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Android |OT6| Huawei or the iWay [Nobody Reads Edition]

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Noema

Member
Hey guys, I'm looking for a good 5'' phone with budget around $300 - $350. What are the good phones fall in this price range? I hate big ass phone and anything >5'' is a huge strain on my hand. I was considering a Moto G 3rd gen but it isn't launched in my country.

I mainly use the phone for calling, whatsapp, emails, waze, and internet browsing. Appreciate yours recommendation.

You have to tell us where you live so we can now which phones are available to you. Are you planning on getting the phone off or on contract? Which carrier do you use?

We can't really make meaningful recommendations without knowing all this.
I will never understand why people keep going back to Samsung. It always ends with the same disappointed, frustrated responses due to TouchWiz.

Because they make great phones with amazing cameras. TouchWiz notwithstanding.
 
Hey guys, I'm looking for a good 5'' phone with budget around $300 - $350. What are the good phones fall in this price range? I hate big ass phone and anything >5'' is a huge strain on my hand. I was considering a Moto G 3rd gen but it isn't launched in my country.

I mainly use the phone for calling, whatsapp, emails, waze, and internet browsing. Appreciate yours recommendation.
Nexus 6P

:D
 

clav

Member
You got from the ad "iPhones"? Where in the ad does it say more pianists use iPhones? Lol wut?!
? I'm talking about what I see.

Recently Henle Library app got released on iOS first. May for Android. If you don't know what's the significance behind it, then you don't know much about the music world.

Artists love Apple products. If you use Android, then you must be poor + not fashionable.

The ad makes zero sense. I'm not sure what a playing of that Sonata was all about? They could have done that on a MIDI piano controller for the same effect.

I don't think you know what disable means. And I'm guessing you've never actually tried to get Touchwiz as close to/better than stock

That's a huge assumption. I have. I finally got rid of Touchwiz because no more updates since 4.4.2. Nice to see what 5.1.1 is although I want Marshmallow.
 
You have to tell us where you live so we can now which phones are available to you. Are you planning on getting the phone off or on contract? Which carrier do you use?

We can't really make meaningful recommendations without knowing all this.


Because they make great phones with amazing cameras. TouchWiz notwithstanding.

Malaysia. I'll buy the phone off and will definitely be using Malaysian carrier (Maxis).

Nexus 6P

:D

Too expensive
 
In real life yes. Recently Henle Library app got released on iOS first. May for Android. If you don't know what's the significance behind it, then you don't know much about the music world.

Artists love Apple products. If you use Android, then you must be poor + not fashionable.

The ad makes zero sense. I'm not sure what a playing of that Sonata was all about? They could have done that on a MIDI piano controller for the same effect.



That's a huge assumption. I have. I finally got rid of Touchwiz because no more updates since 4.4.2.
It's about portraying the variety of Android devices as a strength of the eco-system. Having a person play the song is important to it being visually interesting, with the appreciation of the pianist's skill. A computer outputting the same note is nothing. So what about what heaps of musicians use? It's an audio analogy.
 

clav

Member
It's about portraying the variety of Android devices as a strength of the eco-system. Having a person play the song is important to it being visually interesting, with the appreciation of the pianist's skill. A computer outputting the same note is nothing. So what about what heaps of musicians use? It's an audio analogy.

I understand that, but the ad conveys poorly a message.

I'm talking about they could have used a Kawai VPC-1 controller for the same effect or some advanced digital keyboard mechanism that utilizes wood keys. It can do that.

Seems like an extravagant way of showing the same effect. Welding a piano string grid that's all the same lengths.

Android doesn't have guaranteed updates across all of its devices unlike desktop Linux (supports everything) + Windows machines (at least for CPUs with SSE2 instructions) can all update.

Therefore, ad seems to have no point.
 
I'm talking about they could have used a Kawai VPC-1 controller for the same effect or some advanced digital keyboard mechanism that utilizes wood keys. It can do that.

Seems like an extravagant way of showing the same effect. Welding a piano string grid that's all the same lengths.

It's a commercial showing when everything is the same it is boring. Android is better than iPhone because everyone can live in the same ecosystem but have personal devices which is not the same for ios.

You are way over thinking this commercial.
 
It takes less then 5 minutes to change your phone from touch wiz or what ever to anything you like via nova or google or any other launcher. I don't get the complaints over the look.
 

clav

Member
It's a commercial showing when everything is the same it is boring. Android is better than iPhone because everyone can live in the same ecosystem but have personal devices which is not the same for ios.

But how is it better when Android has a hard time updating all devices?

Can you imagine an uproar if Mac OS X or Windows didn't have an update feature?

Maybe the real problem is updating Linux on embedded devices, which includes tablets, e-readers, network routers, smartphones, and IoT devices. To this day, devs struggle to decide which kernel to use with some manufacturers stating that their drivers only work for this kernel version and nothing newer/older.

Not all kernels are supported for a long time as some expire within months.

I think that's why Google said 2 years of support for its current Nexus lineup. Google contributes to the Linux kernel all the time, so their backing is a blessing.

Samsung hasn't been on the Nexus lineup for a while, so their third party support is somewhat abysmal especially with its Exynos stuff. Anything outside of the closed-source kernel + drivers makes it really difficult to tinker + start from scratch.

You are way over thinking this commercial.

No I'm not. I think it portrays a point very poorly since Android isn't as cohesive as it can potentially be.

Should be a symphony or a very small chamber group of multicultural artists at high variance of age, technical skills, and health conditions, not just a solo piano, if it really wants to hammer that point. Something like a flashmob with instruments. Perhaps even with instruments made from garbage.

That would make more sense.
 

longdi

Banned
I will never understand why people keep going back to Samsung. It always ends with the same disappointed, frustrated responses due to TouchWiz.

I wanted to stay with Sony but S7 specs look great, comes with VR headset, and supposedly cheaper than S6. Samsung is throwing money at me.

Sony ...sadly I doubt Z6 can match S7 hardware. And now Samsung has metal casing,water resistance, OIS camera, fast internal storage and big battery life....S7 is like taking the best of everything from everyone!
 

VoxPop

Member
It takes less then 5 minutes to change your phone from touch wiz or what ever to anything you like via nova or google or any other launcher. I don't get the complaints over the look.

Nova doesn't do anything but change the homescreen and a couple of animations. It'll be the same shitty Touchwiz underneath and everywhere else. Sony, Moto and the Nexus got it right.

But then again, Samsung is the only one making money with Android so I can't really say much.
 
October 5th.

For me the biggest issue isn't so much how long OEMs take to update their phones. It's how quickly they abandon them.

If your phone was released in 2014 there's a good chance it'll never run Marshmallow officially.

I'm not expecting iOS levels of support, but at least provide 18 months of updates for your $500+ flagship.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 4 are getting Marshmallow.

Oh but I forgot Samsung doesn't count as being Android around here LOL

Enjoy your not updated phones!
 
Hey guys, I'm looking for a good 5'' phone with budget around $300 - $350. What are the good phones fall in this price range? I hate big ass phone and anything >5'' is a huge strain on my hand. I was considering a Moto G 3rd gen but it isn't launched in my country.

I mainly use the phone for calling, whatsapp, emails, waze, and internet browsing. Appreciate yours recommendation.
there really aren't many good android phones in that size in general let alone for that budget. I guess like you said the moto G 3rd gen. There's also the Oneplus X if you want to play that lottery...
 

tzare

Member
Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 4 are getting Marshmallow.

Oh but I forgot Samsung doesn't count as being Android around here LOL

Enjoy your not updated phones!

Samusng flagships get around 2 years support, just like nexus. Slower than nexus but hey, as almost any other oem.

The problem is with mid and low range devices. Not exclusive to samsung tbh

there really aren't many good android phones in that size in general let alone for that budget
What do you consider good?
Browsing the web whatsapp email and calls, any SD400/410 and 2GB ram device will be okay. There are a number of decent 200€ ones too like p8lite or m4 aqua
 
What do you consider good?
Browsing the web whatsapp email and calls, any SD400/410 and 2GB ram device will be okay. There are a number of decent 200€ ones too like p8lite or m4 aqua


M4 aqua isn't that good to me mostly because the camera is garbage and the support will be downright bad. Other than though I think it's a fine choice. I think the OPX is "good" and I think the 3rd gen moto G is good.

Obviously the Z5 compact is good but out of his budget most likely.

As for the discussion above, still waiting on marshmallow for my S6. Might get it within a month or two :/
 

Skilotonn

xbot xbot xbot xbot xbot
Ayye, found a proper place to post this!

For any current and former S5 owners in here, maybe you all can give me some info.

Finally bought my first smartphone in December, never had a use for one since I always worked from home. Even with the S6, all the way up to the S6 Edge+ out, I always has my eye on the S5 because of removable battery, water resistance, microSD and the fingerprint reader.

First month was bliss, battery life lasted 2 days with no charge while I was on Wifi. Stock Android 4.4.2 since I heard bad things about Lollipop on S5. Now I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but I got mobile 4G internet, and maybe even before that, my battery life took a nosedive. AndroidOS is eating up my battery life, although my screen is still the #1 power user unlike other users out there. Now if I'm lucky my phone will survive for 4 hours without a charge fron 100%. I don't play video games on this phone, in fact, the only app I downloaded was Whatsapp, which is why I bought the phone in the first place.

Read around the internet and many others had the same problem and no one can pinpoint the problem nor come up with a definite solution. I did everything - screen is dimmed down to almost nothing, turned off all syncing, turned off the AllShare Cast Dongle, turnwd off all sensor and motion sensing - no change whatsoever.

Looks like my last option is to reset to factory settings, or find some root firmware where someone outside of Google / Android fixed this battery drain bug. The phone is fantastic and fast aside from this.

Anyone know any firmware I can get to solve this? Thanks!
 

jwk94

Member
Ayye, found a proper place to post this!

For any current and former S5 owners in here, maybe you all can give me some info.

Finally bought my first smartphone in December, never had a use for one since I always worked from home. Even with the S6, all the way up to the S6 Edge+ out, I always has my eye on the S5 because of removable battery, water resistance, microSD and the fingerprint reader.

First month was bliss, battery life lasted 2 days with no charge while I was on Wifi. Stock Android 4.4.2 since I heard bad things about Lollipop on S5. Now I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but I got mobile 4G internet, and maybe even before that, my battery life took a nosedive. AndroidOS is eating up my battery life, although my screen is still the #1 power user unlike other users out there. Now if I'm lucky my phone will survive for 4 hours without a charge fron 100%. I don't play video games on this phone, in fact, the only app I downloaded was Whatsapp, which is why I bought the phone in the first place.

Read around the internet and many others had the same problem and no one can pinpoint the problem nor come up with a definite solution. I did everything - screen is dimmed down to almost nothing, turned off all syncing, turned off the AllShare Cast Dongle, turnwd off all sensor and motion sensing - no change whatsoever.

Looks like my last option is to reset to factory settings, or find some root firmware where someone outside of Google / Android fixed this battery drain bug. The phone is fantastic and fast aside from this.

Anyone know any firmware I can get to solve this? Thanks!
Former S5 owner here. Had the same problem after about two months of owning the device. Just wait until it becomes a laggy mess and starts sending multiple texts to people. You're gonna love it. The S5 had a good feature set and TouchWiz has a LOT over stock Android, but I'd never buy another Samsung phone again after the S5.

Pesronally, I went with the Moto X 2014 after that and then the Moto X Pure Edition (because I wanted a grippier back, better camera, front flash, and micro-SD). Other than a few nitpicky issues, I couldn't be happier.

EDIT:
Just remembered my first smartphone was the Galaxy Nexus which also ran into the same issues my S5 did. Yeah, again, never go Samsung.
 
But how is it better when Android has a hard time updating all devices?

Can you imagine an uproar if Mac OS X or Windows didn't have an update feature?

Maybe the real problem is updating Linux on embedded devices, which includes tablets, e-readers, network routers, smartphones, and IoT devices. To this day, devs struggle to decide which kernel to use with some manufacturers stating that their drivers only work for this kernel version and nothing newer/older.

Not all kernels are supported for a long time as some expire within months.

I think that's why Google said 2 years of support for its current Nexus lineup. Google contributes to the Linux kernel all the time, so their backing is a blessing.

Samsung hasn't been on the Nexus lineup for a while, so their third party support is somewhat abysmal especially with its Exynos stuff. Anything outside of the closed-source kernel + drivers makes it really difficult to tinker + start from scratch.



No I'm not. I think it portrays a point very poorly since Android isn't as cohesive as it can potentially be.

Should be a symphony or a very small chamber group of multicultural artists at high variance of age, technical skills, and health conditions, not just a solo piano, if it really wants to hammer that point. Something like a flashmob with instruments. Perhaps even with instruments made from garbage.

That would make more sense.

Do you know anything about marketing? Its about selling something not about being 100% technically accurate. The people that produced the commercial probably don't even know shit about android. Again, you are overthinking this.
 
Ayye, found a proper place to post this!

For any current and former S5 owners in here, maybe you all can give me some info.

Finally bought my first smartphone in December, never had a use for one since I always worked from home. Even with the S6, all the way up to the S6 Edge+ out, I always has my eye on the S5 because of removable battery, water resistance, microSD and the fingerprint reader.

First month was bliss, battery life lasted 2 days with no charge while I was on Wifi. Stock Android 4.4.2 since I heard bad things about Lollipop on S5. Now I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but I got mobile 4G internet, and maybe even before that, my battery life took a nosedive. AndroidOS is eating up my battery life, although my screen is still the #1 power user unlike other users out there. Now if I'm lucky my phone will survive for 4 hours without a charge fron 100%. I don't play video games on this phone, in fact, the only app I downloaded was Whatsapp, which is why I bought the phone in the first place.

Read around the internet and many others had the same problem and no one can pinpoint the problem nor come up with a definite solution. I did everything - screen is dimmed down to almost nothing, turned off all syncing, turned off the AllShare Cast Dongle, turnwd off all sensor and motion sensing - no change whatsoever.

Looks like my last option is to reset to factory settings, or find some root firmware where someone outside of Google / Android fixed this battery drain bug. The phone is fantastic and fast aside from this.

Anyone know any firmware I can get to solve this? Thanks!

Do you know what os version you can update all the way to? I think some of the carriers released 5.1.x which is much better than 5.0.x

The Android 5.0.x build provided by google is terrible. If I remember correctly the Verizon S5 never got 5.1.x which would explain why those users are still miserable and should be cleaned up when the 32 bit unencrypted 6.0.x finally drops.
 

clav

Member
There's obviously no way to know for sure, but it would surprise me, considering that the S4 got the 5.0 and 5.1 updates last year.

Probably ends next year since Samsung has a financial interest in making their customers to continue to buy their products.

From the quick glance, looks like Android devices are running 3.4 and 3.10 Kernels. 3.10 was set to sunset last year, but if that's what Google plans on running for a while, then maybe we'll see support extended.

I think we'll definitely see Kernel 4.X in this year's Nexus unveiling.

Kernels are important because those are security updates.

If you buy Samsung's stuff, then you're supporting their closed-source initiative. Closed kernel + drivers.

Stick to Qualcomm chipsets, probably preferable to what Nexus phones are using, if you want aftermarket support.

all people have been doing the past 6 months is complaining that Windows actually does have a comprehensive update system.

Yes, which is one of the few remarkable things left in the Windows 10 platform.

Samsung can't do that since they have an interest in selling hardware.
 
I wanted to stay with Sony but S7 specs look great, comes with VR headset, and supposedly cheaper than S6. Samsung is throwing money at me.

Sony ...sadly I doubt Z6 can match S7 hardware. And now Samsung has metal casing,water resistance, OIS camera, fast internal storage and big battery life....S7 is like taking the best of everything from everyone!
Maybe the 6gb of RAM will negate constant refreshes and stutters.
they keep going back because at the end of the day, Samsung makes the best Android mobile handsets.
Hardware wise absolutely. That's why I mentioned Touch Wiz.
 

clav

Member
they keep going back because at the end of the day, Samsung makes the best Android mobile handsets.

Samsung is terrible at software support. Really think their in-house departments are going to kill their sales if they don't open up. Hard to troubleshoot/develop.

One reason why I stopped using Tomato firmware was it tied down to specific Linux kernel versions that are no longer updated (for many years). I see a failure point on the way if the kernel doesn't get updated.

Here's an article that explains my train of thought: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-issue-with-embedded-linux-and-the-solution/
 

ParityBit

Member
So I updated my OS last night (LG G3) and my time is GMT and rarely retains my local time (-5)

Anyone else have this issue/solution? This is my alarm also, so having it flaky like this is not good!
 

tzare

Member
M4 aqua isn't that good to me mostly because the camera is garbage and the support will be downright bad. Other than though I think it's a fine choice. I think the OPX is "good" and I think the 3rd gen moto G is good.

Obviously the Z5 compact is good but out of his budget most likely.

As for the discussion above, still waiting on marshmallow for my S6. Might get it within a month or two :/
Marshmallow is already rolling out in some markets so.i should be soon.
As for m4 camera is average but that is to be expected for a 200€ device. And he didn't mention camera being a priority so...
He could also check BQ Aquaris x5.
 

clav

Member
So I updated my OS last night (LG G3) and my time is GMT and rarely retains my local time (-5)

Anyone else have this issue/solution? This is my alarm also, so having it flaky like this is not good!

Check your settings regarding automatic time. Reboot.
 
I don't know the S7 looks great to me. They got rid of the camera hump design and the it kind of reminds me of the S3 except obviously with a more premium build quality.
 
I don't know the S7 looks great to me. They got rid of the camera hump design and the it kind of reminds me of the S3 except obviously with a more premium build quality.

The camera hump isn't as tall anymore, but its design is still bad.

The phone just doesn't have a remarkable design in any way. Super boring, super bland. Not worth the money they're asking for, imo.
 
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