[TheGearBox]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

I'd suggest you skip both.

Well, my suggestion was only between the two. In general, I wouldn't be too keen on them either.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Just get the pixel A series man. I am done with all these other android brands. Pixel A series absolutely kills everything!

I'm desperately waiting for the 5A to land in India. Any idea when (or even if) that will be?

I had almost resigned to ordering a Nord 2 today, but reading about another blast incident made me reconsider things.
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/new...trauma-2536522

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

I pre-ordered the Edge 20 in emerald green today as the silver one was not available. I hate that color, so am in half a mind to cancel.

After about three weeks of waiting, the phone finally landed. I was in two minds till the last moment whether to cancel or not since although most reviews were positive there are a few issues which I was sure is going to nag me.

The color. God, the green looks gaudy. And the "traffic light" cameras are so big and in your face. The phone looks less like a smartphone and like some fancy curio bought from Safina plaza. Am sure going for an opaque case or a good skin or both. Can't stand that green color. Some YouTube videos give the impression that it is more blue than green. Actually, viewed in perpendicular, it is green; viewed at an angle it is bluer. Kind of turquoise.

But my main beef is with the lack of HD video support in Prime Video. I first read about this in the GSM Arena review which came out a day before. The videos are restricted to 480p and this seems to be a compatibility setting issue with Prime, but there is no guarantee that Amazon will fix it. I watched a few videos in 480p in an old phone to make sure I won't be missing much. Although I watch a lot of shows on the phone for serious viewing I usually take to the TV. Now fingers crossed that Amazon will fix the issue.

It has only one speaker which is not a big deal, but after hearing sound that is balanced in my OnePlus 7, the single speaker blaring at my right ear is difficult to tolerate. Thankfully almost always I use a headphone.

From the under display fingerprint sensor in the OP7 to the side mounted sensor is not an easy switch especially since it is integrated into the on-off button rather than a separate sensor like in rear mounted sensors. But utility wise I think both the rear and side sensors trump the under display sensors as the under display needs two steps to unlock while this one requires only one.

The phone is huge and will need some getting used to which am sure I will with time. When I started with my iPhone 1, it felt big. Then came the HD2 which was enormous by the then standards. Next was the Galaxy S3 which was so huge that I put a folio case in it. Then I bought the gigantic OnePlus One which really took some time to get used to. I even switch back to a smaller Mi 4i for some time. My last wo phones were the Nokia 7 plus and OnePlus 7 which did not add much to the size, but was a tad heavy for my liking. The 163g of the Edge 20 is very lightweight and a welcome relief from the 182g OP7. Notably it does not sag the pocket of my Jockey shorts that I wear to work.

Yet, with all the heft, the phone I enjoyed using most was the Nokia 7 plus with it's Android One. With the Edge 20 am back to those days. The industrial design (minus the color), Clean UI, no junk, smaller fonts, it's a bliss. But as usual the Google branded bloatware is there. A lot of them - some can be uninstalled, others can be disabled so no complaints. The only third party app is Netflix that can be uninstalled unlike OnePlus phones where you can only disable.

Developer options are enabled by default. But OEM unlocking is greyed out with a message "connect to the internet or contact your operator". Don't know what that means.

I haven't used the camera much, but I saw a YouTube video that said that the night mode shots are crap - and it is, absolutely. I hope they fix this in a later update. And there is no GCam yet for the Edge 20. Anyway I don't care much about camera quality as I have relegated the photography tasks to my wife which her iPhone 12 mini handles with ease.

The display is very colorful which is not really to my liking so I changed the setting from saturated to natural. But "natural" looks more like "washed out", so I switched back to saturated. Also I switched from 144hz (auto) HRR to 60hz as I did not really see any utility in HRR. Yes, the scroll is smooth - but that's about it. You appreciate it and move on to save some battery juice.

Speaking about battery life 4000mAh does not sound too low as mainstream ones come with 4500mAh which like 10% more. My OnePlus has 3700mAh, so hope 4000 would cover me for a day. Also since I mostly stay at home a charger is always somewhere nearby. A bigger battery would have anyway made it heavier which I didn't want.

Weight should be one of the reasons they left out stereo speakers so I am okay with some compromises. But there are other compromises made that make me feel that I am doing a real downgrade from the OnePlus 7. I do not understand why they provide gimmicks like 144hz display and 576 touch sampling rate and 3 proper cameras yet not give UFS 3. Also no aptX HD in Bluetooth. Well, I know this is no flagship and can't provide flagship level features in a midranger. But I think they can provide things that matter than things that don't matter much.

Speaking of it being a mid ranger Motorola does not pretend it to be otherwise though. A case come pre-applied and feels cheap and no screen protector pre-applied. That's sort of a bummer as I can't apply protectors without bubbles. They all comes in a rather unimaginative low quality box and things inside looks stuffed in rather hurriedly. Manufacturing month on the box reads September, so yes, they manufactured it after taking the pre-order.

I had bought a Mi 11 lite in June because I desperately wanted a lightweight phone. I knew it would be a compromise but I wasn't prepared for the abomination called MIUI. My 6 year old is playing his games in it now. The Edge 20 ticks the two boxes at the top of my list - light weight and stock android. Wish it had a headphone jack but then its better to have some things left out so that you can keep looking out for new phones.

[condor]

Guys, want to understand how does a phone switch between mobile data and wi-fi:

Scenario:
Both wi-fi and mobile data are enabled on a phone, and we are doing a zoom meet (or other similar). If mobile signal weakens during the call, what method does the phone use to detect signal strength and hence switch connections ?

Any details from experts ?

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by condor

Guys, want to understand how does a phone switch between mobile data and wi-fi:

Scenario:
Both wi-fi and mobile data are enabled on a phone, and we are doing a zoom meet (or other similar). If mobile signal weakens during the call, what method does the phone use to detect signal strength and hence switch connections ?

Any details from experts ?

In Android , usually it is wifi preference over cellular.

Modern 4g chipsets with custom software have features like concurrent usage, prefer 4g data etc. Look for these options in your settings.

If you post an exact model number, I may be able to give a more precise answer.

With VOWIFI enabled most phones switch over completely to wifi first, in case a 'ping' does not return proper feedback, will switch over to mobile signal.

Android kernel, based on Unix/linux, probably uses a variant of 'ping' command to query servers and evaluate feedback.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by drsingh

In Android , usually it is wifi preference over cellular.

There is something called "aggressive handover" too, where there's some different threshold at which the phone switches over to the other communication channel. Don't remember on which phone I saw this option.

[One]

Originally Posted by condor

Guys, want to understand how does a phone switch between mobile data and wi-fi:

Scenario:
Both wi-fi and mobile data are enabled on a phone, and we are doing a zoom meet (or other similar). If mobile signal weakens during the call, what method does the phone use to detect signal strength and hence switch connections ?

Any details from experts ?

There are two aspects to this - the internet connection to your phone and the Android app connected to the Internet via the phone.

The most typical scenario keeping those two aspects is:

1. The phone OS decides how and when to connect to which mode of Internet connection. This defines the behaviour of the phone within which all applications (e.g
Zoom/ Meet) have to comply with (normal scenarios and not hacked ones)

2. The person writing the mobile application just has to programmatically mention that he needs Network permission for the app to function. The control that one has via app is only to define app behaviour on Internet connection. For example one can code an app mentioning that it will use only Wifi Data and never Mobile data but one can't via the app programmatically say forcibly switch to Wifi Data if it is off.

The only other thing to keep in mind is (1.) overrides (2.) i.e. one can code an app with only those features which are allowed by the OS (again assuming normal scenarios).

To answer your question specifically- the phone hardware + its associated software (i.e. firmware) determines entire network connection. So the hardware components will comprise of detection (and strength) of Wifi signal and detection (and strength) of Network signal. Subsequently, the power of choosing the network under what priority and conditions will be encoded in the OS.

(There are multiple other facets too including some non-technical philosophical ones but the above basics will still largely hold true)

[Keeleri_Achu]

Poco X3 Pro - Review after 3 months

Pros:

• Snapdragon 860 at less than INR 20k
• UFS 3.1 storage
• 120 Hz display
• Stereo speakers
• 5000+ mAh battery
• Excellent support for 3rd party modifications

Cons:

• Ghost touch issues (Big one)
• Not an AMOLED panel
• Ergonomics
• No 5G capability
• Runs MIUI out of the box
• Mediocre to average at best cameras

Background:

I had been using a Redmi Note 5 Pro as my daily driver since 2018. It turned 3 last April and thanks to the awesome support from XDA community, I had no immediate plans of replacing it. Unfortunately during the last week of May (2nd wave lockdown), I broke the charging port. I failed to notice a small bit of plastic that had lodged up inside the port and just shoved the cable inside. Service centres were not open during the lockdown and my backup, a 5 year old Redmi Note 3 simply ran out of breath. A replacement became necessary.

Options considered:

Honestly, I only considered two phones - Poco X3 Pro or the Redmi Note 10 Pro. As an all rounder, the Note made more sense. It had an AMOLED display, better finish, better cameras and the SD 732G was a worthy upgrade over the SD 636. But I wasn't looking for an all rounder. Having never used an AMOLED as a daily, I knew I wouldn't miss it. I keep my phones for long and the bottleneck is always the CPU. The SD 860, although a 2 year old flagship, simply blows every other mid range chip out of the water when it comes to performance. As for the cameras, I only use them for UPI payments and scanning docs. I probably would've clicked less than 150 snaps on my Note 5 Pro. Selfie cam was strictly for video calls. So the decision was rather simple. Poco X3 Pro it is.

Experience so far:

I got it for a shade under 16k (6 GB version) after card offers and exchange of an old Lenovo phone. For the price I paid, it was a very good deal. The immediate cons were the ergonomics and the infamous MIUI. When it comes to ergonomics, it can be summarized as a Plastic Brick. It is heavy and feels really cheap. Heck, my Note 5 Pro or even the Note 3 had much better ergonomics. If you're looking for excellent ergonomics, this phone is not for you.

I stuck with MIUI for one month. It was for the custom ROMs to go through a couple of iterations to be stable. After that I unlocked the bootloader and tried both Lineage OS and Pixel Plus UI ROMs. One thing I have to highlight is that not only does Xiaomi support unlocking the bootloader, they've made the process very very simple. You can find step by step procedure for unlocking and flashing custom ROMs in XDA forum if you're interested.

Once you get rid of the godforsaken MIUI, the phone is butter smooth. All the minor stutters and lags you used to feel are completely gone. When compared to the current Pixel, you'll lose out on ergonomics and camera. Even with GCam, it is inferior to the stock OnePlus Nord, which itself is not the best. You'll gain in areas like In app and UI performance, thanks to the SD 860 and 120 Hz display, battery and obviously the massive cost savings. When it comes to updates, you'll be rivaling iPhones. My 5 Pro for example was running Android 8 when bought and is currently on Android 11 with the latest security patch. I'm pretty sure it'll get an update to Android 12.

Running custom ROMs do have their own set of risks. You'll lose Safetynet, which is required to run certain banking apps and Netflix. Although you can easily bypass it, as developers would say, it is a cat and mouse game and there is no guarantee that you'll get support. But I have to say, in the past 5 years, I'vent really had any issues and I do believe it'll remain so, at least in the immediate future.

If you have the appetite for it I wholeheartedly recommend trying out a custom ROM. Even if you get stuck, Xiaomi Service will fix it for a nominal service fee of around Rs 150. And No, you won't lose the warranty on your phone.

As I mentioned earlier, even with GCam, the camera is average at best. Daylight photos are okay but low light pictures are just about usable. I noticed that the camera just struggles with it's dynamic range. It just shows that even with advances in computational photography, if you're stuck with an average sensor, Sony IMX 582 in this case, you shouldn't expect too much.

Ghost touch issue and Xiaomi Service:

I started noticing the issue after the return window. In simple terms, the phone will act as if it is possessed and you'll be forced to reboot the device. In the beginning it occurred every couple of days and the frequency slowly started increasing. Last week it got to the point that I had to restart the phone every two to three hours. The main issue was that the phone did very random things under this issue. It reported an F1 video as inappropriate and called an old classmate whom I'vent spoken to in literally a decade. I knew it wasn't a software issue as even the custom ROMs weren't immune from it. I read that it is a global issue and Xiaomi was replacing display panels as the solution. I took a service appointment for today and walked in with the video of the issue. Since it was my first warranty claim of any product, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The front desk guy told me the generic reply it could take up to 4-7 days for a fix. I left the phone with them. By the time I reached home and had lunch, I got the text saying that my phone is ready for pick up. Between the drop off and pick up alerts, it was exactly 1 hour and 10 mins. While I'm a bit cross that he made me drive in the rain twice, I'm happy that I didn't have to leave it for 4 days. As expected, the display panel was changed and hopefully this will be a permanent fix.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by mvadg

Xiaomi and others tend to cut corners. The usb-c port is still USB 2.0. Samsung is at 3.2. Might not make a difference to some people, but it is one spec that was not fully implemented.

The Storage system works on UFS 3.1 for the Mi 11. I can't say for sure what the usb-c implementation is. I rarely plug in my phone to transfer content to my PC. The only use I have for the usb-c port on my phone is for charging and using earplugs. Charging it fast.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

My reason for not recommending Mi is not the hardware or the build. It is the software/UI that is so heavily customised with own versions of all apps.

Some true. Some not true. I'll go in order of your comments.

There are Mi pre loaded apps such as the Weather, Music, Mi Video, Mi Remote, File Manager, Mi Themes, Security, Cleaner (Resource cleaner). You cannot remove these. That said, they do not intrude in terms of using the phone. They stay completely out of your way.

The native Weather app is talking to AccuWeather which is no bad thing.

The resource cleaner used to pop up every now and then to clean cache and memory. That is the one place where the dreaded advertising happens. What I realized over time is that they have some algorithm running wherein, if you don't use the resource cleaner, those ads stop. Advertising does not pop up at random intervals anymore. In fact, it never does unless you use the resource cleaner.

I am not signed in with Mi nor do I have an Mi Account. That's long gone. The phone is linked to the one Google account I have and my official Microsoft work account. This is not tied or does not piggy back the Mi account.

Messaging (I assume you mean SMS) and the Dialer are native Mi apps that I use and they work well. Google Photos comes pre installed as part of the Google suite of apps.

MIUI used to be the deal breaker for most. This is their software overlay on the phone. I was reluctant to buy Mi because of this. Now that I am using the phone, I can say with confidence that it seldom intrudes in day to day use. In fact, there are some features I have come to appreciate about MIUI.

As there are Mi stores in India, you can sample the phone. Atleast you will see what it is, identify what will work, won't work for you and move on to something else.

[sagpatel]

Originally Posted by sagpatel

options considered:
1. oneplus nord 2.
2. realme GT master
3. motorola edge 20
4. motorola edge 20 fusion
5. poco f3 gt
6. realme x7 max
7. vivo x60 (one can get extra 5000 off on exchange)
8. samsung s20FE (was listed for 38K on flipkart) but its out of my budget.
9. Mi 11 series??
10. Oneplus nord CE

Went with oneplus nord 2 for my dad as his secondary phone. Ordered 6/128 version from oneplus's website as it was not available on amazon. I was a little skeptical after hearing about a couple of blasts on the nord 2 but my dad was not worried at all. Build seemed to be good overall. My dad felt it is not worth 28K. He uses iphone x as his primary so he may have compared built with his iphone. Overall he is happy with the purchase.

[rahulcmoulee]

Does anyone here use the Galaxy S21? If so, what is the battery life like? And does the phone overheat under normal usage (issue with Exynos chips in the past)

Considering it as a replacement for my mom's OnePlus 6 which is starting to shown signs of ageing now.

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by rahulcmoulee

Does anyone here use the Galaxy S21? If so, what is the battery life like? And does the phone overheat under normal usage (issue with Exynos chips in the past)

Considering it as a replacement for my mom's OnePlus 6 which is starting to shown signs of ageing now.

I think you'd be better off holding on for a couple of weeks more and buy the S21 FE when it comes.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by rahulcmoulee

Does anyone here use the Galaxy S21? If so, what is the battery life like? And does the phone overheat under normal usage (issue with Exynos chips in the past)

Considering it as a replacement for my mom's OnePlus 6 which is starting to shown signs of ageing now.

You can check out the S20 FE 5G as well.

[superguy282]

Hey everyone, I am looking for a replacement to my current phone at a budget of 15k and below(strict)

My requirements are (in order of importance):
#1 Near Stock Android(Clean UI without Bloatware basically)
#2 Long Battery Life (Atleast a day of Moderate Usage)
#3 Display needs to be fabulous, I watch a lot of content
#4 Decent Camera
#5 Powerful Processor(I do not play games hence, this is more of a good to have)

Keeping this in mind the Motorola G40 Fusion seems to be a no brainer, fulfilling #1,#2 completely and the others with some comprimise. I wanted to know if there's anything else I should consider? Anything I'm missing? I'm also lost with the Samsung lineup any contenders there?

[rahulcmoulee]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

You can check out the S20 FE 5G as well.

I did consider it but it is already a year old at this point and the new one is right around the corner.

Originally Posted by Oxy

I think you'd be better off holding on for a couple of weeks more and buy the S21 FE when it comes.

This would be ideal but read a few articles which said that it is launching only in select countries and not everywhere. But will wait for it to launch and then take a decision.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by superguy282

Hey everyone, I am looking for a replacement to my current phone at a budget of 15k and below(strict)

Keeping this in mind the Motorola G40 Fusion seems to be a no brainer, fulfilling #1,#2 completely and the others with some comprimise. I wanted to know if there's anything else I should consider? Anything I'm missing? I'm also lost with the Samsung lineup any contenders there?

The Samsung M32 can fit your bill considering the requirements.