[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by binand

+1. Motorola is probably the best alternative to stock Android, especially since I need dual SIM.

Android One devices are best alternatives to stock Android. One can visit Android One website to check the officially listed devices at there.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

T I hate the fact they have ads in the stock file explorer and messages app when many 3rd party apps don't have ads

This sounds like a very market specific decision on having ads or not. I use a Mi 9 and the File Explorer works as designed, that is, as a file explorer. No ads. What does have ads is the so called Security App which is rather pointless considering the Play Store is pretty secure as is.

I will admit that while stock Android is the best, MIUI has not been as intrusive as I am reading here.

[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

This sounds like a very market specific decision on having ads or not. I use a Mi 9 and the File Explorer works as designed, that is, as a file explorer. No ads. What does have ads is the so called Security App which is rather pointless considering the Play Store is pretty secure as is.

I will admit that while stock Android is the best, MIUI has not been as intrusive as I am reading here.

Xiaomi Mi9 is not available in India. Mi9 being a flagship, one should not expect ads in any of the stock interface, their current flagships are the Redmi K20 series in India, and as per Xiaomi, ads will be limited to the music player and video player only

Rest of the Xiaomi phones will continue to have ads. Although there are ways to get over it.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

Mi9 being a flagship, one should not expect ads in any of the stock interface

Agreed. I take back what I said in Post # 29012. I did see an ad displayed when I opened the File Manager App soon after I submitted that post. It was noticed under the Clock Icon (In the App). It was not there under the Folder Icon within the File Manager App. It isn't consistent too. Sometimes an ad pops up, sometimes none.

Also; there are no ads in the default Messenger App so that seems to be a very India specific thing.

To be frank, these ads have not annoyed me to the extent that I need to trash the phone. Does an add pop up out of the blue when I use the phone? No. Does it show in Xiaomi's own Apps? Yes. Do I use any of Xiaomi's Apps? No. Is any of this killing the battery? No.

The K20 Pro is an interesting device though they have cut some corners. The Horizon AMOLED screen is unheard off. While the Sony IMX586 is a popular choice among phone snappers, the tele and wide angle differ in their pixel count and aperture rating. The Mi 9 taking in more pixels and wider aperture. The battery is massive on the K20 Pro which is to its advantage. Gorilla Glass 6 (Mi 9) versus 5 (K20 Pro)

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Sorry guys. I was at the last leg of placing order and was about to proceed to OTP when my phone rang. 2 minutes later, I was not so sure.
.......
Finally by the wee hours of the day placed an order for the Nokia 8.1 the spiritual successor for my erstwhile Nokia 7 plus.

My new Oneplus 7 arrived yesterday. And what a gorgeous device it is!



I was skeptical about the blue color, but only that variant had a 6 month no cost EMI option. I am glad I got this color and not the grey.



The package came with a plain jane, yet sturdy, TPU case. I guess I will stick with it until it starts yellowing.



Now, what do you call a person who can't stick to the decisions he make? I am that person. I cancelled my Nokia 8.1 order (second cancellation, this) after I read in notebookcheck.com that it has a screen flickering rate of 76hz. It is only below 10% brightness, but I read quite a bit on bed with the light switched off. It is not proven that I am sensitive to screen flicker, but I have enough other problems that I don't want to risk another one.

Oneplus has a flicker rate of 200hz - some respite - and the latest firmware supports DC dimming.

Having spent about 24 hours with the phone, my reactions are mixed but largely positive.

- The phone looks gorgeous - I can gladly repeat that any number of times.
- Screen is good but not as vibrant as the Nokia 7 plus. Peering into it, I can see the pixels. Maybe because of the pentile matrix. I will take an LCD any day.
- Nice to hold, the weight does not bother much.
- Fast, fluid. No lags. A joy to use.
- Lots of UI mods - so can't call it stock ROM anymore
- The Shelf is useless. I want the Google page back.
- Thanks OnePlus for the dark mode. For this one reason I can forgive the UI mods.
- The fingerprint sensor is not just fast, it is instantaneous. Did not expect this from a under-screen implementation.
- Yet to test the camera.

But it is very unlike everything I like in a phone. This is my second Oneplus phone after the legendary Oneplus One. The One was everything I wanted from a phone: A rugged industrial design, metal frame, plastic back, LCD screen, stock Android. Never did I use a case or screen guard with it, but it survived all the falls.

Nowadays phones are more about eye candy than usability. Which is fine for the likes of Oppo and Vivo but not what I expect from a Oneplus. But everybody is falling head over heels to offer glass everywhere, notched no-bezel screens, multi camera gimmickry etc. And OP is following the crowd. And how do you justify not having a headphone jack in a Oneplus?

Overall I am happy with what I got - especially at this price. So let me explore the mainstream side of the smartphone world for the next one year.

Thanks again to everybody here.

[RiGOD]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

My new Oneplus 7 arrived yesterday. And what a gorgeous device it is!

Damn man, at first I thought you typed it wrong instead of the Nokia 8.1 and the pictures confirmed otherwise. Hearty welcome to the gang

With the all glass body of the phone I strongly recommend that you get one of the bumper cases from the 1+ website (I got the nylon one and it's absolutely gorgeous on the phone and very rugged too).

Congrats again

[skchettry]

I too thought how come civic-sense landed on an OP while he kept vouching for Nokia 8.1. Congrats!
I too am a happy user of OP7 - my first OP phone after a Vivo which I had got after nearly 4 years of using iphone 5s.
And ever since I switched to Android and now especially the OP7, I would say these are great VFM devices while iphone is an excellent piece of technology, but not anywhere worth the price they command.
All good with OP7 here hoping it will stay with me at least for the next 3 years. But was expecting a bit more from a 3700 maH battery.

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

My new Oneplus 7 arrived yesterday. And what a gorgeous device it is!

Congrats on getting bitten by the One Plus bug. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, I am a repeat user of the OP (OP3 and then OP6T), and I love the brand to bits. That blazing fast charge and the fluid UI are just kickers, and the overall experience is great. Enjoy your phone.

As far as cases are concerned, I use a matte black one which I picked up on Amazon. This feels very grippy and is a slim fit one which does not add much to the thickness of the phone. In your case however, the lovely blue colour is best served with a transparent cover.

[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

My new Oneplus 7 arrived yesterday. And what a gorgeous device it is!

Congrats on your new device, its a good choice.

- Screen is good but not as vibrant as the Nokia 7 plus. Peering into it, I can see the pixels. Maybe because of the pentile matrix. I will take an LCD any day.

Having used both the Nokia 7 Plus and OP6, I would rate AMOLED screens to be far better. The Nokia has a good screen with accurate colour reproduction and saturation, but the Samsung AMOLED on the OP6 is very good for a 1080p screen. It has various colour saturation modes, I suggest you to choose one as per your liking. The best part about AMOLEDs is that Black is Black, not Gray.

- The Shelf is useless. I want the Google page back.

All these are customizable on the OxygenUI. Hence OxygenUI is better than Stock Android. Its faster, fluid and clutter free yet gives you control over a number of customizations, and also has features like the dark mode, screen recorder, filedash, and also has brilliant battery life. I have been using Samsung Flagships all these while and later a Nokia Android One, after using OxygenOS, there is no going back. I rate it even above iOS for its speed.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by RiGOD

Damn man, at first I thought you typed it wrong instead of the Nokia 8.1 and the pictures confirmed otherwise.

A bit of drama never hurts.

Originally Posted by skchettry

I too thought how come civic-sense landed on an OP while he kept vouching for Nokia 8.1.

Nokia 8.1 was never a first choice, but I noticed that I was looking at various option from 10K to 50K and always coming back to the 8.1. I hope next year Nokia has a true flagship in its lineup.

As I said in a previous post, I wasn't actively looking for an upgrade to the Nokia 7 plus as new phones had glass back, notches and missing headphone ports. And then the Nokia's screen got damaged and the MI A2 drowned in a bucket.

Then started the frenzy to find a quick replacement, and the first thought was to buy a Pixel 3A XL. But then I didn't want to pay so much money for a midrange. Oneplus was never on my radar until you (the good guys at Team BHP) pointed me towards it.

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

In your case however, the lovely blue colour is best served with a transparent cover.

Sure, I will hold on to the transparent case for a few months. I think it will start yellowing in about 3 months.

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

I would rate AMOLED screens to be far better.

I think Amoleds are better until you peep into the pixels. And especially when you are reading text you would spot the difference.

The Nokia has a good screen with accurate colour reproduction and saturation

The 7 plus screen, I guess, was a bit over-saturated. Side by side, OP7 screen looks a bit dull. Maybe OP7 color is more accurate.

The best part about AMOLEDs is that Black is Black, not Gray.

Yes, am running the dark mode, and the screen just blends into the bezels.

[deetee]

Any LG V40 users here on the forum? I am eyeing the LG v40 thinq, primarily for the 'usable' triple focal length cameras. Am using a Mi A1 now, have been happy with stock android , performance (I don't play games) and camera is also fine except that its aperture a lil bit narrower (about f2.2 at wide end). Having got used the flexibility of switching between wide and tele lenses, I coudn't find any other phone within 30k that offers similar practicality.



Would like to know fellow tech-bhpians ( ) opinions on LG V40 or alternatives if any.
Cheers.

[JonSnow]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

- The Shelf is useless. I want the Google page back.

You can just install a different launcher and get the Google page back.

I actually prefer the shelf. Google page default view only shows web articles which are mostly filled with clickbait articles. With the shelf I can add some useful widgets for quick access.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by deetee

Any LG V40 users here on the forum? I am eyeing the LG v40 thinq, primarily for the 'usable' triple focal length cameras. Am using a Mi A1 now, have been happy with stock android , performance (I don't play games) and camera is also fine except that its aperture a lil bit narrower (about f2.2 at wide end). Having got used the flexibility of switching between wide and tele lenses, I coudn't find any other phone within 30k that offers similar practicality.



Would like to know fellow tech-bhpians ( ) opinions on LG V40 or alternatives if any.
Cheers.

Been on the LG flagship train for sometime now, and while their phones are great, their updating schedule is

The v40 is still on 8.0! with December patch :(

It was the case with the g3, the g4, the v20, the v30 as well.

I stick with LG for the amazing quad DAC, otherwise would have jumped ship long time back. high res flacs with a good pair of headphones sound really really good.

As far as their cameras and other features are concerned, pretty sure viable alternatives exist. And it still has the notch. ugh.

[RiGOD]

Originally Posted by JonSnow

I actually prefer the shelf. Google page default view only shows web articles which are mostly filled with clickbait articles. With the shelf I can add some useful widgets for quick access.

The exact reason why I ditched the Nova Launcher (all 3rd party launchers for that matter) as it couldn't integrate the 1+ Shelf. Nova with the shelf would've been a perfect combo for me as the former has ample room for customization and the latter is immensely handy.

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

... high res flacs with a good pair of headphones sound really really good.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are "high res flacs" (as opposed to "low res flacs?") ?! Aren't FLACs lossless by definition?
.