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Hi all,
I ask this question now as I wait for a dev. of ICS for my phone to progress.
Before I bought my phone, I read a review saying that it was one Android version behind but to the reviewer, the version numbers are over-hyped and in reality the phone was great. I should say I bought the phone in August 2010 and it was released May/June that year.
Even reading this, being in this forum, we're a part of a very small per centage of people who understand anything that goes on here, or even the title of this thread. I don't mean that in a -we're brilliant- way, rather that most of us are a little tech-crazy. But do we take it too far? Does 4.0 make your mouth water but 2.1 bores you?
Are there some real benefits to the newer versions? Yes, sure. A few more features, sometimes faster UI, better battery times. I have heard of a few phones out there which had significant benefits and very popular new features e.g. tethering, some camera stuff etc. But beyond this? There is a LOT of gimmicks, crap people like to show off to their friends and all of that, which bored me beyond the age of 20. I got my first phone aged 11. I've been getting phones a few times a year almost every year since. One mega-problem I have with these 'smartphones' is that there have been largely missing basic features which were in the 'feature phones' before them. They've been selling us half-featured phones and dribbling back the rest on 'updates'.
I mean this in a philosophical way - not a critical one. I'm not questioning the validity of this forum (or I wouldn't be here ) and I hope that's clear. What do you all think?
Well?
your parents let you have a phone at 11? and then bought you more then one a year since? wow!
Now don't get the impression I'm desperately wealthy!!! My uncle worked in international business and gave me his old one. I remember even at 11 he mentioned things like 'it's not public yet but Ericsson and Sony are going to merge their mobile business' and I was already hooked on business. I bought I think every phone after that myself, no parents!
Every major release usually has an overall system performance improvement.
But other than that it seems to be a hyped up gimmick.
^^^^ That's precisesly what I've been coming to think. Who doesn't want slightly better memory management to improve battery, some features you use etc. but beyond that I'm afriad it's gimmick-central.
I have to add the psychological aspect of this and marketing particularly.
i agree since samsung swcred t-mobile with sidekick 4g with a subpar camera ,froyo , weak processor 1ghz(alot of lags), and no support , meanwhile 3 or 4 months later a bunch of phones comes with better specs at the 99 price range
Bought my phone with 2.1 installed. Used it like that for a week or so then updated to official 2.2. No difference at all.
Then came the 2.3.4. Everything is the same. Then 2.3.7. Same again.
I use my phone as a phone and a navigation device. So these updates do me no good. Release of Navigon for android was big news for me. I can't say the same thing for the 2.3.
Yeah that's pretty the same for me. The few updates I've had have at least speeded boot time and UI lag is less. It actually came with 1.6, upgraded to 2.1 and nothing since. There's a 2 year support for updates says Sony Ericsson, this was before the Google agreement. Like the guy above, an updated version of the phone was released 1 year later with incredible specs for much cheaper, but I paid a lot for it first time around.
I suppose people are used to upgrade their phones without really using them often.
As the title simply asks, what are your plans for your HAM2?
I've created this thread 1) out of curiosity and 2) to show Huawei (if they ever see this) what a mistake they're making.
If you're sticking with your Mate2, vote for that! If you're going to sell it, vote for that and please tell us what your selling price is/may be, and what phone you're buying next. And if you're unsure, there's an option for that.
Hopefully this'll help other people make their next phone decision or get Huawei's act together for the US, who knows?
As for me: I'd like to sell it; possibly looking into a used Note 3.
UPDATE - 11/21/14
ANDROID LOLLIPOP WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE ASCEND MATE2
Huawei Device is pleased to announce that Android Lollipop will be available for the Ascend Mate2 in the first half of next year. In light of your feedback, we have reassessed our upgrade strategy. We take our customers’ feedback seriously and want to ensure they have the best experience possible with the Mate2. The Mate2 upgrade will go from the current JellyBean directly to Lollipop. Huawei Device is committed to providing the U.S. market with the best products, services and features, and we stand behind the Mate2 and the value it offers. At its launch, the Ascend Mate2 offered a powerful, unlocked experience, with a 4G LTE ready, 6.1-inch smartphone featuring the most powerful battery in its class and panoramic camera. Today, the Mate2 continues to be an exceptional device for under $300.
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Source
ScoobSTi said:
As the title simply asks, what are your plans for your HAM2?
I've created this thread 1) out of curiosity and 2) to show Huawei (if they ever see this) what a mistake they're making.
If you're sticking with your Mate2, vote for that! If you're going to sell it, vote for that and please tell us what your selling price is/may be, and what phone you're buying next. And if you're unsure, there's an option for that.
Hopefully this'll help other people make their next phone decision or get Huawei's act together for the US, who knows?
As for me: I'd like to sell it; possibly looking into a used Note 3.
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Buying the Nexus 6 when it becomes available, and after some of the reviews.
Will probably sell this or give it to someone in the family.
Sent from my MT2L03
Im going to keep it, its a really good phone, and there is no other phone with this battery!
Selling my HAM2, will wait a few weeks and decide between the Nexus 6 and Note 4
I'm also planning on selling my HAM2. I'm interested in the Nexus 6 but want to read RL user reviews. I also would like to see if there are any Google Play editions going to be announced soon that have decent screen size and big battery. Like most new Google phones, I suspect the supply chain for the Nexus 6 is going to take a few months to get enough phones out. Maybe Moto will be a nice surprise and get enough stock out early. I guess Huawei decided the North American market isn't worth the effort. Too bad. I suspect they've quit reading North American web pages after the reaction to their announcement about not updating to KK. (I really can't believe their callous responses to posts on their FB page. "Life goes on." Given that attitude, I suspect they're miserable at responding to warranty issues.)
I've only had my phone sim in it a few times, usually it's wifi only or sharing my tablet sim with my LTE N7 and unlocked AT&T Note 8. I have too many devices and need to move them. I want to go either with my Note 2 and 8, Note 2 and this with the tablet sim, or sell everything and go with an international Note 8 with the phone sim and a cheap T-Mobile branded phone for a backup with wifi calling.
"Wait and see" is what makes sense to me. The phone still has the attributes I bought it for. I'm disappointed that the phone is being neglected, but not sure I would have wanted the KitKat update if it had come. I had enough problems with various 4.4.x versions on the Nexus 4 that I would not have been an early adopter on the HAM2. I'm not exactly a fan of Huawei after the company's failure to adequately support their product, but I still remember that they freely provided the bootloader unlock code., something not many phone manufacturers do. So I think there are a few trade-offs involved.
Keepin It
I'm keepin it because I can't find any other phone as of today that is worth selling this for to get a replacement. Maybe in 8 months something better will come a long but then again maybe in 2 months or something we will have CM. The only phablet I can see worth money is the Sony Xperia Z Ultra but I think this phone is more rounded overall. I was ok with JB last week before the announcement and I'm ok with it this week just sad. This is a $300 budged phablet I bought not no $700 phone I found out was not being supported anymore. For the $300 I paid for this the battery and phone is great. A 5.5 inch screen is not a phablet to me. 6 inches and up I need and if someone can find me a worthy contender I would gladly upgrade because i'm so mad at Huawei. But as it stands its actually in a class of its own.
@ScoobSTi I've read enough of your post to know your also going to ride this wave with me. Its almost cheaper to buy a phone from someone who is mad and give it to a developer.. hahahah JK..or am I.. hmmmm
superbass311 said:
I'm keepin it because I can't find any other phone as of today that is worth selling this for to get a replacement. Maybe in 8 months something better will come a long but then again maybe in 2 months or something we will have CM. The only phablet I can see worth money is the Sony Xperia Z Ultra but I think this phone is more rounded overall. I was ok with JB last week before the announcement and I'm ok with it this week just sad. This is a $300 budged phablet I bought not no $700 phone I found out was not being supported anymore. For the $300 I paid for this the battery and phone is great. A 5.5 inch screen is not a phablet to me. 6 inches and up I need and if someone can find me a worthy contender I would gladly upgrade because i'm so mad at Huawei. But as it stands its actually in a class of its own.
@ScoobSTi I've read enough of your post to know your also going to ride this wave with me. Its almost cheaper to buy a phone from someone who is mad and give it to a developer.. hahahah JK..or am I.. hmmmm
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Thought about it more myself and it's still an awesome device and I think you would still get another year out of it. I may not get the latest android wear updates after April but Pebble said they are going to support 4.3+ with the next updates and I actually prefer my Pebble steel so I'm OK with that. Android wear has really been getting better lately and I'm excited to see what lollipop brings "Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool" you know how the song goes.
Sent from my MT2L03
I guess I'm an odd duck. I'm KEEPING my Ham2.
The update means nothing to me. I had a 2+ year old Note1 still on 4.1.2 when I picked up the Ham2 in July, so updating isn't a priority.
I just want a device that works, is stable and has a great battery life. Ham2 fits that to a T.
I don't need bells and whistles, I don't play games. I use this as a tool for work. All my service calls are handled through a web portal,
I do a ton of email, text, scanning bar codes, few dozen photos of broken equipment etc. The OS on the device means nothing, as long as it is STABLE.I don't have time for FC's, reboots, lock ups, dropped signals etc.
Stable, battery life, good camera, clear screen, THAT is job #1 for a device.
As long as my Ham2 works, I'll keep it. Even if they did release an OS update, I'd hold off for at least a month, to make sure it was
rock solid stable before I were to install it.
p51d007 said:
I guess I'm an odd duck. I'm KEEPING my Ham2.
The update means nothing to me. I had a 2+ year old Note1 still on 4.1.2 when I picked up the Ham2 in July, so updating isn't a priority.
I just want a device that works, is stable and has a great battery life. Ham2 fits that to a T.
I don't need bells and whistles, I don't play games. I use this as a tool for work. All my service calls are handled through a web portal,
I do a ton of email, text, scanning bar codes, few dozen photos of broken equipment etc. The OS on the device means nothing, as long as it is STABLE.I don't have time for FC's, reboots, lock ups, dropped signals etc.
Stable, battery life, good camera, clear screen, THAT is job #1 for a device.
As long as my Ham2 works, I'll keep it. Even if they did release an OS update, I'd hold off for at least a month, to make sure it was
rock solid stable before I were to install it.
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well said.
I will say, it will be hard to replicate the Mate 2 battery life on any other phone for a couple of years, I'd presume. While you can certainly get a better screen and a faster phone, there's nothing on the market that even comes close battery-wise. I can get 72 hours uptime with 9 hours on screen routinely on the Mate 2. The people who have good life with the Note are getting ~20 hours uptime with 6 hours on screen.
I seem to have been getting decreased battery life, even with constant app killing, scanning, etc. so if I do switch I don't think it'll make too much of a difference.
Plus, if I do go for a Note 3, it has wireless charging... and a removable battery...
ScoobSTi said:
I seem to have been getting decreased battery life, even with constant app killing, scanning, etc. so if I do switch I don't think it'll make too much of a difference.
Plus, if I do go for a Note 3, it has wireless charging... and a removable battery...
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my battery has been perfect still. I get 2 days out of it on normal profile. and I had wireless charging on my G pro and it sucks trust me. it's not there yet
I'm going to hound Huawei until they replace this with a Mate 7
Ordered one this week let's see how it is or will return to newegg. Will be costing me less than $200 after I get rid of newegg and net10 gift cards.
beastonprowl said:
Ordered one this week let's see how it is or will return to newegg. Will be costing me less than $200 after I get rid of newegg and net10 gift cards.
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your going to fall in love with the phone just like all the rest of us. just hate the name on top
Waiting....For Now
Have decided to go back to my S3 as my daily driver. While I love the size and battery life there are just a few too many quirks that aggravate me, and one item that will be a show stopper in the near future.
1. 3rd party camera apps aren't working for me....the flash timing doesn't sync up with the shutter so you end up with dark pictures even though the phone does the double flash to focus and reduce red eye.
2. Lockscreen...ugh. Stock is nasty and the way the kernel works, replacements (I've tried a dozen plus) have delays that flash the homescreen before kicking in.
3. Screen resolution...yes, it's 720p but Huawei somehow twerked the configuration to where it's not properly recognized by many apps, especially Themer/MyColorScreen won't recognize.
4. Notifications...even with apps identified as "protected", i.e. they're not supposed to be killed when the screen goes off, seem to get cached/suspended and notifications stop.
5. Speaker...for media it does OK but as a speaker phone? Can't hear people on the other end even in a quiet room with nothing but ambient noise (yes, I'm deaf as all get out but the S3 speaker is so much better).
6. SD Card...has the damn restrictions associated with 4.3, apps like Zooper widget etc. that can back-up settings are only able to store to internal memory, not external SD. *This is from my experience so there may be something I'm missing to fix this.
7. Back-up...the stock back-up seems to work ok and a lot has been fixed with TWRP...BUT there seems to be too many issues and with nandroid/titanium not working from what I've read I have decided rooting and modding with exposed/busybox hacks is too risky for now.
8. The show stopper...My company is going to enforce encryption on BYODs soon to access email, etc. Ran encryption on the phone, looked successful, but when went to validate it failed then when I restarted the phone it went back to being unencrypted. I know 4.3 can be a bit tricky with encryption but my device is now marked as "unsupported" by my IT and will not be able to access environments.
Keeping.
Still love the screen and the battery life.
If the Mate 7 comes available next year for the U.S. market for under $500 that'll be my next phone.
Sent from my MT2L03 using XDA Free mobile app
Keeping . It's the best device I've had , especially considering the price/performance ratio. I knew going into this purchase that the kit kat promise wasn't credible. If you want updates spend $600+ . This device fits the bill for a lot of consumers as is . Including myself . I have devices on kit kat and the experience on the HAM2 isn't hindered at all by the 4.3 OS . At least not for me , this thing is rock solid with outrageous battery life . What's the point of having bleeding edge specs with the newest OS if it doesn't even last a regular day ?? Always looking for a charge is so annoying . With this thing i don't even have a battery indicator percentage turned on , because no matter what i can't use up all the juice in one day even if i tried . I get at least 10 hours of on screen time per charge. Who knows, maybe Huawei is gonna fire back with a positive reply after their horrendous announcement . They've been very quiet on their social platforms , maybe they're trying to work something out with the big boys over in China . Just some thoughts .
Hey,
After an upgrade of my HTC U11+. A bit stuck to be honest on which one to go with as they all have big pluses and minuses. I think my ideal phone would be the mate 20 pro hardware with pixel software.
Will give my pro's and minuses below, please feel free to comment and advise as you see fit.
Mate 20 pro
++ Big battery
+ Not bad price wise (especially with the free watch)
+ cameras
+ nice colours
- Lack of updates??
Pixel 3 XL
++ best software
+ great camera
+ great update support
+ great speakers
-- average battery life
-expensive
Oneplus 6T (based on rumours
+price
+Smooth UI
+good support
- camera probably wont be as good as the other 2
-speakers wont be as good
+/- battery in the middle
Out of these three I'd definitely go with the Mate 20 Pro. the Pixel is boring and too ugly and no features at all (I wouldn't consider it at all unless I absolutely need their camera) , OP6 is just cheap price but is missing wireless charging, QHD display, IP68, stereo speakers, camera will be just average, AOD display, desktop mode, raise to wake, knuckle gestures, secure face unlock, etc. But if you don't care about those, the OP6 will be faster/smoother than Mate 20 pro and maybe their underdisplay implementation could be a little bit faster but we'll see
I'm going through the same motions so can't "convince" you, but here are some additional thoughts.
*Pixel QC is still sub par. Quite a few hardware inconsistencies popping up. You won't see this with Huawei
*Pixel 3 speakers and haptics are FAR better
*Huawei software is bad for reasons people don't extrapolate upon
Question marks behind software updates should be removed. This is definitely a negative mark against Huawei.
Lockscreen is abysmal. Unable to expand, reply, or interact with any notifications
Background app restrictions are seriously annoying. Google photos will randomly not backup like your using an iphone. Services like android messages for PC, Mightytext, or Pushbullet will randomly stop working, Dropbox background sync won't work consistently, etc.
Huawei still isn't a brand developers seem to pay attention to, so bugs (think odd aspect ratio bugs) will take longer to get fixed.
*6T should be immediately disregarded unless cost or ROM support are of concern. Imagine you know this already.
Huawei hardware is beautiful, but the software and updates is a serious downer. (not just because it's a skin - EMUI looks fine visually imo) Ultimately, I think the ugly 3XL is still the better device for most..
No bootloader unlock, no root, no mods, no roms vs oneplus and pixel unlimited development..
tsoureki said:
No bootloader unlock, no root, no mods, no roms vs oneplus and pixel unlimited development..
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I'm really hopeful that we'll at least get root...... I've preordered the Mate 20 Pro and will be selling my Pixel 2 xl, hope I don't live to regret it! Worst case scenario I'll sell it and switch...
Well Pixel XL 3 is trash. I returned mine after 2 days.
Oneplus 6T is a bang for buck type of phone
Mate 20 Pro I'm having issues getting one imported
Probably didn't help much but aye.
Goronok said:
I'm going through the same motions so can't "convince" you, but here are some additional thoughts.
*Pixel QC is still sub par. Quite a few hardware inconsistencies popping up. You won't see this with Huawei
*Pixel 3 speakers and haptics are FAR better
*Huawei software is bad for reasons people don't extrapolate upon
Question marks behind software updates should be removed. This is definitely a negative mark against Huawei.
Lockscreen is abysmal. Unable to expand, reply, or interact with any notifications
Background app restrictions are seriously annoying. Google photos will randomly not backup like your using an iphone. Services like android messages for PC, Mightytext, or Pushbullet will randomly stop working, Dropbox background sync won't work consistently, etc.
Huawei still isn't a brand developers seem to pay attention to, so bugs (think odd aspect ratio bugs) will take longer to get fixed.
*6T should be immediately disregarded unless cost or ROM support are of concern. Imagine you know this already.
Huawei hardware is beautiful, but the software and updates is a serious downer. (not just because it's a skin - EMUI looks fine visually imo) Ultimately, I think the ugly 3XL is still the better device for most..
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Great post, and for these reasons Huawei don't deserve £899 for their phone as pretty as it is. when the honeymoon period wears off you'll be noticing that lack of software support. I'm still debating getting a M20P myself, it would be easier if Huawei stepped their game up with software support and allowed the users to bypass background closures.
mwatson said:
Great post, and for these reasons Huawei don't deserve £899 for their phone as pretty as it is. when the honeymoon period wears off you'll be noticing that lack of software support. I'm still debating getting a M20P myself, it would be easier if Huawei stepped their game up with software support and allowed the users to bypass background closures.
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I think you hit the nail on the head regarding honeymoon period. I had (2) P20 Pro's and I loved the hardware/camera, but quickly became annoyed with the fact that EMUI just doesn't "work" as an android phone should. After using MIUI 10 on a Mix 2s for a few weeks, I would say that Xiaomi's derivative feels more natural to use. /sad
Goronok said:
*Huawei software is bad for reasons people don't extrapolate upon
Lockscreen is abysmal. Unable to expand, reply, or interact with any notifications
Background app restrictions are seriously annoying. Google photos will randomly not backup like your using an iphone. Services like android messages for PC, Mightytext, or Pushbullet will randomly stop working, Dropbox background sync won't work consistently, etc.
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Click to collapse
Do you know if these issues are still there in the Mate 20 Pro? That and Android Auto (connecting to a head unit) are very important to me. I don't believe that worked correctly on previous Huawei devices either.
arghness said:
Do you know if these issues are still there in the Mate 20 Pro? That and Android Auto (connecting to a head unit) are very important to me. I don't believe that worked correctly on previous Huawei devices either.
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Had someone on Reddit confirm that the lockscreen is still the same. Some have said it is a bug, but seems working as intended to me. (Been a "bug" since EMUI 8.1)
I haven't inquired about backgrounding issues. Not much point. This has been a thing with EMUI since day 1. (And other China OEMs too)
Thanks for the replies very helpful. I know the mate 20 pro is the best out of the bunch its whether i can live with EMUI. I had this in the past with samsung s6 edge, loved the phone but hated the software and ended up getting rid of it very quickly. I think if the pixel was £100 cheaper or had a bigger battery i would 100% go with that for the software experience.
The decision would be so much easier if they allowed bootloader unlock and custom roms would solve half the issues! Still no closer to the decision.
A couple of extra points
Mate 20 curved screen will be a pain for glass screen protectors so thats a -
Still cant work out if the UK model is single sim or dual sim! (says its micro sd expandable so is that where the extra sim goes)
I think the camera will be just as good as the pixel...in some ways better because of the wide angle lens etc. The pixel 3 probably will be the best point and shoot but I don't think either will dissapoint you
I've bite the bullet and pre ordered the mate 20 pro.
What really turned the tide for me is 2 videos on youtube, 1 a speed comparison against the note 9 and it smashed it, which proved to me it wont be a laggy crappy software (mostly)
and 2nd a battery drain test which it got nearly 7 hours of SOT which was 2 hours better than the note 9 and 3 hours more than most of the others.
Phil750123 said:
I've bite the bullet and pre ordered the mate 20 pro.
What really turned the tide for me is 2 videos on youtube, 1 a speed comparison against the note 9 and it smashed it, which proved to me it wont be a laggy crappy software (mostly)
and 2nd a battery drain test which it got nearly 7 hours of SOT which was 2 hours better than the note 9 and 3 hours more than most of the others.
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Hehe same thinking bud, yeah also saw some videos and pic comparisons on YouTube especially the mrwhosetheboss and i believe we should give the Huawei a go, like u said it's definitely blowin the note in most aspects and free watch is definitely a good bonus
misiokicio said:
Hehe same thinking bud, yeah also saw some videos and pic comparisons on YouTube especially the mrwhosetheboss and i believe we should give the Huawei a go, like u said it's definitely blowin the note in most aspects and free watch is definitely a good bonus
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yer the watch did help me decide.
What i dont get in the UK is its 899 sim free, the pixel 3 xl 64gb is around 850 yet all the contracts for the huwaei are coming out about £5 a month less, also helped me decide.
Phil750123 said:
yer the watch did help me decide.
What i dont get in the UK is its 899 sim free, the pixel 3 xl 64gb is around 850 yet all the contracts for the huwaei are coming out about £5 a month less, also helped me decide.
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See i went with sim free but what got me here is 50 quid more for mate, and free watch and charger is 250, so basically mate is working out 200 quid cheaper and 6gb ram vs the 4 and this massive battey, when pixie 3 battery is sitting at 3400 compared to my pixel 2 xl 3500 with a smaller screen? Impulse buy but hey, if we somehow hate it, or cant get used to it... Swap or sell after few months right? It aint a new car xd
It's very easy : get the pixel 3 and then youll want to get the mate 20 Pro for sure!
Preorderd mine today. Can't wait to finish a day without worrying at all about the battery. That's the feature I'm most excited about, since every phone, at this price, seems to have a great camera and screen. Really not that excited that I'll get to open youtube a half a second faster than other phones. Also, EMUI can be improved with apps and themes.
xtrocata said:
Preorderd mine today. Can't wait to finish a day without worrying at all about the battery. That's the feature I'm most excited about, since every phone, at this price, seems to have a great camera and screen. Really not that excited that I'll get to open youtube a half a second faster than other phones. Also, EMUI can be improved with apps and themes.
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Pretty excited about this as well, I'm pretty sure I will still average about 6000 mah a day, I almost always charge from like 50 to 90% using wireless charging while at work but for the days I forgot to wireless charge, the fact that even if I get home with less than 5% and just plugging it in for like 15 minutes (instead of like 40 minutes like my note 9) and being back to like 40% to finish the day is amazing.
I agree
Looking for a good all around phone,
Needs to have speed and a good camera
just boughtit earlier today, worth it imo unless you have access to k20 pro. In my country K20 Pro and k20 considered illegal(need to check the official mi website, if its there based on your country,its legal. in my case there is no K20 and k20 pro in my country) so i can't buy it (i do can buy but it will have imei problem and the device can't be used anymore after 14 days)
sutty86 said:
Looking for a good all around phone,
Needs to have speed and a good camera
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Don't know what country you are from bro, but here's my take.
The Poco is still an amazing phone that holds up to this date. It has the latest Q software and current MIUI 11, which should be updated to MIUI 12 this year. This is a company that took care of the original buyers (since Poco originally under xiaomi) by providing updates up to this day. Sure it's not perfect, but what device and manufacturer is. But note that this may be the last update we are going to get. This is almost a 2 year old phone, and as you know most manufacturers don't even provide a 3rd major update (this was an exception). Don't fret though as this is a phone that a lot of enthusiasts have and a lot are still making ROMS for this phone, so even if we may not get an update beyond this year, we may still get some from the devs here.
Another point to take is that this phone is still a beast. Forget those guys who claims their phones slow down etc, most of them rely on benchmarks which is not always the way to see whether a phone is bad or not. Based on personal experiences, I've rarely experienced any lags on this phone and neither had any touch issues. Btw, I've unlocked the phone and rooted, but aside from substratum and lucky patcher for some games, I've seldom made any other changes on it (of course providing root access to greenify and sd cleaner, but nothing major like adding xposed and such). This may be why I've never had such issues because as you know if you have altered the phone a lot, complications may arise if you update.
So like i said, this phone holds up. I play NBA2K20, Asphalt, Pubg and other mobile intensive games and rarely experienced any major issues. The sd845 holds up.
As for cams, that may be the weakest point of this phone. I mean for the price it is great. It provides a solid enough cam experience that you can use it to capture good photos for insta and fb. But it won't blow you away. The front cam is great. The IR Cam is so useful in any situation to unlock the phone whether it's on your desk, even in the dark.
Battery life holds up nicely. Sure it doesn't give me a long life like before, but during intense gaming of about 3 hours, I still have about 25 to 30 percent left. The charging is good too. It's not as blazing fast as most phones today, but should suffice.
That said. Here's a major talking point. The phone is old, it shows in the cam and possibly no further major update (aside from maybe security patches), but you can rely on xda devs to provide support still. But if you can get your hands on a K20 Pro or K30 Pro, then get your hands on them. Not only will you get either last year's phone with about a year or two more of updates, but updated specs, or the current redmi flagship killer with about 2 years to 3 (if they follow the current poco trend) but you'd have a future proof phone as it has 5G and a more versatile cam array with the latest processor.
This depends on your budget too. If you're looking for a lower price than the last year redmi or current, then I'd go with the Poco than latest midrangers due to the power of the SD845, I'm not a cam user much anyway. But if you need a better cam and not much into power then the current midrangers can offer that for you and I'm not disparaging midrangers, the current processors are powerful, but not yet to the power of the sd845 despite it being a 2 to 3 year old processor
Just got it this week, working great! I had less budget and great expectations!!
So got myself a 8gb armored edition!
I am not big fan of taking selfies and pics.
Poco f1 has got update to Android 10. The snap 845 is still being used by some premium phones.
I've got a Pixel 6 pre-ordered, using it as my main phone since launch. My experience with random bugs, but especially frustrating Bluetooth devices randomly disappearing or being forgotten, random Bluetooth disconnections and so on have frustrated me beyond belief!
I stopped using Samsung phones back in the Note 2 era as Samsung when on a tangent and lost their marbles, and before my Pixel 6 I was using a Xiaomi Mi 11, which was an excellent hardware, but I could not get on with their buggy mess and poorly implemented dark mode forcing apps and making buttons disappear as consequence. Never again...
Now the Pixel 6 is making me feel the same way, a frustrating half-baked phone which was meant to be exactly the opposite, it should be the flagship Google phone with the latest and most polished software, not this mess.
So I'm considering perhaps moving to a Samsung flagship, but I've no idea if their software will be any better. I'm definitely not going for the Chinese brands anymore, Oneplus lost its way, Xiaomi is a proper mess, Realme and others also not worth considering. Ah, I evne forgot to mention I had an Asus ROG phone once, excellent phone but very slow update cycles, another disappointment.
So what is left for me to try? A Samsung flagship that promises 4 years of updates? The reality is that I'll keep the phone for 2 or 3 years max anyway, but nice that samsnung is finally focusing on providing updates more quickly. Or, go back to an iPhone and forget all this mess, but I'm way more keen on keeping an Android phone due to its flexibility.
Any thoughts guys?
i know how ya feel mephisto.. it was either a samsung A53 or pixel 6a for my budget and the 6a came in £100 cheaper ( argos offer ) so far i have 2 issues . first of all the battery life reminds me of my old galaxy s5 .. lucky to last a full day and I'm not a heavy user either . I've read it settles down after a while once it gets to know your usage patterns , then again I've never really seen that happen in previous phones . And secondly the camera .. yes its good but the jpg compression is way too heavy . I've installed and tuned up bigkakas 8.4 gcam mod and it's pulling out a lot more fine detail than stock . they should give users more options as far as the camera goes.
anyway it still blows the redmi note 11 out of the water so i suppose i shouldn't complain .. but i do
I wonder if I'm alone feeling this disappointed and if there are any good alternatives
It is a result of market expectations (imho). The number of people interested in customizing and tweaking their device is too small to get the attention of the manufacturers. They will target their preferred (ie easiest) audience, and whoever isn't in that audience will have to deal with the results.
i am hugely disappointed in my s6. battery life is poor at best uses 1.5% an hour if i don't touch the device. ( my other 3 phones only use 0.3% an hour, same sim , same service, same place). battery use while on at 5-6% is pretty good.there have been bugs since day one. the camera was advertised as 50mp but software makes it 12mp, that was annoying. and developer support on xda is just ok.
i should have bought the last pixel5