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Old 10th December 2015, 02:32   #22456
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
My colleague has owned the M7 Mini for 2 years - it simply takes the best low light party shots.
Agreed. But that's the point. That camera was only good in low light, and subpar pretty much everywhere else. In low light, the large pixel size and OIS helped it immensely, but in good light, outdoors, and everywhere else, the tiny resolution, lack of detail, and some delay meant that it ended up more as a gimmick. Videos were nothing to write home about either. And it was not as if it was the absolute king in low light either. The Lumia 920 camera beat it there as well. And HTC themselves agreed that the ultra pixel thing was not really working out. The One M9 had a 20 MP regular Toshiba sensor, that was much better than the older One's, but incidentally, again not as good as its own peers.

Quote:
Relax - no need to spew so much iBuyer-Hate. Can we please be mutually respectful and not diss a large subset's intelligence?
I never meant to cause any offense to any iDevice user among us, and hereby apologize to anybody, including yourself, who may have felt that my comments may have offended them. However I don't feel I said anything particularly targeting, or comment upon anyone's intellect, nor did I intend to. I always criticise Apple themselves more than their users. But at the same time you will have to agree that there is a considerable number of iUsers who are true to what I had said, and in fact deserve the criticism. I only feel the wrong (or in reality the right kind of) people should not take it onto themselves.
I would like to quote my own previous post here:
Quote:
That's not judgemental, brother. I had seriously decided to cut out my iPhone hate at one point, and give the iUsers a break. But it's observed general behaviour that keeps persisting among iUsers that makes me speak. It's not as if I'm just a biased hater that tries to get on top of all that is Apple.
Quote:
Did you happen to own one?
Which iPhone have you owned of late?
I have owned neither an HTC One nor an iPhone myself. One of my close friends has a One M7, and I have handled it many times. And iPhones are popular, and some of my friends have them as well. However, I don't think only owning something yourself gives you the right to speak definitively about it. Sure, it does give you a much deeper perspective, but one can have a good idea of something without owning it themselves too.
For instance, how many Team-BHP reviewers have owned all the cars that they review? None of them most probably. They get only a few hours, or in some cases, a few days to spend with a car. And yet I bet they know more about the cars they review than 90% of the owners too!! As if that is not evident from the sheer detail we have in the reviews.
What is more important is how much detail you pick up from something from whatever you see of it. Some may be overenthusiastic, some may just not care.

Quote:
I have the 6 since April, and have convinced 5 friends to buy the same.
I never said the iPhone is exactly BAD. It is in fact seriously likeable and dependable for a considerable demographic. Your friends may have really liked the phone and I accept it. But then their usage might have been such that they found the iPhone suiting to their needs. That doesn't mean that the iPhone should be the best, or for everyone. You will agree to it too.

Let me give you an example from my own side. My Dad bought a Note 2 just after launch. It was absolutely the best smartphone then, but costed a bomb, and I had asked him to get it myself. It was his first smartphone by the way. And it is still with him, still on official KitKat, with the horrible old Touchwiz on top. He uses it only for calling, messaging, emails, whatsapp, and a bit of web browsing. Doesn't even take too many photos. And to be honest, that phone is proving to be too much for him. The size is too big, absolutely can't be used in one hand with a flip cover on, Touchwiz is showing why it is so confusing and messy, and he never uses any of the productivity features of the Note. The stylus hasn't been taken out in entire years. The solid battery life is the only saving grace. Apps keep updating and stay unused. And simple stuff like turning on the flash needs a separate widget, that stays on the home screen. The icons keep moving around home screens by accident, and he finds it annoying to fetch the app he needs every single time and keep rearranging the shortcuts and folders and widgets. It lacks simplicity and straightforwardness. And as the phone is getting older, the time spent plugged in is increasing too. He doesn't see any reason to change at the moment. It doesn't lag really, and the performance is enough for his use. I have made up my mind however. Whenever he chooses to change, his next phone is going to be an iPhone. I had never thought I will see an iPhone in the house, but in a couple of years, I may. And it will work for my Dad extremely well. The simplicity, feel in hand, and ease of use of core apps of the iPhone will be better than the extremely customisable but messy solution of Samsung.

What I completely disagree to is the general notion that 'iPhone is the best', or calling Android inferior or unfair as compared to iPhones. The iPhone is indeed really likeable. But for those who still think it is the benchmark for smartphones and that everything else should be compared to and judged from it, sorry, the world has moved on. The average user's obvious first option should no longer be an iPhone. Android has earned that right now. iPhones are great for those for whom they work, and they should rather be an acquired taste. A popular niche, if one may say that. And that's the way the iPhone has evolved and progressed too, aiming to get better than the previous one, and satisfying the needs of a select user base with style. It is not meant to catch one's fancy and provide an open experience for a newcomer the way Android (especially OEM) devices are doing. That is why it only improves on existing features, doesn't change too much with the design, and doesn't ever look like it's getting any cheaper either.

Quote:
Regardless of what anyone says - I'm a believer in keeping phones on old software, across OSes. After much ROM drama, the S3 is happy at Jelly Bean (4.3). Gingerbread (2.3) was where the HTC Chacha and Defy stayed.
Similarly the i6 will stay on iOS9! Even my brand new laptop is on Win7. I'm not moving!
Alright, if that works for you. But this kind of approach would best work for those who don't keep their gadgets for too long and change regularly. That way, they don't fall too far behind. If I would have had enough money to buy a new flagship phone every year, I would have never bothered with software updates myself!!

Last edited by mukul32 : 10th December 2015 at 02:44.
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Old 10th December 2015, 06:30   #22457
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Quick question. Has anybody bought high value item (abt 20k) from aliexpress. How does customs work out. I am planning to get a mobile from there and the delivery is free. Shopping method mentioned is 'Aliexpress Standard Shipping'. Do they always declare a low value for such cases?
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Old 10th December 2015, 07:23   #22458
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Yeah, I think I'll pick between the S6 & the Sony Z5.
Last weekend I checked the S6 edge+ for my wife, it looks brilliant but the front camera was a major downer. The photos with standard settings looked heavily photoshopped and overdone - very Korean / Fluidic .
Shewas quick to retract her interest and decided to stick to her iPhone 6.

Even though you said no iOS, it would worth checking out the suggestion below. An iPhone 6S 64GB really caters to all the requirements you mentioned. For a standard phone user, its brilliant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
Seriously consider the iPhone 6-64GB. It meets most of your needs and meets/surpasses the above phones in terms of peace of mind / lag free ownership!
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Old 10th December 2015, 11:16   #22459
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
PS: Regardless of what anyone says - I'm a believer in keeping phones on old software, across OSes. After much ROM drama, the S3 is happy at Jelly Bean (4.3). Gingerbread (2.3) was where the HTC Chacha and Defy stayed.
Similarly the i6 will stay on iOS9! Even my brand new laptop is on Win7. I'm not moving!
^^ This.
Android upgrades seem like a nexus for planned obsolescence. Stick to the flavor the phone came with, or the next one. Do not go beyond that. If you feel your phone has issues, just try flashing the original kit, and it'll keep serving you till failure of hardware.
I rolled back from Sony's own Lollipop to Sony's own Kitkat, and the difference is remarkable.
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Old 10th December 2015, 11:51   #22460
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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^^ This.
Android upgrades seem like a nexus for planned obsolescence. Stick to the flavor the phone came with, or the next one. Do not go beyond that. If you feel your phone has issues, just try flashing the original kit, and it'll keep serving you till failure of hardware.
I rolled back from Sony's own Lollipop to Sony's own Kitkat, and the difference is remarkable.
Exactly. The Nexus 7 2012, crawls on Kitkat even. I will take time out one of these days and Flash it down to Android 4.2 or 4.1.2.

Even the much vaunted MotoG had many issues on Lollipop but negligible ones on Kitkat!
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Old 10th December 2015, 12:01   #22461
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
Exactly. The Nexus 7 2012, crawls on Kitkat even. I will take time out one of these days and Flash it down to Android 4.2 or 4.1.2.

Even the much vaunted MotoG had many issues on Lollipop but negligible ones on Kitkat!
My nexus 7 2013 runs smoothly on Marshmallow.
Also my moto g 1st gen has not let me down till now on 5.1. So I would say that device performance depends on the what apps you are running.
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Old 10th December 2015, 12:13   #22462
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Originally Posted by _chikku View Post
My nexus 7 2013 runs smoothly on Marshmallow.
Also my moto g 1st gen has not let me down till now on 5.1. So I would say that device performance depends on the what apps you are running.
Performance depends on the firmware version also.

For example the Moto G 2nd gen received 5.0.x version which was highly problematic, not only on Moto G, but on other devices also which received firmwares based on Lollipop 5.0. You got 5.1 on your first generation Moto G which is much more refined version of Lollipop after removal of bugs in the 5.0. Similarly the Marshmallow is expected to be more 'lighter' on the resources hence better performance is expected.
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Old 10th December 2015, 14:20   #22463
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

Did anyone here order the Nexus6P yesterday? It had superb exchange offer, minimum 5.5K off for any handset. My almost 2 year old Moto G 1st gen fetched me 7.5K in exchange, when normally it goes for 2.5K, also Axis bank cards had an additional 2k off. Finally I got the Nexus6p 32GB for 30,549. Very good deal IMHO. I got to know about this offer yesterday night at 11 PM when I was about to sleep luckily ordered it before 12.

Last edited by rbp : 10th December 2015 at 14:22.
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Old 10th December 2015, 22:17   #22464
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

Talking about androids and custom ROM support- XDA developers officially advises people to only buy Sony / Nexus or Qualcomm powered devices if they want AOSP (backbone of Cyanogenmod) ROMs for their devices! (also contains the story of Samsung's constant lies and deceit of the open source community)
http://www.xda-developers.com/samsun...y-of-betrayal/

(apologies for double post)
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Old 11th December 2015, 08:08   #22465
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

I used to own a Samsung Galaxy E5. The recent Samsung phones are too good and E5 was like a premium phone with the metal side body. Unfortunately, my kid broked the display of it. Instead of repairing it, I bought a new one since the cost of replacing the display is too high. I had a croma gift card and hence I bought a lava pixel v1 at croma. Its an android one phone, which means pure android and updates happen faster. The phone is good for the price - Rs.8999. The spec of this phone simply blew me!! 2Gb RAM and 32 GB internal memory!!

More details of the phone here: http://www.lavamobiles.com/smartphones/pixel-v1

The phone is slim and is light weight. Performance wise I have no issues. 2GB RAM handles everything that is thrown at. I am yet to test the camera. Only grouse is battery. I get a maximum of 12hours backup. In my home mobile coverage is bad and because of that my battery discharges soon. Any suggestions from marshmallow users to extend battery life? I have tried the usual ones like disabling wifi scan, disable animations,etc.
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Old 11th December 2015, 08:50   #22466
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
Talking about androids and custom ROM support- XDA developers officially advises people to only buy Sony / Nexus or Qualcomm powered devices if they want AOSP (backbone of Cyanogenmod) ROMs for their devices! (also contains the story of Samsung's constant lies and deceit of the open source community)
http://www.xda-developers.com/samsun...y-of-betrayal/

(apologies for double post)
Yes. Absolutely. Completely agree there. There simply hasn't been an OEM close to Sony when it comes to AOSP support and developer encouragement. They have tidy AOSP releases, their own 'Concept for Android' and more. They also released AOSP camera code recently and added support for thr 64-bit Z3+ and Z5 series. They release code for devices as old as Xperia Z and S. Both are still on their developer website. The Z is still running official 5.1 by the way.
And Alin Jerpelea was picked to work for Sony straight from XDA. He used to code for the extremely popular FreeXperia team for a long time, and was (and still is) one of the most well-known and respected recognised contributors of XDA.

Samsung on the other hand, only had popularity. Their AOSP support is still extremely dodgy, we have had a lot of buggy official firmwares being released as 'updates' and their devices had more hurdles in the way of rooting such as KNOX security. It's admirable that most of their high-end and midrange devices still have really great custom-ROM support. The Galaxy S2 was the first device to get CM13, and the old Galaxy S, (yes!) just got an AOSP 6.0 port!!

PS: For all that support, there is just ONE Sony phone in the last two years that doesn't have AOSP support from them despite running a Snapdragon 200, the entry level Xperia E1 from 2014, and that exact same device happens to be my own phone at the moment!!
And yet, there is a buggy CM11 port and a WIP CM12 port for that device as well.

Last edited by mukul32 : 11th December 2015 at 08:56.
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Old 11th December 2015, 09:21   #22467
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

My number 1 reason for always buying Sony is this :



Combined with the Walkman music player, adjustments like ClearAudio+, HSEE, Surround Sound settings and of course the XBA-A1 Balanced Armature earphones I bought separately, there is no competition for Sony in terms of the audio output, a music lover's dream this. This company still has that essence of aristrocracy which no other can dream to achieve. Come to think of it I hate Android and perhaps always will since my usage is simple - calls, music, sms etc. I bought just because "Its a Sony".
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Old 11th December 2015, 10:50   #22468
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Yeah, I think I'll pick between the S6 & the Sony Z5.
Along with the S6 and Z5, you should definitely add the Moto X Force launching in January.

It has a shatterproof screen which is insane (check the videos below).

Hardware is latest Snapdragon 810, 3GB RAM, 32 or 64GB options and SD card slot. Screen is a tad larger at 5.4" but exterior dimensions are surprisingly very close to the S6 and Z5.

The Z5 is a good option but it will never be as abuse friendly vs the Moto X force. One is the front screen and second is even back is glass panel.

The S6 is really good on paper but the Samsung UI and bloatware completely ruin the Android experience. The Samsung will age the quickest because you won't get software updates as quick and the Samsung bloat will keep on updating.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12...isplay_review/

https://www.androidpit.com/moto-x-pu...o-2-comparison

You can even drive a truck over it and the screen didn't break:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...run-LORRY.html

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Old 11th December 2015, 11:33   #22469
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Re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

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Android Authority trying to find out the best Android handsets of 2015.

Today they published their display tests:

http://www.androidauthority.com/best...isplay-660168/

Tomorrow they will publish their audio test results.
Another addition in the ongoing flagship tests. This time its performance test which again proves how the vanila Android has edge over colored firmwares put by some OEMs: http://www.androidauthority.com/best...rmance-659018/
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Old 11th December 2015, 11:40   #22470
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Got the Marshmallow update for my Moto X, yesterday!
It's very snappy but the multitasking screen is kinda laggy.
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Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods-1449814137909.jpg  

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