Issues with Xoom WiFi - 3/27/11 - Xoom General

Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Ehm ... Didn't you research before you bought the Xoom?
It's been in this very forum for weeks ... all those were mentioned.
Nothing new ... so cope with it and wait for an update ... or return it.
Case closed.

1) Only had one browser FC in nearly a month.
2) Not 3.0 optimized apps. Contact the app devs.
3) Get bigger hands.
4) Lift weights. Apparently the Xoom is a good one to start with.
5) I get at least two days of heavy use.
(Bonus comment) The Xoom has been out a month and there are 3415453215 threads of people whining about it. No need to make another. Return it, do some research and buy something that satisfies your expectations and anatomy.

You made me laugh ... LOL to "anatomy"
El Daddy said:
1) Only had one browser FC in nearly a month.
2) Not 3.0 optimized apps. Contact the app devs.
3) Get bigger hands.
4) Lift weights. Apparently the Xoom is a good one to start with.
5) I get at least two days of heavy use.
(Bonus comment) The Xoom has been out a month and there are 3415453215 threads of people whining about it. No need to make another. Return it, do some research and buy something that satisfies your expectations and anatomy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Just to counterbalance, I bought the Xoom wifi yesterday and love it. I had a great time rooting and playing with my Android phone, and I can't wait to dig into the Xoom. I did a lot of research before buying the Xoom and actually found the problems to be non-existant or not as bad as stated.

Mr Bland said:
Just to counterbalance, I bought the Xoom wifi yesterday and love it. I had a great time rooting and playing with my Android phone, and I can't wait to dig into the Xoom. I did a lot of research before buying the Xoom and actually found the problems to be non-existant or not as bad as stated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Im getting great battery life. I took it off the charger about 6pm last night. Took it took work with me and browsed and streamed with it all night. With bluetooth on and a lil under max brightness im at 32% at 745am. i have had no force closes in the browser and the only problem i have is flash not working in the browser (works with Dolphin though).
Also thumb keyboard is great in landscape, but im comfy with the stock keyboard to.

Pretty sure, could be wrong here...but pretty sure an update won't help the weight of the device...(which I enjoy, feels good in my hand)...but then again if they optimize code enough between now and then, removing enough 1s and 0s could help....

vTeCz said:
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I returned my 3G Xoom I had on release date and was bashed here. Minus the battery and app fc(which is supposedly a WiFi only problem.) I mean I got the iPad2 because it's just so much more Stable and likewise have my Evo4G for Android goodness. I wanted to buy the wifi xoom but so many more problems......?
Really interested in Samsungs new 10.1 skinny design. And it's light(important)!

vTeCz said:
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Mine doesnt FC all that much. When there is a fail however, closing all tabs with the x on the tabs, reopening the browser and hitting the home button works for me to reset it.
2)Yeah, lots of apps fail... but it was expected. Once they get optimized for HC, itll be nicer. Till then facebook and some others are done through the browser. Also... my market works in landscape. Dont know why yours is only in portrait.
3&4) You seriously are complaining about the design of the device when you could have found this out in 2 seconds by holding one at a store that had a demo??? I find that the screen is very crisp with high res pics and I have no complaints on it.
5) My battery life is great... no complaints here. Wife and I played with it non stop with angry birds, web surfing and whatnot for hours and it only went down maybe 20%.
I really dont see this as a fail device, just a device that needs a few tweaks here and there. I bought it knowing the charging plug was crappy and a terrible design, no USB charging and a chance that my normal android apps wont work on it due to optimization. Knowing what it is going to be used for, the size and weight... I am more than happy with the device.

vTeCz said:
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are experiencing advertised battery life. The XOOM is rated for 10 hours of battery life so 4 hours would be 40% of the battery if you've been using it for that long. Plus you haven't run through any charge cycles on your battery. It will get better.

One and Two are valid, but will be fixed in time.
The others are rediculous.
Sent from my Xoom

vTeCz said:
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odd. I've been using my device pretty much constantly since I picked mine up. No force closes. No laggy browsing. Your Evo does better? You may have a defective unit.
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facebook works for me. The rest I haven't tried. And the widgets are personal preference. Too small? How old are you?
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10.1 too wide? Last I checked, you could have pulled out a ruler to figure that one out. But hey, whatever. Blurry screen? Again, you must have a defective unit. Either that, or maybe your fingers are really, really greasy.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting a very interesting image of what you look like. 1.5lb is too heavy? Orly?
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had mine running since I got to work at 1am (i work 3rd shift), and after a full shift, I still have 45% battery. I've watched youtube videos (HD), listening to music, downloaded apps, posted on forums, read news, downloaded podcasts, added numerous widgets. You know, typical stuff. And it hasn't touched the charger all morning (since you have to use their approved usb charger).
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not saying the Xoom with Honeycomb is flawless. It's clearly not as optimized as it should be. Opening up the Apps menu, for example, should obviously not be laggy like it is. That said though, most of the "issues" you have above are NOT mirrored on my identical device.

reuthermonkey said:
Odd. I've been using my device pretty much constantly since I picked mine up. No force closes. No laggy browsing. Your Evo does better? You may have a defective unit.
Facebook works for me. The rest I haven't tried. And the widgets are personal preference. Too small? How old are you?
10.1 too wide? Last I checked, you could have pulled out a ruler to figure that one out. But hey, whatever. Blurry screen? Again, you must have a defective unit. Either that, or maybe your fingers are really, really greasy.
I'm getting a very interesting image of what you look like. 1.5lb is too heavy? Orly?
I've had mine running since I got to work at 1am (i work 3rd shift), and after a full shift, I still have 45% battery. I've watched youtube videos (HD), listening to music, downloaded apps, posted on forums, read news, downloaded podcasts, added numerous widgets. You know, typical stuff. And it hasn't touched the charger all morning (since you have to use their approved usb charger).
I'm not saying the Xoom with Honeycomb is flawless. It's clearly not as optimized as it should be. Opening up the Apps menu, for example, should obviously not be laggy like it is. That said though, most of the "issues" you have above are NOT mirrored on my identical device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to say facebook acts like the old roms for the tablet use to. Sometimes it would crash, and you can't add facebook in accounts / sync. Twitter adds just fine

I spent about 7 hours playing on my xoom yesterday and really didn't experience any of the problems you did. Yes some of my phone formatted apps weren't working but I expected that.
I think I had one force close with my browser. That's not so bad.
Screen looks fine to me. Yes initially loading a webpage is blurry, but that's just how its rendering stuff. For me at least that lasts maybe a second before the browser fully loads the page.
And if its too big for you, maybe you should get a child sized tablet for your child sized hands? (Or stick with your phone?)
Sent from my Droid using XDA App

Aldiko, ezpdf, xda premium and many others I use on a daily basis are completely useless as the fc's are so frequent is not worth my time
I did read about all the issues beforehand, so right now I have 89 days before either there is an update that fixes the issues or is going back to cotsco
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

At first I was upset that the XDA app doesn't work properly yet. Then I thought, "Hey dummy, you have a 10.1" screen... Use the real site".
After that I uninstalled Facebook, Engadget, etc. and just added the bookmark widget to the home screen.
Sent from my Xoom.

i only get about 6.5 hours max of real usage on the xoom
I'm talking about 'DISPLAY' time usage, or, HOW LONG the screen has been on, as a case to determine the battery life.

MikeyMike01 said:
At first I was upset that the XDA app doesn't work properly yet. Then I thought, "Hey dummy, you have a 10.1" screen... Use the real site".
After that I uninstalled Facebook, Engadget, etc. and just added the bookmark widget to the home screen.
Sent from my Xoom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with XDA site specifically is that it is very slow typing responses and some other things. It does work, just lags.

aohus said:
i only get about 6.5 hours max of real usage on the xoom
I'm talking about 'DISPLAY' time usage, or, HOW LONG the screen has been on, as a case to determine the battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what goes into said usage? I'm overclocked to 1.5ghz and I get much longer than that.

keitht said:
The problem with XDA site specifically is that it is very slow typing responses and some other things. It does work, just lags.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found all typing in the browser lags, and always has, since my OG Droid. It's quite annoying, I expected Google to resolve it with 3.0...

Related

24 Hours w/a Nexus One

I just finished my 24 hour testing of the Nexus One for my employer and figured I would give my 2 cents worth:
1. On screen keyboard: Great, especially when used in landscape. Portrait has a bit more room side to side than the G1, and it makes it easier, but I wouldn't go so far to say in protrait it is a night and day difference. Landscape truly is, and I had no problem typing long messages in landscape mode, and using portrait for quick stuff. A physical keyboard is still a better option, IMO as a keyboard lover, but the onscreen is executed very, very well.
2. Speed/Android 2.1: I have tested some of the 2.1 ports on my G1, and as nice as they are, they do not give justice at all too what 2.1 is on a Nexus One. Blanket statement, the phone is faster and 2.1 is a great advancement. A more astute observation that I wasn't expecting, websites load much, much, much faster on the Nexus One. I didn't do an actual stop watch test, but a realistic guess says sites load about twice as fast. I am on an EDGE network where I do most of my surfing when not using WiFi... when on WiFi it was more dramatic (I actually loaded 1 site faster on the Nexus One than on my computer)
3. Stability: I tried my absolute best to slow it down and make it unstable. Couldn't do it. At one point in time, I had 23 apps open, the browser had 3 windows, I had youtube running, music, and so forth. Of course, several of the apps had to "reload" the last point I was at, but with this phone "reloading" is pretty much instant. The longest it ever took was one of the web pages had to re-download the content. I found that the phone's cache held my normal use just fine without ever having to reload.
4. Fit/Finish/Style: The phone has a very solid feel too, despite being very light in weight. Fits well in the hand, comfortable being used as a phone, and I got a lot of comments on it when I was out and about testing the "wow" factor (I was asked to go to a busy restaurant/bar and see how many people asked me about it). And, as odd as this might sound, being right handed the back button being on the far left was not a big deal, and I actually liked it's placement a lot since when I used it in landscape mode it was much more comfortable hitting it, and I think this is what they had in mind when they designed in like that.
5. Battery Life: Damn! That is all you need to know, Damn! I tried, really, really hard to push this to the max and see how fast I could run it down. I had WiFi and GPS both going, music playing, and was surfing the web as quick as possible, messing around with google maps taking a look at new and interesting places, and gave up. I used 80% of the battery in those 24 hours, but I was trying my best, for a little above typical usage it only went down 20% from 9AM-5PM. My G1 is usually about 60% gone over that period.
6. Conclusion: I am someone that pretty much demands a physical keyboard for me to even think about buying a phone. I am getting a Nexus One as soon as they become available through the company I work for. My manager is a BB addict, and she said as soon as we get it she is switching as well. That is a huge statement, her daily phone is a BB 9700, she texts and writes most of her emails from her phone, and the Nexus One out performed her BB 9700. She was using the google voice service to write, but she said out of all the texts and emails she wrote using it she didn't have a single typo!
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
cloverdale said:
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmao i second that!
But seriously, great review!!
cloverdale said:
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I third that
But excellent review by the way (especially on the battery usage!)
cloverdale said:
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too right, mate!
erlern said:
I third that
But excellent review by the way (especially on the battery usage!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome! I will say, if you check out the Nexus One forum opinions differ on battery life, but those saying it isn't good enough or are having issues with it not lasting long enough seem to have something off IMO.
I would say, with my normal usage, I could get 2 days of use on a full battery. Doing power use to the max I would get a full day. The only way I see this phone not lasting an entire day is if you are surfing the web, playing music, and using GPS non-stop type thing.
i seriously want a nexus so #$#[email protected]#$ bad its insane. but i cant afford it. being 18 sucks
no, being 14 and wanting a new android device sucks
hiddengopher said:
no, being 14 and wanting a new android device sucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That it does...........
hiddengopher said:
no, being 14 and wanting a new android device sucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, its so hard to get enough when your parents wont buy it for you.
And being to young for a job doesnt exactly help either.

For those that have a XOOM in hand, what don't you like?

Title says it all, what doesn't live up to your expectations? We've seen in the reviews that the screen isn't viewable in daylight and the buttons get stuck. Have you experienced this? What else?
I've only had it for a half hour or so but the display seems no different than my iPad that I had before it (in terms of visibility in different lighting conditions).
What buttons get stuck? I only see a power button on the back...
Anyways, I have no dislikes at the moment aside from the lack of microSD support right now.
bogatyr said:
I've only had it for a half hour or so but the display seems no different than my iPad that I had before it (in terms of visibility in different lighting conditions).
What buttons get stuck? I only see a power button on the back...
Anyways, I have no dislikes at the moment aside from the lack of microSD support right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Engadget's review said the volume buttons would get stuck from time to time. Also said the power button got stuck, forcing a shutdown.
Please compare and contrast with your iPad. Does the pixel density look worse? Have you tried reading a book on it? Have you seen it in direct sunlight (some reviews say it's completely unusable in direct sunlight)? Are the speakers bad, being on the back side and all?
It's cloudy out today so I doubt I'll be able to check in sunlight. My iPad was unusable in direct sunlight.
Reading a book in portrait mode works wonderfully (I use Kindle, not the google app). Worked great on my iPad as well.
Pixel density... seems about the same as the iPad visually. If I look for them, I can see pixels... though I have to stick my face within a foot of it to do so.
As I'm at work, I'll check the speakers later... I can't compare them to my iPad since I never used them before. I use a bluetooth headset for everything (phone, laptop, tablet).
I played with the volume and power buttons a bit, but I couldn't get them to stick.
No serious problems so far, though in some ways, the GMail client is less intuitive than I had hoped. For example, on the web, my priority inbox will move read emails to my inbox, but on the Xoom, they stay in my priority inbox, just marked as read. It makes for more clutter than I prefer.
But I'm an early adopter. I expect stuff like this.
No button issues at all.
don't like power button placement, other than that very happy with it so far, the size adn shape and screen ratio is great
great so far here with a few issues.
Power button placement doesn't make sense.
Browser loads mobile sites by default, with no option to change the user-agent (that I can find anyway)
no ad-hoc support, but I knew this from the start (hopefully can be patched soon)
and on a side note, the screen seems a bit on the lower quality side, BUT I have not yet removed the plastic film, it looks crystal clear, so I cant imagine it will have much of an impact, but it could just be me.
Button placement for sure. Trying to learn my way around it, doesn't feel as intuitive as my ipad but I am learning Also hate the power cord situation.
Speaking of power cord I don't get that either I mean WTF Moto looks like they stole a charger from Nokia...
The d!ck who spent 20 minutes trying to sell me other sh!t I didn't need at the VZ store.
[UPDATE]
Guess I'll encounter that d!ck again because i'm noticing a slightly discolored band running down the edge of the screen on one side so I'll have to take it back! Fudge!
agonzalez1010 said:
The d!ck who spent 20 minutes trying to sell me other sh!t I didn't need at the VZ store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why I'm waiting outside for costco to open. They don't push as hard.
Just got home with my new Xoom...
Display - Pretty good but not nearly as great as the iPad's.. nor is it as bright as the iPad. Pixel density looks A LOT like the iPad.. I can't really say the Xoom is any sharper than the iPad.. Whites look much better on the iPad.. they definately have a much higher color gamut and contrast ratio on the iPad. This is disappointing considering how much the Xoom costs off-contract. The Xoom screen looks nearly identical to what Samsung uses on their Galaxy Tab 7". Viewing angles are "decent" but again, not as good as iPad. I would say they are using a cheap PVA type panel, not IPS on this unit. PVA is still much better than TN at least.
Weight - Same weight as iPad.. so to me, it feels too heavy for it's size... but I think the Xoom is much easier to hang onto/hold because of it's widescreen nature'd body.
Speed - Depending on apps I guess.. or how optimized they are.. Angry Birds Seasons (the tablet version) runs like crap compared to Angry Birds on my Galaxy Tab.. not sure why.. Web browsing is a real treat.. Definately renders web sites faster than the iPad.. content is ready to explore at a much faster pace.. However, scrolling isn't as nice as it is on the iPad.. I don't know why Android can't get scrolling anywhere near iOS's Safari. Scrolling is choppy and clunky depending on how many pictures are needed to be shown on the screen at one time. Quadrant scores LOWER than my Galaxy Tab.. Could be Quadrant's not optimized well enough for the Tegra2 platform.
Battery Life - I will have to edit this in later.. my Xoom came out of the box with 77% life..
Interface/UI - I actually like Honeycombs UI.. the quick-softkeys are delightful to use.. especially to multitask with.. Flying between apps is instantaneous and snappy.. much faster than iPad's multitasking.
I'll post more later.. going back to playing with the Xoom.
Edit: Created a new thread on my thoughts so that people can ask anything they want to know.
Power button placement is pretty bad. It's especially an issue with the Moto Portfolio case. That thing, although well manufactured, is poorly designed (covers all the charging/usb ports.)
The system is a little laggy in some parts.
Very few tablet specific apps. So, Kindle app for example, looks fine but isnt utilizing the extra resolution. Ipad version will show two page layout, Honeycomb wont (for now.)
I don't see where people are getting the menu lag from, i've had absolutely none so far. The power button placement is PERFECT, are you guys kidding? The device was designed for optimized landscape view and when you hold it with both hands, it's right there ready to be pressed without having to readjust. This may be different for portrait but I don't plan on using it much.
Connectivity issues with android market as usual but thats typical, they need to fix that, asap.
Angry Birds Seasons is NOT laggy, again, don't know where you're getting that from.
And i'm looking at my Ipad and the xoom side by side and the screen quality on the Ipad is not "considerably" better. Slightly, if even that.
One big negative, lot's of force closes when I try to multi task a lot. This is VERY disappointing, and if it continues, i'll be returning the device.
The screen brightness/quality/angle view is not as good as the iPad, it seems heavy for its size, although the screen is bigger then the iPad it seems smaller because of the aspect ratio. Battery seems to drain fast, maybe it needs to be conditioned. Occasional lag in the UI.
On the plus side the speaker is pretty loud.
To summon it up: currently not overly impressed.
I hate that the browser shows mobile sites. I don't see an option to change the user agent. It's stupid to have to install a different browser, but I guess that's what I gotta do.
jasbur17 said:
I hate that the browser shows mobile sites. I don't see an option to change the user agent. It's stupid to have to install a different browser, but I guess that's what I gotta do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to: "about:debug"
You won't see anything. Then go into the settings and there should be a debug section where you can change the user agent to desktop. Someone posted this in another thread, worked well for me.
bogatyr said:
Go to: "about:debug"
You won't see anything. Then go into the settings and there should be a debug section where you can change the user agent to desktop. Someone posted this in another thread, worked well for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! The setting in debug is called uastring. Took me a while to realize.
Love the general feel and speed, mostly, of it. Most apps are faster than my X. Still playing with them.
Sling player (one of my favorite apps on my X) is useless, dial-up would work better, freezes and jumps. Video/audio NEVER in sync. Sometime emits a loud screech when un-freezing. (w/3G and all bars)
YouTube is terrible (same video compared to PC), like its always out of focus, contrast levels WAY off.
Hate the placement of the ports. Have to hold it upside down to use when charger is attached. I would have done this when placing it in the portfolio case (cheep and clumsy feeling) but then you cant get to the power button! DUMB, DUMB, DUMB design.
Cant find the setting to get the display to not time out when it on charge!
Cant get into my company website (can with my droid x) I think the new browser has TLS security set and I need to turn it off.
Generally I like it and will come up with work-arounds for most of the issues it's the first one out and both xoom and 3.0 need work and will mature with time. I do thin I will keep it.
bogatyr said:
Go to: "about:debug"
You won't see anything. Then go into the settings and there should be a debug section where you can change the user agent to desktop. Someone posted this in another thread, worked well for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I remember doing that on my phone. I don't like that it loses that setting on a reboot.

Xoom in Hand (My quick review), ask me anything you want to know

Display - Pretty good but not nearly as great as the iPad's.. nor is it as bright as the iPad. Pixel density looks A LOT like the iPad.. I can't really say the Xoom is any sharper than the iPad.. Whites look much better on the iPad.. they definately have a much higher color gamut and contrast ratio on the iPad. This is disappointing considering how much the Xoom costs off-contract. The Xoom screen looks nearly identical to what Samsung uses on their Galaxy Tab 7". Viewing angles are "decent" but again, not as good as iPad. I would say they are using a cheap PVA type panel, not IPS on this unit. PVA is still much better than TN at least.
Weight - Same weight as iPad.. so to me, it feels too heavy for it's size... but I think the Xoom is much easier to hang onto/hold because of it's widescreen nature'd body.
Speed - Depending on apps I guess.. or how optimized they are.. Angry Birds Seasons (the tablet version) runs like crap compared to Angry Birds on my Galaxy Tab.. not sure why.. Web browsing is a real treat.. Definately renders web sites faster than the iPad.. content is ready to explore at a much faster pace.. However, scrolling isn't as nice as it is on the iPad.. I don't know why Android can't get scrolling anywhere near iOS's Safari. Scrolling is choppy and clunky depending on how many pictures are needed to be shown on the screen at one time. Quadrant scores LOWER than my Galaxy Tab.. Could be Quadrant's not optimized well enough for the Tegra2 platform.
Battery Life - I will have to edit this in later.. my Xoom came out of the box with 77% life..
Interface/UI - I actually like Honeycombs UI.. the quick-softkeys are delightful to use.. especially to multitask with.. Flying between apps is instantaneous and snappy.. much faster than iPad's multitasking.
Speakers - Horrible placement.. they project all sound away from you being on the rear of the device when you're holding the Xoom.. so everybody else hears MORE than what you're hearing.. Otherwise they sound pretty good.. I would say as good as iPad.. and even louder.
Data Connectivity - Verizon 3g on the Xoom FLIES.. I've gotten over 2mb down and over 1mb up.. the modem chip inside the Xoom must be pretty exceptional.. my Galaxy S phone (also on Verizon) barely gets over 1mb down and about 600-700kbps up. Wifi on the other hand seems weak.. my connection is constantly dropping to my home's Wifi connection.. and the Wifi router is just 1 room away :/
Interesting Tid-Bits
The built-in "Chrome" Browser is GPU accelerated.. resulting in much smoother/faster rendering/scrolling.. When installing a 3rd party Browser like Dolphin HD, the web browsing experience plummets, which reminds you of your first Android powered phone and browser.. slow rendering and horrible, choppy scrolling. So with this said, if an app isn't taking advantage of the Tegra2 SOC, don't expect much performance.. this probably also explains the crappy framerates you get when running Quadrant.
I'll post more later.. going back to playing with the Xoom.
the ac adapter ... does it support the european voltages (between 220-240 volt)
SmokeMasta said:
the ac adapter ... does it support the european voltages (between 220-240 volt)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The AC adapter says this:
Input: 100-240V~50/60hz 0.6A
Output: 12V --- 1.5A
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
vitodintino1228 said:
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a few in the browser, but i had about 5 tabs open of nothing buy pictures.
vitodintino1228 said:
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not a single Force Close yet today.. The first time I opened the Market it said my Market was "Out of date" but after closing out and going back in, all was well.
bwcorvus said:
I had a few in the browser, but i had about 5 tabs open of nothing buy pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't gone more than 2 tabs in the browser so far.. i'll open a lot more windows and see if I can get mine to FC.
Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. So far i'm imperssed, honestly. I think it's a solid device. Worth 800 bucks? Probably not, but over 18 months, what the hell, I can afford to be an early adopter. I may invest in an anti glare screen. I can't tell if it's so nice looking that its glassy, or so poorly implemented that its a glare magnent, lol.
Either way, i'm happy with my investment, and I really hope google puts a lot of attention to fixing bugs and any other issues with Honeycomb.
vitodintino1228 said:
Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. So far i'm imperssed, honestly. I think it's a solid device. Worth 800 bucks? Probably not, but over 18 months, what the hell, I can afford to be an early adopter. I may invest in an anti glare screen. I can't tell if it's so nice looking that its glassy, or so poorly implemented that its a glare magnent, lol.
Either way, i'm happy with my investment, and I really hope google puts a lot of attention to fixing bugs and any other issues with Honeycomb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just as glossy as the iPad/Galaxy Tab (I own both).. I was in my car using my Xoom in a parking lot.. and it was just badddd.. sun glaring in my eyes lol.. But I expected that.
Diversion said:
It's just as glossy as the iPad/Galaxy Tab (I own both).. I was in my car using my Xoom in a parking lot.. and it was just badddd.. sun glaring in my eyes lol.. But I expected that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can agree with that, I don't know.. It doesn't outweigh the pros as of yet. The main thing that i'm eager to test at this point is the Battery, and some of the dual core optimized games and what not. What about you? Are you looking for anything in particular? Any other experience you can comment on? So far, by the way, tethering to my droid x is working phenomenally.
vitodintino1228 said:
I can agree with that, I don't know.. It doesn't outweigh the pros as of yet. The main thing that i'm eager to test at this point is the Battery, and some of the dual core optimized games and what not. What about you? Are you looking for anything in particular? Any other experience you can comment on? So far, by the way, tethering to my droid x is working phenomenally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I'm really looking for is a Tablet with an alternative OS (anything not Windows) with great battery life and gives me the tools to be as productive as a netbook.. Far reaching goals im sure though.
Does honeycomb have an easy way for selecting in the middle of sentences / words? I know the IPad has a magnify glass come up when you hold your finger near a word so that you can see exactly where the cursor is, does honeycomb do something similar? Also, how is the copy/paste in honeycomb? I know on my 2.3 phone, it's not that great and hard to select exactly what you want.
you able to find google body app... cant find it on market and it's not preinstalled???
Can you try viewing streaming websites on WiFi (justin.tv or ustream.tv) and see how the tablet handles higher quality streams?
JimmyHACK said:
you able to find google body app... cant find it on market and it's not preinstalled???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering the same thing.
vitodintino1228 said:
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only one that I've seen so far is when trying to run "Remote Desktop Client" by Xtralogic. No dice so far, so I'll have to keep a look out for a Xoom-Approved RDP client
schnoz said:
Does honeycomb have an easy way for selecting in the middle of sentences / words? I know the IPad has a magnify glass come up when you hold your finger near a word so that you can see exactly where the cursor is, does honeycomb do something similar? Also, how is the copy/paste in honeycomb? I know on my 2.3 phone, it's not that great and hard to select exactly what you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you click the words a little pointer comes up, drag it were you want it.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
schnoz said:
Does honeycomb have an easy way for selecting in the middle of sentences / words? I know the IPad has a magnify glass come up when you hold your finger near a word so that you can see exactly where the cursor is, does honeycomb do something similar? Also, how is the copy/paste in honeycomb? I know on my 2.3 phone, it's not that great and hard to select exactly what you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no experience with Android 2.3.. but there seems to be a pretty nice/decent cut and paste built in.. I haven't used it yet.
I have had an iPad since july of last year, sold it yesterday in prepartion for the Xoom purchase today. Walked into Verizon purchased the Xoom and walked right out no hassle, no activation required. Here my Mini Review so far, with some comparisons to my previous 32gb ipad.
Hardware:
Nice heft, feels really solid and has that industrial feel. I do not feel I am going to drop it because it slips out of my hand... i always felt that way when holding an ipad.
its a 16:10 screen so it is wider than it is long. Should be perfect for movies.
Screen is a finger print magnet like ipad.
Software:
Gmail- is incredible on this thing. Drag and drop, color labels, etc. the workflow with gmail is priceless and so fluid. I cannot speak of the general "email" app because i only use gmail.
youtube- way way faster loading videos on this than it was on the ipad. it has some eye candy, which is always nice.. esp for android.
browser- Browser is great! and it loads pages faster than my ipad did. also it has tabs and THEY DO NOT RELOAD ON SWITCHING!! I had 8 tabs open... flipping through them flawlessly! As always using google account you can sync bookmarks and such between desktop and xoom.
Havent tried the music app yet
The gallery is like your standard vanilla android gallery.. loaded all my picasa pics from the cloud.
Other apps- there are very few "tablet apps" in the market. The 2 I did DL was pulse and accuweather. Pulse was pretty basic but did take advantage of the fragments. Accuweather is slick... but they need to polish up some pixelation i saw tapping the background "live" water.
Apps like facebook and kindle scale up nicely. While some apps dont like the speedtest app.
Speaking of speed test, i did a load on my wifi connection at 15mbps down and 3 up and i pull 14mbps down and 2 up. My ipad could never pull above 10mbps. I also noticed my signal holding strong than it did on my ipad.
Workflow is great!! This is what i have been missing on ipad... background task, unintrustive notifications.
Thats all I have right now... so far I am liking the decision i made. But i know i will be missing my apps the ipad had!!! Android cant match it yet... it will take some time.
If Xoom battery life is anything like G Tablets (Also Tegra 2) it should have pretty damn good battery Life

Nexus 10, is it that bad?

I've been reading for quite awhile because I got myself one (it's still on the way to me, so no hands on yet). I got it mainly because it's a Nexus and I'm done with those 3rd modifications on top of vanilla.
However, I'm getting really mixed comments from all of you guys. Some said it's really nice, some said it's the worst tablet. Although things are always going back to people's own preference but from what I read, 4.2.2 did give lotsa headaches to users mainly because of leaked memory and so.
So users, can you give me your truthful comments from both pros and cons? I can only get the device by next week and after that, it will be my time to list out my very own pros and cons.
Thanks and cheers!
Nexus4 modded with cyanogen.
Yeah, you better cancel your order because some random a holes on the internet did not like something.
Well, the problem is, I can't. Plus, I'm still quite skeptical about the reboots and I have faith that it will be fixed with the update soon.
Are you one of the users?
I'm definitely ok with a bit of problems and it gives me perfect reason to root and tweak it on myself although some do claim that, it should work perfectly fine out of the box.
Nexus4 modded with cyanogen.
I'm running stock and can definitely say that the surfaceflinger memory exists. It becomes obvious when you play multiple videos (streaming or video files). When you do other activities this bug is not readily apparent.
I also from time to time get random WiFi disconnects, which are easily fixed by toggling the WiFi off/on. With that being said I really like my N10 and am using it for more than I expected when I bought it. The display resolution, I/O speed and CPU are all outstanding.
At least the memory leak can be fixed and I read that the surfaceflinger driver developer already has it ready. This gives me hope that Android 4.3 will include the fix. The N10 used as a media consumption device is very good/excellent. I am not disappointed with my purchase.
My laptop at the about same price point (after including N10 accessories) has not been turned on in over three months. All my news reading has move from my desktop PC to the N10. I was surprised at how smooth that transition went.
The only thing that really bothered me about the Nexus 10 is how it could throttle and lower CPU clocks under general usage (general being like playing a game). But then again, the Nexus 4 also does this...
Aside from that though, I find the N10 pretty awesome
The light bleed at the bottom right is the only thing that has bothered me much, but that's because the threads here pointed it out and turned on an OCD switch in me. After almost a month, I had my first two reboots last night, both while watching an hourlong streaming video from a TV network site (using Firefox with Flash). Other than that, couldn't be happier with my N10.
3DSammy said:
I'm running stock and can definitely say that the surfaceflinger memory exists. It becomes obvious when you play multiple videos (streaming or video files). When you do other activities this bug is not readily apparent.
I also from time to time get random WiFi disconnects, which are easily fixed by toggling the WiFi off/on. With that being said I really like my N10 and am using it for more than I expected when I bought it. The display resolution, I/O speed and CPU are all outstanding.
At least the memory leak can be fixed and I read that the surfaceflinger driver developer already has it ready. This gives me hope that Android 4.3 will include the fix. The N10 used as a media consumption device is very good/excellent. I am not disappointed with my purchase.
My laptop at the about same price point (after including N10 accessories) has not been turned on in over three months. All my news reading has move from my desktop PC to the N10. I was surprised at how smooth that transition went.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
espionage724 said:
The only thing that really bothered me about the Nexus 10 is how it could throttle and lower CPU clocks under general usage (general being like playing a game). But then again, the Nexus 4 also does this...
Aside from that though, I find the N10 pretty awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JasW said:
The light bleed at the bottom right is the only thing that has bothered me much, but that's because the threads here pointed it out and turned on an OCD switch in me. After almost a month, I had my first two reboots last night, both while watching an hourlong streaming video from a TV network site (using Firefox with Flash). Other than that, couldn't be happier with my N10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the thing that I always talk about. It's a nexus and all problems will be solved for sure by Google itself. With such a good display as well as the A15 architecture proc, it's really a beast and let alone the pure vanilla android.
People are a little bit over exaggerated about the bug, IMO. We receive the newest version and bugs are bearable with me. At least buyers should be aware of the firmware is always the latest which might be a little big buggy. Few positive comments over here are really making my day.
Another thing that bothered me is available RAM. Google states the tablet has 2GB of RAM, which is true (there is 2GB worth of RAM chips installed on the motherboard technically). Before 4.2.2, about 400MB was reserved specifically for the GPU, which is the largest amount of RAM I've seen on any Android device, so that left 1.6GB usable. Not that bad, and it still rounded to 2GB (most other devices though to be fair take like 200-300MB; but the N10 is driving a pretty beefy resolution)
WIth 4.2.2, the RAM reserved for the GPU doubled to 800-some MB (836?). So now the total RAM that the user can use on their own is 1.2GB. No longer nearly close to 2GB.
I guess nothing can really be done about it now, but I don't understand why there just isn't dedicated memory just for the GPU, or why Google doesn't just advertise how much RAM is actually available to use. This isn't an issue at all on most other devices, since the missing memory is usually a small amount, but when almost half of the advertised RAM is missing and not even user-configurable (most computers with IGPs sharing system memory at least let you specify how much you want to dedicated to it)... I find that pretty shady :/
On the other hand, I don't have any out-of-memory problems though (aside from the surfaceflinger thing), so it doesn't seem to be an "actual" issue.
I haven't really noticed anything wrong with my nexus 10 I think its great and fast. Also 4.3 is going to be released soon which should fix any software related issues and make it even smoother . I don't use my tablet as much as others might so maybe that's why I don't notice anything wrong. I generally use it 2-3 hours a day and the only thing I hat is the charging time which feels like forever and that it has a phablet ui rather than tablet look which wastes a little screen space. What they should do is get rid of notification bar and combine it with Nav bar like other tablets
Sent from my Xperia Play (r800x)
abdel12345 said:
... What they should do is get rid of notification bar and combine it with Nav bar like other tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use full!screen and LMT/PIE and get all the screen resolution back (full 2560x1600). full!screen gets rid of both bars and provides a notifications pop-up while LMT/PIE can be configured with all the navigation buttons plus much more. I've been using that combination on rooted stock for months now and would never go back to the waste of space that either bar takes.
I like the clean AOSP browser in fullscreen mode plus thumb controls but it does not always paint properly when used with full!screen (artifacts where the navigation bar used to be). I switched to Ocean browser which is really AOSP with a new UI and that fixed the fullscreen paint issue.
3DSammy said:
Use full!screen and LMT/PIE and get all the screen resolution back (full 2560x1600). full!screen gets rid of both bars and provides a notifications pop-up while LMT/PIE can be configured with all the navigation buttons plus much more. I've been using that combination on rooted stock for months now and would never go back to the waste of space that either bar takes.
I like the clean AOSP browser in fullscreen mode plus thumb controls but it does not always paint properly when used with full!screen (artifacts where the navigation bar used to be). I switched to Ocean browser which is really AOSP with a new UI and that fixed the fullscreen paint issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks a lot man I'll try that out
Sent from my Xperia Play (r800x)
billy_overheat said:
Here's the thing that I always talk about. It's a nexus and all problems will be solved for sure by Google itself. With such a good display as well as the A15 architecture proc, it's really a beast and let alone the pure vanilla android.
People are a little bit over exaggerated about the bug, IMO. We receive the newest version and bugs are bearable with me. At least buyers should be aware of the firmware is always the latest which might be a little big buggy. Few positive comments over here are really making my day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can deal with random reboots don't worry about it. It really is something that depends on use. Watching YouTube via chrome will exacerbate the reboots. The actual app doesn't seem to eat the memory. However for my use I can't have it rebooting in the middle of a meeting or trying to dial into work so it has become something of a paperweight. I know how to consume the memory and how to avoid it but it will still eventually reboot. If your using it for goof off purposes instead of productivity you'll be fine. Also, please don't be an Android/Google apologist. They've had 6 months to fix the issue. And they don't market it as a device with buggy firmware that will reboot. If they called it Nexus 10 developer edition I'd agree with you.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
billy_overheat said:
So users, can you give me your truthful comments from both pros and cons? I can only get the device by next week and after that, it will be my time to list out my very own pros and cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pros:
- Highest resolution tablet on the market, nobody else comes close, even latest iPad has 25% less pixels. I had a Thunderbolt display at work last year and loved working with so much screen real-estate, well, this tablet has even more pixels in 10" than that display had in 27".
- First Android device with beefy Cortex A15 CPU, the Exynos 5 Dual, still the only tablet on the market with A15.
- I actually like the build, fairly thin and I like the sticky material on back.
- For $500 for 32 GB, the one I got, you won't find any device with such high-end specs.
- Android 4.2.2 is usually fairly snappy, sometimes I go back and forth between the home screen and the application drawer just to see the snazzy zoom-in/zoom-out animation and how fast it is.
Each one of these comes with drawbacks however.
Cons:
- You want a high resolution, you have to pay for it with power draw. The display consistently accounts for about 60% of battery usage, even though I keep the brightness at about 30% under light and dial it down to the lowest setting in a dark room. The colors are good but a bit washed out, particularly when compared to an iPad. I wish it had a matte display like my Zenbook, as the glossy display does catch reflections, but I'm not sure that's possible for a tablet.
- The Exynos 5 CPU takes more power than it should and runs somewhat hot. Not as hot as the Tegra 3 in my HOX+, but fairly warm.
- I was surprised how heavy 1.3 lbs felt from the first time I held it. The battery in this thing is huge, 9Ah, compared to 2-3 Ah in most current flagship phones, like the One or S4. It probably had to be so big with that power-sucking display and CPU, but it adds weight.
- The build is a bit creaky and sometimes feels like you have to snap particular pieces back into place, probably to be expected at this cheap price.
- Android still has times when it starts lagging and everything you do takes a second or two to register. These slowdowns often come out of the blue and you're never sure what's going on. This is a mobile OS, so prepare to be frustrated when apps are backgrounded and cached data is lost, particularly if you're expecting something closer to desktop performance because of the specs. The known memory leak in 4.2.2 exacerbates this problem.
I'm happy with my Nexus 10, as I enjoy the high resolution and don't use it anywhere as much as my ultrabook. Now that I know about the memory leak, I may start trying to use it for web reading again, which I had to give up on because it was unusable when Chrome would start reloading every page for no reason. Now I know to reboot when that starts happening, so I at least have a workaround till they fix it.
I love the tablet, for the way I use it - which may be considered light use by most here - it is perfect. The memory issue is real there is no doubt about that. But it is also easily avoided. I reboot my N10 with a tasker profile once during the night and that is that. However I game on it very rarely and use it mostly for streaming movies or just browing the web. One reboot each night seems to be enough to not make these issues appear.
Having said that I have none of the other reported issues, no random reboots or whacky Wifi - I turn Wifi off when the tablet is not in use - but I am also running SentinelRom which seems to be ironing out a lot of the smaller issues. With this ROM scrolling for example has become a silky smooth affair.
Battery life is excellent, much better than the boards make it out to be. I rarely use the N10 with brightness above 25% because it is already so bright on that setting there is no need for it. There may be light bleed - hey it's an LCD after all! - but I never notice any the way I use it. The display is gorgeous in every way, shape and form and I really really like the fact that putting it on lowest brightness makes it really dark. This is perfect for using it in bed at night without getting eye cancer.
With the POGO charger the tablet even has decent charging speed.
Regarding build quality I cannot complain at all. My tablet is not creaky in the least. I had a TF101 which was way worse. I mostly use it with a Poetic smart cover and couldn't be happier. The weight is of course noticeable, but then again this is 10 inches of hardware, it will never feel light as a feather.
Still there are some undeniable software issues still present. The memory leak being one, some issues with scrolling (except when using SentinelRom) being another. But I have yet to see the "perfect" android device which so far does not exist. Google still has a lot of work to do.
rxnelson said:
If you can deal with random reboots don't worry about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not getting the random reboots you speak of. Use my tablet 3-4 hours per day, sometimes more, and do not recall having 1 reboot. AOSP browser closures, yes, though with newer versions not as much. Have 2 Nexus 10 tablets, one stock, one sw display itching between SaberMod and Buttered AOKP.
Had both theTF101 and TF700. Went with the ASUS because of it's IPS+ display and SD card slot. 5 weeks after receiving, had to send it in for charging issues..oneof my main problems with the TF101. For the slight amount of money more for the Nexus 10, it is a much better option. Check out Swappa.com-can typically get a slightly used Nexus 10 for a really good price
mpicasso said:
Not getting the random reboots you speak of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You left out my next sentence. It depends on use. I can duplicate the surfaceflinger issue with eventual reboot on stock CM, buttered AOKP, and rasbean. Obviously we use the tablet differently.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
rxnelson said:
You left out my next sentence. It depends on used. I can duplicate the surfaceflinger issue with eventual reboot on stock CM, buttered AOKP, and rasbean. Obviously we use the tablet differently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also left out the statement that got me to post originally: "However for my use I can't have it rebooting in the middle of a meeting or trying to dial into work so it mass become something of a paperweight." As the OP was curious about the reliability of this tablet, I wanted to offer a different perspective.
As a tablet for business, I use it for surfing (quote obtained from website, along with any needed client info), note taking, power point and excel, E-mail, along with a few other things. In a given day, I may spend 3-4 hours, while in client homes, using my tablet. So yes, we may use these differently, but for any "business" function I have thrown at it, it works fine. I also do not do many video presentations, which may explain why I do not experience the same issues as you.

Yotaphone 2: reviews and such.

The Yotaphone 2 is now established, no longer on the horizon, so I thought we should have a dedicated thread to it, reviews about it, thoughts etc.
right, yotaphone 2 review so far.
First of all I will say that the specifications of the phone are perfect for me. Yes I like flagship specs but after a few generations of going for the best there is and having tried all the roms and UIs around (miui, touchwiz, sonys one, cyanogen, htc sense, windows, the oppo one etc, it goes on) I decided that I was bored. I wanted something completely different. Considered the jolla but when the yota 2 was announced I was instantly infatuated. Liked the idea of the first model, the second one nails it for me. And to be fair to it – a snapdragon 800 is a very competent soc, does all I need it to do and does everything fast. Currently I don’t need a 64 bit octacore chip, this one handles basically all the things I can throw at it and I don't really play the huge games anyway. Other than an occasional test of a heavy game, its gba and ps1 emulators, casual rpgs and a couple of shooters for me. Also, I read somewhere that Yota’s reasoning was they needed time to get the soc figured out with their device. Yota say they’re using the 800 to keep the heat low, preventing damage to the e-ink screen.
UPDATE: I have since realised that the phone is actually using the snapdragon 801. When announced in February it was using the 800 but it seems they quietly upgraded it before release. The phone says it's the MSM8974pro-aa which can be either 800 or 801 but the gpu clock speed is higher at 578mhz which is exclusive to the 801, so that's a lovely discovery .
On the face of it (both of them) this is a wonderfully pretty phone. At least from my point of view the aesthetics are all spot on. Everything is presented beautifully. This includes the box it comes in and everything in it. Even the charger is lovely to look at. Wonderfully compact and has yotaphone written across the back that lights up when the phone is connected. On the point of the charger, it outputs 1.5A and charges the phone in a couple of hours or so (25% to full takes between 1.30 and 1.45 hours). This adds to the convenience of the phone and lack of battery worries that I will get into later. You also get a load of earphone buds, like, loads.
The front facing screen is an excellent screen. Super AMOLED (my preference, I love the deep blacks), 442ppi on a 5inch screen produces a brilliant, crisp and clear image and the touch responsiveness is excellent. There are a few niggles with using the keyboard (slight over sensitivity with using swype input) but you soon get used to this, once your fingers and thumbs adjust to the screen this goes away I find. It’s much like using someone else’s laptop and their mouse pad is much more sensitive that yours. EDIT: I will concede that the keyboard probably needs a patch sent through, swipe input is fine but normal typing you have to learn to be more accurate than usual. Doesn't take long but if someone borrows your phone... (to be fair, no one is borrowing my Yota. There are many like it but this one is MINE).
The second screen is just beautiful. The whole back panel is made from the same piece of curved gorilla glass so you don’t notice the screen is there, it hardly feels like one but it’s joyous to the touch, smooth (so smooth) and a nice matte black/dark gray. The sensitivity is obviously slower and there are slight delays waiting for the screen to change, but these are minor and you get used to them. I’m still just wildly impressed that yota have pulled this off so well. The backscreen is excellently implemented, the yota mirror feature works like a dream, anything you want on the back can and will be. The screenlock is done using the gyroscope as well, whichever side is facing up is the one that unlocks when pressing the button. Also, the possibility of leaving some vital information like a map or a plane ticket on the back while the rest of the phone is turned off or utterly dead is likely to not be used often, possibly even if ever by some, but the fact that it can be done is a lovely bit of life insurance.
The yotapanels (configurable pages of widgets made for the EPD) are very pretty indeed and very functional. The back screen has its own phone and messaging app. My only niggle with notifications on the back is that the email part of the notification widget is at this point set to the stock email app, not customizable. Only a minor niggle as I would use the front screen for sending emails anyway but it would be nice to choose to check gmail (hoping for an update to change this). The panel grid layout and widgets can be changed to your liking, within reason. I have 2 businessy type pages with clock, calendar, weather, most called people, battery etc a news page with rss reader, emails, important apps and appy geek and a leisure page with games, book and music widget). What surprised me was downloading appy geek then finding a variety of widgets from them I could use on the panels. This gives me hope that more and more third party back widgets will be added over the course of development.
UPDATE: The widgets are better than I thought - the back panel music player associates itself with whichever music app you were playing from last. Also there are some nice easter eggs that you find as certain things occur on the backscreen which give a great sense of Yota going the extra mile. e.g. get someone to text you with just the word cool and leave the EPD face up.
On the subject of development I have received 2 updates so far, optimizing the back screen touch responsiveness, heat output, battery life, yotaenergy mode etc. Also, eventually someone will find a way to root them and then more possibilities reveal themselves. Honestly though, other than being able to use trickster mod, root explorers, remove system apps and a couple of other things I don’t miss all the little features of custom roms. Even sweep to wake isn’t as essential as it used to be for me – yota placed the lock button slightly above the right side (so your thumb is on it when the phone is front facing). This to me begs the question why doesn’t everyone else do that, it’s so much more natural, convenient and keeps the one hand ability going. Yota have made some smart decisions.
UPDATE: The phone has been rooted, Kingo root can do it with drivers you find on the yota website or other drivers online (mine was a case of trial and error). So a root file explorer, wakelock detector, system app remover and a kernel control app installed. Very happy and now its pretty much exactly as I want it.
The phone is very well put together and feels solid. This all improves with the bumper, which adds to the aesthetic further and makes you feel safer. Gorilla glass 3 on both sides or no, this is a phone you worry about dropping, 2 screens = double the vulnerability and double the worry. The back screen is wonderful to the touch but also quite slippery. The bumper gives you a bit more grip and therefore confidence. Despite the worry I have no qualms, it’s a brilliant thing to hold and have around you.
I think my favourite thing so far is being able to keep your phone locked and face down and still see the time, incoming notifications, respond if needed, read, play games and a host of other things. A simple glance is all you need, so convenient and saves those little bits of time and battery that build up over the course of a day. I still gush with appreciation when I look down.
UPDATE: I still do.
On to the battery life – it’s damn good if you want it to be, otherwise it's still not bad. 2550mah compared to 3000 may seem annoying to those that love a top spec’d beast and now that 4000mah phones are starting to come out this paltry little number is in danger of being outdated. However, this phone saves battery in so many ways such as:
1. Having the e-ink display (no battery usage except when it refreshes). How this saves battery is down to you – use the panels properly, get into chess, Sudoku and the other supplied games, use it for reading etc. Get into the habit of using it and you’ll save hours and hours.
2. Having yotaenergy mode. This is not to be underestimated. You can select what you want it to limit or turn off, if you select everything (except wifi cos obviously you need wifi) then cpu is limited, nfc and gps are off, brightness on main screen is down to minimum, the list goes on. Now, most of these I would do myself on a rooted phone, but it’s nice to have a mode that incorporates all the things needed to save a bundle of energy and implements it so well. This has the potential to save you days if used in conjunction with the back display. I use this at work and I can still check emails, notifications, play games for a bit, read etc and a work day ( 7 and a half hours ) will cost me like 5-6% + or – a few depending on the day. Granted I mostly use the back for that stuff but still, damn good so far.
3. Having a vanilla android experience. Having stock android with hardly any additions, all of which you can disable if you want, keeps the minimal drain down.
Now I’m a man that likes a phone to have a battery life that does not concern me. My old one x would require underclocking, a new rom that would need to be reflashed on occasion, greenify etc to get it through the day comfortably with decent usage and screen time. Now this is childs play, it’s a substantial weight off my mind. No real figures yet, haven’t done proper tests as it’s only been a few days. What I can say is that it’ll do a full 24h with heavy usage, wifi and data on, at least 3 hours of games and youtube, all without using energy saving or the e-ink that much and still have well over 30%. That was the second day of owning it, it’ll get better.
I turned yotaenergy on at 92% today, the first 8% drained in a few hours due to a naughty app that is now uninstalled. Going to test how it lasts over the weekend and will report back afterwards.
The bloatware is limited, some is annoying (don’t have twitter so don’t want twitter etc) but to Yota’s credit their own stuff is minimal, and I wouldn’t want to remove any of their own additions. The games chosen function great on the back screen and I dare say look better on it than on the front. There is the occasional little glitch, but most of these can be avoided or solved with a quick screen refresh of changing of modes etc.
I will stop now, I apologise for the length and hope I covered what most people wanted to hear. Will get back soon with long term battery test results.
UPDATE: Battery anxiety is truly gone. Example - took phone off charge at about 1am, up at 6.30, went to work, bit of browsing and game play during day. Got home, played bit of games, read a bit. Went out that night, stayed at a friends, got up at 11am next day. All of that was with mobile data or wifi turned on throughout. By using yota energy in times of minimal usage and EPD for standard things I saved bundles I intentionally took energy mode off when gaming and when was doing things on phone to create a fair test. When I checked gsam battery monitor it reported I'd used 50% in 34 hours, that was with 2.5 hours screen time, with about as much time spent gaming as reading and a fair amount of browsing and app updating etc. For a phone with 2550mah I'd say that's pretty excellent going. Maybe there are phones that can match it but even if so, they're not as much fun to use as this one.
If anyone has any requests for battery tests (full screen on time, how long on battery saver and EPD etc just ask).
Much TL,DR –
Very pretty phone, great front screen, back screen surprisingly useful and nice to look at and touch. Software well implemented. Hopeful for long term development improvements. Very good performance, great battery. Occasional glitch but nothing that detracts from and limits experience.
UPDATE: glitches have lessened significantly over a short space of time, haven't had one for ages.
UPDATE: there is a recurring one - the back panels app shortcuts will occasionally default to the originals. This takes less than a minute to rectify but still, hoping for it to be fixed in an update. This is only glitch I still encounter, the rest seemed to be teething problems.
Overall, loving it. Expensive but very different and a joy to use. Definitely worth it if you get a discount. I managed to get mine with 10% off and 2 bumper cases (longish story), to me that makes it great value because I honestly already see myself getting the subsequent generations, it would already annoy me not having the back screen.
Worth checking their facebook page every now and again to see if they've got another 10-20% discount going again.
Thanks for the in depth review, it's clearly hit the sweet spot for you ☺
I have a question about notifications.....when in the yota panel or yota cover mode and it is on your desk EPD facing up, what happens if you get a notification from say whatsapp or xda developers I.e. one that doesn't have a specific widget on the yota panel, is there any indication on the EPD that a notification has been received and if so can you interact with it or does it just send you to the OLED side?
Secondly, if you have your home screen mirrored on the EPD and again it's laying on your desk, will the notifications appear in the notification shade and can you swipe down the shade to check and interact exactly with them as you would on the OLED display? I.e using whatsapp as an example again , get the new message notification in the shade, swipe it down, click on the message, whatsapp opens and you type in a reply and send it....All from the e ink side.
Battery drain leads to battery anxiety, I am hoping that the yota 2 works how I've described above as I spend a lot of time lighting up the OLED on my phone just checking and responding to notifications and it could be a game changer to be able to do that from the e ink side. Saving the OLED for the more intense stuff like games, videos web browsing etc.
Thanks in advance
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Not a problem, it very much has and also it was a slow day at work .
The notification widget on the panels and covers has 4 items, phone, text, email and general notifications. Phone and text can be interacted with, and lovely apps they are to use as well. A great example is that if someone sends you a text that just says cool (even with third party text apps) then the text will show up and atop it is a picture of a man adjusting his bowtie. Lovely little easter egg. The email sends you to the stock email client, hoping for a way to get that to associate with gmail to come out eventually. The fourth is for other notifications (whatsapp, xda and everything else). The email and notification icons will simply send you to the front screen. You can just mirror them straight back over though. And I suppose having the phone implement everything would be a bit tricky. You never know, development might add them later. Sorry I write too much. In short, you can't interact with 'other' notifications straight from the screen but have to mirror it back.
To answer your second question - yes. If your using mirror on the home screen it will appear just as the same homescreen and same android, just on the back screen. Anything that comes up you can interact with, including pulling down the notification shade, opening your apps (in this case whatsapp) and interacting with them as you would (replying straight from the app). The only difference is its slower obviously, but still very do-able. If your going for super battery saving then it doesn't strike as a problem if you have to take a bit longer. It's enjoyable and pretty anyway, and very easy on the eyes.
So to summarise, yes, you can use the EPD just as you would the amoled. Even if you have to turn over activate the notification from a panel you can just mirror it straight back over, avoiding amoled over use.
I'm the same, always hate having the battery life hanging over me. The yota has got rid of that for me. It came off charge at 6am friday morning, its now just before 5pm - gsam says 34 hours. Battery is on 35%, both data and wifi have been on and being used constantly, games being played a lot, internet and youtube have occurred here and there. I've been trying to push it through its paces when have had the time. Had a couple of cheeky battery draining apps for first half of Friday so got rid of them but still.. It's nice to have 35% and feel confident that I could probably get another full day out of it if needed. And all in such an interesting package.
So, 48 hours battery life without a struggle with normal usage is perfectly feasible and also the charger charges it in a very short time, super convenient.
Hope I helped, sorry for the length again.
Thanks that really helped ?
I really like the idea of a more than one day battery life for moderate to heavy use, I'm out of contract in a couple of months and have been considering an xperia Z3 which has a large battery and is being reported by users as achieving 2 days use, however this phone is intriguing, I can think of so many potential uses for the snap shot on the EPD and to be able to control music and audio books etc. But it's the battery life that is most tempting with this device your quoted figures are impressive, how much were you using it during that period?
Another question if you don't mind, in some reviews and videos I've seen views of yota panels than display what look like short cuts to regular apps such as chrome, youtube, currency converter, maps, whatsapp , can you configure the yota panels to show an icon of any app in the app draw? For instance I use audible a lot and the EPD would be perfect for using and controlling audible from a short cut on the Yota panel. Would this short cut direct you to flip the phone to the OLED then mirror it back as per the general notifications you described above?
Thanks
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
It is a nice freedom to have to be sure, to not feel you have to charge it over night. If caught in those party situations, or when just away from charger its nice to know its fine. I read some z3 reviews and the z3 seems to do something similar with battery. The z3 would almost certainly beat the yota in a hands down typical battry test but for long term endurance with conservative usage (and lots of use of the EPD) then i'm certain that the yota could take it. And even if not, the EPD is amazing to have. Keep stumbling across more uses for it. (currently replying to your review on a laptop with your reply screenshotted onto back of my yota). I would say that other than when at work (minimal usage but still some games here and there) I was using it between normal and heavy usage depending on the time. Normal - moderate for most of the time with a few sessions of heavy usage. Data and wifi on the whole time, almost always downloading and updating apps too. More than I would usually use it basically and 2 days use was a breeze. In a few days I think i'll go for intentional conservative usage and see how long it goes for.
Not at all. The app shortcut widgets have different sizes available, 1, 3 and 6 apps. Each one of these widgets can be configured, you can choose any app. Clicking on the app from the EPD will open the app directly on the EPD, it'll basically activate mirror mode without having to switch over. A wonderful feature I think. So you would be able to open audible from the shortcut and control it straight from the EPD without the need to even activate the OLED at all.
The z3 is a good phone, better processor, better camera etc. It rivals the s5, the m8 etc in terms of features. For me though, the yota covers everything pretty well, even if it's using now slightly outdated specs - it does the job happily. And the EPD adds a whole new level of functionality and makes using a phone a very interesting practice again. It's a new way of using a phone and that's what's most attractive for me.
Thanks again for your reply, it seems that the yotaphone will do pretty much all I would want it to on the EPD, it has really got my interest up now! I'm seeing a yota panel with my most used apps that would not really suffer from being on the EPD, audible, fotmob, kobo, whatsapp, beyond pod maybe even words with friends!
I think along the same lines as you in wanting something a bit different and interesting, I've had two android phones now and before that an iPhone, to be honest another straight forward android seems a little samey now hence deciding that battery life would be my priority rather than screen size or the latest cpu etc.... If only that eye watering price would drop a little come March.....
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Yeah above all I wanted battery life with decent enough specs and something different. I finished my contract and began saving with the express aim of getting this phone, once got the money figured might as well as no other phone appeals to me enough. The modular smartphones coming up certainly piqued my interest but I can't wait for them, wanted a new phone now. For me the yota is worth it so far and I hold out hope for the duration of my ownership of it.
Good luck to you whether you decide to go for it or something else.
20% discount offer on facebook if your still wanting dude. £444 seems pretty reasonable.
zute333 said:
20% discount offer on facebook if your still wanting dude. £444 seems pretty reasonable.
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Oh that's so tempting, i don't have face book tho, where's the discount coming from,yotaphone themselves? I've been waiting for March to see what the HTC One M9 and Galaxy S6 looks like....trouble is android now looks the same on most handsets, so will a M9 be that much different from my M7 meh.
My kids have Facebook tho, how do you get access to the discount?
Thanks
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
yotaphone themselves indeed, celebrating 120,000 fans. Seems a bit harsh on the rest of us but i'm not one to begrudge success on a company I would like to succeed.
They all look the same now. Samsung have never been that good on the aesthetic look of their phone's imo, the m7 is beautiful in the same way as the m8 and m9 and possibly so on. And yeah, launchers are pretty stripped down now, and I find having a launcher that you can theme, or using something like dodol or themer you can get a phone looking exactly how you want, which negates manufacturers launchers anyhow. The only real difference comes from the odd gimmick here and there or in the case of the note edge a part of a screen. That one I kind of get but I'm also of the opinion that a whole second screen beats a sliver of one on the side .
Sorry, what you actually want to see is this: https://www.facebook.com/YotaPhone/posts/439221752895395
I hope the link works and the discount is still active if you go for it.
Well Zute333 thanks for the heads up on the discount , my daughter pulled up the voucher code via her FB and I've bought one at £421.80 ☺????????
It feels genuinely exciting to have something different to use over the coming months. Btw Is it a mini or micro sim?
Thanks again for helping me decide
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Well I'm a bit gutted if i'm honest, got mine at £495-£555 (discount still pending, long story), with the bumper. But to be fair I've had a lovely few weeks and am getting the jolla tablet for hilariously cheap price so counting it a good overall load of deals lol. Still though, £421.80 is epic, congrats and I hope you enjoy it dude. Lollipop on the way at some point, can only improve things.
It's micro sim.
EDIT: nano-sim
No worries dude.
I'm even more gutted: it seems this is only valid in the UK, as I can't change the country field to any other. Website is partly in Dutch, though.
Sad for you dude. I think they made the post in other languages for other countries but can't find em and don't know if they did one for the Netherlands.
I don't really mind having paid full price, just happy to have it. You can always wait, another offer will surely arise, the standard price will also probably drop eventually.
By the way, a reseller here in Holland says in its specs the Yotaphone has nanosim. I assume they're wrong?
---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Also, I see different specs on radio: some say 3G, some say 4G.
bartveld said:
By the way, a reseller here in Holland says in its specs the Yotaphone has nanosim. I assume they're wrong?
---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Also, I see different specs on radio: some say 3G, some say 4G.
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Ah, no I was wrong, I got the names mixed - thought there was mini and micro, equating micro with nano. The yota 2 sim tray is a nano-sim tray.
Also it can do 4g.
Thanks.
Hi all, newbie here! i've just bought Yotaphone 2 couple days ago, can't say how happy i am with this phone so far. It's fast enough and the always-on screen is amazingly convenient. Can't say much about battery life yet as only charged it once so far.
The only couple of minor things to mention though - the back-panel is very, very slippery so can easily drop the phone out of your hands. The other thing - email notifications on the back-panel. It's configured to default email app (as mentioned in some previous posts) and looks like there's no way how i can change it to gmail which is my primary email. But am i right thinking that there should be an update to fix this?
smekla said:
Hi all, newbie here! i've just bought Yotaphone 2 couple days ago, can't say how happy i am with this phone so far. It's fast enough and the always-on screen is amazingly convenient. Can't say much about battery life yet as only charged it once so far.
The only couple of minor things to mention though - the back-panel is very, very slippery so can easily drop the phone out of your hands. The other thing - email notifications on the back-panel. It's configured to default email app (as mentioned in some previous posts) and looks like there's no way how i can change it to gmail which is my primary email. But am i right thinking that there should be an update to fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude. Lovely phone isn't it. Yeah the back is pretty slippy, the bumper solves that problem if you can manage to get one? As for the email notification on the back, I agree, it's annoying that you can't configure it but I think they'll probably address that in an update, maybe make they're own email client like with the back sms app or something. Only time will tell on that front I suppose.
By the way, get someone to text you the word 'cool' and leave phone EPD facing up. Lovely little easter egg type addition by Yota. Figuring out various other ones over time

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