Related
Check out this one:
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=2373
Whaddaya think fellas? Any taker???
I don't really like the new G2 design....too much chin and they add that stupid my-fave button on bottom left corner. On top of that...still no 3.5mm headphone Jack !!!!!!
On the other hand, that "supposely" new Wing (Rhodium) is looking hot. I hope the screen is as big/hi-res as the touch HD....and run on android. that would be a dream phone....(pun intended). put a 5MP camera with auto-focus, dual xenon flash, and 3.5mm headphone jack and this phone will sure be a winner. I will pawn my G1 to fleaBay faster than israel drop phosporous bombs in the Gaza
Topaz C finally got something right....3.5mm jack....but majority of the new phones DO NOT have 3.5mm. When will HTC learn that miniUSB jack is such a nuisance....especially for high-end phones that run android
The Cedar look way too similar with the Treo, but the 3G excalibur (3G dash) look pretty good.
The firestone/Whitestone got some pretty good features, but lack of physical keyboard is a no deal for meh
Hero (android ver) looks pretty cute...for the geeky girls out there...but the Memphis....looks pretty disappointing...
I like the Tungsten better than Rhodium, maybe it's just the color scheme but both are nice and would be fine with WimMo (preferably Android). It has buttons. I like buttons, touch is only good for so much.
Sapphire? Like an aerodynamic Dream. Looks kinda like an egg. Not digging the Hero. It's like the opposite - a more jagged Dream.
As far as an Android phone goes I'll hold onto the Dream until Android's capabilities outgrow the hardware. I didn't like the design at fist when I got it but it has grown on me. They'll prolly all look cooler as finished products. Like with all HTC phones what's under the hood will be what sells me one it.
The only thing that would really convince me to upgrade out of Dream is VGA or WVGA display. Also, big minus points for the "Hero" if it really has no trackball or tactile buttons.
from a local aussie site:
http://www.channelnews.com.au/Communication/Mobile_Phones/S4W3S8V5
can't wait for it....
Hi, I guess this thread is aimed at those who may have a Magic and those who want a hero. Ive been looking at both these devices. I was wondering what makes the hero so much better than the magic? As far as i can tell its mainly the camera and the phone is smaller. Are there many other differences?
ExO_PoLiTiX said:
Hi, I guess this thread is aimed at those who may have a Magic and those who want a hero. Ive been looking at both these devices. I was wondering what makes the hero so much better than the magic? As far as i can tell its mainly the camera and the phone is smaller. Are there many other differences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depending on where you buy the Magic, it may have less RAM than the hero as there are two different RAM configurations available on the Magic (I'm unsure why.)
For me personally, what makes the Hero "better" is that the Magic feels a bit more like a toy than it should - I guess it's just that plasticky look and feel, but its shape and finish is just nowhere near as sleek and slick as the Hero. I like that the Hero's edges are more sqaured off than the Magic's rounded edges - I think that, for me atleast, plays a big part in the cheap-like feeling I get from the Magic.
The only concern I had about the Hero when I first saw it was the chin, however you'll find that the chin is not even noticeable in your pocket and in fact it just helps to protect the trackball from constant wear & tear by rubbing in your pocket throughout the day.
I know a lot of that is my personal opinion, but I hope it can help you out.
iammorris said:
Depending on where you buy the Magic, it may have less RAM than the hero as there are two different RAM configurations available on the Magic (I'm unsure why.)
For me personally, what makes the Hero "better" is that the Magic feels a bit more like a toy than it should - I guess it's just that plasticky look and feel, but its shape and finish is just nowhere near as sleek and slick as the Hero. I like that the Hero's edges are more sqaured off than the Magic's rounded edges - I think that, for me atleast, plays a big part in the cheap-like feeling I get from the Magic.
The only concern I had about the Hero when I first saw it was the chin, however you'll find that the chin is not even noticeable in your pocket and in fact it just helps to protect the trackball from constant wear & tear by rubbing in your pocket throughout the day.
I know a lot of that is my personal opinion, but I hope it can help you out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks alot for the reply. I agree, from what i've seen of the magic it does look a bit cheap compared to the hero. Im just saving for the hero and noticed that the magic is almost half the price of the hero. Do you think its justifiable that the hero should be worth spending double on? This would be my first android device and that would play a bit part in it as I am planning to write applications for this OS.
Because there are two different RAM specs on the Magic, it makes it less desirable to buy because you're having to make sure you get the higher RAM, but most are the lower so folk arent buying in case. Does that make sense?
As to the plasticky look - I agree to a degree, but - I rather stupidly dropped my Google ION (Magic from the dev's conference) from quite a height and it slid right across the road.... Result - a few small chips in that shiny plastic coating (underneath is definately a metal shell, likely aluminium) Not a scratch or mark on the screen or back of the handset and working perfectly. Its obviously an extremely robust build quality, and I can say the front casing is definately metal coated with shiny plastic. If I'd dropped my G1 it would have been majorly knackered, as the slider would have opened and that hinge is ridiculously precarious.
I'm also thinking bout getting a hero, as I've been well impressed with the adaptability of android phones and the glitches I've seen have been solved within weeks on here by some clever techy. Software library is WELL underway and I have copilot on my magic Ion running without a single glitch, though I have heard its buggy if you try to get the app without buying as CoPilot are adding in security measures.....
Regarding probs some people seem to be complaining about with albums and media from SD. In my experience as an owner of G1 then Magic, on FIRST USING any gallery/album type app, allow it to load all... it takes a while, because its creating a thumbs database on the device. Once done, access is really quick after that.
Daisy xxx
The Magic does have an overly plastic feel to it. A colleague got one today and I am not too convinced by it.
A big plus for the Hero is the 3.5mm headphone jack. FINALLY HTC caught onto the idea that their consumers want this!
The Hero also has the light sensors to automatically adjust screen brightness (if this works - my Omnia never seems to do it right.)
Multitouch is enabled on the Hero too, so you can pinch to zoom internet browser pages. I dont think the Magic has that!
Ohh yeah and the Flash enabled browser is quit a biggy too (lets just hope the reviews that show it crashing are all early releases and its fixed now!!)
I am only 4 months into a new 18 month contract with Orange but having looked into it a lot over the last few weeks. I want a Hero so much I am likely to pay the £400 SIM free price tag to get one!
Zippyioa
I've got a magic (vodafone UK, lesser ram version ) and love it. My girlfriend has a Hero (orange UK)
I prefer the look of the hero, and in my hand it feels nicer, but that's just preference. I'm more annoyed about the RAM difference grrrrr!
My magic(Ion) has Multitouch Browser I'm running a custom ROM. I'm getting my Her0 sometime soon (When stock arrives LOL) so I'll say more then , but won't knock the magic as its a really robust little device, and of course cheaper than a Hero for somone after something on a budget.
Daisy ....
Dayzee said:
My magic(Ion) has Multitouch Browser I'm running a custom ROM.
Daisy ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stand corrected then
Zippyioa
I have been a long time member and supporter of windows mobile. I think I have hit my threshold though. This "pure", is pure; pure crap. From the cheap ass plastic, bluish case to the horrible AT&T branded rom that comes with it. Yes I have tried all the different roms out there right now but they cant help the build quality on this thing. I should have kept my Touch HD T8285. The phone aspect is worthless. Granted it could be the network. This is my second unit after the first one was basically a paper weight. Now I have 3 days left to decide to keep it or get something else. I am really at a crossroads. My loyalty and support is to this incredible community, but this phone makes me want to punch myself. I dont want to go to the dark side (apple), but I am running out of options right now. Your feedback.
I think the build quality on the Pure is great. Edges and buttons match up perfectly, it has a solid feel, no flexing or squeaking, good to the touch. I have no problem with the build at all.
Only thing I don't really like is the plastic, but the pure is designed to be ultra small and lightweight. I suppose if you don't like the housing you could always swap it out for a new third-party housing when they're available. Maybe there will be a carbon or titanium Pure housing.
As for ROMs, the AT&T one was pure bloat. I ditched that after a week. I'm now running Dutty's Holy Grail R1 ROM, which runs really well on the Pure. Surprisingly well. Try it out. You might change your mind about keeping the Pure.
Dutty's is pretty good. I love my Pure. I came from a Fuze and while the keyboard was nice for internet, it made the phone feel flimsy.
The Pure is actually really nice. I was looking at the HD 8285, but the screen size on the Pure is really nice, IMO. I'm a chef from the raphael forums so I don't use many other roms, but I did try a few to get a good feel for it.
Energyroms and Dutty's are always good.
i think the pure is a real nice phone. feels great in hand and everything runs great. i ditched the att rom from day 1. i was tossing between the tilt 2 and pure. i too came from the fuze and i hardly ever used the keyboard and thats why i went with the pure. no regrets at all so far. hopefully you can find something good about this phone in the next few days.
turcomora said:
I have been a long time member and supporter of windows mobile. I think I have hit my threshold though. This "pure", is pure; pure crap. From the cheap ass plastic, bluish case to the horrible AT&T branded rom that comes with it. Yes I have tried all the different roms out there right now but they cant help the build quality on this thing. I should have kept my Touch HD T8285. The phone aspect is worthless. Granted it could be the network. This is my second unit after the first one was basically a paper weight. Now I have 3 days left to decide to keep it or get something else. I am really at a crossroads. My loyalty and support is to this incredible community, but this phone makes me want to punch myself. I dont want to go to the dark side (apple), but I am running out of options right now. Your feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you PM me about dropping your HD for the Pure? Never mind it was RAP5 who PM'd me. Sorry.
Sorry to here about that. Get rid of the Pure and spend the cash and get the original unlocked TD2. Feels nice and solid. not plasticky like the Pure or Get that HD back. ANDROID MAN. IT's running on it. If anything spend $520 and get an Unlocked HERO (The Original and Best Looking HERO) then get the Cheap $10 internet and enjoy.
turcomora said:
I have been a long time member and supporter of windows mobile. I think I have hit my threshold though. This "pure", is pure; pure crap. From the cheap ass plastic, bluish case to the horrible AT&T branded rom that comes with it. Yes I have tried all the different roms out there right now but they cant help the build quality on this thing. I should have kept my Touch HD T8285. The phone aspect is worthless. Granted it could be the network. This is my second unit after the first one was basically a paper weight. Now I have 3 days left to decide to keep it or get something else. I am really at a crossroads. My loyalty and support is to this incredible community, but this phone makes me want to punch myself. I dont want to go to the dark side (apple), but I am running out of options right now. Your feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hate to see anyone give up on a phone so early..But I sold my Pure and kept the 8285. I will get another Pure, as I am not convinced this is a Pure Crap phone...not yet. It's got to be the AT&T software, choking the phone out of it's capabilities. I really liked the slim form and light weitht, fits easier in pockets than the 8285. Voice quality was very good and emails came over quick. I didn't keep it long enough to compare it to the HD but I also kept the HD.
I know what you mean about the Pure, I have an X1, and decided to get the Pure while my X1 was undergoing a warranty repair. The warranty stuff went quickly, so although I purchased the Pure, I've only used it for a week. Here are my thoughts.
I thought the housing felt cheap at first, but then the fact the phone was so light grew on me. Nonetheless, I feel we are getting mifed on our hardware. We get an old processor, a screen that is still kind of small, and why is the phone so damned thick??? My year old X1 is just 1 or 2 mm thicker, and the Moto Droid is thinner. Both phones have keyboards, and the Pure does not...
I know I'll get flamed for this man, but given the price of the Pure as compared to the iPhone, I'm considering exchanging it for an iPhone... I'll still have my X1, and I can probably sell the iPhone for more than the Pure on eBay.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=244079&stc=1&d=1257576876
I previously had the 8125 (Wizard) and 8525 (Hermes) phones... And I love my Pure. I like all the built-in features that I used to use third-party software for:
o Tab Manager/Calendar events on Today screen (pocketbreeze)
o Weather on Today screen (pocketweather)
o Nice task manager and program launcher (iLauncher)
o Easy access to world times (CityTime)
I also wanted a smaller, thinner phone to carry around in my pocket and a bigger screen, don't really need the keyboard. Got all that in the Pure.
Now I may be looking to upgrade if the HD2 does make it to the US... but for now, I'm very happy !
I'm not even sure I would ditch my Pure for an HD2. Of course it's awesome, but it's also huge. The Pure fits perfectly in the bottom of my pocket. The HD2 is really so large and so wafer thin that it might get a lot of twisting and tortional abuse while in a pocket. I can only imagine leaning forward to stand up, and hearing the HD2 crack.
The HD2 seems to me to be more of a mobile internet device than a phone. I'll take a look at it, that's for sure, but I'm guessing it'll be too large for my taste and I'll probably stick with my Pure, which I absolutely love.
coldcarbon said:
I'm not even sure I would ditch my Pure for an HD2. Of course it's awesome, but it's also huge. The Pure fits perfectly in the bottom of my pocket. The HD2 is really so large and so wafer thin that it might get a lot of twisting and tortional abuse while in a pocket. I can only imagine leaning forward to stand up, and hearing the HD2 crack.
The HD2 seems to me to be more of a mobile internet device than a phone. I'll take a look at it, that's for sure, but I'm guessing it'll be too large for my taste and I'll probably stick with my Pure, which I absolutely love.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find the HD to be a perfect size. The HD2 is slightly bigger and may or maynot be a problem. But it is thinner than the TD2 which is nice. I was expecting my TD2 to be thicker than what it is but would love for it to be thinner. I'll just wait till the spring for the next gen TD and android phones instead of juping ship and getting an HD2 I may not like.
sonus said:
I know what you mean about the Pure, I have an X1, and decided to get the Pure while my X1 was undergoing a warranty repair. The warranty stuff went quickly, so although I purchased the Pure, I've only used it for a week. Here are my thoughts.
I thought the housing felt cheap at first, but then the fact the phone was so light grew on me. Nonetheless, I feel we are getting mifed on our hardware. We get an old processor, a screen that is still kind of small, and why is the phone so damned thick??? My year old X1 is just 1 or 2 mm thicker, and the Moto Droid is thinner. Both phones have keyboards, and the Pure does not...
I know I'll get flamed for this man, but given the price of the Pure as compared to the iPhone, I'm considering exchanging it for an iPhone... I'll still have my X1, and I can probably sell the iPhone for more than the Pure on eBay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it is official I traded in my pure for an iphone 3gs. Yes the iphone is wider, heavier, but it works. I hate to say it but it is a great device. I am very sasd to be leaving the forums but the pure was just the last straw. The phone reception between the pure and the iphone was a night and day difference. We tested it in the store with the manager. I dont know why the signal strength was so different if both devices are quad band?? Anyway my best wishes to all pure owners, if you are under the 30 days you might want to try the dark side a try (apple). HTC can no longer keep carrying the weight of windows mobile alone with there touchflo/sense. Microsft really needs to provide a decent platform to compete with the likes of apple.
A couple weeks ago I got a new myTouch 3g with 3.5mm jack from T-Mobile. I had a lot of issues with it, including it spontaneously unmounting from my computer when trying to copy files to it, the speaker suddenly ceasing to work, vibrate seemingly turning itself off at it's leisure. Pretty annoying, so, I exchanged it. I'm having the same issues. I'm irritated. It doesn't have the gorgeous hardware spec to make it worth the trouble I'm having. I've tried different cords, different micro SD cards (including class 6) and haven't stopped having these issues. So, I'm going to exchange the phone and get an HD2.
I've read up on all the forums about it, and I understand that WM is not the most intuitive/trouble free mobile OS out of the box, but I'm confident that I can tweak it enough to my liking and be happy with it. The HD2's magic hardware makes me think it'll be worth it.
I've tried all the phone platforms except WM up to this point, including Android, iPhone (all gens), blackberry OS, and WebOS.
My favorite is WebOS, but there's no hardware out there yet to make it worth it to use it. I've tried the Pre, and there are too many hardware issues, including the dreaded Oreo Twist, plus the battery life was absolutely horrible. It's smaller sister, the Pixi, is too underpowered and the screen is too small. However, the OS itself is a thing of magic. It works great, has tons of polish, is very intuitive (I never knew I needed a gesture area until I had one), and is very open to hacks and tweaks. When someone can put WebOS on the HD2 my mobile life will be complete, that is until the next best thing comes out. Maybe a 5 inch screen?
Anyway, getting back on track. I'm excited that I'll soon be joining all of the wondrous HD2 discussions once I have my almost tablet phone in my hands.
-Ashley
Good luck with your HD2 and welcome to the forums. My HD2 is my 8th WinMo device.... WinMo is the most versatile and customizable mobile os out there, but it does take some learning and tweaking to get it the way you want. After my Athena with a 5inch screen, I got spoiled and used to having a big screen. I had a raphael after that, but that screen was to small after having a 5" screen, so I'm happy to be back on a device with a big screen again. You definitely have trouble going back to a small screen after using devices with nice big screens.
Have fun.
Welcome to our little corner of xda Ashley....congratulations on your excellent taste in cutting-edge mobile electronics, and your uncommon wisdom in actually doing your research before spending your money. Wise choices for both of those
The only heads-up I could offer other than what you'll find (and have found) through careful reading here, is to be prepared for the step from a resistive screen to a capacitive one...that difference will have as much impact in your experience as the size of the screen does. It's not a bad thing, but I might suggest you start now getting used to having your thumb hover about 2mm higher above the screen than you're in the habit of now
Let us know if you run into anything daunting or confusing or just need suggestions.
Thanks everyone! Although I'm pretty sure the myTouch3G actually does use a capacitive touch screen, it's not nearly as responsive as I noticed the demo unit HD2's were.
ashykat said:
Thanks everyone! Although I'm pretty sure the myTouch3G actually does use a capacitive touch screen, it's not nearly as responsive as I noticed the demo unit HD2's were.
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Click to collapse
Correct...The MT3G does have a capacitive touch screen.
The screen on the HD2 is far too responsive IMO and most will agree...there is a program called BSB tweaks that you will want to put on your HD2 that allows your to do a lot of stuff that is not available in the default settings(decreasing the screen sensitivity is one of them).
I as well had a MT3G just before moving to the HD2, and while I still hold a special place in my heart for all of the old devices in my closet (Even my iPhones)...I couldnt see replacing my HD2 with anything that is currently on the market.
Wow, I honestly thought it was still resistive....it's easily the least capacitive-feeling screen I've ever played with lol
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto G6, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto G6 is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Got it activated first on Project Fi 3 days ago, for some reasons - I was "expecting" it to be a little bigger but it's just 2 clicks larger than the Nexus 5X getting traded in with the "generous" upgrade. For an entry/mid-range smartphone in 2018, I voted a 4 out of 5 (not that the absence of NFC or inability to use G.Pay is a make or break deal, I hardly use it & most places still do not accept it as mobile payment here in the US)
Dolby sound is very good, screen is bright & audio played via the speaker is fine - giving it a good workout as we hit the road today for a trip, more on the G6 later ... bootloader still locked at the moment.
Net cost to get this brand new G6 to me is about $120 after the trade-in, not really spend much more than paying someone to replace the old, tired & not as good 2.5 years old battery on the Nexus 5X, so I'm a little biased on this Lenovo/Motorola piece.
Letitride said:
Got it activated first on Project Fi 3 days ago, for some reasons - I was "expecting" it to be a little bigger but it's just 2 clicks larger than the Nexus 5X getting traded in with the "generous" upgrade. For an entry/mid-range smartphone in 2018, I voted a 4 out of 5 (not that the absence of NFC or inability to use G.Pay is a make or break deal, I hardly use it & most places still do not accept it as mobile payment here in the US)
Dolby sound is very good, screen is bright & audio played via the speaker is fine - giving it a good workout as we hit the road today for a trip, more on the G6 later ... bootloader still locked at the moment.
Net cost to get this brand new G6 to me is about $120 after the trade-in, not really spend much more than paying someone to replace the old, tired & not as good 2.5 years old battery on the Nexus 5X, so I'm a little biased on this Lenovo/Motorola piece.
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Click to collapse
Similar thoughts as you (also running the Project Fi version of the phone).
- Phone is smaller than I expected.
- Loving the thin bezels, looks much more premium than the actual cost to me ($200)
- I don't use NFC. Don't trust it, so the lack of NFC is not a big deal
- Battery life is good, front facing speaker loud, screen is bright and sharp
- Responsiveness is in line with what you would expect from a $300-400 phone IMO
- Nearly stock Android experience = CLUTCH
Agree with others. Coming from a 5X most everything is acceptable given the price. I was blown away by the speaker. BUT my biggest gripe is the cameras low light performance...its not good by any means, very grainy, colors are bad. Regular outdoor pics are good though. Also wouldve preferred for it to NOT have a glass back since im a klutz and guaranteed to break it.
Have had this phone a couple of weeks now. Got to say I like it a lot. Definitely a step up from my Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 that I had for 3 years. This is also the most expensive phone (about $250) I've had as I'm a cheap skate and no way I'm ever paying $400 plus for a phone. Just can't bring myself to do it. The price I paid for this phone is "high dollar" for me, lol. Still getting used to the new 18x9 screen. A part of me likes it and a part of me likes 16x9 better. Since pretty much all phones are going to this size, I guess I better get used to it. The new screen size almost feels like a "cheater" to me. Moved the menu icons inside screen and made the width smaller making keyboard in portrait view (which is the way I text) actually a little smaller than what I had. Taller view but most stuff you view in landscape has bars so I don't see the benefit to it yet. Most comments I read about it, people love it. Me not so much. Phone itself is very good. Performance is very good, screen resolution is very good, camera is very good, battery life is very good (especially compared to my Redmi Note 2 which was a battery sucker). I like Android 8 and Moto apps. Pretty much bloatware free, and is nice and snappy. Had to put a case on it (put a Spigen on it) cause the phone actually felt a little small in my hands. The case gave it a little more bulk and made it feel a lot better in my hand. Love the fingerprint scanner which to me is the coolest thing since sliced bread (yup I'm a dinosaur). To tell the truth I would probably still be using the Note 2 but it started acting up on me. Now since I got this one though, it pretty much blows away my old phone in every way possible which of course is a good thing since I spent the bucks for a new phone. All in all I'm pretty damned happy with this phone. About the only thing I could say I wished it was, was a bigger phone. I went from a 5.5" 16x9 screen to a 5.7" 18x9 screen and this feels smaller than the other one to me in my hands. In the 18x9 size, I wish a had like a 6" or 6.5" screen. That would give more width that I would like to have. The width on the 16x9 was actually about 1/4" wider than the18x9 one, which is actually a substantial difference when using a keyboard.
Deleted: Double post
MikeO89 said:
Have had this phone a couple of weeks now. Got to say I like it a lot. Definitely a step up from my Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 that I had for 3 years. This is also the most expensive phone (about $250) I've had as I'm a cheap skate and no way I'm ever paying $400 plus for a phone. Just can't bring myself to do it. The price I paid for this phone is "high dollar" for me, lol. Still getting used to the new 18x9 screen. A part of me likes it and a part of me likes 16x9 better. Since pretty much all phones are going to this size, I guess I better get used to it. The new screen size almost feels like a "cheater" to me. Moved the menu icons inside screen and made the width smaller making keyboard in portrait view (which is the way I text) actually a little smaller than what I had. Taller view but most stuff you view in landscape has bars so I don't see the benefit to it yet. Most comments I read about it, people love it. Me not so much. Phone itself is very good. Performance is very good, screen resolution is very good, camera is very good, battery life is very good (especially compared to my Redmi Note 2 which was a battery sucker). I like Android 8 and Moto apps. Pretty much bloatware free, and is nice and snappy. Had to put a case on it (put a Spigen on it) cause the phone actually felt a little small in my hands. The case gave it a little more bulk and made it feel a lot better in my hand. Love the fingerprint scanner which to me is the coolest thing since sliced bread (yup I'm a dinosaur). To tell the truth I would probably still be using the Note 2 but it started acting up on me. Now since I got this one though, it pretty much blows away my old phone in every way possible which of course is a good thing since I spent the bucks for a new phone. All in all I'm pretty damned happy with this phone. About the only thing I could say I wished it was, was a bigger phone. I went from a 5.5" 16x9 screen to a 5.7" 18x9 screen and this feels smaller than the other one to me in my hands. In the 18x9 size, I wish a had like a 6" or 6.5" screen. That would give more width that I would like to have. The width on the 16x9 was actually about 1/4" wider than the18x9 one, which is actually a substantial difference when using a keyboard.
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Click to collapse
Great post, MikeO89...
Love your enthusiasm for the G6. It pretty much echoes mine.
I paid £220 here in the UK for mine, and like yourself, it's really about as much as I want to pay for a phone these days. There's been a considerable amount of coverage over the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and certainly the specs do look pretty damn awesome, but at close to nearly a £1000, an eye-watering sum of money for me... well, I just couldn't envisage spending that amount, even if I had it. Maybe when I have the next winning Euromillions lottery ticket, I'll buy one or whatever flagship is out then, but until that auspicious and lucky day arrives, I'm more than happy with my Moto G6.
And which I bought to replace my ageing and battery-dying HTC One M8, which I paid £530 for back in 2014. I remember my Dad at the time saying in almost stunned and amazed disbelief "You want to spend how much on a phone??!!!" as though he'd not quite heard me correctly. Of course, I did try to explain that it was more of a personal pocket computer that just happens to have the ability to make phone calls. After I bought one and he saw it in action and began to understand the capabilities of it... well, he went out and bought one himself!
That was four years ago, and I'm a little bit more price conscious these days, so when my One M8's battery began to die earlier this year, I knew I needed a new phone.
Initially, I made the mistake of assuming that you needed to spend £600 or £700 on a phone to get a quality device. I'd been hearing about the Moto G series phones and the rave reviews they'd received around a year before, so when I heard about this years G6 release, I checked out all the reviews. My initial response was one of skepticism ~ how can a company like Lenovo release a phone with such great features at just a shade over £200 AND make a profit. Surely there's a catch, I mean there has to be, right? Wrong!
As it turns out, the Moto G6 is every bit as good as the reviews say it is. And you don't need to mortgage your soul to own one. I mean, where do I begin... fast turbo charging, really nice vibrant colourful screen, amazing battery life, Android 8 Oreo with next-to-no bloat, and fingerprint unlock. Yeah, I love fingerprint unlock. It's like your very own personal ON switch that nobody else can use, and no more playing join-the-dots and trying to remember which unlock pattern is correct for this device amongst the other devices (tablets) I own.
As for the size and aspect ratio, I love it. Coming from my old HTC One M8 which had an aspect of 16:9 and a resolution of 1080x1920...
...to the Moto G6 with an aspect of 18:9 (Rhetorical question: why isn't it just simply called 2:1) and resolution of 1080x2160, which my calculations reveal to be a 12.5% increase based on number of pixels alone. It is a sort of a cheat, but I feel in a good way. I now have a phone that doesn't feel significantly bigger than my One M8, because the width has stayed the same, but the height has increased, but not by that much when you 'add-on' the One M8's speakers at the top and bottom, but the actual screen size increase on the G6 is quite noticeable.
I use Nova Launcher, and I like tinkering around with Themes, Icon Packs, Wallpapers and Layouts and with the increase vertically, I now have more layout options for things like icons and widgets, because there's an extra couple of rows on the Nova desktop. And 5.7 inches feels about right to me. I'm not sure I would feel comfortable handling something like a 6 inch or larger device. If I can, I like to operate my phone one-handed and the bigger these things get, the more difficult one-handed operation becomes.
I do take your point about black bars in landscape mode though, particularly if you're watching video content, most of which tends to be shot in 16:9 aspect. This doesn't overly bother me really, because I generally don't watch a lot of stuff on my phone anyway. And when I do, I just sort of ignore the black bars. I watch a lot of old films and TV dramas on my TV back when things were shot in 4:3 aspect, and I just got used to seeing left and right black bars on my TV, so on my phone it's really not an issue for me.
I guess we can quibble about the shortcomings of the G6 ~ for example, the one thing I do miss is the left and right stereo HTC BoomSound front facing speakers that provided great quality audio on my old One M8. On the G6 there's only a single mono speaker - it sounds pretty good, but I miss the stereo - gotta dig out my headphones now if I want stereo. Great that there's an old fashioned 3.5mm audio socket on it for me to use my headphones. Won't get that an some £1000 flagships! I jest of course; I'm not having a pop at flagship devices, I'm just amused by the irony of it.
So, on the whole, minor quibbles aside, the Moto G6 is a pretty amazing phone for such a great price. It performs brilliantly and looks great. The Gorilla Glass back adds a touch of class to the device, although it can feel a little bit slippery at times. When I first got it, I had unpleasant visions of it sliding out of my hand and crashing to the concrete outside and cracking all that beautiful glass (the horror, the horror!), so I have now ensconced it in the protective embrace of a Spigen case, which actually looks quite good, and feels good in the hand too.
Well, that pretty much says it all really. A great phone at a great price. Can't really say much more than that... Well, I could, but then I'd be here all night typing superlatives and this post would just go on and on and on and on, etc., etc. and etc.
Ged.
its not the fastest device but for a budget device I really like it.
Overall probably the best bang for your buck if your looking at carrier specific devices. Came from a Galaxy S7 which I kinda went swimming with. I'm loving the 18:9 screen. I do notice the occasional hiccup when multitasking, but the battery life is on another level compared to my old S7.
Love my North American unlocked G6! Great value for the money. The battery life is fine, but I suggest using a browser for some of your social media, if you want to get plenty of power for a day of use.
I've already gotten direct looks at my phone from other people, and some folks can't believe I paid less than $300 for it. Glad I chose the oyster finish vs deep indigo. I do have a case on it, as the glass back is known to crack easily if the phone falls hard on the ground. My B&H order came with a free frosted silicone case, and tempered glass for the screen. Perfect!
Coming from U11 life, this phone seems better.
VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling work out of the box with T-Mobile
Rather loud speaker
I think 2:1 screen is OK
It looks like plain Android
Cam looks OK under low light
Decent reception with B12
It's fast like 6xx processor.
Adjustable screen tint
I am satisfied with the phone for the price.
Cool looking..
I've manageg to buy mine G6 for 129EUR, for that price it's best device I could choose.
Great phone for ~$100 now on eBay that's still getting security updates.
Pros:
+ $100 now on eBay for like-new condition
+ Almost pure stock Android, very little bloat and what is there I actually use (chop twice for flashlight, etc). Very stable.
+ Great band support, unlocked XT1925-6 will work on any US carrier, only missing bands 14, 46, and 71.
+ 3gb RAM is plenty sufficient to keep about three resource-heavy apps active at once.
+ Camera is decent enough and about what you'd expect from a phone in this price range.
+ You can adjust DPI under developer options, which makes content on phone appear larger/smaller so you can fit more on-screen. Very handy.
Cons:
- SD450 is an obvious bottleneck in resource-heavy apps, expect sporadic lag if you're playing PUBGM or running a browser with ten tabs open.
- Battery life could be better, usually end the day around 20% with moderate use. Not bad, but not great either.
If this had a SD600 series and a slightly larger battery it'd easily be 5*. For $100 bucks though it's hard to be upset with it.
Well I found the first problem with this phone. I can't get it to recognize an external microphone to record with the camera. I plugged in an external mic I had (3.5mm with 4 pin plug) and at first thought it was working as I made a couple of videos. Then I noticed in the videos that the sound would go up and down through the video. As I later found out, the volume was going up and down each time I would walk away from the phone while recording being the external mic had a 6 ft cord on it. I then actually tested the external mic this time (like I should have from the beginning) and found out the whole time it was still recording with the onboard mic even with external mic plugged in. The G6 was just ignoring it as a microphone and treating it as a headphone. So now I'm stymied. The onboard mic works well enough but I really wanted to have an external mic if I wanted it. I can hardly find any info on this whole external mic vs onboard mic thing with cellphones. Still like this phone and plan on having it for quite some time but a little bummed about this latest development.
OK, doing a follow up post to the one above concerning the issue with G6 not recognizing external mic when making a video. I had about given up on this and I had been searching like crazy about it. With my lack on finding anyone having similar issues like this, I was starting to think I'm the only one who is trying to use an external mic with this phone to make videos. I thought maybe is was just a jack issue so I then tried same external mic with my voice recorder app. With that app the external mic was working. Now I knew it wasn't the jack. I then installed "Open Camera" from the Google Play Store. There was actually a setting in video settings to select an external mic for recording. I then went ahead and made another video using the external mic and what do you know it worked perfect! One other setting that I'm excited about so far in Open Camera is the video stabilization setting. I don't have the steadiest hands and always had to use a tripod or my videos would come out like being on a boat. Made one with that setting on and it kept the video still as I was shooting it. It made me look like my shake was gone (wish it really was). This Open Camera app just kicks the living **** out of the Moto G6 stock camera app! Sure glad I tried it.
Got one on Motorola promo for $100. Very nice inexpensive backup phone!