The issue that will force itself next year is flagships for Nexus like price. The market is being pushed that direction and the scales will tip of people being post paid (or even not on contract) and don't want to deal with signing a two yr agreement. I would argue having a Nexus 4 8gb myself that while the Nexus line does offer best price to value, they definitely aren't flagships like the other offerings were getting.
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Android |OT4| I/O Silver
- Thread starter kinggroin
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Nexus 5 still has disappointing camera and battery life.
Moto X has a gimped battery.
HTC M8 has a gimped camera.
LG G3 has a gimped screen and battery.
Sony Z2 and Z3 don't seem to have any flaws, other than rare in the states.
BootlegSnackz
Member
still waiting for that jesusphone that doesn't have any gimped anything...
whatever it is i'm sure it will have a locked bootloader so i can't throw aosp on it. then again that will fuck up the camera sooooo nova launcher and an icon pack will suffice. this (2nd) G3 will have to do for now. thinking about selling it and getting the Note 4 though.
EDIT: Android GAF Hangout way superior to this thread.
Haha
RoadHazard
Gold Member
The N5 was definitely a flagship at release. You couldn't get a phone with a higher-res display, faster CPU/GPU, or more RAM until a couple of months later. Battery and camera were average, true, but phones have been called flagships without being best in class in every single aspect before. There's always one little flaw or another.
brotkasten
Member
The best thing about it is that Google couldn't possibly get 4.4 running on on the Galaxy Nexus, because it has the OMAP3. But Motorola has no problem getting wear, which is 4.4, to run on it. That is such a joke.
The G2 was better than the Nexus 5 in every aspect hardware wise.
I still don't know why people keep saying the G3 has a gimped screen and battery. People are averaging 5 hours of screen on time with it and it's replaceable. That doesn't at all sound gimped.
Eh, the biggest difference between the g2 and the nexus 5 was the battery. The slightly smaller display and 8 vs 13mp cameras aren't much to complain about. Otherwise they're identical internally.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Actually that's a metric I've been wondering about. Is 5 hours of screentime the standard for flagship phones now?
I do get around 5-6 hours of screen-time (as in gaming, web-browsing, video recording, video-streaming etc. etc.) on my G3.
I do get around 5-6 hours of screen-time (as in gaming, web-browsing, video recording, video-streaming etc. etc.) on my G3.
ars said:
is it just me thinking that a snapdragon 400 in a phone seems massive overkill? Just feels like the priorities are all mangled up. Use the phone as the control device, the watch just needs to display a few images and let you swipe stuff away. The most complicated thing it needs is to recognise 'ok google' which you could probably put in dedicated silcon.
From what posters in this thread have said, it sounds like the 16gb version of the G3 is more gimped in ways that aren't just the storage space. People with the larger version sound like it's working fine.
It's more about newer hardware (eg. Snapdragon 400) being much more power efficient than what's being used on the Moto 360 (the same shifty chip the Galaxy Nexus used a few years ago). Considering smartwatches are required to have good battery life to be even competent, the Snapdragon 400 is not only faster, but also drains less power.
Think these wearables are only really going to mature when they get SOCs designed specifically for what they're doing. Kind of worrying that Ars says that all Android Wear devices seem to drop bluetooth quite a bit.
I have the 16Gb G3 and battery life has been quite good, averaging 4 1/2 - 5 hrs screen time. Very comparable to my Note 3 and the G3 has much better standby time
Ah cool. There were a couple of people in here having real issues no matter what they did and took advice from a lot of people here. Wonder if they're doing something we've missed or if there was a bad batch,
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Nah I was one of those people, I was just confused as to what people were considering to be good battery life, because battery life is dependant on how people use it.
w1ck3dn1nj4
Member
Maybe its just a case of unoptimized pre-release build, or maybe its just Samsung being a tad shite heavy on animations by going all out with their usual bells and whistles, who knows? I bet a simple tweak like turning off, or scaling down animations in developer options, and adjusting S-voice defaults wouldve sufficed in it being a non story. But wheres the money in that for phonearena? :-D
What I find more amazing is how the video presenter managed to keep a straight face whilst trying to come across professional-like in this so-called litmus test of real life performance and power under the hood lol. Early speed test comparisons? So called on-the-spot improvised tests for the benefit of the discerning audience? It's quite clear intelligence isnt one of the prerequisite traits of the type of audience theyre desperately in search of :-D
Yeah, wait for the more thorough benchmarks. For all we know, Samsung may have forgotten to turn their benchmark hacks on.
The Exynos version sounds like a beast though. Shame we can't have that one
osiris3355
Banned
I get a day to 1.5 days out of my moto x and about 4 hours of on screen time. Maybe that's not considered acceptable any longer though
From a pure glance, the Xperia Z3 is the phone to get it if the camera improvements and the battery enhancements are actually substantial. An Xperia phone has yet to launch day 1 in the United States, so this might be the first time Sony dents the market remarkably.
Samsung shit the bed with the Note 4. I don't really care for the "premium" feel of the device seeing as I use a Slim Armor Case (as a Note 3 owner). Also I worry about the unneccisary super high resolution screen which is sure to take a hit on battery life.
The LG G3 has a myriad of issues that are well documented across XDA.
The One Plus One turned out to be the malfunction of the year.
Finally, the HTC One M8, while coming in a close second, still has a piss poor camera.
Samsung shit the bed with the Note 4. I don't really care for the "premium" feel of the device seeing as I use a Slim Armor Case (as a Note 3 owner). Also I worry about the unneccisary super high resolution screen which is sure to take a hit on battery life.
The LG G3 has a myriad of issues that are well documented across XDA.
The One Plus One turned out to be the malfunction of the year.
Finally, the HTC One M8, while coming in a close second, still has a piss poor camera.
From a marketing perspective?
Software has its fair share of problems too.
Curious to know what these issues are? I'm not saying you're wrong or challenging you. But do you have more info on this?
My mother in law is wanting to get a note, but she can't decide between the 3 or 4. I'm not to versed on Samsung's phone since what little I've used of them makes me want to throw them into the garbage disposal.
What are the major differences between the 3 & 4, so that I can give her a good idea.
She doesn't have the greatest of eyesight, which is why she wants a note (my mom has note 3 and she really enjoyed it).
What are the major differences between the 3 & 4, so that I can give her a good idea.
She doesn't have the greatest of eyesight, which is why she wants a note (my mom has note 3 and she really enjoyed it).
- Resolution (that won't matter)
- Battery Life (good enough in Note 3) and difference is 20mAH ( 3,220mAH vs 3,200mAH) besides optimisation
- S Pen improvements (I guess this won't matter either)
- Aesthetic standpoint i.e. Note 4 has metal and a different back design without faux stitching (I doubt this matters as well)
- More features like the multi window up to 16 windows ( does this even matter?)
- More powerful chipset (again, it doesn't matter to the average consumer).
- Camera (3.7 front 16 back against 2 front 13 back) Again, does this matter at all?
-Dimensions slightly different (153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5mm (note 4) 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm(Note 3))
- Weight 176g (Note 4) vs 168g(Note 3)
At the end of the day, just get the Note 3. It's cheaper, and the differences won't matter enough to the general consumer or even to some avid tech head.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
One case of the battery exploding but I dunno how widespread it is.
There was a time where the software was draining the battery like crazy but I think it's fixed now.
Yellow banding issues on the screens for the recent batch I believe.
From what I've seen going on the one plus reddit and on different sites, there are currently touch screen issues, battery life issues and I've seen problems with the GPS but that may have been fixed.
They have officialy said they are working on the touch screen issues and battery life problems so hopefully this all gets fixed.
On the hardware side some people have had yellowing on their screens and worse signal than with their other phones (not sure if that last one is hardware or software related).
Ah thanks. I'm looking at XDA right now.
I'm just curious because I have one that's somewhere in the mail system right now. I've only heard of the yellow band issue up to this point.
Well, you can get 7hrs on Z2 without trying and much more if you turn on stamina mode. People report 14-15hr for movie watching only (all else turned off) on XDA.
So G3's battery time isnt bad if you look at 2013 devices... it is bad compared to latest ones.
Same goes for new Moto X... I am sure it will have good battery life for 2300 mAh device... but they missed the chance to get 30-40% better battery life and matching competition.
Yeah, I used to buy whatever phone had the best screen, but since 1080p screens, I fail to see the point of going higher so far. I'm sure once they perfect these 2k screens, it might be worth it.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I personally see if you are going on contract any reason to get anything other than the Z3 or Z3C with the lone exception being the Note if you really want the SPen.
Z3 really does seem like the perfect phone currently with no real drawbacks. Bravo to Sony in that regard. Now how about not fucking NA in terms of a release.
Z3 really does seem like the perfect phone currently with no real drawbacks. Bravo to Sony in that regard. Now how about not fucking NA in terms of a release.
Sadly not yet. This is supposed to be supported in the next version of Android (L).
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...-android-now-natively-supports-usb-audio-out/
Cool thanks. So has anyone here on the L preview tested this or is it not in the preview?
osiris3355
Banned
Camera and battery were the only spots it took a hit and they are both better than last years model.
Verge battery stress test:
Moto X (2013): 7 hours, 14 minutes
Moto X (2014): 8 hours and 44 minutes
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
So much fail. So the camera is merely average and the battery life isn't great, but it got an 8.8.
Plus they fucked up the review from the start saying this was a Lenovo joint when this is still a Google joint.
Not that I expect anything better from The Verge.
Was just about to post this. Interesting, but still hampered by some nit picks.
osiris3355
Banned
Same score as the 5s last year. This phone is a fucking win as long as other reviews are similar.
Pictures are looking great to me. And if the battery is better than the original Moto X, then I'm in because I've had great battery life on the old X.
So they gave an Android phone a higher score than you think it should have received.
Man, The Verge can't win with GAF!
Verge said:
Best Android ever made but the camera still is bad and the battery has problems so we'll give it a 8.8 like last years iphone so when this year's iphone comes out and we give it a 9.2 we can say it's better than the best android ever.
Alley-oop
necrolysis
Member
I've been following this thread, and I've likely skimmed past it like an idiot, but how do I get into the hangout, since I see that's a bit more active than even this thread? 
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
The phone is going to get great reviews and it wasn't hard to predict that it was going to be a great phone. As soon as this hits the $400 price again, you're going to be looking at your best bang for buck phone next to the OnePlus One.
Just still disappointed by the battery. Literally all they needed to do is bump it up at little more. I mean you couldn't even get it to 2600mAH Motorola? That's how much the Z3C and Galaxy S4 have and they're both thinner phones!
Just still disappointed by the battery. Literally all they needed to do is bump it up at little more. I mean you couldn't even get it to 2600mAH Motorola? That's how much the Z3C and Galaxy S4 have and they're both thinner phones!
My next phone has boiled down to either the Z3 or new X. And this decision is hard as hell.
In all ways, the Z3 finally looks like the android kit with no compromise in any area, but Sony frankensteining the inevitable L update with some hodgepodge ui 'enhancements' almost turns me off to it. It's an assumption that they will, but their 4.4.4's got the modifications, so there's precedent.
The X will get a clean L, but that battery; We're going into 2015 with plenty of phones that have been able to have really good batteries at this point. 'Good enough' on the battery isn't enough anymore.
In all ways, the Z3 finally looks like the android kit with no compromise in any area, but Sony frankensteining the inevitable L update with some hodgepodge ui 'enhancements' almost turns me off to it. It's an assumption that they will, but their 4.4.4's got the modifications, so there's precedent.
The X will get a clean L, but that battery; We're going into 2015 with plenty of phones that have been able to have really good batteries at this point. 'Good enough' on the battery isn't enough anymore.
PM me your e-mail address.I've been following this thread, and I've likely skimmed past it like an idiot, but how do I get into the hangout, since I see that's a bit more active than even this thread?
Thanks in advance!
Wait a bit for the next Nexus to be announced. That might be the best of both worlds.
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