be profitable) I had the G6 all of 2 days before I was left unimpressed, hopefully that's not the case with the S8.
Oh well take my money. Thanks for the write up!
---------- Post added at 05:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:53 AM ----------
peachpuff said:
Come on its a brand new design... http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=8346&idPhone2=8297
Any phone coming out after the s8 and g6 with ugly ass bezels will be dead on arrival, lets see if htc has enough time to shrink those bezel's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC is screwed if the renditions/leaks are accurate. Still has same general design and big ol bezels

sillyphillie said:
I, like most of you, was waiting impatiently for this device for the past few weeks. I was given a retail model on Thursday early and wanted to let my thoughts after 48 hours.
I have to say I haven't been this disappointed in a phone in a while. While the phone is a looker, fundamentals are quite lacking.
Battery life - Same as the S7 and that's not a good thing. Has the same inconsistent issues of quick drains while running idle. As an example, was working on my house yesterday for roughly 4 hours and left the phone down with out being touched. Left it at 90% and came back at 74%. Again no usage. I have 3 other Android phones with more apps running and this doesn't happen except on Samsung. They will never change in this regard. Every year I have hope and get sucked into buying one. Same results.
Fingerprint sensor- I was one of the people that thought all the complaining was unwarranted about the fingerprint sensor placement. I thought this is just an issue for certain people with finger dexterity issues or just looking for something to complain about. Boy was I wrong. It's actually worse! It works maybe75% of the time and that is only using my right hand. Forget about the left hand.. way too awkward and difficult to do with one hand. At first, I thought no biggie, I'll just use face scanning or supplement with Iris scanning. Face scanning again is hit and miss and forget about Iris scanning if you are anywhere outside of bright light. I had the note 7 and that seemed to work a ton better. Maybe a software fix coming? Back to the fingerprint issue.. Samsung Pay doesn't even come preloaded on the phone! Why?!?! Because the NFC chip is on back so have fun using the sensor and holding it to a pay device. I was perplexed how this was a main selling point with the s and note series of last year and how it couldn't be preloaded. Hell it is on the gear S3. I used it 3 times yesterday at 3 different stores. I had to hold the phone upside down and the back facing the terminal. Picture that for a second... Holding your finger on a sensor which is located on the back and also having to have the back of the phone facing the CC reader at the same time. It's unreal. It's absolutely crazy that they threw this phone with the sensor placement at last minute and gathered...Oh yeah how are they going to use Pay? Ah just don't preload it and we won't get so many complaints. If you think I'm full of it.. go try it.
As mentioned with unlocking with the fingerprint, the new home button is virtually useless. I am trying to understand why they are trying to reinvent the wheel and not just use the tried and true method that every Android manufacturer has used for the past few years. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to unlock this phone. Too many steps.touch the side button or home button, wait for face unlock to work and if it doesn't then do finger gynastics with the fingerprint sensor. Seriously I wind up just using pattern after both fail. I use my V20 as my DD and it's 100% unlocking with the fingerprint on one touch Everytime. What the [email protected]#&$ were you thinking Samsung?
Audio - I love music and media and I am a wanna be audiophile. The headphone jack output and sound is no better than the S7. Lower output than most phones and music has a tight soundstage. Sound is tinny and missing elements you would hear on other high end phones. The Bluetooth audio is actually better but that was the same as the S7. It's nothing to write home about to be honest. I knew it wasn't going to be V20 quality but I was hoping for better with the akg tuning and Harmon partnership.Maybe those changes will come to the note 8?
Not all is bad with the phone, I love the screen and how I missed wireless charging! But there are fundamental ergonomic design issues that make this phone clumsy to use day to day. It's like you have to think to unlock it instead of it being second nature. People will see what I mean when they get their device. It feels like Samsung rushed again to market a product. I am praying that the note 8 is the next big thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never used a fingerprint scanner or whatever on a phone, just good old passcode/pattern. It blows my mind people getting all uppity (no you, people in general) over a freaking unlock method to their phone. It's like a new Porsche/Mercedes and instead of talking about its performance people get all hung up on the palm sensor to unlock the door all the while they have the keys. Phones are all about the screen and apps, etc. Who gives a hoot about a stupid fingerprint sensor.

i plan to use samsung pay with Pin instead of fingerprint since it' on the back

Should we cancel our pre-orders then? I'd be more than happy to stick with my Note 4 than pay £55 a month for the next 2 years.

The funny thing about this bezel less design is I really think it's more beauty than function. Maybe it's the bezel less combined with the edge display but I feel less secure with this phone. I have a gs7 and lgv20 I keep referencing back to and when you are out and about the flat display lends to more secure in the hand feel. Maybe even more comfort.
Every year we hear how awesome a phone is from MWC through the first round of reviews. I'm really wanting to know what the consensus will be on this phone. The LG G6 was a darling when announced now the shine has come way off and people are finding out the size and feel are not what's it's cracked up to be. I'm going to give this phone more time and hope it grows on me.

The Phone Company said:
Should we cancel our pre-orders then? I'd be more than happy to stick with my Note 4 than pay £55 a month for the next 2 years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
everyone's got a different opinion... i am still happy to proceed with my s8 plus, and keep in mind... these folks complainin abt battery life are the US models running SD... and we've got exynos

Is Exnos a more thrifty battery chip?
I will get the EU model in any case.

Satisfied or not ?

Hello everyone,
This is not a question but a feedback.
The perfect smartphone may never exist, but I am satisfied with my Galaxy S8 +, although I should encounter problems with it in the future, I must admit that it is a very good smartphone. I had a Galaxy S7 Edge then a Huawei P9 just before, but I did not feel like having a new product, they all looked alike.
My experience has changed with the S8 + that I find very successful, although still perfectible ....
excuse my bad English.
thank you

jidamo said:
Hello everyone,
This is not a question but a feedback.
The perfect smartphone may never exist, but I am satisfied with my Galaxy S8 +, although I should encounter problems with it in the future, I must admit that it is a very good smartphone. I had a Galaxy S7 Edge then a Huawei P9 just before, but I did not feel like having a new product, they all looked alike.
My experience has changed with the S8 + that I find very successful, although still perfectible ....
excuse my bad English.
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This device is pretty damned good. I look forward to the full implementation of Bixby though. The only bad thing is that TMobile didn't have the case I wanted so I didn't get one, and I dropped the phone the next morning and shattered the back of the phone.

overall ok. but I hate where the fingerprint scanner is. I had an LG v20 so coming from a logical spot middle of back easy to get to, to s8+ up top is incredibly stupid. I highly doubt any new phones they bring out will be at the top....

tommason1968 said:
This device is pretty damned good. I look forward to the full implementation of Bixby though. The only bad thing is that TMobile didn't have the case I wanted so I didn't get one, and I dropped the phone the next morning and shattered the back of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wooooow! I just shed a lone tear my friend

I have to say. I loved the note 7 and was heart broken that I had to return it. This phone has all the features the note 7 had and then some. I'm really loving it. The only problem is the position of the finger print scanner. Other than that it's the best Smart phone I've ever owned.
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Completely agree with other posters here, everything except the fingerprint scanner location is perfect. I'm using face unlock, which is really not as unsafe as some videos show. I tried to take a picture from a perfect angle and hold it in front of the phone in all kinds of different angles, and it never unlocked once. I actually believe that YouTubers who did videos on how you can unlock the phone with a picture used trickery to make it look like a picture unlocked the phone, since in some of their videos you can see their head shadow hovering over the phone. The phone could scan their faces from further away in an area cropped out of view on the video, and videos exposing Samsung are sure to make waves around the web
Everything about hardware and software is as perfect as it can be, the black model really does feel like a black slab of glass with a massive display, the dream of Steve Jobs realized before Apple. People who complain about the RAM amount being "only" 4GB have never used the phone, apps from 8 hours ago are most of the time still open in the background. It is great futureproofing to have more RAM, but right now, phones with 6GB almost never even use the extra 2GB, because there is simply no need for it at this day and time
Benchmarking to see performance is kind of dumb and unpredictable, I think that a better way of describing the S8 performance is that not a single game I've tested (over 20 and counting) has had an FPS below 30 on max settings. Not a single complaint about the entire phone, the fingerprint scanner location is a non-issue for me, because I don't use it. I would honestly give this phone a 9.5 / 10 rating, only bad side being that to unlock the phone in dark I have to reach for the scanner

It's an exciting thrill ride! Enjoy it and XDA

Great phone! I have no issues with the fingerprint scanner placement. Just takes getting use too.

*Hooligan* said:
Great phone! I have no issues with the fingerprint scanner placement. Just takes getting use too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same it's fast and easy plus the way I grip the phone is on base(middle) all I do is slide it til I feel the first thing... but I'm a righty so it might be easier for me

A Month (or so) in

Is the S8+ worth it?
Are folk still enjoying it? What are the annoyances etc? Anything which you'd consider a deal breaker?
I'm due my upgrade on Saturday and for ages, I was certain the s8+ was it. However, I had the opportunity to muck about with the ZX Premium last week and my head was potentially turned. The XZ is also receiving pretty favourable reviews so now I'm not so sure.
The only thing holding me back on the Xperia is that I'll be getting it via my network (EE in the UK) which means it will be SIM locked and won't have an unlockable bootloader.
On that note, there are no similar restrictions on the network locked S8+'s are there? Has anyone flashed this on their EE variant?

nice phone but far from perfect. Seems to be impossible to get one that doesnt have some sort of issue with it... Mine has a slight gradient brightness issue that seems to plague all S8+ models, fortunately it only impacts playing gearvr games that ard too dark.
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

I've had my S8+ since day 1 with not one issue with it so far. I read of a lot of issues with wifi, bluetooth and tint and as stated before I've had none of these issues. If I had to do it over, I would purchase it again. Probably going to get the Note 8 when it comes out too.

One thing to keep in mind is, people don't just hop on forums to voice their pleasure with the device, only those with issues create threads, obviously.
With the millions of consumers, this makes the percentage of those with issues pretty minimal.
OT: Mine has had no issues, enjoying the device so far.

Love it. No problems

Love mine, haven't had any issues.

cantenna said:
nice phone but far from perfect. Seems to be impossible to get one that doesnt have some sort of issue with it... Mine has a slight gradient brightness issue that seems to plague all S8+ models, fortunately it only impacts playing gearvr games that ard too dark.
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You really like your sweeping generalisations don't you....
You previously said envy's dark theme will ruin everybody's phone when you were the only one to report a problem.
Now "it's impossible to get one... some sort of issue", and "gradient brightness issue...seems to plague all S8+ models".
You seem to have been unlucky. But why you seem to think that your experiences are the same for "all" devices is, frankly, nonsense, and based on nothing whatsoever.
My device is 100% problem free. Lucky me. Unlike you, I don't claim to speak for the millions of other S8+ owners.

B3311 said:
You really like your sweeping generalisations don't you....
You previously said envy's dark theme will ruin everybody's phone when you were the only one to report a problem.
Now "it's impossible to get one... some sort of issue", and "gradient brightness issue...seems to plague all S8+ models".
You seem to have been unlucky. But why you seem to think that your experiences are the same for "all" devices is, frankly, nonsense, and based on nothing whatsoever.
My device is 100% problem free. Lucky me. Unlike you, I don't claim to speak for the millions of other S8+ owners.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, your like my paparazzi or something??
For the record I never said envy's dark theme would ruin everybody's phone, in fact I praised the theme and said I would purchase if it ever landed on the Samsung store. What I criticised was the root method for install that was outlined in the OP instruction, yes those instruction (soft) bricked my phone twice.
Regarding my criticism toward the S8 or S8+, my personal experience with getting a perfect display has been poor with this phone and with my previous S7 Edge (had dead pixels.)
In saying that, the issues I have had with the display, I am only aware of their existence because i'm a gearvr user. The issue I have had are invisible to the naked eye, you need the gearvr lenses to see the imperfections. SO I will say, other than that, a great phone!

Up until now, I was a Sony adherent and was set on getting the XZ Premium. But coming to this S8+ has shown me what I've been missing. A lot of people complain about 'Touchwiz', being over bloated and laggy amongst some of the complaints. This is the first phone in years that I feel no need to root. A lot of reasons for rooting have been negated by the features native to this S8+. No need for 'greenify', 'system cleaners', can shoot 'raw' natively etc. Maybe it's just a 'honeymoon' period I'm going through being new to Samsung devices, but presently loving this phone to the max.

Thanks for the input everyone

Having an S8+ from day one - no problems at all. Came over from Windows 10 Mobile and like Android so far. Yes, it is a mess, IMO, and it is not for everybody and his dog, but this is only my opinion and everybody and their dog do not seem to care All is well.

cantenna said:
LOL, your like my paparazzi or something??
For the record I never said envy's dark theme would ruin everybody's phone, in fact I praised the theme and said I would purchase if it ever landed on the Samsung store. What I criticised was the root method for install that was outlined in the OP instruction, yes those instruction (soft) bricked my phone twice.
Regarding my criticism toward the S8 or S8+, my personal experience with getting a perfect display has been poor with this phone and with my previous S7 Edge (had dead pixels.)
In saying that, the issues I have had with the display, I am only aware of their existence because i'm a gearvr user. The issue I have had are invisible to the naked eye, you need the gearvr lenses to see the imperfections. SO I will say, other than that, a great phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I'm your stalker...
You're missing my point. You generalise. You seem to think that your problems equate with everyone else's. Why?
You DID say "installing this theme will softbrick your phone". You edited it afterwards. It never happened to any device but yours.
Today - well I don't need to repeat myself. It should be blindingly clear that YOUR experiences are NOT the same for "all" phones, yet you have said so. Twice. In one post.
Get my point??

I'm on my 3rd phone - the first had a faulty headphone jack, the second had a screen defect. Third time lucky!
I hate the bixby button. Its in the wrong place just like the fingerprint sensor. Ridiculous.
However I am enjoying the phone but can't wait for the Note 8 - heck I'd even take a Note 7 FE when released. Just prefer the slightly wider screen and the pen.
Seriously need to be able to buy a decent screen protector too for these curved edges.

B3311 said:
Nah, I'm your stalker...
You're missing my point. You generalise. You seem to think that your problems equate with everyone else's. Why?
You DID say "installing this theme will softbrick your phone". You edited it afterwards. It never happened to any device but yours.
Today - well I don't need to repeat myself. It should be blindingly clear that YOUR experiences are NOT the same for "all" phones, yet you have said so. Twice. In one post.
Get my point??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are missing my points too;
-do you have a gearvr? i have read alot of posts these last few days from a number of people who are experiancing the same issue I am when using the phone with gearvr. Do you have a gearvr, are you a user?
-Your are actually acting more like a paparazzi than a stalker... think about your behaviour? its screams Paparazzi!! Im not upset, i dont mind the attention. [emoji9]
-And you are fabricating lies now about my charcter, thats not nice!
[emoji23]
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

I had a Galaxy S6 and while everybody was complaining about it, I got lucky and my device worked for 1 year and a half.
I was excited to get my hands on the Note 7 (I had the note 3 and I loved it!!) but unfortunately you know what happened so I got the S7 Edge.
The biggest MISTAKE ever! After few weeks the device slowed down, battery was gone in half day and the phone was getting so hot that was annoying.
With Nougat things went even worse. After the update the device was getting roasting and stuck at the SAM/////// Logo. I tried some tricks.. Nothing.
I gave up. 2 weeks ago I bought the S8+ due to the similarity with the Note7 and the big display.
Now, this long story just to give you a good idea on my experience with Samsung toys. I'm honest I can't take my hands off this phone. It's stunning and performances are good even for an heavy user like me. I love the IRIS Scanner. Fingerprint is close enough (people complaint it's too high at the back of the device), audio is an OK+ (not stunning but very good). Multitask never fit better than this phone. I do translations for work time by time and I have to say having two apps at the same time always gave me some trouble in reading. Here it's mastered 100%! Perfect.
So far my opinion is absolutely positive.
I hope Samsung won't mess it up with rubbish updates.

I came from a note 4. It was bootloader unlocked and running amazing. Then it just died. My work bought the S8+ and so fast I love it. It was hard to think of not having a rooted phone but so far it's not been an issue. The main reason I rooted was for ad blocker but dns66 app seems to be working fine. This phone feels like a beast and so far with a few adb commands, package disabler and dns66 I'm very happy with your phone. I'll be glad when root comes but right now I'm satisfied.

2 weeks in for me and I'm generally very happy with my device. Like many others my only complaints are the fingerprint scanner location and the Bixby button. I may change my mind about Bixby if they ever get it working properly though.
This phone is great but I'll be replacing it with the Note 8 as soon as it's possible to pre order one. The s pen is a very useful tool for my work. Not a necessity mind you, but just something that makes it that little bit easier.

Coming from nexus 6. So I'm kind of use to big phones but this phone doesn't feel big at all. I have iPhone 7+ but this phone way easy to handle with 1 hand.
Saying that I hate the fingerprint sensor. I don't use it. I use face recognition and pattern way faster to find the bloody sensor.
I'm waiting for pixel 2 it's going to be good.

Except for not being rooted, because of Knox, I am 100% satisfied ... everything works. Great phone.

Had the phone since launch date. I had to exchange the 1st one and the 2nd one, but still wouldn't hesitate to buying this over any other phone. It has its flaws, but the pros outweigh the cons!

Looking into buying phone... need advice

Does this phone work well with US carriers? Mainly ATT? And how does everyone like the device? I'm coming from the essential phone ph-1 and would love to hear input on the 7 pro.
Thanks!

Been using this phone on AT&T (Boston area) since last June and it works flawlessly. Just put my SIM in, and it worked without a hitch. Pretty much the same experience with my last phone, which was the OnePlus 3T, which I had for 2 years.
7 Pro is a great phone. Really fast and smooth with the (at the time it was released) top of the line Snapdragon processor and 90 Hz screen. You get flagship performance for a much lower price than a Samsung or iPhone (okay, XDA users aren't really the type to buy iPhones - but you see where I'm coming from). The camera on those other phones might be a bit better. But really, you're getting 95% of the phone quality for a much lower price.
Just as important, the OS is really clean. Close to a stock Android feel, with a few (mostly useful and inobtrusive) added features. OP devices tend to be root friendly, and enjoy great developer and community support here on XDA.
One quibble is the curved screen edges. More flash than function. I feel like OnePlus was trying to make it look like the Samsung screens. But it occasionally makes it difficult and awkward to tap on things near the screen edge. It's a pretty minor thing. But enough to make me wish the phone had a flat screen, instead of curved edges.
Another minor comment (can't even call it a quibble really) is the pop-up selfie camera. It does allow the screen to be completely without any camera notch or cut-out. But some folks have been concerned about long term durability. Unless you are taking tons of selfies, I don't see it as much of any issue. Although if you use face unlock (which I do), you do have to wait for it to pop up and down. It happens pretty fast. But face unlock takes maybe a second (perhaps less) longer than my old 3T due to this (since that phone didn't have to pop a camera up). If you use the fingerprint unlock, this isn't a thing at all, of course. And the pop-up camera does make for a good party gimmick! :laugh:

jrodbrown58 said:
Does this phone work well with US carriers? Mainly ATT? And how does everyone like the device? I'm coming from the essential phone ph-1 and would love to hear input on the 7 pro.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone works fine
I'm using a OnePlus 7 pro Tmobile brand
I used a international rom which allows 2 Sim cards and I believe unlocks it to be used with other carriers
The device is very snappy, before the international rom flash it would boot in like 2 seconds
After I unlocked it the stupid integrity warning slows down the boot by like 10-30 seconds
The phone has one of the best benchmarks for any phone if not the best still.
Camera pop up is pretty fast and snappy
Updates were frequent until all the fuss about cornavirus started.
Issues - currently blackscreen when opening several game applications including
Clash of clans
Old school runescape
Cod mobile
And others.
But on earlier versions it was fine.
Other complaints that shouldn't effect much on the use of the phone.
System is locked making debloat ING harder then needs to be (Google apps are trash 99% of the time)
Custom Rom updates seem to be slow
Magisk roms seem to not always work
Wiping system makes the entire phone useless until you use the msm tool to re-upload your phones software
Could have Alot more tweaks and functionality if OnePlus added them (navigation bar specifically is limited, I don't use recent button I use it as a menu button)
Bloatware by Google. (I'd prefer to install what I want not be forced to use what they implement)
Overall I give this phone a 8/10 rating.
Would be 10/10 if they actually lived by their motto.
Its Alot to read but worth the time. (unless I don't make any sense then sorry)

I'm using my US unlocked model with Visible and Google fi. I was using VZW until I changed to Visible. No problems.
Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

I have the 7 Pro 5G, running on Sprint, bootloader unlocked and sim unlocked, definitely the best phone I've ever owned, I came from the LG V40 immediately prior, and the Pixel XL series before that, I also did breifly own the Essential phone,
-the 90Hz display is downright the absolute best screen I've ever had on any phone ever.
-256 gigabytes of storage is more than enough for me
-I have yet to encounter any tasks that caused any small amount of lag even.
-the cameras arent amazing, but they're decent, better than the essential.
-the pop up camera feature definitely is better than a notch and it's also just fun to watch it go up and down.
Overall this phone is 10/10, Just wish they cared more about the 5G variants and updated them faster...

redpoint73 said:
Been using this phone on AT&T (Boston area) since last June and it works flawlessly. Just put my SIM in, and it worked without a hitch. Pretty much the same experience with my last phone, which was the OnePlus 3T, which I had for 2 years.
7 Pro is a great phone. Really fast and smooth with the (at the time it was released) top of the line Snapdragon processor and 90 Hz screen. You get flagship performance for a much lower price than a Samsung or iPhone (okay, XDA users aren't really the type to buy iPhones - but you see where I'm coming from). The camera on those other phones might be a bit better. But really, you're getting 95% of the phone quality for a much lower price.
Just as important, the OS is really clean. Close to a stock Android feel, with a few (mostly useful and inobtrusive) added features. OP devices tend to be root friendly, and enjoy great developer and community support here on XDA.
One quibble is the curved screen edges. More flash than function. I feel like OnePlus was trying to make it look like the Samsung screens. But it occasionally makes it difficult and awkward to tap on things near the screen edge. It's a pretty minor thing. But enough to make me wish the phone had a flat screen, instead of curved edges.
Another minor comment (can't even call it a quibble really) is the pop-up selfie camera. It does allow the screen to be completely without any camera notch or cut-out. But some folks have been concerned about long term durability. Unless you are taking tons of selfies, I don't see it as much of any issue. Although if you use face unlock (which I do), you do have to wait for it to pop up and down. It happens pretty fast. But face unlock takes maybe a second (perhaps less) longer than my old 3T due to this (since that phone didn't have to pop a camera up). If you use the fingerprint unlock, this isn't a thing at all, of course. And the pop-up camera does make for a good party gimmick! :laugh:
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Click to collapse
I'm definitely gonna buy this phone when I get the cash, but noticed there's a few variants. Chinese, international unlocked and US. The US one is the one i know will work in the US but what about the international unlocked? I just don't want to have to spend the extra money if I don't have to

jrodbrown58 said:
I'm definitely gonna buy this phone when I get the cash, but noticed there's a few variants. Chinese, international unlocked and US. The US one is the one i know will work in the US but what about the international unlocked? I just don't want to have to spend the extra money if I don't have to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only speak for the version I bought, which is the US unlocked version.

Question Pixel 7 Pro is Awesome

People are having lots of launch issues with the 7 series, but I just wanted to say that (so far) my P7P has been really good! I like the brightness of the screen, the fingerprint works better for me, everything is snappy, not too hot at all https://nox.tips/ https://xender.vip/.
I hope other people are having a good experience, and if you aren't I'm sorry it's gone that way, I just want nervous people who are stalking the subreddit and seeing all these issues to know that it's not all bad! Having issues sucks, and quirks that you don't like also sucks but remember that you can RMA it and you can get used to things, but also to keep an eye out for any issues people are posting about.
I'm not complaining about these posts btw, keep them coming and I just wanted to give my intial feedback of the phone too, it's been great and I hope it stays that way. Happy Pixeling my Googles

s1helly said:
People are having lots of launch issues with the 7 series, but I just wanted to say that (so far) my P7P has been really good! I like the brightness of the screen, the fingerprint works better for me, everything is snappy, not too hot at all.
I hope other people are having a good experience, and if you aren't I'm sorry it's gone that way, I just want nervous people who are stalking the subreddit and seeing all these issues to know that it's not all bad! Having issues sucks, and quirks that you don't like also sucks but remember that you can RMA it and you can get used to things, but also to keep an eye out for any issues people are posting about.
I'm not complaining about these posts btw, keep them coming and I just wanted to give my intial feedback of the phone too, it's been great and I hope it stays that way. Happy Pixeling my Googles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm gonna say not nearly good for me so far but that's always been the case with me and nexus/pixel phones. I've always had lag issues, quality control issues and scrolling issues (particularly while we browsing). I've had all that with the current phone plus lost the ability to receive texts for 4 days. Everything seems to have resolved itself today for some reason but it'd par for the course for me. I used to think all android phones were buggy like this until I moved over to Samsung after the pixel 3 and it's been a great and smooth experience. I finally came back here hoping things would be better. I do miss the superior multitasking and overall brute force of the Samsungs but I do like the little things that the pixel gets right.

chetly968 said:
I'm gonna say not nearly good for me so far but that's always been the case with me and nexus/pixel phones. I've always had lag issues, quality control issues and scrolling issues (particularly while we browsing). I've had all that with the current phone plus lost the ability to receive texts for 4 days. Everything seems to have resolved itself today for some reason but it'd par for the course for me. I used to think all android phones were buggy like this until I moved over to Samsung after the pixel 3 and it's been a great and smooth experience. I finally came back here hoping things would be better. I do miss the superior multitasking and overall brute force of the Samsungs but I do like the little things that the pixel gets right.
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Click to collapse
Seems like Samsung's your brand bruh. Stick with what works for you tbh.

Power button placement really annoys me. Why would anyone put a power button above the volume rocker? I keep hitting the volume up button thinking its power.
Screen has been pretty nice. The curve is not too bad this time around. I have been avoiding all "waterfall" screens since the OP7P because of the glare and other annoyances that come with such screen but this one on the P7P is ok.
Picture quality is great, probably on par with the iphones and S22s. Video is ok. Antennas are ok, havent had issued so far. Phone can get pretty hot randomly though. Was uploading a couple videos to the cloud and it was taking forever, drained a decent amount of battery and was super hot. Killed the photos app and everything went back to normal. Also got pretty hot doing a couple other things but hopefully nothing serious.
Also, I dunno if its just my luck or maybe thats just the default behavior since Android 12 but I have been getting lots of app reflesh/reloads when switching between apps. So if I am browsing in the reddit app for example, switch to my browser to do a couple things online, maybe open a notes app and note something down, go back to reddit and it refreshes back from the top instead of where I left off. Switch back to the browser and the website would reload instead of resuming where I left off. 12gb of ram on this phone and even had 18gb on my Asus ROG phone but keeps happening. If someone knows how to resolve this, I would be super happy.
Will try playing CODM and see how that goes, havent found a phone that doesnt throttle too much. Everything with an SD 888 and newer has been throttling (yes I know this is not an SD chip).
Sorry for my long reply but wanted to share my experience. Overall, I still like this phone and will probably stay with it for the foreseeable future.

morphius88 said:
Power button placement really annoys me. Why would anyone put a power button above the volume rocker? I keep hitting the volume up button thinking its power.
Screen has been pretty nice. The curve is not too bad this time around. I have been avoiding all "waterfall" screens since the OP7P because of the glare and other annoyances that come with such screen but this one on the P7P is ok.
Picture quality is great, probably on par with the iphones and S22s. Video is ok. Antennas are ok, havent had issued so far. Phone can get pretty hot randomly though. Was uploading a couple videos to the cloud and it was taking forever, drained a decent amount of battery and was super hot. Killed the photos app and everything went back to normal. Also got pretty hot doing a couple other things but hopefully nothing serious.
Also, I dunno if its just my luck or maybe thats just the default behavior since Android 12 but I have been getting lots of app reflesh/reloads when switching between apps. So if I am browsing in the reddit app for example, switch to my browser to do a couple things online, maybe open a notes app and note something down, go back to reddit and it refreshes back from the top instead of where I left off. Switch back to the browser and the website would reload instead of resuming where I left off. 12gb of ram on this phone and even had 18gb on my Asus ROG phone but keeps happening. If someone knows how to resolve this, I would be super happy.
Will try playing CODM and see how that goes, havent found a phone that doesnt throttle too much. Everything with an SD 888 and newer has been throttling (yes I know this is not an SD chip).
Sorry for my long reply but wanted to share my experience. Overall, I still like this phone and will probably stay with it for the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes, the power button in relation to the volume button is a little annoyance to but I figure you can get used to it eventually. Harder to take screenshots that way I've noticed. One definite positive to this phone compared to my last couple Samsung phones is the batter life. Seems to be much better in that regard for sure. Gaming is definitely better on other phones compared to this one for the more demanding titles. But unless you're into competitive gaming you won't notice much difference.

chetly968 said:
Ah yes, the power button in relation to the volume button is a little annoyance to but I figure you can get used to it eventually. Harder to take screenshots that way I've noticed. One definite positive to this phone compared to my last couple Samsung phones is the batter life. Seems to be much better in that regard for sure. Gaming is definitely better on other phones compared to this one for the more demanding titles. But unless you're into competitive gaming you won't notice much difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah for sure. Not doing any competitive gaming but will for sure be a downgrade when compared to Asus RoG Phone 5S Pro. Just not sure how much of a downgrade. Battery possibly also since that phone had 6k mAh. But obviously 2 very different price points. I am surprised you are getting better battery on this phone than the Samsungs (I guess depends which models you used). However I avoid all Samsungs due to no rooting ability so I cant compare personally (but my wife has been using them without issue).
Button I will probably get used to... or at least use double tap more often.

morphius88 said:
Yeah for sure. Not doing any competitive gaming but will for sure be a downgrade when compared to Asus RoG Phone 5S Pro. Just not sure how much of a downgrade. Battery possibly also since that phone had 6k mAh. But obviously 2 very different price points. I am surprised you are getting better battery on this phone than the Samsungs (I guess depends which models you used). However I avoid all Samsungs due to no rooting ability so I cant compare personally (but my wife has been using them without issue).
Button I will probably get used to... or at least use double tap more often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was most recently using the z fold 4 be t before that the s22 ultra. Definitely good battery life but this pixel is about 10-15% better for me.

This Pixel 7 pro has been nothing shy of awesome for me! First year of no Google shipment delays, out the box the phone set up mirroring my old phone upon just signing in to my account. Screen is great, speed & fluidness is great, love the biometrics, no problems with battery life, etc.
Overall Pixel 7 pro is definitely the best Pixel to date for me. The camera bar actually looks much better in a case but that's just my perception. I also don't have issues with the power button as I've been using pixels for a while, which is funny because I thought it was perfect that they lowered the buttons a little this year which felt like perfect placement to me.
I've always had love for Samsung phones but they just don't do a good job to me at cohesively supplying a consistent product for "everyone".

manners400 said:
This Pixel 7 pro has been nothing shy of awesome for me! First year of no Google shipment delays, out the box the phone set up mirroring my old phone upon just signing in to my account. Screen is great, speed & fluidness is great, love the biometrics, no problems with battery life, etc.
Overall Pixel 7 pro is definitely the best Pixel to date for me. The camera bar actually looks much better in a case but that's just my perception. I also don't have issues with the power button as I've been using pixels for a while, which is funny because I thought it was perfect that they lowered the buttons a little this year which felt like perfect placement to me.
I've always had love for Samsung phones but they just don't do a good job to me at cohesively supplying a consistent product for "everyone".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I agree with you, I think one of the most smooth launches.
This phone is a huge step up to the Pixel 6 Pro, even though the spec sheets don't really show it.
As others have mentioned here the Power button and volume buttons are in a strange place, I keep hitting the power button thinking I am going for the volume up. The location of these makes even less sense if you are using a car holder/cradle because most of these cover these buttons or even rock them while supported.
Camera is great for the little I have used it so far, am very impressed with the quality even with a decent amount of digital zoom
Bluetooth connectivity and reliability is my better than Pixel 6 Pro.

morphius88 said:
Yeah for sure. Not doing any competitive gaming but will for sure be a downgrade when compared to Asus RoG Phone 5S Pro. Just not sure how much of a downgrade. Battery possibly also since that phone had 6k mAh. But obviously 2 very different price points. I am surprised you are getting better battery on this phone than the Samsungs (I guess depends which models you used). However I avoid all Samsungs due to no rooting ability so I cant compare personally (but my wife has been using them without issue).
Button I will probably get used to... or at least use double tap more often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not. I'm getting considerably better battery life on this phone than I did on my S21 Ultra which was the phone I got the best battery life with from all the Samsung devices I owned, and the S21 Ultra in turn had a better battery life than the S22 Ultra if reports are to be believed. Although I can't confirm it personally as I've never owned the S22 Ultra.
Also, I'm sure you know but Samsung phones can be rooted, but it can't be done in a way which is non-traceable if a warranty repair is subsequently required. I speak from experience when I say it will be refused even if you unroot and relock the bootloader thanks to the Knox e-fuse.

Beefheart said:
I'm not. I'm getting considerably better battery life on this phone than I did on my S21 Ultra which was the phone I got the best battery life with from all the Samsung devices I owned, and the S21 Ultra in turn had a better battery life than the S22 Ultra if reports are to be believed. Although I can't confirm it personally as I've never owned the S22 Ultra.
Also, I'm sure you know but Samsung phones can be rooted, but it can't be done in a way which is non-traceable if a warranty repair is subsequently required. I speak from experience when I say it will be refused even if you unroot and relock the bootloader thanks to the Knox e-fuse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S22 Ultra had similar battery life, but not better than Pixel 7 Pro at least with my own usage. I had S22 Ultra 30 days for testing only.
Also, Knox and their e-fuse is an issue outside of EU. In EU, tripping Knox or unlocking the bootloader doesn't affect the warranty.

I dunno, I miss the power button above. My P7P shipped a week early, so I'll have it by early next week! can't wait to see how it stacks up against my S22Ultra and OnePlus 7 Pro

Beefheart said:
I'm not. I'm getting considerably better battery life on this phone than I did on my S21 Ultra which was the phone I got the best battery life with from all the Samsung devices I owned, and the S21 Ultra in turn had a better battery life than the S22 Ultra if reports are to be believed. Although I can't confirm it personally as I've never owned the S22 Ultra.
Also, I'm sure you know but Samsung phones can be rooted, but it can't be done in a way which is non-traceable if a warranty repair is subsequently required. I speak from experience when I say it will be refused even if you unroot and relock the bootloader thanks to the Knox e-fuse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was under the impression that only Exynos version of Samsungs could be rooted and that it would trip Knox. I havent seen anything concrete about rooting a SnapDragon Samsung (at least not the last 4-5 years anyway).

ekin_strops said:
S22 Ultra had similar battery life, but not better than Pixel 7 Pro at least with my own usage. I had S22 Ultra 30 days for testing only.
Also, Knox and their e-fuse is an issue outside of EU. In EU, tripping Knox or unlocking the bootloader doesn't affect the warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A common misconception. It does. I've had a repair refused. Sure, I could perhaps take it further. Assuming I wanted to spend thousands on a court case.
morphius88 said:
I was under the impression that only Exynos version of Samsungs could be rooted and that it would trip Knox. I havent seen anything concrete about rooting a SnapDragon Samsung (at least not the last 4-5 years anyway).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my knowledge Snapdragon Samsung phones can be rooted, providing you get one from a territory that doesn't have a locked down bootloader. The issue is that most Snapdragon Samsung phones in America are from providers like Verizon who lock down the bootloader, it's this that prevents root, not the SOC manufacturer.

Beefheart said:
A common misconception. It does. I've had a repair refused. Sure, I could perhaps take it further. Assuming I wanted to spend thousands on a court case.
To my knowledge Snapdragon Samsung phones can be rooted, providing you get one from a territory that doesn't have a locked down bootloader. The issue is that most Snapdragon Samsung phones in America are from providers like Verizon who lock down the bootloader, it's this that prevents root, not the SOC manufacturer.
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Click to collapse
Again, it doesn't in Europe Union, it's not a misconception. You're free to read the EU ruling on consumer protection. If the shop/store refused to do it, they're just scamming (or have no clue about this), but it's against the law.
You don't need to privately file a lawsuit in order for them to follow the LAW. There are government institutions that deal with this stuff, you just have to knock on a proper door (assuming that you live in Europe Union, because if not, that's a different issue).

Beefheart said:
To my knowledge Snapdragon Samsung phones can be rooted, providing you get one from a territory that doesn't have a locked down bootloader. The issue is that most Snapdragon Samsung phones in America are from providers like Verizon who lock down the bootloader, it's this that prevents root, not the SOC manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ehhhh... Samsung locks them down when ordered directly from them as well. There have been exploits but most of the newer phones, there is a dude who charges people to unlock them.

ekin_strops said:
Again, it doesn't in Europe Union, it's not a misconception. You're free to read the EU ruling on consumer protection. If the shop/store refused to do it, they're just scamming (or have no clue about this), but it's against the law.
You don't need to privately file a lawsuit in order for them to follow the LAW. There are government institutions that deal with this stuff, you just have to knock on a proper door (assuming that you live in Europe Union, because if not, that's a different issue).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only assume you haven't dealt with a big corporation like Samsung. Knocking on a "proper door" won't make a difference, the amount of red tape you would need to go through renders it not worth the bother unless you have a determination on principle. And even then it won't be easy or quick. Then they'd likely still refuse and deal with the consequences.
Big business don't care about consumer rights, law or no law.

EtherealRemnant said:
Ehhhh... Samsung locks them down when ordered directly from them as well. There have been exploits but most of the newer phones, there is a dude who charges people to unlock them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've rooted my Exynos s22u bought directly from Samsung, no problems (apart from Knox) Are we talking about SD here?

ekin_strops said:
Again, it doesn't in Europe Union, it's not a misconception. You're free to read the EU ruling on consumer protection. If the shop/store refused to do it, they're just scamming (or have no clue about this), but it's against the law.
You don't need to privately file a lawsuit in order for them to follow the LAW. There are government institutions that deal with this stuff, you just have to knock on a proper door (assuming that you live in Europe Union, because if not, that's a different issue).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beefheart said:
I can only assume you haven't dealt with a big corporation like Samsung. Knocking on a "proper door" won't make a difference, the amount of red tape you would need to go through renders it not worth the bother unless you have a determination on principle. And even then it won't be easy or quick. Then they'd likely still refuse and deal with the consequences.
Big business don't care about consumer rights, law or no law.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong, but I believe what @ekin_strops meant about "Knock[ing] on a 'proper door'" is to go after the "small shop/store", not the whole Samsung corporation on the matter of repairing a knox tripped device in the EU.....
I can imagine the "red tape" and litigation to try and make that happen, honestly would probably lead to Samsung not even implementing knox to trip when unlocking the bootloader to begin with, but they have their reasonings (mostly to market their security capabilities as well as appease carriers) to do this and I doubt they'd let it go easily.....

Beefheart said:
I can only assume you haven't dealt with a big corporation like Samsung. Knocking on a "proper door" won't make a difference, the amount of red tape you would need to go through renders it not worth the bother unless you have a determination on principle. And even then it won't be easy or quick. Then they'd likely still refuse and deal with the consequences.
Big business don't care about consumer rights, law or no law.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why also big corporations like Apple need to switch to Type-C (in EU) because no one cares about the law, right? lol
I literally never got refused a repair from Samsung (In Germany) even though I OPENLY and CLEARLY mentioned that the Knox is tripped due to running custom binaries, literally sent the device in while it was rooted.
I'm not sure about your experiences, but in Germany, the law works pretty well, and regardless of how big a "company" is, if the law is on your side, there is no one scamming you out of your RIGHT to repair under warranty as it's stated in the LAW and the RIGHT for the WARRANTY under any of the mentioned circumstances.