Finally got my second screen. It's so cool! But what do you do with it? - LG V60 ThinQ Questions & Answers

So what is everyone using the dual screen for? I installed the WideMode app, which is cool, but still looking for suggestions for taking advantage of the second screen.
I know if I get a pen, I can use it, but I could do that with the main screen.
Is anyone actually using it enough to justify keeping it attached all the time?

I use mine to take up space in the junk drawer.

Watch YouTube while responding to this post.

frettd said:
So what is everyone using the dual screen for? I installed the WideMode app, which is cool, but still looking for suggestions for taking advantage of the second screen.
I know if I get a pen, I can use it, but I could do that with the main screen.
Is anyone actually using it enough to justify keeping it attached all the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't know what to do with it by now you probably didn't need it.
Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

frettd said:
So what is everyone using the dual screen for? I installed the WideMode app, which is cool, but still looking for suggestions for taking advantage of the second screen.
I know if I get a pen, I can use it, but I could do that with the main screen.
Is anyone actually using it enough to justify keeping it attached all the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you figure out how to set up the buttons, it's a huge advantage playing games like Call of Duty or pubg. Tip, in order to "fire and look" at the same time in fps games like call of duty, you need to use the virtual joystick button (red and black) and put the assignment button (square box with the plus sign) half way on the "fire" button and half way off so when you press the lower right of the virtual joystick it'll fire shots while being able to look around and aim.

Havent used mine in weeks too battery draining for me, even when I wasnt using both screens... even tho I wanted it badly... to use as a virtual controller was meh...I just got a real one... then the dual screen forces you to have to use the stock launcher on it which got very annoying to me... then you toss on that its bulky and unattractive, I had to burn a hole in the earphone jack slot to make it bigger just to fit regular high end headphones, and then theres the magnetic charger which sucked... plus the phone drops its charging speed to 500mAh when the temperature reaches 38 degrees (very common temp if you play a heavy 3d game or are out in the sun) so trying to use the dual screens with the phone charging (trying to offset the battery issue) its super slow to get 1% increase... so yeah mines just sitting in a storage box right now.
the new one they are showing for the Velvet looks much better designed! Id consider purchasing an updated dual screen cover if it looked like the velvets, but its good to see they are working on improving the tech... I feel like the galaxys folding screen wouldve been a better option now that I have almost no use for this one at the moment. I just wanted to watch videos/movies in the background and use my phone at the same time but not if it means my phone will only get ~5-6 hours screen time which is like dead by 3pm of started at 9am.
Now I use a lot more of the built in multitasking like split screen and pop up window

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Keyboard Dock thoughts

Just got the dock today and wanted to share a few thoughts..
kind of clunky to attach but may just take some getting used to. Once attached feels just like a netbook
Loving the keyboard shortcuts. There's even a key to take a screenshot!
Have been trying to figure out whether there's any need to touch the screen when docked. Only thing I see so far is unlocking the tablet. You can even scroll within widgets
Wondering if there will be any apps that will allow for remapping keys. (i.e. assigning a key to custom app or shortcut
The overall feel is very nice and compact. The piece that holds the tablet looks weird when it's closed though.
The whole thing fits inside my Gtablet sleeve perfectly.
All in all, worth the money IMO. I can't stand typing on a touch screen and I can see that this will be my primary method of typing on this thing.
Post edited to remove thumbs up. Not stable at all
2nd edit (5/11/11) back to thumbs up after updating to the beta dock firmware
awesome.. want mine now!
mb2k said:
Just got the dock today and wanted to share a few thoughts..
kind of clunky to attach but may just take some getting used to. Once attached feels just like a netbook
Loving the keyboard shortcuts. There's even a key to take a screenshot!
Have been trying to figure out whether there's any need to touch the screen when docked. Only thing I see so far is unlocking the tablet. You can even scroll within widgets
Wondering if there will be any apps that will allow for remapping keys. (i.e. assigning a key to custom app or shortcut
The overall feel is very nice and compact. The piece that holds the tablet looks weird when it's closed though.
The whole thing fits inside my Gtablet sleeve perfectly.
All in all, worth the money IMO. I can't stand typing on a touch screen and I can see that this will be my primary method of typing on this thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you encountered the glitches with the touchpad being activated and the keyboard suddenly not responding? a number of us have including me. Disabling the touch pad seems to prevent the disconnections but really annoying nonetheless.
scion676 said:
Have you encountered the glitches with the touchpad being activated and the keyboard suddenly not responding? a number of us have including me. Disabling the touch pad seems to prevent the disconnections but really annoying nonetheless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've experienced it as well. Hopefully the next update will correct the problem, since the touchpad functionality w/gestures is very nice (when it works).
BTW, how do you disable the touchpad???
not once. been using it all day, in and out of the dock
nowhere2010 said:
I've experienced it as well. Hopefully the next update will correct the problem, since the touchpad functionality w/gestures is very nice (when it works).
BTW, how do you disable the touchpad???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fourth button on the top row of the dock, the one with a slash on a dock symbol. It doesn't solve the problem unfortunately, at least in my experience.
samarth1 said:
Fourth button on the top row of the dock, the one with a slash on a dock symbol. It doesn't solve the problem unfortunately, at least in my experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - unfortunately it doesn't help me either.
Where was you dock from?
What firmware does your dock have?
Oh great! Now I'm starting to have issues.
1st I noticed the I was missing all apps from my home sreen. Dock/Undock fixed it.
Then I notced a big time lag in my typing. No biggie still better than touchscreen.
Then while playing around in Gallery I lost dock. Dock/Undock fixed it.
Also, the wifi is beginning to intermittently turn off. hitting wifi button fixes.
Now the lag is more noticable. Typing with it now and the letters show up about 1/2 second later. Sucks cause I was just beginning to learn neat tricks with the dock. For example, I was using 2 fingers to scroll, but learned it's easier to just hold 1 finger still and use the other finger to scroll.
Hope there's firmware fix made available soon.
nowhere2010 said:
Thanks - unfortunately it doesn't help me either.
Where was you dock from?
What firmware does your dock have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my dock from AmericanTV in Peoria, IL on May 5th. Its running the default firmware it came with, whereas the tablet I have updated to the latest 8.2.3.9 firmware from the Asus website.
samarth1 said:
I got my dock from AmericanTV in Peoria, IL on May 5th. Its running the default firmware it came with, whereas the tablet I have updated to the latest 8.2.3.9 firmware from the Asus website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - I'm running the latest firmware as well for the tab. I'm assuming the dock firmware is what it shipped with (EP101-0207).
One other question: When the dock freaks out, does your battery status icon show a question mark over it?
No refresh button is a real bummer. I think this button is far more useful than say, the auto light button.
The backspace button is also really far for those of us who have smaller hands. But, this is something you can just get used to.
Does the hardware keyboard support languages other than English? Can you change the predictive input dictionary language and/or the keyboard layout?
Can you type, for example, German or Japanese on it? What about typographical symbols that don't have a dedicated key (like dashes)?
Delay, there are supposed to be regional keyboards available in the future.
I don't have mine yet, so I can't expound on detail regarding settings in the TF, but I doubt one will be able to simply change the language of the keyboard without changing the language setting of the whole OS. Also the keyboard will probably still output English characters.
Got my dock yesterday, and UPS just dropped off my TF a couple hours ago ( ).
Anyway, I just 'mated' the TF to the dock for the 1st time, and it did not sound good / did not go well. Didn't want to go down, and it seemed like it was getting hung up on something. I slid the latch over, and pulled the TF back out and a tiny little piece of black plastic fell onto the desk (very tiny... like 1mm x 1mm).
I finally got it to dock ok, but the little sliding latch isn't automatically sliding all the way to the right. It only goes about 1/2 way, then I have to sort of help it along to get it all the way over.
Anybody else had this problem? I'm wondering if I have a faulty dock.
the_gunner said:
Got my dock yesterday, and UPS just dropped off my TF a couple hours ago ( ).
Anyway, I just 'mated' the TF to the dock for the 1st time, and it did not sound good / did not go well. Didn't want to go down, and it seemed like it was getting hung up on something. I slid the latch over, and pulled the TF back out and a tiny little piece of black plastic fell onto the desk (very tiny... like 1mm x 1mm).
I finally got it to dock ok, but the little sliding latch isn't automatically sliding all the way to the right. It only goes about 1/2 way, then I have to sort of help it along to get it all the way over.
Anybody else had this problem? I'm wondering if I have a faulty dock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it supposed to go all the way over? I've just assumed that it was designed to only go halfway. Now I'm really curious what other people's docks are doing.
Mine only goes halfway if my TF isn't clicking in completely to the dock. It does go all the way over as long as I push down and get both sides to click in.
I haven't had any problems with the dock yet, no problems with wifi, no problems with touchpad *knocks on wood*. I did experience some lag typing into forms, but no more so than with touchscreen keyboard on stock browser, so I don't think that was dock dependent.
The only issue I have with the dock is I don't believe there's a button to the multitasker. I want to be able to move between programs more easily while docked. I don't want to have to touch the "monitor" every time I want to multitask. Also, I need the touchpad to register pinch to zoom. I'm hoping these get updated soon.
Has anyone tried an SDXC (not SD) card in their dock yet?
Yes it is suppose to go all the way over. If it's not going all the way over for you, then the transformer is not COMPLETELY flush with the dock. Meaning that, when you close the transformer down with the dock it should be smooth all the way around.
strikethreeout said:
No refresh button is a real bummer. I think this button is far more useful than say, the auto light button.
The backspace button is also really far for those of us who have smaller hands. But, this is something you can just get used to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
menu+r on the stock browser works.
here's the list of shortcuts:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1071739&highlight=shortcut
madsquabbles said:
menu+r on the stock browser works.
here's the list of shortcuts:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1071739&highlight=shortcut
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those shortcuts wont work for me, wierd. In stock browser.

Got my Prime, but its not perfect

Hello again, I got the Prime today but the screen has a bow at the top in the middle. It is not flush with the rest of the tablet. The other problem is it doesn't seem to be charging so I am a bit confused about that. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
First thought is you should maybe think about swapping it out. It shouldn't bow in the middle at all. Mine is flat as are all the ones I've played with in stores.. Second thought is it should also be charging lol .. what's your plan for when the battery dies???
Sounds like a dud to me. I'd swap it if I were you maybe
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Ok, seems to be charging now but the bow seems a worry.
Yeah.. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a bow in the middle
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Exchange it where you bought it from.
Its going back tomorrow. There is nothing wrong with the tablet other than GPS. Wi Fi is great. Seems like its just a loose clip or something.
Swap it out. There shouldn't be any bow in it. Tablet should be flat. Don't wait and swap it out immediately.
lol how is this even a question? we all know Asus QC is crap, any imperfections swap it out ASAP!
Hey... mine didn't come with a bow?!?
Wonder if it's too late to exchange it for one with a bow on top.
Got my second one and from what I have seen it has no light bleed and the frame is all good. I haven't really tuned it on I only saw the screen when it was showing me it needed charging.
Well the second one is great,b but with bith of mine I occasionally get a faint clicking noise whenever I hit the back,home or multitasking button and when I pick up an app on the home screens. Anyone else get this?
mdemons12 said:
Well the second one is great,b but with bith of mine I occasionally get a faint clicking noise whenever I hit the back,home or multitasking button and when I pick up an app on the home screens. Anyone else get this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a faint clicking noise when hitting an onscreen software button? if so, cut off the sound for onscreen touches and such. doesn't really make sense. just sounds like you have it to make sounds when you press something on the screen. this can be cut off in the settings.
Ok, thanks for that. The last thing seems to be the battery. I read the instructions for once and it said to charge it all up. So i charged it till it was green and then powered it up for the first time. So as the instructions say i need to break the battery in. At the moment i am getting about 5-6 hours. The pad is on balanced with auto brightness. Does this seem normal for new battery. I would hope to end up with 9-10 or are my expeditions too high?
I will do a new topic cos its a new question

[Q] How to enable clock on S6 edge screen in sleep mode

On my S6 edge I have on occasion seen that the black sleep screen suddenly showed the clock in big numbers (not the edge clock), and the faded away.
I know that I can get to see the edge screen by swiping up and down. But for the life of me do not know how to get the clock to appear on the sleep screen.
I have tried the home button, volume buttons, power button but all of this basically just turns the screen on.
Any suggestions?
in edge setting.
@Alex clock setting
Alex-V said:
in edge setting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx Alex, but that is the setting for when you switch on the S6, and the you can see the clock on the lock screen.
I have found an image on google for what I am looking for , seen encl image. But then without using th the trasparent case.
rgds
surfer3000 said:
Thx Alex, but that is the setting for when you switch on the S6, and the you can see the clock on the lock screen.
I have found an image on google for what I am looking for , seen encl image. But then without using th the trasparent case.
rgds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That screen should only be possible with the Clear View case on. Are you using any type of case with your S6?
There are magnets inside the Clear View case which the phone uses to detect when the cover is closed to display that screen.
There might be a bug with your phone if that is happening.
Do you have any strong magnets around your phone, like a speaker or anything, that might be setting it off? But even so, that still shouldn't happen since Clear View cases also have an NFC chip to enable that functionality to ensure that just normal magnets won't set it off (and to prevent fake cases and counterfeits).
Are you rooted and have some tweak installed that you forgot about perhaps?
That's the strange thing. It did show and I do not have any case for the S6.
No it was not close to a magnet.
It is not rooted.
Thx for the reply
surfer3000 said:
That's the strange thing. It did show and I do not have any case for the S6.
No it was not close to a magnet.
It is not rooted.
Thx for the reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very strange. Are you able to take a quick picture of it when it happens, I know that'll be hard to do.
Are you sure it is the exact same screen as the Clear View Case screen? Maybe it's something that looks similar, for example if you have a dark lockscreen.
Do you have Air Gesture Wakeup turned on (where you wave your hand over the screen and it turns on)? On the S4 you could make a similar screen turn on by using Air Gesture but on the S6 it takes you straight to the lockscreen. Maybe it's that in combination with something else?
I've been trying myself to get that screen to come on but without seeing what the actual screen looks like I'm out of ideas.
jonchliu said:
That's very strange. Are you able to take a quick picture of it when it happens, I know that'll be hard to do.
Are you sure it is the exact same screen as the Clear View Case screen? Maybe it's something that looks similar, for example if you have a dark lockscreen.
Do you have Air Gesture Wakeup turned on (where you wave your hand over the screen and it turns on)? On the S4 you could make a similar screen turn on by using Air Gesture but on the S6 it takes you straight to the lockscreen. Maybe it's that in combination with something else?
I've been trying myself to get that screen to come on but without seeing what the actual screen looks like I'm out of ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for trying. Taking a screen shot would be difficult as it comes on only for a few seconds. Haven't seen it for the last few days strangely enough.
I got the same thing yesterday, it even had the edge tabs lit up from messages I had waiting. No case, but my phone was close up my laptop when I saw it, maybe a magnetic field thing??
That happens when you have a message or email or missed call from one of your 5 edge contacts. The pull out side menu also bulges out with the color of the contact. Very cool feature!
Thx that must be it. SOLVED
ozaghloul said:
That happens when you have a message or email or missed call from one of your 5 edge contacts. The pull out side menu also bulges out with the color of the contact. Very cool feature!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just realized that yesterday, but I noticed that it only works when the phone is laying down and your really need to pick it up quickly, if I slowly/gently pick up the phone, that feature doesn't activate. I also noticed that it likes to shut off fast, even interacting with the bubble, you gotta open up the app quickly as the screen doesn't give you time to actually read what's on it.
If Samsung tweaks that a bit to active more easily and keep the screen on a few seconds longer, it'll be a nice feature.
The occasional clock still happens on my phone
I just bought a Galaxy S6 edge+ two weeks ago... and the case I ordered for it should be here tomorrow.
The face, not the edge, of the clock lighting up when I pick it up has been happening randomly since I bought it. It is usually accompanied with the phone vibrating too. So it has nothing to do with the case (which I don't have one yet), or where the phone has been sitting.
I honestly thought this was a feature, and have spent at least 10 hours trying to track this feature down. Only to learn that the online manual is already outdated for my phone. I'm not sure what came pre-loaded, but the first thing it did was a complete upgrade to Android 5.1.1. ...and that took place via Wifi, even before I was able to activate the phone.
Granted, the phone works great! I seriously love it! But, completely randomly, as far as I've been able to tell, it shows the clock on main screen when the rest of the phone is asleep, when I pick it up. Meanwhile, the edge clock works great whenever I want it. But when pulling the phone out of my pocket, I would like to see the "big clock" on the main screen without having to hit a button or swipe the screen. But correct me if I am wrong. It would seem that the only "official" way for this to happen is to buy a certain type of case for it?
My mom has a Droid Turbo. And other than the insane battery life (48 hours talk time), the other feature I really like about it is that you can just wave you hand anywhere near the screen and the clock turns on. I was hoping that this was some sort of feature of the S6 edge+ too. But I guess I am wrong about this.
Any thoughts as to why the clock sometimes comes on, but most of the time doesn't, when I pick it up?
PBFred said:
I just bought a Galaxy S6 edge+ two weeks ago... and the case I ordered for it should be here tomorrow.
The face, not the edge, of the clock lighting up when I pick it up has been happening randomly since I bought it. It is usually accompanied with the phone vibrating too. So it has nothing to do with the case (which I don't have one yet), or where the phone has been sitting.
I honestly thought this was a feature, and have spent at least 10 hours trying to track this feature down. Only to learn that the online manual is already outdated for my phone. I'm not sure what came pre-loaded, but the first thing it did was a complete upgrade to Android 5.1.1. ...and that took place via Wifi, even before I was able to activate the phone.
Granted, the phone works great! I seriously love it! But, completely randomly, as far as I've been able to tell, it shows the clock on main screen when the rest of the phone is asleep, when I pick it up. Meanwhile, the edge clock works great whenever I want it. But when pulling the phone out of my pocket, I would like to see the "big clock" on the main screen without having to hit a button or swipe the screen. But correct me if I am wrong. It would seem that the only "official" way for this to happen is to buy a certain type of case for it?
My mom has a Droid Turbo. And other than the insane battery life (48 hours talk time), the other feature I really like about it is that you can just wave you hand anywhere near the screen and the clock turns on. I was hoping that this was some sort of feature of the S6 edge+ too. But I guess I am wrong about this.
Any thoughts as to why the clock sometimes comes on, but most of the time doesn't, when I pick it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My observation is that this happens whenever theres a notification waiting, if the phone gets picked up with a pending notification it vibrates and shows the clock with the edge tabs visible too. Has anyone found a way to turn this on at will?

First impressions on Xperia 10 Plus

Please note this is my first thread and not dwelling deep in to the techs of the phone.
Amazon kindly delivered my Xperia 10 Plus this morning and like a little child at Xmas, couldn't wait to unpack and power on.
Now my current status is I have been running on Xperia XZ Premium for last 18 months and decided to see what the deal is with the larger screen X10 plus.
First glance, it's tall, big a just a tad slimmer, suppose that'll be for the one hand use.
Installation of micro sd card and memory card a breeze and since I opted for the dual sim, the sim tray can handle 2 sims easily.
Pros
OS seems to be quicker but the boot up time isn't
Camera capture has improved compared to XZP and will need to check this tomorrow on daylight
The little widgets like side sense is a good way to use phone on handed
handset in one hand feels comfortable and very light but still purchased a case for the phone for the additional protection
Cons
Took a while to remove the google search bar on home screen as OS 9 seems to do this differently when it comes to removing (had to Google it)
Charging time does take a little longer in my experience but this could be down to battery care and stamina
You can't customise what screen is your home screen so if you have 3 screens, 1st screen is your home screen, This is issue for me since I like my icons/apps setup in a way makes to easier for me. Could possibly not be setting the home screen correctly
Had a strange issue with restore from my Google account and it placed two icons for each app downloaded so ended up factory reset and seems to resolve the issue
All in all, still early days as not much time to fiddle with the phone as I required to setup again and juggle the icons on home screen as sadly this didn't do on backup from old phone.
I'll add more comments when I have managed to play with the phone more.
Thanks.
Well, been a few days using the phone and so far had the following as issues or switched off.
1. Camera seems to crash twice on use where app opens but buttons doesn't respond until you have the crash notification. Albeit camera quality is very good compared to XZP.
2. Switched off the Swipe up on home button as it seemed to get messed up with me wanting to access all apps from swiping up from the bottom of phone.
3. As someone else mentioned before, games touch screen buttons not optimised as some games buttons are low right side and makes it very awkward to use when playing.
4. Couple of times you press an icon on app and doesn't seem to launch or takes a while to do anything. One app i remember is launching the messenger app for FB from the FB app. Did sod all and restarted handset to fix it.
I would take some quality pics but where I live is a bit trashy so nothing good atm and will wait for weather to improve.
Just hope others who have the same phone report on same issues for Sony to fix
anyone know how to get the "recent apps" button to show up on the nav bar? I dont see one anywhere, or, how to enable it
wase4711 said:
anyone know how to get the "recent apps" button to show up on the nav bar? I dont see one anywhere, or, how to enable it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to open the Xperia Launcher settings. Just hold down your finger on one of the homescreens. The 2nd or 3rd option should give you the old navbar back
thanks, but there is no mention of navbar anywhere in the Xperia Launcher settings..:crying:
wase4711 said:
thanks, but there is no mention of navbar anywhere in the Xperia Launcher settings..:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad it's in the display settings under advanced. "Swipe up on home button". Don't have my phone right now, had to send it in so i couldn't say for sure. Thought it was hidden quite well :/
perfect, thanks!
How's low light recording and pics ?
Does it support Camera2 API RAW capture?
bellissimo.io said:
Does it support Camera2 API RAW capture?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera2 API Probe reported no.
I have no issues with my Sony Xperia 10 Plus after 4 months so far. It's fast and smooth in my use. I can take great pictures and videos. 21:9 experience is great and amazing!
How is battery life and sot?
I'm seriously considering this phone as an upgrade. I'm in Asia so models here come with 6gb of ram. I'm currently on the z5 premium. Would you say there is any improvement in performance between the xz premium and the 10 plus?
Mike3009 said:
I'm seriously considering this phone as an upgrade. I'm in Asia so models here come with 6gb of ram. I'm currently on the z5 premium. Would you say there is any improvement in performance between the xz premium and the 10 plus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Performance on XZ premium is better compared with Xperia 10 plus. Xperia 10 plus is sluggish en general use. I think there is a problem with the launcher optimization. The only way that i founded to acelerate the smartphone is to deactivating "Animations". After that, the Xperia 10 plus beahvior, results in a great performance, smooth. If you install a 3rd party launcher, the sluggish problem appears again. This phone definitively needs software optimization from Sony. I waiting android 10 fix this situation. I want to highlight that the sound quality from bluetooth is amazing, i thinl is better that xz premium, XZ2. I dont know if Sony increase the audio quality in this model.
I bought this phone yesterday from best buy and to me what a pile of junk, the screen just above the power button actually is separating from the plastic frame, I hear faint pop like sound and I start pressing on the edge of the screen I heard the sound again, on further inspection looks like the adhesive tape they must use to attach the screen to the frame is letting loose from the main frame, this thing is slow and very sluggish. I would advise people not to buy this phone, for the price..... you can buy a older flagship phone or even a oneplus 6t or 6 for less used and runs circles around this sony phone.

General Zenfone 9 experience so far

Had the Zenfone 9 for a little while and thought I'd share some thoughts. Been using the device for as my main machine for basic work (email, document writing, ssh/remote management, video calling) and personal applications (social media, reading, watching videos, not gaming). Here's been my experience.
Size/Screen
despite people focusing on how compact the phone is it doesn't feel that small in a good way (especially compared to the iPhone mini). Screen size does not interfere with any applications I've used the phone for, even reading which I had some worries about before purchase. The biggest downside of the compact size I ran into was the typing experience, but that becomes much better with a keyboard that has good gesture support and some aggressive autocorrect. Overall it feels great in the hand as someone with large hands.
Visually the screen is sharp, has great viewing angles, and the brightness is good even for outdoor use in direct sunlight. I can't say much for the refresh rate since I keep it on 60 but I will say the DC dimming works a charm even if it's only available on 60 Hz mode. Touch is responsive and i haven't experienced any touch jitters, but the palm rejection is bad enough that I'd call the phone unusable without a case if you tend to hold the phone like I do.
Gesture Controll
As a long-time Oneplus user I do miss the 3 way switch for the ringer, but have found a compromise using the press and hold on the power button as a toggle between modes which has been working well for me. The other smart key functionality of swiping on the power button I've turned off as it's way too easy to accidentally activate when held in the right hand.
The screen off gestures for media control which I enjoyed on Oneplus are here in the Asus but are currently broken, the "ll" pause gesture instead reading out the time and not pausing the video for some reason, when that's fixed at least they are all very responsive.
The back double tap gesture is very inconsistent, I keep it on for the flashlight and haven't had any issues with false activations, but it often takes a few tries to activate.
Battery/Charging
Battery life has been good, getting through a day of heavy use without a problem on 60Hz mode. Charging is fast but does heat up the phone, I've kept mine on ultra steady charge mode which slows down charging to dispel heat and battery longevity issues (around 10W, normal steady charge is around 13W). The charger that came with the device is a C to C charger with a cable that works for data and power.
Performance
I'm not a mobile gamer so I've yet to push the processor in any meaningful way, badly optimized apps that I have had issues with in the past all work smoothly. Video playback/acceleration have been smooth as well as processing large file transfers. Boot up and restart times are very snappy.
Networking/Connectivity
No issues with my Canadian SIM, dual sim works fine. WiFi hasn't had problems with my WiFi 5 and 6 Routers even in dual channel mode which works seamlessly on dual channel networks connecting in both bands. 5G isn't widespread in my area so i haven't had a chance to test it, but 4G+ works as expected. On the physical ports side I have only been able to get USB 2 speeds out of the USB C port for file transfers which isn't really an issue for my use and the headphone jack packs a punch running my DT-770 80 ohms without a problem.
Cameras
They're definitely cameras, I'm not really a camera guy so I wouldn't know what to look for. I haven't had any noticable issues, photos do take a bit longer than my previous phones from pressing the button to the photo being taken but I assume that's because there's a lot more photo processing going on with newer phones. The back lenses do need to be wiped off most of the time since at least for me my fingers tend to naturally rest on them. Front camera also hasn't given me any issues but I'm not a huge fan of the metal ring inside which makes the hole punch more noticeable.
ZenUI
Played around with the launcher a bit before switching off of it, seems like a good relatively stock Android experience with some quality of life improvements. Hasn't given me a reason to switch away from Niagra launcher though (which works great on this device). The pull down menu looks good but could use a bit more in the way of customizability, notifications are a bit intrusive on the smaller screen but the smaller notifications option fixes that pretty well in exchange for needing to pull down the notification shade for quick access. Some other small gripes are that the bar underneath the keyboard is unable to be turned off is quite large relative to the screen height and in the activities view the app icons are above the apps which makes things like locking apps a bit difficult one handed.
Overall
This phone is definitely a purchase I don't regret, all the issues I've had thus far are definitely fixable through updates. I haven't had any of the hardware issues I've heard others mention like rattly volume buttons. Hopefully it does well enough for Asus to consider giving it longer support and the attention it needs to get its minor current issues fixed, or at least well enough to get decent support for third party roms. The price even importing the device from HK to Canada is very competitive for what you get. If there as any benchmarks people want me to run or questions they have about the device I'll keep an eye on the responses. Also if anyone has fixes for the issues mentioned I'm all ears (palm rejection, media control, etc...)
Thank you for the nice review.
I'm still waiting for my piece.
I want to ask you, since you are using 3rd launcher, I wonder if you are using gestures or navigation bar?
Purchased from mi4canada, came quick via DHL from HK and at a good price by Canadian import standards. It's unclear when the device will officially make its way to Canada, the zenfone 8 took a long while.
efkosk said:
Thank you for the nice review.
I'm still waiting for my piece.
I want to ask you, since you are using 3rd launcher, I wonder if you are using gestures or navigation bar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using gestures, they work well with 3rt party launchers. Can't get rid of the bean at the bottom but it's easy to ignore.
Nexr0n said:
I'm using gestures, they work well with 3rt party launchers. Can't get rid of the bean at the bottom but it's easy to ignore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So my hope for Nova Launcher lives on! There was a glitch on all new mobile phones since A11. It only worked like a miracle on a couple of phones. I'm glad that Zenfone is one of them. Another reason for even greater joy.
efkosk said:
So my hope for Nova Launcher lives on! There was a glitch on all new mobile phones since A11. It only worked like a miracle on a couple of phones. I'm glad that Zenfone is one of them. Another reason for even greater joy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never tried Nova, I'll install it and see, 1 min.
Update: gestures work fine
Nexr0n said:
Never tried Nova, I'll install it and see, 1 min.
Update: gestures work fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no glitch when using "home gesture" ?
efkosk said:
no glitch when using "home gesture" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that i see at a cursory look, although I'm unfamiliar with the glitch so i don't know exactly what to look for. Best i can tell it works like it should.
Nexr0n said:
Not that i see at a cursory look, although I'm unfamiliar with the glitch so i don't know exactly what to look for. Best i can tell it works like it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your effort and time!
efkosk said:
no glitch when using "home gesture" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to add from my experience. I've been using nova launcher prime since I got the phone (over a week ago). And I have noticed that rarley but sometimes when you press the home button or unlock the screen you will get a blank screen showing only the wallpaper and only after you press the home button for a second time will the home screen actually load.
FYI I am using the navigation bar (buttons) and not the gesture one (I just hate the incompatibility with a lot of swipe supported apps e.g. Gmail, Solid Explorer etc ) so take it with a grain of salt if you use gesture you might not encounter this problem.
I have also encountered some other minor bugs but overall I am very pleased with the phone coming from my Galaxy S10.
efkosk said:
no glitch when using "home gesture" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like on other phones when using third-party launchers there is definitely a slight delay (a second or so) when using the home gesture until the launcher becomes responsive and starts accepting input.
HomerSp said:
Like on other phones when using third-party launchers there is definitely a slight delay (a second or so) when using the home gesture until the launcher becomes responsive and starts accepting input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't experienced this issue with Niagra after over a week of use now (or on previous phones I've put it on), may be an issue with your launcher. A second delay would be very noticable.
Cheers for the review - very helpful as am considering getting one.
Looking around at the benchmarks from different reviews, the scores vary quite a bit. It looks like it depends on which performance mode it's in - high performance mode vs dynamic mode, and according to Anandtech the Zenfone 8's performance would also change depending on which refresh rate you had it in. But many reviewers haven't said what mode or refresh rate they've been using.
Could you perhaps run the Jetstream 2.0 benchmark (opens and runs in the website) and/or PCMark Work 3.0 (play store) in dynamic performance mode? In 120hz would be fantastic or in 60hz would still be good either.
It's a bit of pain and would take your time so perfectly understandable if you don't want to, so would like to say thanks for the review anyway!
@Plasmac
All of these on 120Hz, no performance modes enabled (manually disabled for pcmark which triggered an automatic one)
Jetstream 2: 128.004
Pcmark work 3.0: 16371
Geekbench 5: 1294/4075
Dew,
Nexr0n said:
@Plasmac
All of these on 120Hz, no performance modes enabled (manually disabled for pcmark which triggered an automatic one)
Jetstream 2: 128.004
Pcmark work 3.0: 16371
Geekbench 5: 1294/4075
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for doing all those. It's really appreciated.
The non-performance mode isn't reducing the performance by much at all. That settles it for me then, the Anandtech review of the 8 put me off, but it seems tsmc 4nm has allowed good performance and decent battery life, so the 9 it is.
efkosk said:
no glitch when using "home gesture" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The old known bug is sadly also present on this phone using gesture navigation.
Sadly the standard launcher is no substitute for Nova, so pick the lesser evil
RestlessScreams said:
The old known bug is sadly also present on this phone using gesture navigation.
Sadly the standard launcher is no substitute for Nova, so pick the lesser evil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thank you.
Can you try the solution via tasker? (I still don't have a mobile phone at home)
I managed to use the Nova launcher on the Pppo find N thanks to the Tasker app and this instruction:
Nova Launcher
Some lucky ones who have already received it could kindly try nova launche? I am especially interested in the transition between the external and internal screen portrait to landacape. Thank you in advance ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
forum.xda-developers.com
Thereโ€™s a lot to like about the way the Zenfone 9 looks. The obvious starting place is the size โ€“ thanks to using a small 5.9in display this is a small phone by modern standards, and at 169g itโ€™s also impressively lightweight.
At 9.1mm thick itโ€™s not the thinnest phone around, but youโ€™d certainly not call it chunky, and that very slight extra thickness feels irrelevant once you factor in how compact the phone is overall.
https://krnl.run
krnt.runindigocard.ltd
https://krnl.run
efkosk said:
Well thank you.
Can you try the solution via tasker? (I still don't have a mobile phone at home)
I managed to use the Nova launcher on the Pppo find N thanks to the Tasker app and this instruction:
Nova Launcher
Some lucky ones who have already received it could kindly try nova launche? I am especially interested in the transition between the external and internal screen portrait to landacape. Thank you in advance ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly didn't work either. But from what I've read it's Google's fault and may have been fixed with A13, so maybe there's hope for the Z9 too

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