OK, I had fully decided to sit this one out. All week, I've been reading and watching reviews. Though I had a preorder at Radio Shack, I read the reports on launch day and decided to stay home and call in to cancel. I was one of the nay-sayers.
But yesterday, I was shopping next to the Sprint Store, and decided to go in to see it... and I was hooked. Went to Radio Shack, and the girl there saved me the last Evo 3D anyway, knowing I'd come in after all. How funny.
My reaction after having it for awhile? I truly love my OG Evo, but this device is much better in very noticeable ways:
1. The first thing I noticed is a small thing, but the haptic feedback is DRAMATICALLY better. Tighter and more subtle, just as it should be. Haven't heard this in any of the reviews, but I really like it. Makes the whole phone feel better for me, because I'm a fan of the feedback, especially with the keyboard.
2. This think is insanely fast and smooth. No lag, and it feels almost like it can read my mind going somewhere before I think about it.
3. Not a Sense fan, but I like the effects and speed of this. I could see myself staying with Sense if devs are able to improve on it. See gripes below on what I don't like.
4. Camera isn't as bad as I expected. It may even be significantly improved. The app definitely is. Low light stills are better. Video is improved but still awful, and the sound is not improved at all.
5. The 3D? I actually love it. It's fun... really a nice feature. But I can see that you have to have good eyesight and some patience for it. My wife took one look and wanted nothing more of it. Reminds me of the old Viewmaster images, and I was a big fan. Brings back a bit of my childhood. Good app idea is for Viewmaster to revive all its old collections and make them available for download. How cool would that be? Sign me up!
6. As a phone, I love that the speaker is loud enough, and call quality doesn't sound any worse. Not sure it's improved, though.
OK, now for some gripes:
1. Though I generally like the size and weight, the new screen actually feels much smaller. It's narrower, of course, which in combination with the higher resolution makes everything smaller in portrait view. I'm not sure the screen is brighter and better than the Evo as some have said... seems somewhat duller by comparison.
2. My biggest gripe is that the capacitive buttons are TOO FREAKING BRIGHT, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix that. And they never shut off. Devs need to fix this or give us ways to adjust to taste.
3. The 3D in movies is much harder to see and notice. The movies have tended to make 3D effect more subtle, and therefore it's difficult to see dramatic effect on this smaller screen. That's both good and bad, I guess. Don't imagine I'll be investing in 3D movies on this, but who knows?
4. Small things... a little harder to hold (or maybe I'm not used to it yet), the speaker isn't as good or as loud and there seems to be a bit of vibration.
5. Sense 3.0, though fun and slick, feels confining and incomplete to me. I miss some of the customization I had in CM7, but would love to keep the lockscreen and weather effects. Somebody explain to me the function of that stupid carousel. First time, "whee!" but after just dumb. This phone desperately needs root and the devs to add things that are missing (customizable buttons on the notification bar, GB wink-out effects, custom rosie, etc.).
In conclusion, I expected to hate it, or not like it enough to try it. That was dead wrong. Is it enough for me to keep it? Well, some key improvements are missing for me, like a significantly improved camera (I'm a photographer, and very picky about this). Sure, I have better cameras, but this one is with me all the time. I'd like to remove the SD card without removing the battery.
I'm loving the 3D, but can see how some non-nerds would lose patience with it quickly. I'm guessing that we'll see a service for ordering 3D prints in the future and other sample 3D photos (c'mon, Viewmaster!), and that will be fun.
Bottom line is that it HAS to get root in the next 30 days, or it goes back for sure. I've seen too many improvements on the Evo with custom ROMs, and I've made my phone new again so many times over. Gotta have that. And just think what the devs could do with this phone.
Nice review! Interesting perspective.
Yeah... No clue about the carousel.. it spins to fast to be useful... I love mine too!
The buttons definitely are to bright... They need to dim with the screen.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
I was leary of a launch day buy but I'm really glad I got it.
I really didn't care about 3d but I must admit I'm liking it.
Have to have root though.
Forgot to add.. I hate the app drawer, I want to fling it.
The charge port needs to be on right side.
The bright capacitive buttons where starting to get on my nerves as well. You can turn them off with the "screen filter" app from the market. The its primary feature is to dim the screen, but you can keep the screen at 100% and still disable the buttons' backlight.
Speaking of lights...why the hell would HTC take away my flashlight and give me a mirror? I used that HTC Flashlight all the time! Sure as heck don't need to be looking at my ugly self all the time, lol. I know I can download one, but just saying.
davec1234 said:
The charge port needs to be on right side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, I think I like the port where it is. Nice place for my thumb to go. The narrower phone is making holding and thumb typing much more difficult in portrait mode... That's another gripe for me.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
-Apollo- said:
Speaking of lights...why the hell would HTC take away my flashlight and give me a mirror? I used that HTC Flashlight all the time! Sure as heck don't need to be looking at my ugly self all the time, lol. I know I can download one, but just saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I look way uglier on that mirror. Development will add that back when we get root. Until then, the Switchpro widget works for me.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Cubfan99 said:
Video is improved but still awful, and the sound is not improved at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still on the fence, but I do shoot video with my phone enough (hey, it's always with me) to have this turn me off. I've dealt with the Evo 4G's terrible (and I mean, TERRIBLE!) audio on videos because it's overall a great phone, but I was hoping the next generation would have fixed the problem. Poop.
First thing I noticed was the haptic feedback as well. I told the BB employee that it felt like the Droid X and he said that a few other people had told him that, too.
I didn't notice how bright the capacitive buttons were, so I guess it doesn't bother me.
I hate the app drawer as well! I don't like the "pages." I feel that pages could've been implemented better (um, horizontally maybe?)
As much as I thought I'd be keeping 3d off permanently I've actually had a lot of fun messing around with it.
One other small thing that bugs me is how the clock widget always seems to have to catch up when you go back to the home page from something else. It's frozen on the time it was when you were looking at it last and quickly flips to update. It's minor, and won't matter too much because I plan on not using the sense clock widget anyway.
Cubfan99 said:
And I look way uglier on that mirror. Development will add that back when we get root. Until then, the Switchpro widget works for me.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, no doubt! Thanks man, I'll give it a shot.
Flashlight is not lost guys, a member has already posted the apk in the themes and apps section... But here is one that I have... Install like any apk,
http://db.tt/btJ1IwC
Bussin Caps from my 3D shooter
The carousel would make more sense if it took you to the home screen every time you flicked it. You can use that instead of the home button.
Why I would use the carousel to bring me back to the same page I am on makes no sense to me.....
Thanks for the review OP, i think you were head-on with your points.
I do think tho, the narrowness of this device allows me to put a case on it and actually prefer its larger width, i loved that in the OG Evo.
As for the Carousel, kinda lame that once you flick it and it starts spinning, you can't put your finger on it and choose which screen to go to, it always recovers to the screen you flicked from.
Cubfan99 said:
You know, I think I like the port where it is. Nice place for my thumb to go. The narrower phone is making holding and thumb typing much more difficult in portrait mode... That's another gripe for me.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm right handed, talking while charging blows plus it stresses the port.
Just extract the flashlight apk from a sense rom in the EVO 4g dev section, it works fine on our phones.
Also I kinda like the narrower size, it fits better in my hand and pocket. I was ready for a new phone and I don't regret picking this one up at all.
phatmanxxl said:
Just extract the flashlight apk from a sense rom in the EVO 4g dev section, it works fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What a good idea. I'll try that.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
ktrotter11 said:
Flashlight is not lost guys, a member has already posted the apk in the themes and apps section... But here is one that I have... Install like any apk,
http://db.tt/btJ1IwC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dang... that's even easier. Thanks!!
mine goes back today.
i am tired of waiting for HTC and Sprint to release a phone that has been properly tested and functional.
ringers and notifications too low even at full volume
camera switch on my phone jiggle (cheap feeling)
occasional screen freeze
lower than desired photo quality
and of course...
locked bootloader
i have no intention of waiting for HTC to get off their asses. i know all the top devs are working hard and its appreciated, but my money will be spent on a different device
^
Related
What do yo guys like and dislike about the phone?
Being the first dual core phone from sprint, being this fast is a huge leap forward. Love the qHD screen, and HDMI out. The radio in this phone is ridiculously powerful, have full service where I has 0-1 bar previously. The only downside, which isn't that bad, is playing all the new tegra zone games. I am burning through battery life...so time to carry a second battery. So far best phone I've had yet.
second dual core.. i believe the EVO 3D is the first that Sprint has offered. That being said, I definitely prefer Sense 3.0 to BLUR, but that will be short lived until the ulocked bootloader is released.. i'm looking forward to rooting this beastly device.
Likes:
qHD screen
Double yellow flash LEDs make a great flashlight
All the stuff you already know about from the specs, like GSM world phone, kickstand, etc.
Dislikes:
Pixelation caused by PenTile display
Tegra 2 is smooth, but could be smoother
Locked bootloader
The artist formerly known as Motoblur is still only okay, and was quickly replaced by Launcher Pro by me
No 5Ghz 802.11n
Received the phone first thing Friday morning, have a early launch day EVO 3D as well. Purchased this for travel use, so will be using it for a while before I re-activate the 3D - even longer if it grows on me more than the 3D did. Initial impressions from weekend of use:
Like:
- Kickstand is back (original EVO owner). It's still a bit "wobbly" but the bonus is that it's software functional (pulling it will activate landscape viewing and even bring the phone out of sleep) and the phone can be flipped horizontally on either side - the stand will not collapse (but the surface + volume rocker + camera button may get scraped up)
- Camera shutter button
- Data encryption options (have to look into this more, though)
- LED lights up in multiple colors
- GPS radio is faster than my 3D - can get an accurate lock in moments.
- Reception/antenna seems stronger. Many more bars showing, and downloads seem faster (than my 3D).
- Lots of built in memory (weird that it appears as SD Card, though)
- Speakerphone is loud as hell.
- Ear speaker is clearer than my 3D.
- Grooved/textured volume rocker and camera button.
- Back cover snaps on TIGHT, has soft touch 'rubbery' finish
DISLike:
- Kickstand is a pain to "kick out". On the upside it's snug in there and won't flip out unintentionally. Then again, the EVO's never did, either.
- Camera shutter button is one-stage only
- CANNOT shut off shutter sound. WTF.
- The stock gallery app is pure garbage. You can't even view the folders that contain photos in an overview. It's literally view all photo files, view all camera photos, view by location or view by tag.
- LED does not light up when charging. WTF?
- No included SD card
- Back cover is HARD to get off. You'll feel like your nail is going to flip off or you're going to damage the slot you're pulling on.
- Even with the soft touch back cover, phone still feels very slippery...
- Pentile display is horrible. Just pixels - all I see are pixels. I didn't even know what pentile was until I Googled to find out what the heck was up with this display. Colors seem "off" and all edges I see are jagged. Text appears blurry due to 'pixelation'.
- Stock launcher seems choppy/laggy. Is this a frame-rate issue? Not sure but using something like Go Launcher is smooth as butter.
Coming from an Epic, so some of my observations are from that perspective...
Bugs:
- Only one I've run across so far is I'm not sure if my light sensor is doing what it's supposed to do. It works according to various sensor tests, but the phone doesn't seem to automatically change brightness as it should, and the "in-pocket protection" thing doesn't lock my phone when I, well, stick it in my pocket.
Pros:
- Call quality is excellent, much better than the Epic and probably the best I've ever had. Incoming audio is great on both the earpiece and speakerphone, and I'm being told I sound great on the other end.
- Speed seems outstanding. I'm not experiencing any lag whatsoever, on the home screens, opening apps, scrolling, etc. Everything just happens exactly as I expect it to. Many of the frustrating lags I experienced with the Epic, like the switch from portrait to landscape and back, are smooth as glass on the Photon. Absolutely loving performance so far.
- Screen is fine for me. Plenty bright, more natural colors than the Epic, and I see absolutely none of the PenTile weaknesses others are hating. I really think this is a person-by-person thing, because I've heard people complaining about the same thing on the Epic and I never saw it there, either. For me, the screen is not only good enough, but downright pleasant to use. Oh, and Netflix looks fine to me, not sure what others are seeing. I played Toy Story 3 as a test, and it was lovely.
- I like the software better than on the Epic. Email, messaging, social network integration, transitions (I like the flow in changing orientation rather than Samsung's abrupt switch), etc. is all nice and makes me happy with my decision to go with the Photon. I really don't like Samsung's flavor, I'm finding, and simply like Motorola's better. This makes me very hesitant indeed to even consider switching to a Within if it's out within (no pun intended) 30 days no matter what kind of crazy specs it has.
- Love how you can dismiss individual notifications.
- Configuration options are better on the Photon, such as the ability to define battery states and such. The Epic was lacking in some things I didn't know were possible on Android devices.
- The Photon car dock is heads and shoulders better than the Epic's equivalent. There's far less interference when nothing's playing (just a tiny bit that I have to listen for, vs. the screech-in-my-ear interference with the Epic's dock), and I like that the Photon dock can be customized a bit. It's nice to be able to add my music apps and launch them directly from the dock, rather than going through the launch-first-then-start-dock gyrations I had to go through with the Epic. The Photon is also easier to add to the dock than the Epic was, in terms of getting the USB port lined up.
- It's a small thing, but I love the kickstand mode. I'm actually using it when the phone sits on my desk, which I didn't reall expect. Kind of nice.
- Phone and 3G radios seem roughly equivalent to the Epic, maybe a bar better in most cases on the Photon. Although I've been noticing better service in some place where I got no service at all with the Epic (like my favorite place for Indian food, which is in a black hole for the Epic but where the Photon got three full bars and 3G).
Cons:
- Can't turn off the shutter sound on the camera. I hate that.
- Motorola widgets are kind of plain and 2-dimensional.
- Getting worse wifi reception with the Photon. Where I had a single bar of wifi in my home office in the garage with the Epic, I'm not getting a single bar with the Photon. And it translates to performance, where I get some disconnects with the Photon that I never saw with the Epic. It's not a dealbreaker by any means, but something to keep an eye on.
- The battery only increments by 10% until you get to 15% left, then it goes in increments of 5%. Seems silly to me to not know if I'm at 99% remaining or 91%. So, yes, that should be fixed.
Bottom line:
I'm probably missing some things, but those are my initial impressions.
Overall, I like the Photon MUCH better than the Epic so far, and if the Within will have the same basic software features as the Epic, then I'm not interested in it even if it has a theoretically faster processor. I like the screen on the Photon well enough to not make me salivate for the SAMOLED Plus screen on the Within. Very happy with the Photon.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
fordhighlander said:
Being the first dual core phone from sprint, being this fast is a huge leap forward. Love the qHD screen, and HDMI out. The radio in this phone is ridiculously powerful, have full service where I has 0-1 bar previously. The only downside, which isn't that bad, is playing all the new tegra zone games. I am burning through battery life...so time to carry a second battery. So far best phone I've had yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doiiii. Evo 3d.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
I love it, I work for sprint and played with it over the weekend and it performed much better then my 3d. The netflix app works perfect no bad picture like I have on my evo 3d. The kickstand is hard to open but I hope over time it will get easier. The speaker volume is a lot better then the 3D. Con is motoblur is not that great yet, but with launcher pro not that big a deal. Also I miss the quick settings in notification bar like the 3D has. Also Sprint ID but its optional on this phone. And all the junk widgets on it when you first get it takes a few mins to remove and put up what you want. The optional dock to use is amazing and with the bluetooth keyboard makes it a computer on your big screen. The lack of SD isn't that big a deal to me since I always use the 16gb one I have had for awhile, if it had one I would just take it out and replace it with mine anyway. Over all in my personal opinon its the best phone sprint has and best phone I have played with.
predwing said:
I love it, I work for sprint and played with it over the weekend and it performed much better then my 3d. The netflix app works perfect no bad picture like I have on my evo 3d. The kickstand is hard to open but I hope over time it will get easier. The speaker volume is a lot better then the 3D. Con is motoblur is not that great yet, but with launcher pro not that big a deal. Also I miss the quick settings in notification bar like the 3D has. Also Sprint ID but its optional on this phone. And all the junk widgets on it when you first get it takes a few mins to remove and put up what you want. The optional dock to use is amazing and with the bluetooth keyboard makes it a computer on your big screen. The lack of SD isn't that big a deal to me since I always use the 16gb one I have had for awhile, if it had one I would just take it out and replace it with mine anyway. Over all in my personal opinon its the best phone sprint has and best phone I have played with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed! The build quality on this phone is top notch. The speaker is loud and sounds great. Volume and power buttons are clicky and love the ridges. The beveled glass is a beautiful touch. Gives the screen depth and you can tell its gorilla glass
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Biggest problem I have are three things
1st. Battery percentage is only in increments of 10 percent, wtf?
2nd SwiftKey x I can't get the audible key press to work
3rd the pentile screen is pixel hell
Other than that it's better than the 3d
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
I went from an Epic to the Evo 3D and decided to do the 30 day swap to the Photon to give it a try while I wait on the galaxy s II.
PROS:
Tegra 2 processor is very powerful. Access to the Tegra Zone games on a phone is really cool. Most of the games I have on my Xoom run on the Photon.
As said before, the speaker on this phone is really good. The Evo 3D was whisper quiet.
I really like the shiny, glossy smooth finish although it is a bit slippery
The display is extra dark somehow. I believe there is a filter in there making it darker. OLED > LCD but this phone eases that pain.
Moto blur or whatever it's called is garbage but then again Sense is a memory hog and touchwiz sucks. In any case it's all about ADW for me anyway.
The kickstand and docking options are really nice to have. Most manufacturers overlook the dock aspect but Moto has been really good about it.
Lots of memory available. Thankfully they also included an sd slot.
CONS:
No access to quick settings in the notification tray. This really bothers me. I guess I've been spoiled by having this. If you are in the middle of using an app it's such a pain to have to go back to the home screen to bring up the app drawer to find settings - wireless - and turn on wifi.
Video compatibility is lackluster. Don't expect to encode an mp4 and just have it work. I have to spend some time figuring out what is wrong. The Galaxy S played anything I threw at it. This photon and my xoom are both very fickle about codec support.
Google music bug. My (cloud) songs will just keep playing after they reach the end. So a 3 minute song will have played twice once it hits 6 minutes and so on until I skip the track. This happened on my Epic but was not a problem on the Evo3D.
I love the phone other than one thing:
The location of the HDMI and USB port. If I want to use the kickstand and charge at the same time, no go. Pretty much forces you to buy the dock.
pajinki said:
I love the phone other than one thing:
The location of the HDMI and USB port. If I want to use the kickstand and charge at the same time, no go. Pretty much forces you to buy the dock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. Flip out your kickstand, and try setting it down with the volume rocker and camera shutter button on the bottom. You will see that you can, which allows you to have the two ports plugged in.
Really? That is one firm kickstand if that's the case! I just tried flipping my Evo like that and the kickstand snaps back into the phone.
dfin13 said:
Really? That is one firm kickstand if that's the case! I just tried flipping my Evo like that and the kickstand snaps back into the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya when it's open, it's open. Works GREAT
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Digitaltigre said:
[*]No access to quick settings in the notification tray. This really bothers me. I guess I've been spoiled by having this. If you are in the middle of using an app it's such a pain to have to go back to the home screen to bring up the app drawer to find settings - wireless - and turn on wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give Quick Settings in the market a try, works great, other than the 3G/4G toggles not working yet.
I can't believe Google hasn't built this in yet. It's a really horrible user experience having to go into settings to deal with wifi and other frequently toggled settings.
Which is all the more reason I'm stunned HTC didn't include a kickstand on the 3D. Considering the EVO 4G with kickstand was the flagship device, it seemed pretty bizarre to me to remove the one thing that differentiated it from other devices.
The Photons kickstand is super strong. It doesn't flip out as fast as the EVOs but I haven't had the phone long enough to find a quick way to do it or a one hand approach.
As far as the Pentile screen or screen door affect as others call it; I haven't seen that. Its been reported if you turn screen brightness down, the screen becomes bearable. Out-the-box, I thought my screen was pretty decent.
Its hard to know a phones pro/cons based on 5-10 minutes play time in a store. I purchased the EVO 3D so I could decide for myself if it was the next best thing...IMO, it wasn't. Got the Photon for same reason. Currently the Photon is a keeper but on the other hand, I've only had mine since last night- not long enough to give detailed opinion on.
I did have ONE issue which turned out to be user error. My pics were all dark and blue. I forgot to remove the blue protective strip off the back of the lens.
Digitaltigre said:
Video compatibility is lackluster. Don't expect to encode an mp4 and just have it work. I have to spend some time figuring out what is wrong. The Galaxy S played anything I threw at it. This photon and my xoom are both very fickle about codec support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What issues are you having? Mine has played almost everything I've thrown at it that doesn't have anything over 2 channel audio. It will not play 5.1 or DTS encoded files. Also, it doesn't seem to like high profile encodes (4.1) either.
Additional Pros:
Gingerbread UI elements are here. The old tube television screen off animation I had on the Nexus S but they took away from the Evo 3D is here.
Additionally, the subtle color cues when you hit the edge the screen or menu - if you continue to pull or push the screen the color cue fades more into the screen real estate.
Encryption option is awesome. I tested it for a while today on both the internal and SD card memory.
Additional Cons:
The color scheme is unfortunate - light/baby blue? Really? It's this way on the Verizon Droid X2, also. I wish they at least allowed a way to change it to something else. It's not even that it's not a masculine color - it's that it's hard to see. The color cue I mentioned above when you hit the edges of screens and menus is BARELY visible when it's baby blue.
Encryption is seemingly all or nothing. If you want to simply copy photos you've taken to your desktop for backing up... well, I don't know how you'd handle this yet. Once you encrypt, everything to move to and save to one ot he encrypted locations is locked up tight.
The trick on the kickstand is to push down on the hinge end with the grooves cut in it with your thumb nail...this pops out the other end to grab with your index finger
(motorola photon rule seem to be "grooves cut in it" = "push here")
Hey guys ! I own a HTC EVO 3D right now, but I'm going to switch it for an ATRIX 4G tomorrow.
I want to ask you... How do you feel about the ATRIX's screen? I know it's a TFT LCD with the RGBW matrix, which is what makes my brain twist and say "OH SH*T NO". What's your say on that?
Also... voice quality... Is it loud & clear enough? I mean, compared to other phones you might have owned...
And the camera?
-----
And... most of all... the chipset?! How is it going for you?! I hear it is actually less performant & more power-hungry than Qualcomm's dual core, but I don't really know...
awh its a great phone......but stock gb rom sucks. u wud love it if you are a social networking fan!! for me im pretty happy with my cm flavored atrix. the chip is good, camera is okay.....and about sound i dont give huge scores! display hmmm u shud love it!!
njarun said:
awh its a great phone......but stock gb rom sucks. u wud love it if you are a social networking fan!! for me im pretty happy with my cm flavored atrix. the chip is good, camera is okay.....and about sound i dont give huge scores! display hmmm u shud love it!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This whole weekend I've been going back and forth, deciding to trade it for an ATRIX, then changing my mind and returning to HTC... Now I was sure I was gonna make the switch, but here I go again, returning to HTC.
The ATRIX's screen is TFT, as opposed to HTC's S-LCD, and that wouldn't be THAT MUCH of a problem if it didn't had the RGBW matrix... I read a lot on the phone, and that would just ruin my experience, probably making me feel the urge to blend the phone or something.
I think I'll stick to HTC... If only Motorola were to use standard RGB...
good luck
njarun said:
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel somewhat bad for all this (the whole back and forth thing). No phone has everything you need... at least not without some drawbacks, GOD DAMN IT
Sense is hard to leave, especially with sense 4 out now.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
Formhault said:
I feel somewhat bad for all this (the whole back and forth thing). No phone has everything you need... at least not without some drawbacks, GOD DAMN IT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as you are concerned about the screen, maybe i can help a little. first off, i have really great eyesight, pentile matrix displays make me want to hurt people, but its not all bad. the qHD resolution makes the subpixles much harder to see, i personally can only see them when its about a foot or closer to my face, some colors i can see it farther away, such as green, i can see some distortion about a foot and a half away form my face. but its very hard to see, its a HUGE difference form say, a captivates pentile screen.
next thing to keep in mind is the colors. yellow is a big complaint, i dont notice it to much but the colors are far from perfect, i feel the screen is a hair cold by default, and there are ways to reduce the blue if you are rooted, i did a guide on it a while ago.
last thing is gradients, they look bad, that is the only thing i really am disappointed with, you can see artifacting as the colors shift, although i dont know if im crazy but it seems better then before.
keep in mind that all of these things you will get use to with a little time, i got use to them quickly and i am a stickler for screen quality. one of the goods of the screen though is the battery life, the type of display saves a ton of juice thus making one of the longest lasting phones of its time. now that, I love.
im not trying to bash my own phone here, i love it, and always will, its an amazing device and was everything i wanted when i got it. the screen is something i can live with, and the the battery life plus the higher resolution makes up for it in my book.
let me know if there is anything else you want to know, hope i was a little helpful.
gh123man said:
as you are concerned about the screen, maybe i can help a little. first off, i have really great eyesight, pentile matrix displays make me want to hurt people, but its not all bad. the qHD resolution makes the subpixles much harder to see, i personally can only see them when its about a foot or closer to my face, some colors i can see it farther away, such as green, i can see some distortion about a foot and a half away form my face. but its very hard to see, its a HUGE difference form say, a captivates pentile screen.
next thing to keep in mind is the colors. yellow is a big complaint, i dont notice it to much but the colors are far from perfect, i feel the screen is a hair cold by default, and there are ways to reduce the blue if you are rooted, i did a guide on it a while ago.
last thing is gradients, they look bad, that is the only thing i really am disappointed with, you can see artifacting as the colors shift, although i dont know if im crazy but it seems better then before.
keep in mind that all of these things you will get use to with a little time, i got use to them quickly and i am a stickler for screen quality. one of the goods of the screen though is the battery life, the type of display saves a ton of juice thus making one of the longest lasting phones of its time. now that, I love.
im not trying to bash my own phone here, i love it, and always will, its an amazing device and was everything i wanted when i got it. the screen is something i can live with, and the the battery life plus the higher resolution makes up for it in my book.
let me know if there is anything else you want to know, hope i was a little helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do a lot of reading on my phone, and having that screen would kill me... Plus the gradients thing... I noticed it in a 480p YouTube video, ffs, lol.
The battery is all nice, the chipset seems good enough, but even though the screen is all bright in the sun, its downs are making me wanna throw rocks at it, lol.
Sent from my LeeDrOiD-loaded EVO 3D
You know what, I think I'm gonna give the ATRIX a try. I'm going in a couple of hours to see that guy to make the trade.
Got the phone. Tinkered with it already. Love it so far! This PenTile isn't really awful.
Formhault said:
Got the phone. Tinkered with it already. Love it so far! This PenTile isn't really awful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which phone do you like better now since you got the Atrix? Just curious.
Sent from my ATRIX using the Premium XDA App
Voelker45 said:
Which phone do you like better now since you got the Atrix? Just curious.
Sent from my ATRIX using the Premium XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard for me to answer this.
I loved the EVO 3D. The back design made it attractive, and the overall body... it was nice, alright. Also, the big screen was neat.
There were a few things that made me change the phone. The screen was somewhat yellowish (had to use Filter Your Screen to add a blue alpha so it would not be so yellowish on white menus and so brownish on gray menus - but that still didn't fix it 100%). The earpiece was creaky, and so was the loudspeaker on maximum volume...
I wanted the ATRIX for it has a bigger battery, a decent chipset, and a more robust design. I mean... the body is more compact - feels better in the hand, more secure, I'd say. Besides, on this phone I no longer feel the urge to smash it on the wall for yellow whites or creaky voices in-calls.
Also, the screen is just AMAZING. Even though it's a TFT, and it's got PenTile, I find it really nice. The whites are PURE WHITE. The blacks are BLACK!!! Also, if you know that ICS wallpaper... it really looks better on the ATRIX. The colors were somewhat washed on the EVO 3D - proof that S-LCD still needed work. To be honest, I think this TFT screen can be compared to the Samsung Galaxy S's SUPER AMOLED.
Even if I turn down the screen's brightness to the minimum, the whites still blind me during night time, especially if I hold the phone somewhat close to my face. On full brightness, in the sunlight, it ROCKS !!!
The only thing I wished for is some aluminium on the body. It's all plasticky... good thing I have an iCase Pro (MOMAX) case, otherwise... I wouldn't really like it .
Formhault said:
It's hard for me to answer this.
I loved the EVO 3D. The back design made it attractive, and the overall body... it was nice, alright. Also, the big screen was neat.
There were a few things that made me change the phone. The screen was somewhat yellowish (had to use Filter Your Screen to add a blue alpha so it would not be so yellowish on white menus and so brownish on gray menus - but that still didn't fix it 100%). The earpiece was creaky, and so was the loudspeaker on maximum volume...
I wanted the ATRIX for it has a bigger battery, a decent chipset, and a more robust design. I mean... the body is more compact - feels better in the hand, more secure, I'd say. Besides, on this phone I no longer feel the urge to smash it on the wall for yellow whites or creaky voices in-calls.
Also, the screen is just AMAZING. Even though it's a TFT, and it's got PenTile, I find it really nice. The whites are PURE WHITE. The blacks are BLACK!!! Also, if you know that ICS wallpaper... it really looks better on the ATRIX. The colors were somewhat washed on the EVO 3D - proof that S-LCD still needed work. To be honest, I think this TFT screen can be compared to the Samsung Galaxy S's SUPER AMOLED.
Even if I turn down the screen's brightness to the minimum, the whites still blind me during night time, especially if I hold the phone somewhat close to my face. On full brightness, in the sunlight, it ROCKS !!!
The only thing I wished for is some aluminium on the body. It's all plasticky... good thing I have an iCase Pro (MOMAX) case, otherwise... I wouldn't really like it .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the atrix family
Sent from my MB860
Formhault said:
It's hard for me to answer this.
I loved the EVO 3D. The back design made it attractive, and the overall body... it was nice, alright. Also, the big screen was neat.
There were a few things that made me change the phone. The screen was somewhat yellowish (had to use Filter Your Screen to add a blue alpha so it would not be so yellowish on white menus and so brownish on gray menus - but that still didn't fix it 100%). The earpiece was creaky, and so was the loudspeaker on maximum volume...
I wanted the ATRIX for it has a bigger battery, a decent chipset, and a more robust design. I mean... the body is more compact - feels better in the hand, more secure, I'd say. Besides, on this phone I no longer feel the urge to smash it on the wall for yellow whites or creaky voices in-calls.
Also, the screen is just AMAZING. Even though it's a TFT, and it's got PenTile, I find it really nice. The whites are PURE WHITE. The blacks are BLACK!!! Also, if you know that ICS wallpaper... it really looks better on the ATRIX. The colors were somewhat washed on the EVO 3D - proof that S-LCD still needed work. To be honest, I think this TFT screen can be compared to the Samsung Galaxy S's SUPER AMOLED.
Even if I turn down the screen's brightness to the minimum, the whites still blind me during night time, especially if I hold the phone somewhat close to my face. On full brightness, in the sunlight, it ROCKS !!!
The only thing I wished for is some aluminium on the body. It's all plasticky... good thing I have an iCase Pro (MOMAX) case, otherwise... I wouldn't really like it .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good reasons and observations. I really liked that. They way you responded about the evo 3d, I wouldn't buy that at all. Thanks for sharing.
Sent from my ATRIX using the Premium XDA App
bimasakti85 said:
Welcome to the atrix family
Sent from my MB860
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks
Voelker45 said:
Good reasons and observations. I really liked that. They way you responded about the evo 3d, I wouldn't buy that at all. Thanks for sharing.
Sent from my ATRIX using the Premium XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't get me wrong... MY phone was a bad unit - about the yellowish screen. Another friend had the 3VO and it was white, but compared to my ATRIX now, the ATRIX is white and his 3VO yellow.
The creaking earpiece was also a problem that occured later - I believe some water got in, idk.
The EVO 3D is a great phone.
Sent from my Neutrino-loaded ATRIX
Formhault said:
thanks
Don't get me wrong... MY phone was a bad unit - about the yellowish screen. Another friend had the 3VO and it was white, but compared to my ATRIX now, the ATRIX is white and his 3VO yellow.
The creaking earpiece was also a problem that occured later - I believe some water got in, idk.
The EVO 3D is a great phone.
Sent from my Neutrino-loaded ATRIX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice Review. The atrix is a BEAST especially when throwing Neutrino behind it!
I came from a iPhone 4 to the Atrix a few months ago and it has it's ups and downs. My only real gripe of any consequence is the battery life. It isnt terrible, but you have to do a little tweaking (at least with CM7, I found so). I've been playing with ICS on it and so far have noticed a slight improvement in that arena. Plus ICS feels like a much nicer UI overall.
I love the size of the screen on, and I personally have found no problem with it. My main use for the phone (other than calls) is web browsing and reading using the Kindle and nook, and aldiko book readers.
And music playback of course. I have one playlist or another going most of the time if I am not talking to someone (desk job, might as well get my tune on).
My headphone jack failed a month or so after I bought the phone (used, off ebay), and while it was at Motorola getting fixed (warranty job, only paid shipping to them) I was back on my I4 for a couple weeks and I felt a lot better getting the Atrix back, and not just for Android. You just get addicted to the larger screen so easy.
My secondary gripe of any matter is the placement of the power button. Just feels very awkward to use 1 handed. But I added a wake on volume mod instead, and that problem was solved.
Genomerio said:
I came from a iPhone 4 to the Atrix a few months ago and it has it's ups and downs. My only real gripe of any consequence is the battery life. It isnt terrible, but you have to do a little tweaking (at least with CM7, I found so). I've been playing with ICS on it and so far have noticed a slight improvement in that arena. Plus ICS feels like a much nicer UI overall.
I love the size of the screen on, and I personally have found no problem with it. My main use for the phone (other than calls) is web browsing and reading using the Kindle and nook, and aldiko book readers.
And music playback of course. I have one playlist or another going most of the time if I am not talking to someone (desk job, might as well get my tune on).
My headphone jack failed a month or so after I bought the phone (used, off ebay), and while it was at Motorola getting fixed (warranty job, only paid shipping to them) I was back on my I4 for a couple weeks and I felt a lot better getting the Atrix back, and not just for Android. You just get addicted to the larger screen so easy.
My secondary gripe of any matter is the placement of the power button. Just feels very awkward to use 1 handed. But I added a wake on volume mod instead, and that problem was solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate the iPhone. Overpriced, tiny 3.5 incher... Besides, Android is much better. Otherwise I would have gotten an iPhone...
If the EVO 3D unit I had didn't had those few things that I didn't like about (malfunctions, that is), I would've sticked to it. Just letting ya know. I consider the EVO 3D above the ATRIX (in some aspects, at leasts).
But compared to the iPhone 4S... The ATRIX wins big time. Bigger battery, better CPU, bigger RAM, better/nicer OS, bigger screen... The only thing I'm concerned about is the GPU. I know it's an 8-core UltraLowPower processor, but... does it really perform as good as/better than the PowerVR's or Adreno's?! I, for one, would say no but that might be some driver-related issue, which should/might be fixed when the official ICS drops...
Im glad you liked the Atrix. Its a pretty dam nice phone, im im love with it. Very fast and smooth. qHD screens are awesome. Great battery life. Feels very nice on my hand. Nice design, IMO. Welcome to the atrix family.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
Formhault said:
But compared to the iPhone 4S... The ATRIX wins big time. Bigger battery, better CPU, bigger RAM, better/nicer OS, bigger screen... The only thing I'm concerned about is the GPU. I know it's an 8-core UltraLowPower processor, but... does it really perform as good as/better than the PowerVR's or Adreno's?! I, for one, would say no but that might be some driver-related issue, which should/might be fixed when the official ICS drops...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch, gonna have to disagree there. Nothing really beats iPhones os, its sooo simple and easy to use. Best thing about it is that they DONT need quad core, even my ipad2 runs perfect with gaming. The OS is so perfectly optimized that even with my wife's 3gs, there are only a few hiccups. The one thing that I will agree with is the 3.5 inch screen. That's too small. Imagine a 4.3 inch with that retina display....mmmm......
But these are all personal opinions, and no one will ever agree.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
My Galaxy Nexus died in a horrible freak accident, and SquareTrade ended up sending me a wad of cash to find another phone. Logically, I wanted to take the S3 for a test drive because it's the newest, hottest kid on the block (and I missed not having a MicroSD card).
I picked up my T-Mobile S3 in store today for the full retail price, and walked out excited as I always am to have a new toy in hand. Now, beware, I'm going to say some negative things about this phone, but that is because I want you guys to tell re-assure me that I'll learn to love it, or they'll get fixed etc because I really want to like this phone.
First off, the good things over my dead GNex:
Speed: Holy cow, that Krait CPU is blindingly fast. I knew the GNex was never a rocketship, but I wasn't aware of how slow it was until I played with the S3. Things run like butter, and JB(4.1) is only going to make that more amazing.
Camera: Yeah, the GNex camera sucks. This isn't as amazing as I hoped it would be, but it is nice to have something that instantly looks like crap.
Screen: It is a sweet screen, but I'm not sure if it is better than the GNex. If it is, I don't really see it (and can't compare side by side) and is still in amazing screen.
Now, the things I don't like:
SMS: WHY THE **** does my SCREEN turn on EVERY TIME an SMS comes in??? WHERE IS THE SETTING TO KILL THAT?!
Lockscreen: The "barely touch" to unlock is a joke. (Yes, I know you can replace it)
The body: Man, that blue looks pretty, but holy balls is that phone a pain to hold on to in 90 degree heat. What's the point of making a gorgeous phone that you have to keep in a case?
Build quality: It honestly doesn't feel as "solid" as the gnex, but has anyone had any quality issues with theirs yet?
Bloatware: I thought the Sensation was bad when I bought it, but this phone has so many apps that I never want to use, it's not even funny. I spent the first half hour going through and disabling applications.
Signal Quality: I drive a certain stretch of road that is hell on connections. I've had HTC's, Samsungs, etc drop out. It's just a great place to test radios and phones... Well, this one? Drops as much as the old HTC G2 did, if not more. Absolutely impossible to keep a signal. Now, thinking it was a bad signal day, I popped my micro SIM in an adapter and back into my HD2 and drove the road again... This time? No issue.
Home button: Really? A hard to press, narrow button for the most used button on the phone? I worry about dropping the phone, as it is so light, I have to hold it tightly with one hand to press the button.
So I know this may seem petty, but I'm really hoping you guys can convince me one way or another. Sure, this phone will always be faster than my GNex, but a GNex is half the price, and for me, in many ways feels like a better phone.
Thanks
Another thing I've notice, the screen can't figure out if it wants to be dim or bright. It'll sit there and go from one extreme to the other over a minutes time. Never in the middle.
Is it sounding like I have a defective unit?
I also had a Nexus Prime and I would of kept it if it had an sd card slot and WAY better camera & that's where the S3 comes in. Sure it has bloat and touchwiz isn't the best but AOSP is on its way & with it, improvements. As for build quality, I like it better than the nexus. Signal wise I was have at least 3 bars so I'm happy. I do agree though that the unit gets quite hot sometimes, but overall I love this device
Higher the processor speed the hotter it runs. You could limit the processor speed but you lose the blazing speed.. but I also lose the blazing heat. LOL.
As for the build quality its not bad. It doesn't feel like it'll break when I try to bend the unit. The gorilla glass is pretty strong but its not shatter proof. Don't drop it! Already seen a few shattered screens.
The software issues are just that.. all just software which is easy to change either by using replacement programs like handcent SMS or rooting then replacing the rom or disabling and removing the bloat. All that should matter is the hardware and if you're happy with the performance, look, feel, battery life, and reception.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using xda app-developers app
Yes please but on a screen protector. Dont trust the gorilla glass its bad. they should just take gorilla glass out of the specs for the phone. it doesnt work. i dont care how many youtube videos you watch that says it does.... it doesnt
curtiscr87 said:
Yes please but on a screen protector. Dont trust the gorilla glass its bad. they should just take gorilla glass out of the specs for the phone. it doesnt work. i dont care how many youtube videos you watch that says it does.... it doesnt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had issues with scratches on my Gorilla glass, even on my tablet which gets abused in the shop while I'm working on things. Then again, my HD2 never got a scratch either.
franknozly said:
Higher the processor speed the hotter it runs. You could limit the processor speed but you lose the blazing speed.. but I also lose the blazing heat. LOL.
As for the build quality its not bad. It doesn't feel like it'll break when I try to bend the unit. The gorilla glass is pretty strong but its not shatter proof. Don't drop it! Already seen a few shattered screens.
The software issues are just that.. all just software which is easy to change either by using replacement programs like handcent SMS or rooting then replacing the rom or disabling and removing the bloat. All that should matter is the hardware and if you're happy with the performance, look, feel, battery life, and reception.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So Handcent can fix the screen on issue? GoSMS so far hasn't been any help.
AttachedSilver said:
I also had a Nexus Prime and I would of kept it if it had an sd card slot and WAY better camera & that's where the S3 comes in. Sure it has bloat and touchwiz isn't the best but AOSP is on its way & with it, improvements. As for build quality, I like it better than the nexus. Signal wise I was have at least 3 bars so I'm happy. I do agree though that the unit gets quite hot sometimes, but overall I love this device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You nailed it, the camera and the MicroSD slot are the two most compelling things about this phone for me.
arthurbrownleeiv said:
I've never had issues with scratches on my Gorilla glass, even on my tablet which gets abused in the shop while I'm working on things. Then again, my HD2 never got a scratch either.
So Handcent can fix the screen on issue? GoSMS so far hasn't been any help.
You nailed it, the camera and the MicroSD slot are the two most compelling things about this phone for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes handcent fixes that screen on issue if you disable popup notifications. That's the kind of notification that shows a dialog box with a quick reply option.
If disabled then the screen doesn't turn on and the SMS stays in the notification area.
Infact you can enable the pop-up notification but choose to disable screen on for pop-ups. That works too.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using xda app-developers app
arthurbrownleeiv said:
Another thing I've notice, the screen can't figure out if it wants to be dim or bright. It'll sit there and go from one extreme to the other over a minutes time. Never in the middle.
Is it sounding like I have a defective unit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you don't have the eye/face detection turned on? My screen does that at work (I have mine set on) and even though I'm not directly stairing at it, it picks up my eyes (I have my phone placed below my monitor). Sometimes it bugs me enough just to turn the thing face down.
or maybe it can be the autolight sensor.
:shrug
There's a setting in gosms to turn off the "screen turning on with an sms" option
My major concern is with the home button. What on earth were they thinking?
I'm a firm believer that AOSP on this phone will make it a true winner with the on-screen navigation buttons enabled and the capacitive and physical ones disabled. Maybe we could repurpose the big ol physical one to do something else in the future.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
franknozly said:
Yes handcent fixes that screen on issue if you disable popup notifications. That's the kind of notification that shows a dialog box with a quick reply option.
If disabled then the screen doesn't turn on and the SMS stays in the notification area.
Infact you can enable the pop-up notification but choose to disable screen on for pop-ups. That works too.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll download that one and give it a whirl.
rosedog said:
Are you sure you don't have the eye/face detection turned on? My screen does that at work (I have mine set on) and even though I'm not directly stairing at it, it picks up my eyes (I have my phone placed below my monitor). Sometimes it bugs me enough just to turn the thing face down.
or maybe it can be the autolight sensor.
:shrug
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I turned off a lot of the gesture/motion things right out of the box, as some just didn't seem natural at all. I could never get the whole unlocking motion one to work either. That was annoying for a bit.
Bluerai said:
There's a setting in gosms to turn off the "screen turning on with an sms" option
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check again, but I'm not finding it.
Div033 said:
My major concern is with the home button. What on earth were they thinking?
I'm a firm believer that AOSP on this phone will make it a true winner with the on-screen navigation buttons enabled and the capacitive and physical ones disabled. Maybe we could repurpose the big ol physical one to do something else in the future.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sad thing is, as much as I'd love to have on screen buttons like the Gnex, then we're stuck with that long chin being nonfunctional. I guess it wouldn't be bad if the back and menu button never lit up and were completely disabled. Possible use the home button as a shutter button then? Who knows.
It really does blow my mind how they did a physical button for the home button of all things.
I enjoyed a physical home button on my previous phones. To each his/her own?
Cappurnikus said:
I enjoyed a physical home button on my previous phones. To each his/her own?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I loved the ones on the HD2. However, they weren't as difficult to press, and the phone was a lot heavier. It made it so when you pushed them, the phone didn't want to flip out of your hand. The SGS3 is so smooth and lightweight, I don't even try to hit the home button one handed anymore.
Cappurnikus said:
I enjoyed a physical home button on my previous phones. To each his/her own?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although I have a trackpad on the g2 I use it to turn the phone on so I love the home button on the s3 since a lot of times I leave the phone on the desk or table during lectures and stuff and its just convenient to turn the phone on that way but like some said its hard to press without fearing of it falling out of ur hand due to the large size and thinness
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda app-developers app
My home button is very easy to press and it never feels like it'll fall out of my hand while holding it with only one.
thetony said:
My home button is very easy to press and it never feels like it'll fall out of my hand while holding it with only one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you have smaller thumbs? For me, I have a big wide thumb, and I have to press with enough force to make my thumb "go into the recessed" area to completely depress the button.
My wife wants the Sony Xperia S. Prob because it looks nice (thats women for you lol). Im interested to hear what exhisting owners think about the device. Both Pluses and minus of owning this device please. I own a HTC senstaion and so right away, I would be looking to compare the 2 phones but thats just me, Im like that. 2 yrs is a long time to be stuck on a contract so I want her to be sure and who better people to ask than the users of xda forums. I always value your thoughs, ideas and advice. Thanks in advance guys
I wrote a review here: http://teendroid.com/index.php/item/14-xperia-s-review
Felimenta97 said:
I wrote a review here: http://teendroid.com/index.php/item/14-xperia-s-review
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice little read and very well written. Have you had any issues with it dying on you? What about multitasking? Fiddly?
TudorBlue said:
Nice little read and very well written. Have you had any issues with it dying on you? What about multitasking? Fiddly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, thanks. Well, multitasking its really good, but some apps really use lot of RAM, so you may see some stuttering once a while. If I understood, the phone will be for your wife. Try asking her permission to root and remove some bloatware she may not use. About dying, I was kinda surprised, sometimes it stopped working and I had to reset it. I'm not sure if it was my fault of heavy usage or its some problem with it. But, if she is like most users, she will use it for some browsing, calls messages and Facebook, the phone is great. Loud and clear calls. I heavily recommend it
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Sweet! thanks Felimenta97
funny my wife has a sensation and thinks my xs is ugly, typical woman lol!
to compare the 2 (both rooted on ics) i find the xs much quicker and smoother, the screen is amazing. camera not many features but picture quality is brilliant.
the only negatives, for me, about the xs are the non physical buttons take a bit of getting used to (no problem now), the power / screen lock button is in a ridiculous position (screen off & lock app solves half the problem) and because of the size of the screen not always easy to reach far corners one handed.
also battery life is slightly worse than sensation, not a huge difference, but noticeable.
so maybe take her to a store see if she likes the feel of it, because performance wise it is an amazing phone.
jojo1980 said:
funny my wife has a sensation and thinks my xs is ugly, typical woman lol!
to compare the 2 (both rooted on ics) i find the xs much quicker and smoother, the screen is amazing. camera not many features but picture quality is brilliant.
the only negatives, for me, about the xs are the non physical buttons take a bit of getting used to (no problem now), the power / screen lock button is in a ridiculous position (screen off & lock app solves half the problem) and because of the size of the screen not always easy to reach far corners one handed.
also battery life is slightly worse than sensation, not a huge difference, but noticeable.
so maybe take her to a store see if she likes the feel of it, because performance wise it is an amazing phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
She picked it up this morning. not had a chance to have a play with it yet. Wil have to make sure my hands are clean, she picked the white one.
TudorBlue said:
She picked it up this morning. not had a chance to have a play with it yet. Wil have to make sure my hands are clean, she picked the white one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need. Of course they need to be clean, but that doesn't mean you have to wash your hands everytime you will pick up the phone. If you (or she) want to do a quick clean, make your shirt a little "humid" and clean the back of the phone. Once a while, use a soft cloth.
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
I came from the Samsung Galaxy S III and before that it was the iPhone 4, and iPhone 3g and before that Blackberry. I have been all over the place with phones and I get very excited when anyone releases the next huge phone. My main plan was to get the Galaxy S IV until it was actually revealed and I felt quite let down but what it was offering. I felt like they 'appled' things up by just making tiny upgrades just to get people to buy more of the same thing.
Then I read about the HTC One and was a bit skeptical. They were raving about the speakers and the Ultrapixel and all the other features and I just couldn't get past the fact it was HTC. My friend had the HTC One X and I saw how it lacked in updates and didn't have expandable storage or a removable battery. On my SIII I had an extended battery and would still manage to burn through it in a day of heavy usage. So even though I LOVED most of the things about the HTC One. I was scared of jumping ship and trying it.
As the weeks went on and the reviews came out I begun scouring the internet for every bit of information I could find on the HTC One. I read every review and I swear I surfed every forum and at the end of the day I was still impressed by the device and figured i could get over the lack of replaceable battery and extra space. So I made the leap and got the HTC One on AT&T.
I've had it a few days now and I'm still as impressed with this thing as I was when I was reading all the reviews on it. Everything from the 'BoomSound' to the 'Ultrapixel' camera was spot on like I read. The names of the cool features might be a marketing gimmick but they really are the things that make this phone stand out and make it unique.
BUILD QUALITY:
Do I even need to touch on this? Every review, every person who ever touched this device all same the same thing. That it truly is a sight to behold. Trying to put it up against my S III makes the S III look like a toy. This is one phone that I don't want to get a case for (and still haven't) because I think everyone needs to see the HTC One because this is how quality phones should be made. If you read the forums and some reviews they do mention there could be a slight gap around the plastic antenna band, and on mine that is also true. But it is SO tiny on mine that I don't even think it's an issue.
BLINK FEED/SENSE 5:
I have never used an HTC phone with Sense before, coming from the Galaxy S III SENSE is a HUGE step up from what Samsung had. I would often through CM10 or AOKP on my SIII just to get rid of the horrid UI on the S III. I read in reviews that blink feed was almost worthless and most people wouldn't use it and so I figured that be the case for me too...but the crazy part is, I actually DO use it! While I am sitting at work waiting for something to happen or I'm at dinner waiting to order I'm actually finding myself unlocking my phone and seeing what is going on with the world through Blink Feed. I LOVE RSS readers and being on top of things and Blink Feed helps with this without me having to even load up a third party app or anything. While Blink Feed is good they do need to open it up to allow me to import my RSS feeds and what not (like flip board, etc). Blink feed isn't perfect but I'm surprised by how much I actually use it.
On to Sense 5 I am quite impressed with it. Typically I'll throw Apex or Nova launcher on top of the UI and be done with it but after putting Nova on it for half a day I actually ended up uninstalling it. Part of it was so I could have Blink Feed back but the other part is I liked the overall look of Sense 5. It was clean and the buttons were nice. I wish I could use the Sense 5 icon for internet on instead of the look of the Chrome button since that's what I use and chrome now sticks out like a sore thumb on the dock, but I can live with that. Sense has done some nice things in the app locker section by letting you easily search for apps/hide apps and even put apps in folders. I've found that I use Blinkfeed as my main screen and the app launcher as my 'second screen'. I don't even bother swiping over any more to show more home screens.
CAMERA
The camera was the real reason I was excited about this phone. It was something different and something that sounded amazing on paper. HTC was doing something radically different and instead of going the way of the MegaPixel war, HTC was bypassing it completely. And for me, their bet has paid off. This camera will not be for everyone. For people who want amazing clear and detailed pictures then 4MP will probably not be enough. But I'm the kind of person who likes capturing the moments through out my day and sharing them with friends on FB or on G+. I like taking pictures during almost everything and the HTC One helps me with that tremendously.
Zoe mode is a nice change of pace where instead of just capturing a still pic it does the still with 3 seconds of video/sound. This allows you to then find the perfect picture in the 3 second period and edit and save that or even do things such as picking the best face from people in the photo and combining it into one, removing objects in the background, actually making peoples faces skinnier and many other tweaks. There are some options I don't think I'll ever use such as the option to make eyes bigger but I've used it to make funny pictures of my family by making them look like aliens!
The highlight reel is pretty neat and I find myself creating them and posting them to facebook. I think it was completely stupid of HTC to only include 4 themes and make it that you can't use custom music/themes but I have my fingers crossed that that functionality is coming. The highlight reel is a lot like the blink feed. It's a great start to something that can really shine, but HTC needs to get off it's butt and finish it to make it stand above the crowd.
The UI for the camera isn't very pretty or intuitive but the amount of options it offers easily makes up for it. Coming from the SIII it's pretty cool to be able to change everything about the camera settings and it allows people who take the time to learn to capture some pretty impressive shots. Even on full auto it takes good pictures but I think that one will need to learn to adjust the settings based on the situation they are in to get the best photos possible.
The lowlight shooting is hands down amazing. I was able to take a shot around 830 at night after the sun set, the cars on the road had their headlights on and the street lights on the side of the road were on, but the HTC One captured enough light to make it look like the sun was still out. It is crazy how much light this camera captures and when you're like me and love capturing photos of your kids in the house and might not always be in perfect lighting, then this phone is fantastic. Thanks to the quick capturing taking pictures of fast moving objects is also quite enjoyable. On the SIII (not so much on the iPhone) capturing moving objects would lead to very blurry photos, that isn't the case on the One.
I know this section got a bit big but I just wanted to run down some things about it. I didn't even mention the slow motion video, the hdr, the video hdr and other things such as the sequence shot. I have used the HDR pictures (there is a tweak out there on custom roms to enable front camera HDR too) and it's QUICK. The slow motion video makes the video quality really bad but it's still a fun effect. The camera is just something you need to use to be able to fully comprehend. I'll take a photo of something and show someone and they look at me like I'm crazy because they don't understand why I'm so excited about the picture. It's hard to describe just how low the lighting was in it and how awesome the One captured the photo.
BOOM SOUND/MICS:
Stupid name, awesome feature. I never understood why phones put the speakers on the back/bottom. It never made sense. The screen is on the front so why would I want the sound coming from a different location?! On the iPhones the speaker was on the bottom and on the S III it was on the back and I'd have to do this weird cupping movement with my hand to get the sound to make it around to the front of the phone just so I could actually hear what I was watching! And if I put the phone down some where then it'd get all muffled and horrible. The One does not have this problem at all. I'd say the front speakers can be on par with some netbooks/tablets if not louder. This makes watching videos/listening to music or even taking speaker calls a very good experience. It also has dual membrane mics that do a great job at making sure that you're recording sounds of things you actually want to record. Apparently the company that made them for HTC is being sued in Europe because they were supposed to wait 12 months to use them in another phone, but HTC isn't being held liable in that because HTC had no idea.
Now most of this review seems like it's all glowing and perfect for the One but it does have some issues. Things such as Blink Feed and the Highlight Reel (2 huge features HTC touted) feeling like they aren't finished. Or the fact the LED is only 2 colors (I miss being able to have the Notification LED on the S III let me know exactly what the notification was for before I even had the phone in my hand). I also know this isn't a big thing but I always feel like I'm going to scratch the phone when I set it down someplace just because of the noise it makes. Hard to describe but when you put something metal down it makes quite a bit of noise. I know it won't scratch or anything, but in my mind I can't convince myself it won't!
At the end of the day, I'm in love with the phone. It fits me and my life style perfectly and it captures why I love smart phones. I don't take pictures of my food but I spend a lot of my day capturing memories and sharing them with the people close to me. The HTC One makes doing that and keeping it organized thanks to events very easy! I would still recommend the S III to anyone that wants a great cheaper phone (specially since the price has dropped on it). But if someone asks me what the best phone in, I will say the HTC One without hesitating.
Same thing was going on with me, but I knew HTC always made high quality build phones. I took the jump from an N4 and haven't looked back. Your review was awesome and right on par with my thoughts about this phone too.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium HD app
Great little review! Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I'm trying to hold off on getting the One, but I don't think I can after seeing it all over the place. The thing just looks too damn nice. I'm also really over the plastic body of the S3.
I got a question for ya though.. How is multitasking on the One? I completely hated it on the One X and even ended up returning the phone. I wouldn't even call it multitasking tbh. Dunno if you ever used the One X, but I was curious if any of the problems still persist.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
ovoxo. said:
Great little review! Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I'm trying to hold off on getting the One, but I don't think I can after seeing it all over the place. The thing just looks too damn nice. I'm also really over the plastic body of the S3.
I got a question for ya though.. How is multitasking on the One? I completely hated it on the One X and even ended up returning the phone. I wouldn't even call it multitasking tbh. Dunno if you ever used the One X, but I was curious if any of the problems still persist.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
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The multitasking was one of the things that turned me off about that phone. From what I heard it'd start closing things after you had one or two things open. With the One I haven't noticed anything like that and when I open my 'Open Apps' by double tapping home it is always full. Now it only shows 9 open apps at any given time. I'm not sure if it closes other apps if you get over that number or not. But if that's the case it hasn't affected my use at all. Maybe HTC wised up after the bad reviews or maybe it's because it has better memory management.
Thanks for the review robamacaf! Well written and very informative.
I have also grown tired of Samsung plastics and gimmicks. My recent devices have been HTC One X, iPhone 5, Galaxy S3, and a Galaxy Note 2.
HTC has always made nice hardware. Dare I say that even the One X had pretty good build quality when compared to the S3.
Like you, I assumed one of the 1st things I would do on the One would be to find a way to rid myself of BlinkFeed. That crazy thing happened to me as well and now I find myself using it and loving it.
Thanks for the awesome review!