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Android |OT5| The Sonic Cycle

Do Android phones still break the OTA update process if you root and uninstall all the bloatware shit? My Bionic suffered from this, and with the S6 likely only available from a carrier I'm kinda worried about developing any interest in the device. I feel like a broken record, every time a new flagship Android device comes out I'm like "if only it was available off contract with no bloatware or skin..."

you're breaking the OTA process by modifying a filesystem that is supposed to be read-only to end users. any popular device will have debloated available for flashing roms anyway, so who cares about the OTA?

and yeah, that last bit happened already with several flagships and people didn't buy.
 

jesalr

Member
Z4 might be the last phone I'm looking forward to. I think it'll launch alongside the tablet, but it's hard to announce it months out when you have an apparently decently selling phone already on the market. Fix the camera, spruce up the Z3 ui, and I'm not sure I'd need much more from a phone.

I'm beginning to fucking hate the N5, lollipop is seriously breaking this thing, and the battery life is such ass. I never noticed quite how bad it was until I started travelling. It became my primary computing device, and the amount of babying it needs at that point to last a day is atrocious.
 
I'm beginning to fucking hate the N5, lollipop is seriously breaking this thing, and the battery life is such ass. I never noticed quite how bad it was until I started travelling. It became my primary computing device, and the amount of babying it needs at that point to last a day is atrocious.
yeah I loved my nexus 5 but the battery life was pretty bad and only got worse over time.

Dream phone is still the moto maxx with updated specs. Imagining that 3900 mAh battery makes me drooooool.
 

Groof

Junior Member
What really irks me about the n5 battery is the god awful standby times it gets. My n4 suffered from that as well
 

terrier

Member
Z4 might be the last phone I'm looking forward to. I think it'll launch alongside the tablet, but it's hard to announce it months out when you have an apparently decently selling phone already on the market. Fix the camera, spruce up the Z3 ui, and I'm not sure I'd need much more from a phone.

I'm beginning to fucking hate the N5, lollipop is seriously breaking this thing, and the battery life is such ass. I never noticed quite how bad it was until I started travelling. It became my primary computing device, and the amount of babying it needs at that point to last a day is atrocious.

i love my nexus 5 but once i started using my note 4 i really could see its limited battery (well not only nexus, most phones fall short these days for power users or under bad reception).
As some said, a nexus5 upgrade,with better camera and battery even with old snapdragon 800/801 would be a affordable yet powerful phone
 
What really irks me about the n5 battery is the god awful standby times it gets. My n4 suffered from that as well

Google Play Services and other Google services are always on with the Nexus phones and run in the foreground which destroys standby time. Major OEMs fiddle with Android so that all of Google's services are shunted to the background or even switched off when the phone is on standby.

In other news the £249 price has gone down very badly among industry analysts I know. They all think that Sony haven't changed. They would have preferred a lesser specification, cheaper build and a lower price. A guy who specialises in this stuff said the build cost of the M4A is probably around $160 which is why Sony can't price it competitively, add in their operating cost and the break even price for the M4A is close to $220 according to him so at £249 they still only make about $40 per sale because of a high cost structure and unnecessary features for a mid-range device. Chinese companies operate on around half the build cost and a third of the operating cost, he said they would put a similar but lesser specced on the market for $100 all in, allowing much more competitive price points.

Basically Sony haven't learned anything from their past failure in the same sector.
 

Dobsie

Member
Any Xperia Z2/Z3 users here?
If so do you run CM on it and how stable/bug free is it?
My nexus 4 is great but the battery life is just terrible, i want to upgrade to something with a beastly battery like the Xperia's but would like to load CM onto it as I've been spoilt by stock android the past 2 and a bit years. Can't really bring myself to go back to a skinned Android experience.
edit: also as far as i understand with the z series once you unlock the bootloader you lose the drm keys and camera performance goes to crap. I know these can now be backed up, but i assume you can only restore them if you're using a stock rom. In other words, camera performance on cm/aokp roms will always be crap?
 
Any Xperia Z2/Z3 users here?
If so do you run CM on it and how stable/bug free is it?
My nexus 4 is great but the battery life is just terrible, i want to upgrade to something with a beastly battery like the Xperia's but would like to load CM onto it as I've been spoilt by stock android the past 2 and a bit years. Can't really bring myself to go back to a skinned Android experience.
edit: also as far as i understand with the z series once you unlock the bootloader you lose the drm keys and camera performance goes to crap. I know these can now be backed up, but i assume you can only restore them if you're using a stock rom. In other words, camera performance on cm/aokp roms will always be crap?
Yes but battery probably too. The Z2/3 oem roms have battery saver modes that make the battery what it is.

You can get a close to stock without CM though. Only two apps you will se a skin then would be settings and dialer. Replace everything else with Googles apps.

Notifications in 5.0 also look like they will be just like stock.
 

Quasar

Member
M4 Aqua - €299, £249. Lols, just as I predicted. What a bunch of jokers. At £199 it would be a tough but achievable sell, but at £249 who would spend £100 extra over the Moto G? The pricing is just awful. Sony, again, overestimating their "brand value".

Well...I'm semi interested in it. I'm not sure what alternatives there are with the same specs. I just wonder about the Qualcom 615. I mean my existing N4 runs just fine for me in terms of processing power.

Its not so much the brand, I don't really have any loyalty. Well beyond a desire for pure android and easy upgradability, but given where Nexus has gone I'm now looking at other options.
 
i love my nexus 5 but once i started using my note 4 i really could see its limited battery (well not only nexus, most phones fall short these days for power users or under bad reception).
As some said, a nexus5 upgrade,with better camera and battery even with old snapdragon 800/801 would be a affordable yet powerful phone

Basically a Oneplus one, minus the jank crapshoot & + the api2 ability
 

reKon

Banned
Wonder what they'll price that Z4 tablet at. It looks excellent of course, but no one is going to buy it due to price at the end. It's sad that we already know how it will turn out for Sony because they're barely changing their strategy. As nice as the tablet is, you're not going to an iPad or Nexus 9 with $500+ pricing.
 
Wonder what they'll price that Z4 tablet at. It looks excellent of course, but no one is going to buy it due to price at the end. It's sad that we already know how it will turn out for Sony because they're barely changing their strategy

€499 for Wifi. Needs to be €100 less to make an impact but that's not going to happen until it is too late, just like the M4A.
 

Dobsie

Member
Yes but battery probably too. The Z2/3 oem roms have battery saver modes that make the battery what it is.

You can get a close to stock without CM though. Only two apps you will se a skin then would be settings and dialer. Replace everything else with Googles apps.

Notifications in 5.0 also look like they will be just like stock.

Hmm, not too keen on this idea if it means relying on Sony to release updates. They might not be in the game in a years time.
 

Mindwipe

Member
Any Xperia Z2/Z3 users here?
If so do you run CM on it and how stable/bug free is it?
My nexus 4 is great but the battery life is just terrible, i want to upgrade to something with a beastly battery like the Xperia's but would like to load CM onto it as I've been spoilt by stock android the past 2 and a bit years. Can't really bring myself to go back to a skinned Android experience.
edit: also as far as i understand with the z series once you unlock the bootloader you lose the drm keys and camera performance goes to crap. I know these can now be backed up, but i assume you can only restore them if you're using a stock rom. In other words, camera performance on cm/aokp roms will always be crap?

Do you need CM, or are you just looking for rooted stock Android?

Because you can deskin a lot of the Sony device with themeing, even without root - Sony just released a new version of Theme Designer this morning that allows you to change a few more elements on Lollipop by the looks of things. http://developer.sonymobile.com/201...devices-with-the-new-theme-creator-beta-tool/

Then after switching to the Google stock apps and a different launcher there would be very little of the Sony skin left. And I imagine Xposed can fix that on a rooted device without loss of the DRM keys.
 

reKon

Banned
Android |OT6| 1/3 of what you wanted isn't bad.

The new Sony tablet looks nice but I am sure it will end up like the last one: no firm us release date, no retail support, and almost immediately forgotten.

I wouldn't say forgotten...

It's not like a ton of great spec'd tablets have came recently. It's still the Nexus 9, Galaxy tab 8.4s, Nvidia Shield Tablet, and iPad Mini 2 which are probably considered the best around that size.
 

Hasney

Member
I think I'll be happy with my Kindle Fire HDX for at least a few years tablet wise. Was a bargain, especially as I caught it before it updated so I've got Google Play on it.
 

Dobsie

Member
Do you need CM, or are you just looking for rooted stock Android?

Because you can deskin a lot of the Sony device with themeing, even without root - Sony just released a new version of Theme Designer this morning that allows you to change a few more elements on Lollipop by the looks of things. http://developer.sonymobile.com/201...devices-with-the-new-theme-creator-beta-tool/

Then after switching to the Google stock apps and a different launcher there would be very little of the Sony skin left. And I imagine Xposed can fix that on a rooted device without loss of the DRM keys.

Just rooted stock android really, i only say CM because it actually runs smoother on my n4 than the official release from Google.
Yeah i know i could use the Google stock apps and launcher but its the lockscreen notifications and quick toggles i like from stock android. However saying this, watching a few videos of the Z4 tablet the lockscreen at least looks identical to stock android as far as i can tell.
 
Just rooted stock android really, i only say CM because it actually runs smoother on my n4 than the official release from Google.
Yeah i know i could use the Google stock apps and launcher but its the lockscreen notifications and quick toggles i like from stock android. However saying this, watching a few videos of the Z4 tablet the lockscreen at least looks identical to stock android as far as i can tell.

The Z3 update for Lollipop, whenever it comes, is also much much closer to stock not only by lockscreen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Nfi4nqnd0

edit: Yeah Sony sucks with updates though.
 

Avixph

Member
Thanks to mobilesyrup we now know how much the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will cost in Canada.

Vidéotron
Samsung Galaxy S6
32GB: $249.95 with reduced price on monthly $84.95 plan
32GB: $349.95 with reduced price on monthly $74.95 plan
32GB: $699.95 Retail price

64GB: $359.95 with reduced price on monthly $84.95 plan
64GB: $459.95 with reduced price on monthly $74.95 plan
64GB: $809.95 Retail price

128GB: $469.95 with reduced price on monthly $84.95 plan
128GB: $569.95 with reduced price on monthly $74.95 plan
128GB: $919.95 Retail price


Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
32GB: $349.95 with reduced price on monthly $84.95 plan
32GB: $449.95 with reduced price on monthly $74.95 plan
32GB: $809.95 Retail price

64GB: $459.95 with reduced price on monthly $84.95 plan
64GB: $559.95 with reduced price on monthly $74.95 plan
64GB: $919.95 Retail price

128GB: $569.95 with reduced price on monthly $84.95 plan
128GB: $669.95 with reduced price on monthly $74.95 plan
128GB: $1019.95 Retail price
 

reKon

Banned
I think I'll be happy with my Kindle Fire HDX for at least a few years tablet wise. Was a bargain, especially as I caught it before it updated so I've got Google Play on it.

The ability to easily download offline TV Shows is main feature that made me actually consider the that tablet, despite not having the google play store.
 

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
The 810 has support for a new fingerprint scanner that's supposedly better than Touch ID - http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/2/8130505/qualcomm-snapdragon-sense-id-fingerprint-sensor-announced

Put this in the CTS now FFS. It should be part of stock ASAP.

HTC's response when asked why they don't have a fingerprint scanner on the M9:

HTC No, the HTC One M9 does not have that feature. We won’t simply add features that don’t represent value or enhance the product experience.
 
Am I the only one who refuses to use fingerprint IDs? I think it's more so that you'd usually have to use two hands if you're holding it to do it.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Am I the only one who refuses to use fingerprint IDs? I think it's more so that you'd usually have to use two hands if you're holding it to do it.

I like the fingerprint sensor on the ipad air 2. I'd like it even more on a phone - especially as my work email enforces a 6 digit pin for the lock screen which is annoying.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Soon
y

Honestly, 5.0.1 hasn't been that hot. I'd probably want OEMs to hold off now and just wait for 5.1 if it would help them get that version out faster.

5.0.1 running fine on my G3. Good performance, and I get like 2% battery drain when I sleep at night.

My Nexus 7 on 5.0.2 is good now to vs initial 5.0.0.
 

reKon

Banned
I feel like Lollipop is going to take away from my God like battery life because of project Volta being sham.

Looking forward the update though still! Sony's skin isn't exciting, but for day to day use its fine. Btw, I love all the people here who trash the skin all the time here... even though they don't fucking own the phone and use it daily... If you did then you would understand how much an over reaction the criticism I see is. Anyways to me it's irrelevant and doesn't have to be relevant to most people because we have awesome things called launchers. I just use the Nova launcher with on my phone anyways because I prefer it and it works flawlessly with my custom swipe actions for apps I use the most and lollipop animations in there.

Now to see if Sony actually delivers before the end of Q1, which would technically count as early 2015 (they said it would be released early 2015). If they miss this date, this will be just be another terrible failure
 

Mindwipe

Member
HTC's response when asked why they don't have a fingerprint scanner on the M9:

I don't think it has that much value until it's fundamentally a part of the OS to replace passwords, which is more my point. It should be - Android needs a robust password management solution on an OS level, and this should be it.
 

longdi

Banned
Google Play Services and other Google services are always on with the Nexus phones and run in the foreground which destroys standby time. Major OEMs fiddle with Android so that all of Google's services are shunted to the background or even switched off when the phone is on standby.

In other news the £249 price has gone down very badly among industry analysts I know. They all think that Sony haven't changed. They would have preferred a lesser specification, cheaper build and a lower price. A guy who specialises in this stuff said the build cost of the M4A is probably around $160 which is why Sony can't price it competitively, add in their operating cost and the break even price for the M4A is close to $220 according to him so at £249 they still only make about $40 per sale because of a high cost structure and unnecessary features for a mid-range device. Chinese companies operate on around half the build cost and a third of the operating cost, he said they would put a similar but lesser specced on the market for $100 all in, allowing much more competitive price points.

Basically Sony haven't learned anything from their past failure in the same sector.

I wont be too harsh on M4 pricing. At £249, it is £100 lower than Galaxy A5, its direct midrange competitor. However M4 boost a better processor Octo 615 vs Quad 410, slightly more battery life (Sony promises 2 days! Sony usually deliverths here), better usability with IP68. Lollipop out of the box and no Touchwiz! I think Sony is well aware of their position now. The only bugbear is...no US availability again!

I played with a 615 on 1080p screen via Galaxy A7 and it was performing very well though some hiccups can be felt. I think at 720p, 615 will be more optimal than a 410.

I dont think a brand like Sony needs to race to the bottom or can they afford to now. At £249 off contract with Android 5.02, that is a lot of usability for midrange phones now. I wont want to go back lower in the performance chain, i dont think super cheap smartphones with lower specs would be worth my while. Sony slapping together a low cost smartphone dont make sense to their brand and probably wont save much in terms of development either.

There is also a lot of hype with the Xiaomis and whatnot, and to be honest, if you held/use one, you will find some corners are rough. They are good value but i expect M4 to be a clearly better experience.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
actually the M4 might be a good phone for me. Not that far off from the specs of the Z3 and still looks really nice, but half the price.
 

longdi

Banned
actually the M4 might be a good phone for me. Not that far off from the specs of the Z3 and still looks really nice, but half the price.

The previews have been very favorable, citing solid build quality and speedy Sony Android 5 UI. :D

The 615 will fly on a 720p screen.

Im glad Sony is still trucking on producing great Android phones.

Too bad, most people will likely overlook them, just like the Z4 Tablet....nobody seems to care it have been announced... lol!
 
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