[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

She wants the phone with larger display as likes to read a lot and current MMX strains her eye (one of reason of MMX straining the eyes is that the screen brightness cannot be minimized beyond a level which is must at night).

The Mi4i brightness is very adjustable.

[pixantz]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

She does not want to spend that much on a phone. BTW how is the camera Quality of Vibe P1?

Have not personally seen the pics but all user reviews are very good and reassuring.

As far as price is concerned, I sincerely think that expecting to have an honestly good camera AND great display in a 10k budget is a bit far stretched what with all your other requirements put together as well. I might be wrong here. But 15k seems to be a more real budget. Again, I may be wrong, and for your good I hope I am.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The Mi4i brightness is very adjustable.

Thanks for your reply, Sir.
I don't want to disappoint you but I was somewhat aware that the Mi4i would support lowering brightness to comfortable-night-reading level as brightness level on Wifey's Redmi 1S can be lowered to such level that Reading in Dark makes Easy on Eyes.

Also I have asked her (cousin) just now about SD Card option. She wants it. So Mi4i (Including All other phones with No SD Card) is (are) are out of the "Ring". LOL:

[Marauder]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

I am curious to understand the focus on stock android experience which you all have mentioned and so have other folks in other replies as well. I have read about Samsung bloatware etc. but then if they are so bad, why are Samsung and HTC and LG products also enjoying a good sale. What am I missing here?

Stock Android is the cleanest form of Android where there are no unnecessary OEM branded apps to bug the interface(although some might consider native Google apps as unnecessary). Sometimes this bloatware is the reason people consider Android as complicated or extremely laggy.
Secondly, you would get guaranteed updates with Nexus devices which provides a better experience as compared to being stuck with old software on your Samsung or LG phone.

The reason Samsung or LG products enjoy the high market share(in India) is because of the high brand recall. The average person may not have even heard of a Nexus. They also have a glut of device ranging from 10k to 60k unlike a Motorola which has at best 3 or 4 phones in the market.

At this point of time I am more inclined towards the Moto X Style because it gets dual front facing speakers (should make for this as good media device too), bigger screen and Moto X features which everyone has praised as being very useful in day to day life. Camera could be a concern especially since it does not have OIS but would it really matter that much that I consider G4?

Any thoughts / opinions / inputs please?

If you want the best camera in a phone above everything else, then you should go for the G4. Otherwise, in almost all other aspects Moto X is the better bet.

I don't know if its a Flipkart issue or OEM supply problem but phones like the Nexus 6P and Moto X keep going out of stock on their pages.
I hope these companies abandon their exclusive partnerships with Flipkart soon.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

I was somewhat aware that the Mi4i would support lowering brightness to comfortable-night-reading level as brightness level on Wifey's Redmi 1S can be lowered to such level that Reading in Dark makes Easy on Eyes.

ie, You knew already! ok, no problem

And the SD card completely rules it out. I must admit, I'd be happier without an SD card if I had 32Gb internal. As it is, I do feel sometimes like I was back in the days of 2Gb cards!

[joe1980]

I would need a new Android device and I decided to get the Moto E2! I've been an iPhone user for the last couple of years and I do not want to invest those hefty sum on iPhone 6, so I decided to get the Moto E2.

I have used my Wife's Samsung A3 and I noticed that the phone comes with tons of Apps pre installed. I guess Moto E2 would also come with such pre installed Apps which I might not need! Is there a way to wipe them all out and keep only those that I think I might need? I could not figure that out with the A3. But I would definitely like to get rid of some of the Apps on my Moto E2. Any suggestions?

[abhjain]

Originally Posted by joe1980

I would need a new Android device and I decided to get the Moto E2! I've been an iPhone user for the last couple of years and I do not want to invest those hefty sum on iPhone 6, so I decided to get the Moto E2.

I have used my Wife's Samsung A3 and I noticed that the phone comes with tons of Apps pre installed. I guess Moto E2 would also come with such pre installed Apps which I might not need! Is there a way to wipe them all out and keep only those that I think I might need? I could not figure that out with the A3. But I would definitely like to get rid of some of the Apps on my Moto E2. Any suggestions?

If you are okay to root your phone, this will be a cake walk!

[dmplog]

Originally Posted by joe1980

I would need a new Android device and I decided to get the Moto E2! I've been an iPhone user for the last couple of years and I do not want to invest those hefty sum on iPhone 6, so I decided to get the Moto E2.

I have used my Wife's Samsung A3 and I noticed that the phone comes with tons of Apps pre installed. I guess Moto E2 would also come with such pre installed Apps which I might not need! Is there a way to wipe them all out and keep only those that I think I might need? I could not figure that out with the A3. But I would definitely like to get rid of some of the Apps on my Moto E2. Any suggestions?

Unwanted apps (also called as Bloatware) is the key difference between Samsung and Motorola. While Sumsung is known to push several apps (many a times unnecessary) on their phones, Moto has only few apps, which I feel are very useful. In any case, you can always 'disable' any app which you don't need in Android. Thereby, it doesn't run and consume system resources.

And by the way, jumping straight from iPhone to Moto E2 is incredible! I hope you enjoy the experience.

[mukul32]

Well, if you have not ordered the Moto E2 yet, I would suggest you to cancel the order and instead go for the Android One device from Micromax. The Moto E2 has been omitted from the Marshmallow update list from Motorola (which actually comes across as a shock, it's not even one year old) and will stay on Lollipop 5.1, unless you decide to go the custom ROM route. However, apart from that, it's a great phone with a decent screen, stock Android, excellent build quality for its class and good battery as well.

As for the Android One, don't go by the Micromax brand name, that device is designed and developed by Google, who also directly support the software updates. It also has a better camera with a flashlight, better front camera, and already has received the Marshmallow update way before most flagships too. Marshmallow brings a huge amount of bug fixes, performance optimisations, doze mode to increase standby, and for low end devices such as these having very low internal storage, a vital feature in the native SD card support. The negatives of that device are that it has a MediaTek chip, which perform really well but aren't as good as Qualcomm ones, and the Micromax brand factor. That said, it is way different from and way better than other Micromax phones we know of, which are all just mere rebranded Chinese phones.

However, if you have no problems staying on outdated software, or are ready to flash custom ROM's, the Moto E would make a slightly better choice overall. The reliability and quality of Motorola is hard to fault and the processor being Qualcomm snapdragon 410 that powers a lot of other budget devices, custom ROM support should be very good too.

As for your apps question, root the device and get an app called system apps remover (that requires root access). It'll help you clean out everything you don't want. Or better yet, wait for a couple of months and flash CyanogenMod 13,which has absolutely ZERO bloatware (you even need to flash the Google apps package separately if you want it).

[joe1980]

Originally Posted by dmplog

And by the way, jumping straight from iPhone to Moto E2 is incredible! I hope you enjoy the experience.

I still love using an iPhone, but I do not want to spend a couple of hundred dollars to upgrade to the latest version! Just like how Software became open source I hope that in the future, even the hardware becomes open source such that you do not need to replace the whole device for a hardware upgrade!

I thank you all for the suggestions! I'm absolutely fine with Android 5.1 which means that I would better get the Moto E2. May be later, I will try using custom ROM's to get to Android 6.0 if I need.

[Chetan_Rao]

Being a recently liberated sufferer of Samsung's Android experience, I can honestly say the overall experience could sometimes be frustrating, but it wasn't all bad. Some features on Touchwiz were really convenient, esp. the flexibility of the notification drawer. One could not only put toggles of their own choice on there, the toggles themselves let you access the detailed settings of each feature with a single long-press. I also liked the variety of call and UI settings available (in-call quality on my S3 was miles ahead of my current Moto G3). I won't compare the cameras as the S3 was an erstwhile flagship phone, not a budget device like the Moto.

All this was on Android 4.x, while stock Android even on 5.1 is incredibly frustrating on those aspects. No notification counts on apps, mobile data (a bread & butter feature on smartphones) takes 4 taps to enable/disable, just to name a couple.

I know there are apps for most add-on features, but being able to toggle one of the most basic features of a smartphone shouldn't need additional tweaking.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Being a recently liberated sufferer of Samsung's Android experience, I can honestly say the overall experience could sometimes be frustrating, but it wasn't all bad. Some features on Touchwiz were really convenient, esp. the flexibility of the notification drawer.

Samsung is putting out decent phones for not so much money now.

Touchwiz has become lighter with less bloat. The J series phones with their SAMOLED displays make a lot of sense. The need to tweak software/fiddle around with roms is a lot less now with stronger hardware. The SAMOLED screens are a big differentiating factor for viewing experience and battery performance.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Whilst there is no way that I can claim the hunkiness of steel (or even aluminium!) for this phone [m4i], it has never felt cheap to me.

... And the day after posting that, I noticed light leaking out from the edge (about an inch) of the glass at the bottom of the screen.

I have heard of people returning new phones with this problem. I think that mine is about nine or ten months old, so still in warranty, but I do not want to faff around with returning it.

It is a problem that I would only notice in the dark. Can I write it off as a minor annoyance and forget it? After all, the phone has never claimed to be waterproof or dustproof.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by mukul32

You mean you bought the Z5? How is that phone? Mainly, battery life and heating issues? The camera should be great enough to shut up any Apple or LG fan for a long while. I think the Z5 is really the best no-compromise phone out there right now.

Yep, did indeed purchase the Z5. As I've written earlier it suits personal needs completely so the decision has been a happy one. The camera is good enough with the max resolution for 16:9 being 20mp and in 4:3, 23 mp. It has all the necessary future-proof (for about a year) features like fingerprint security, 3 GB ram, dual channel stereo speakers etc. Now what really defines a Sony is the sound quality, it has several pre-set options to adjust sound quality (like ClearAudio+, S Force surround, dynamic normalizer) combined with equalizer settings like Club, Studio, Concert Hall, Normal etc. One can also optimize sound for a particular headset, may it be ordinary ones, in-ear earphones or noise cancelling headphones along with HSEE (high resolution 24+ bit sound) software, in summary an audiophiles dream.

The screen, well I certainly don't bother much about all the latest trending 4k or 2k stuff but full HD is more than adequate for this size, heck its adequate for a 32+ inch tv. Since it has Triluminous engine it also has 3 picture modes Normal, Bravia & Super-Vivid with the last option being on par with AMOLED screens in terms of contrast & colour. The phone is waterproof as advertised (tested it). There is a slight warmth in the upper-rear part of the phone when doing resource hungry tasks but its quite within limits on daily basis. Battery I'd suppose is the best part of the phone. The only gripe so far with the phone part is its incredibly slippery metal side frame. To touch and feel the combination of toughened glass+metal+nylon corners+frosted back makes this phone more premium than ever before. The word SONY inscribed in the rear has the smooth reflective glass finish (compared to frosted glass around it) which gives it a very smooth to the touch aspect. In the end I suppose each person has his/her priorities when choosing a phone and thus no phone is perfect universally, however I still believe Sony is brand with a pedigree like none other.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by mukul32

The Moto E2 has been omitted from the Marshmallow update list from Motorola (which actually comes across as a shock, it's not even one year old) and will stay on Lollipop 5.1, unless you decide to go the custom ROM route.

I suspect the list is a first with more lists to come. So hopefully Marshmallow will come to it one day.