Samsung Galaxy S2 review (first impressions) from point of view of Xperia X10 user - XPERIA X10 General

[LONG POST WARNING ]
there might be some typos and some unintentional things (tone of writing this may be)... I do not mean to offend any one... u can consider the following as a random blog post not targetting anyone
please dont laugh.. i am not good at these kind of things...
Ok now before u start flaming and start fanboy-wars on this, I suggest that u read the full content…
I AM NOT A SE FANBOY!
I have tried to provide an unbiased review of Samsung Galaxy S2 from point of view of a Xperia X10 user/android user… oh btw I am writing this considering that u use custom kernels on X10!
Some background… I have primarily used Symbain phones for almost 4-5 yrs… just last year I bought my first android phone the Xperia X10! Since then I have bought many androids for myself, my friends & family… I have personally used Motorola Milestone, SE Xperia Arc, LG Optimus One and now just last week I got the Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGS2)…
this will be sort of comparison between SGS2 and X10 and my personal opinion regrading both these devices as they CURRENTLY stand
[ THE SPECS ]
The SGS2 is a beast!
The most significant difference is the screen… Super AMOLED PLUS which quite frankly is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY I have EVER USED! It just blows away the LCD/LED displays (compared to X10 which has LCD display) Now before some ppl catch my throat saying that “colors are not ‘natural’” let me share with u that there is a setting provided by Samsung called “Background Effect” which basically can allow u to adjust the saturation & contrast of the images on screen! For the “natural color” minded folks u can use the “movie” option… others can enjoy the “Standard” or better “Dynamic” options…
It has 4.3’’ screen which is slightly bulky in hand and little bit hard to grip (compared to X10 which has 4’’ screen) frankly the difference is only noticeable if u are watching videos…
It has 1.2 Ghz dual core ARM-9 chips (compared to X10 single core 1 Ghz Arm-8 chip)
very powerful dedicated GPU [Mali-400] which will handle any of the latest games u can throw at it! (compared to Adreno 200 on X10)
sgs2 has 836 MB User accessible RAM (compared to 280 MB on X10)
The internal memory is eMMC so there is actually an microSD card used for system, data, etc… so the actual usable /data partition is 2GB!!!! (compared to 465MB on X10)
Also the internal sdcard has 12 GB free space [I have the SGS2 16GB version] AND there is room for additional external SDCARD!!! (compared to 8GB supplied by SE for X10)
SGS2 supports simultaneous 10 point finger recognition! Take that multi touch games!
SGS2 has lots cool features like HDMI output/USB On-the-GO [but u will need to buy these adapter/cables separately]
Front facing camera and fullHD (1920x1080p) recording are few other perks (x10 can do 720p recording)
SGS2 has 1650 mAh battery compared to 1500 mAh of X10
SGS2 has HSPA+ (21 Megabit/sec) compared to HSDPA (7.2 Megabit/sec) on X10
And ofcourse SGS2 comes with unlocked bootloader (there is a thing called download-mode binary counter which keeps a tab on how many time u flashed using the flashing tool ODIN, though this can be reset using a hack )
[ ACTUAL USAGE ]
SGS2 just comfortably cruises thru menus/etc… no lag whtsoever... menu scrolling/web browsing anything u throw at it SGS2 will just devastate it
Using live wallpaers, having 10 tabs open in browser, multitasking with a game running in the background and then scrolling thru menus it doesn’t LAG!
[ THE GOODIES ]
Ok now comes the dev aspect, with SGS2 being adapted by so many users/devs, within just 2 months of release, there are already tons of ROMs/Kernels/themes/etc…
U have the freedom to choose overclock/undervolt/overvolt kernels… there are even apps to control voltage of every frequency set! U can overclock/regulate the GPU too! Some guys over at SGS2 forums run it at 1.9Ghz without a hitch! (compared to X10 which only is able to handle 1.1 Ghz overclock)
btw this doesnt mean that i dont respect/honor our devs here at X10 sub-forums... i have a HUGE respect for them and all that they have achieved and are currently doing/working on... they have done / are doing a great job to make our terribly limited device (cause of manufacturer policies) awesome & rocking
[ THE BAD / UGLY ]
Ok the screen resolution on SGS2 is really bad... I mean seriously, a 4.3’’ screen deserves 960×540 (qHD) resolution not 800x480… sure u can change dpi but then that’s NOT TRULY changing resolution…
There is no hardware camera button! It is very funny but seriously I miss the camera button…
when will they get good XENON flash in top end android devices? i really miss the xenon flash from my old Nokia N82
another problem is that there is NO LED FOR NOTIFICATIONS
A lot of defective display units are there… I myself had this problem and had to get it replaced with a new piece… also many users at SGS2 forums have reported this…
Device heats up even using stock FW… I was playing Modern Combat 2 for 15-20 mins and I could feel the back of the device getting really warm…
NOW THE BIGGEST ISSUE there are not many apps currently available which can make use of dual core processors… may be multi-threaded/multi-core optimized apps will take time to get in but currently not many apps can make use of this…
[ MY VIEWS ]
Now from this point forward are my personal views/opinions... I am not telling u to do something… this is just wht I personally feel… if u wish u can read this whole thing and say “wht a bunch of crap… he doenst know wht he is talking abt” I don’t mind that, those are ur views these are mine
The final decision if u want to buy a new phone ALWAYS is with YOU AND YOU ONLY!
As I said before SGS2 is a great device but there are some thing to consider before u UPGRADE… keep in mind that the following views/opinions are only valid if u are upgrading from an X10 to a SGS2… if u are upgrading from sub-1Ghz phone then this will not matter...
I wouldn’t call an upgrade from X10 to SGS2 a BIG GAME CHANGING thing… there is not much difference in 4.3’’ and 4’’ screen sizes… also if u have been using custom kernels on X10 (fps uncapped /overclocked) then SGS2 feels slightly smoother… the screen/image quality is obviously better on the SGS2... But honestly 16million colors (SGS2) vs 65k colors (x10) is not that great a difference, it is only noticeable in some images/videos which have heavy gradation…
The big issues is that currently there are not many apps that can use this much power… then there is the practical issue… see u can play games/overclock/etc for some time BUT most of the time (>80%) u will be running the device @ 800Mhz to 200 Mhz (lowest speed which can be set)…
Though if u are upgrading from a 600Mhz phone (with < 3.5’’ screen size) then SGS2 is a TOTALLY different experience…
One thing to keep in mind currently most of the issues faced by us X10 users (like camera not fully working in 2.2+ custom roms, stability of custom kernels) are related to the restrictions imposed by SE… thing may improve once we get the GB update…
[ FINAL REMARKS ]
So keeping all of the above in mind here are my recommendations
Why u shouldn’t jump to dual-core bandwagon? (AS OF NOW)
If you still have a few months left on you contract and if u don’t mind a few sec delay/slight lag I recommend that u WAIT FOR NEXT generation phone… I am not talking about quad core/etc… frankly CURRENTLY there is just no point for a 2+ core phone… even 2 cores is an overkill! What I suggest is that u wait for next gen technology (28nm fabrication) which will greatly improve battery life… hold on till the apps/games can actually make use of the tremendous processing power packed into today’s dual core phones…
Who should go for this upgrade?
u just liked it
u are upgrading for < 1Ghz phones
u have the money and don’t mind spending that much for the BEST PHONE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
u are a POWER USER and do heavy multitasking, need to play latest games at max frame rate
u want an additional phone to use (like me )
u are stuck on X10 stock 2.1 rom and don’t want to install custom roms/kernels
u are totally frustrated with the X10 and don’t want to wait for GB upgrade
why currently u shouldn’t “upgrade” to any other single core phone?
See single core phones are already very old hardware… there is no point spending so much money on a single core phone which will be outdated in next 6 to 8 months (tops)…
Instead wait for a few more months and then get a dual core phone
I hope u guys appreciate this and it helps those who are currently planning to u buy a new phone…
P.S.: I hope u have noticed that I keep saying CURRENTLY, cause all that I have psoted above (my views/opinions) is only valid for things UPTO THIS POINT (July 8, 2011 01:00 AM GMT+05:30)… technology is an every changing thing and wht is best today wont be the best (or even good) tomorrow!

WOW, nice...thanks for the review! I myself own a X10 but the current news of GB 2.3.3 & unlocked bootloader is really awesome!
Enjoy your S2 buddy

I tried a SGS2 couple of days back and only one thing annoyed me the most. The home button takes ages to wake the phone up from sleep. I know it is nothing but it annoyed me a lot Apart from that nothing to complain. I will surely get it once I can go to store
Sent from my X10i

realunited123 said:
I tried a SGS2 couple of days back and only one thing annoyed me the most. The home button takes ages to wake the phone up from sleep. I know it is nothing but it annoyed me a lot Apart from that nothing to complain. I will surely get it once I can go to store
Sent from my X10i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i disabled home screen waking it was getting annoying... better to use power button to lock/unlock device...

load of c**p!
a) dual core is using more battery than single core.
b) dual core price is much larger than single core + no full usage of dualcore.
c) single core processors won't be outdated. NEVER! Why? For example in Croatia
i payed like half my pay for year old X10 and my pay is like 600 usd per month, imagine how much would cost dual core?
Conclusion dual-core is for gamer freaks... / ppl that don't get that "lag" here or there is normal thing from pc to smart phone...
Find me one pc / phone that has never had any lag in any game / program and i will ... something with stone ...
But review is ..... long and detailed ..... and very usefull! Thanks!

Very nice and thorough review, thanks a lot!
Turns out that those were exactly my thoughts too. My cousin bought the SGS 2 and even though it feels great in use, I want to wait another year, save some serious money and buy the top phone available then.
Xperia X10i via Tapatalk

DooMLoRD said:
i disabled home screen waking it was getting annoying... better to use power button to lock/unlock device...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hence another problem of pressing volume button instead of power. I had it for a day and a half to play with it. BTW was it just me or it gives an alarm that battery is full!?? Dunno why Samsung made it that way.
Sent from my X10i

aZuZu said:
load of c**p!
a) dual core is using more battery than single core.
b) dual core price is much larger than single core + no full usage of dualcore.
c) single core processors won't be outdated. NEVER! Why? For example in Croatia
i payed like half my pay for year old X10 and my pay is like 600 usd per month, imagine how much would cost dual core?
Conclusion dual-core is for gamer freaks... / ppl that don't get that "lag" here or there is normal thing from pc to smart phone...
Find me one pc / phone that has never had any lag in any game / program and i will ... something with stone ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree with u on some aspects BUT here is some info if u didnt already know...
dual core doenst use more battery... it only kicks in after certain speeds... so if u are idling (say 500mhz/200mhz) then only single core is active... only when u need more processing the other core (s) get active... something similar to turbo boost but the other way
My_Immortal said:
Very nice and thorough review, thanks a lot!
Turns out that those were exactly my thoughts too. My cousin bought the SGS 2 and even though it feels great in use, I want to wait another year, save some serious money and buy the top phone available then.
Xperia X10i via Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great decision! till then the android market will have sufficient apps to make use of that much power...
OH BTW currently andorid doesn't native-ly support gpu based screen/UI/framework acceleration...
realunited123 said:
Hence another problem of pressing volume button instead of power. I had it for a day and a half to play with it. BTW was it just me or it gives an alarm that battery is full!?? Dunno why Samsung made it that way.
Sent from my X10i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know! its damn annoying... pulser_g2 has a dev thread going on regarding that!

What I find absolutely stupid about Android as a whole is, that you need a frigging dualcore phone to run it smooth 'ala iOS. I mean smooth as in the UI running at a constant framerate without any dips at all. That was the only reason I was looking up to Apple's devices for a while.
Then SGS2 happened. Now I know what my next phone is.

Thanks for this great review...all i can said is that you are perfectly right about dual core phones advantages! have you already tried to compare arc display with sgs2 one?and how much better is arc compared to x10? thanks doom..nice work!
Cheers
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

ooidort said:
What I find absolutely stupid about Android as a whole is, that you need a frigging dualcore phone to run it smooth 'ala iOS. I mean smooth as in the UI running at a constant framerate without any dips at all. That was the only reason I was looking up to Apple's devices for a while.
Then SGS2 happened. Now I know what my next phone is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the problem is that iOS supports gpu based acceleration of UI! which android doesnt! android depends completely on CPU for UI rendering which causes this lag... u can check even on HC this is a problem... BUT once the gpu acceleration based apis are in place then OH MAN will these things fly!
djkekko89 said:
Thanks for this great review...all i can said is that you are perfectly right about dual core phones advantages! have you already tried to compare arc display with sgs2 one?and how much better is arc compared to x10? thanks doom..nice work!
Cheers
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes dude i have compared X10 / Arc / SGS2 display... wanted to compare with iPhone4 and SGS1 but couldnt get hold of those devices...
let me put it plainly SGS2 display IS THE BEST U CURRENTLY CAN HAVE...
the colors are much better on SGS2 display (again this is personal preference)...

DooMLoRD said:
well the problem is that iOS supports gpu based acceleration of UI! which android doesnt! android depends completely on CPU for UI rendering which causes this lag... u can check even on HC this is a problem... BUT once the gpu acceleration based apis are in place then OH MAN will these things fly!
yes dude i have compared X10 / Arc / SGS2 display... wanted to compare with iPhone4 and SGS1 but couldnt get hold of those devices...
let me put it plainly SGS2 display IS THE BEST U CURRENTLY CAN HAVE...
the colors are much better on SGS2 display (again this is personal preference)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So..the only way to have the better screen is super amoled??cause if you want the best phone you need this kind of screen but it is made only by few manufactures..like samsung and some htc..so there not much choise!
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

djkekko89 said:
So..the only way to have the better screen is super amoled??cause if you want the best phone you need this kind of screen but it is made only by few manufactures..like samsung and some htc..so there not much choise!
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see thats the thing... its not the case that Super AMOLED is the best...
its more on personal preference... w.r.t. display u can ur self check out SGS1, Nokia N8, SGS2, Arc, HTC Sensation...

Very nice review, i'd love to buy the sgs 2 too but the price is just tooo big

a2ha said:
Very nice review, i'd love to buy the sgs 2 too but the price is just tooo big
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just wait for a few months (2-3) till then the prices would go down by 15-20%... also that will be time then next gen processors hit the market...
@all
almost forgot... another issue of SGS2...
NO LED FOR NOTIFICATIONS

Also I heard the camera is not as good as Arc's? Atleast it records video in 1080p though

Well SE in hardware is always in time of the needs if you can see arc was the best smart phone in 2011 above SGS2 and now there is a dual core xperia smartphone on the target but of course it will come when the software is totally ready for that i would like to see the xperia duo

ooidort said:
What I find absolutely stupid about Android as a whole is, that you need a frigging dualcore phone to run it smooth 'ala iOS. I mean smooth as in the UI running at a constant framerate without any dips at all. That was the only reason I was looking up to Apple's devices for a while.
Then SGS2 happened. Now I know what my next phone is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ios runs smoothly because it's a much simpler platform than android. If apple ever get the balls to revamp their os to support homescreens and widgets, I am pretty sure the performance would dip significantly.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

pngface said:
Also I heard the camera is not as good as Arc's? Atleast it records video in 1080p though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took some photos with the SGS II and the quality was superb.
Lightning conditions were not good, but still there was very little noise,
the picture was sharp and the colors vivid.
Only thing is, there was some short of pink hue in the corners of the picture.
I don't know if that's the case for this phone, or that one was faulty.
Also, the flash is VERY BRIGHT!!!!!!
What do you think about the camera Doom?

[ THE BAD / UGLY ]
Ok the screen resolution on SGS2 is really bad... I mean seriously, a 4.3’’ screen deserves 960×540 (qHD) resolution not 800x480… sure u can change dpi but then that’s NOT TRULY changing resolution…
There is no hardware camera button! It is very funny but seriously I miss the camera button…
when will they get good XENON flash in top end android devices? i really miss the xenon flash from my old Nokia N82
another problem is that there is NO LED FOR NOTIFICATIONS
A lot of defective display units are there… I myself had this problem and had to get it replaced with a new piece… also many users at SGS2 forums have reported this…
Device heats up even using stock FW… I was playing Modern Combat 2 for 15-20 mins and I could feel the back of the device getting really warm…
NOW THE BIGGEST ISSUE there are not many apps currently available which can make use of dual core processors… may be multi-threaded/multi-core optimized apps will take time to get in but currently not many apps can make use of this…
Nice review, but these things made me happy that I haven't bought a SGS2 yet!! I would miss the camera button, led, and especially devective unit which are much of them... Very much... Great phone, but lacks of the most standard functions of a smartphone... Maybe that's why the phone is so thin... Also I've heard from many SGS2 users that there is a some kind of yellow shine on the left side of the screen. Super phone, but little things that aren't worth for this price... It's a smart choise from me to wait till any quad-core phone, and I really hope there will come a very sexy Nexus Quad-core phone. Camera is also nice, but for real recording get a camcorder LOL.
Before fanboys start screaming at me, PHONE IS GREAT but just these things...
And DooM, don't let our negative things/or things the x10 has but SGS2 not have spoil the fun. Enjoy your new super phone!
EDIT:
Doom, you also talked about higher resolution. Well, that's not possible on AMOLED screens. They can only support up to what the SGS2 now has...

Related

X10 vs desire vs galaxy s

Hello guys I wana knkw which is better . Cuz when I post on desire forum x10 vs desire they all were x10 sux and stuff and and I also post x10 vs.vibrant they said the vibrant is better im trying to collect some info cuz im buying eithrr desire or galaxy s on monday orr should I keep the x10 and wait for 2.1 cuz I dont like the 1.6 and its been almost forever still no 2.1 on x10 I wonder if 2.1 will be available how nice x10 will be I just cant imagine it . So plz help me guys n wht u think and also would 2.1 would it.bring camera flash?
First of all 2.1 isn't going bring camera flash.. that's hardware related, and second why did you buy x10, when you knew it had 1.6 on it?
Flash:
Download Vignette from the market.
X10 vs Galaxy:
My mate bight a galaxy S two weeks ago and is already sending it in for replacement.
1.6 vs 2.1:
If you can't wait a few more weeks, then I highly doubt you'll be keeping either of those phones because of the compulsive need to always upgrade. Kinda defeats the purpose, really.
Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk
HTC fan, he bought the X10 probably because the Desire and the Galaxy S were announced for Canada only recently.
If you can get the Galaxy S for only slightly more than the X10, then I recommend it even though I'm an X10 owner and fan. The Hummingbird CPU, extra RAM, 8Gb onboard ROM, S-AMOLED screen, 2.1 (with 2.2 coming in September) make it superior to the X10. Sorry, but that's the truth.
As for the Desire, I would stay with the X10.
P.S. before I get flamed, I have no intention of moving to the Galaxy S.
^ 100% Agree.
Yea when 2.1 comes to the X10 all our problems will be over. I wont even have to work anymore probably. It will be such an amazing thing that if I were to accidentally drop my phone from 40 Ft. it will bounce right back into my pocket (unharmed). I am so tired of ppl *****ing about 1.6 vs 2.1/2.2. Get the FU** over it already. There are so many more things in the world to be concerned with. Just my opinion though.
@htc fan89 i bought my x10 3 months ago i didnt had knowledge of android or what 1.6 was. i can wait 3 weeks or whatever but is it official that its coming this month or its just people saying it .
I'm just tried of people crying for 2.1...that's all
applebook said:
HTC fan, he bought the X10 probably because the Desire and the Galaxy S were announced for Canada only recently.
If you can get the Galaxy S for only slightly more than the X10, then I recommend it even though I'm an X10 owner and fan. The Hummingbird CPU, extra RAM, 8Gb onboard ROM, S-AMOLED screen, 2.1 (with 2.2 coming in September) make it superior to the X10. Sorry, but that's the truth.
As for the Desire, I would stay with the X10.
P.S. before I get flamed, I have no intention of moving to the Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nicely put
We're always going to have the need to upgrade to the latest android smartphone just to get the full potential. It's a never ending cycle, and unfortunately I'm a victim. I think I will stick with the Xperia X10 since I've gone through so much with it and although it is my 5th Android phone, I've learned most about Android capabilities from the X10. It's a good phone, I'm sure in a few months something awesome will come in Canada and we all going to want it. I've tried selling my phone but the resell value is just ridiculous. I'll be sticking with the X10, even though I love Super AMOLED. I want to be around when the bootloader gets cracked.
What is the resale value of X10?
I'm not going to do it anyway ... i'm just curious.
My next will be one of those dual core smartphones which most likely will be launched next summer
And if we don't get dualcore, at least we will have 1.5Ghz
Resale is about $300 cdn if that. Theres tonnes of them up on kijiji and craigslist.
Sent from my X10a using XDA App
tuxStyle said:
What is the resale value of X10?
I'm not going to do it anyway ... i'm just curious.
My next will be one of those dual core smartphones which most likely will be launched next summer
And if we don't get dualcore, at least we will have 1.5Ghz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol dual core would be LEGENDARY
trojjanhorse said:
lol dual core would be LEGENDARY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not entirely sure about that. First thing is that it would drain the battery a lot more. Secondly it's not really needed for the most part.
We already have DSPs and dedicated chips that handles much of the heavy lifting like sound, video, graphics etc. Unless you're doing _heavy_ multitasking on your phone the performance increase would be minimal. And given that Android is pretty good at allocating resources you'd probably be better off with more RAM in the future rather than a new CPU.
ddewbofh said:
Not entirely sure about that. First thing is that it would drain the battery a lot more. Secondly it's not really needed for the most part.
We already have DSPs and dedicated chips that handles much of the heavy lifting like sound, video, graphics etc. Unless you're doing _heavy_ multitasking on your phone the performance increase would be minimal. And given that Android is pretty good at allocating resources you'd probably be better off with more RAM in the future rather than a new CPU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take whatever I can. I'm just commenting on the advancements being accomplished w/ smartphones.
trojjanhorse said:
I'll take whatever I can. I'm just commenting on the advancements being accomplished w/ smartphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm interested in the deverlopment as well. I think we're going to see a period of increased power, much like the Ghz wars of the past ten years. After that we're probably going to see more effort being put into better battery-life and increased portability. Much like Laptops are becoming the norm for computers I think Smartphones (or rather their descendants) are going to replace Laptops as the daily computing platform.
A major part of todays interweb users could probably switch from using computers to smartphones without losing any functionality. Just attach a larger screen and a bluetooth keyboard and you can Facebook, mail, surf the web, watch youtube, play casual games and enjoy media.
devilleather said:
Yea when 2.1 comes to the X10 all our problems will be over. I wont even have to work anymore probably. It will be such an amazing thing that if I were to accidentally drop my phone from 40 Ft. it will bounce right back into my pocket (unharmed). I am so tired of ppl *****ing about 1.6 vs 2.1/2.2. Get the FU** over it already. There are so many more things in the world to be concerned with. Just my opinion though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you got me all excited about this boomerang bouncy ball feature, then i realised that you were being sarcastic... devo
fk the x10 i should have waitied for something better. i just got a decent deal at the time.
For all the top end android phones this just doesnt come close. The ram is below spec for v 3. and no dam multi touch... I thought my T28 was my last SE and I gave them i more chance with this. If i had the choice again i would have got the desire no doubt about it....
just hoping when they crack this thing it will be more worth while.... strongly doubt it.....
mootmaina said:
fk the x10 i should have waitied for something better. i just got a decent deal at the time.
For all the top end android phones this just doesnt come close. The ram is below spec for v 3. and no dam multi touch... I thought my T28 was my last SE and I gave them i more chance with this. If i had the choice again i would have got the desire no doubt about it....
just hoping when they crack this thing it will be more worth while.... strongly doubt it.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hang on, below spec for version 3? You're whining over a recommendation, not requirement, for an OS update that will come out six months after the device was released? Sheesh, some people really need to learn how to have realistic expectations.
fair enough of the v 3 "requirement" RAM is still well below the others anyway ... what really is so good about this phone? timescape... not a chance... mediascape umm.... screen, a little bigger but not a OLED or anything super.... in call volume is terrible.... outdated software and **** support.
X10 isnt top and thats all there is to it! however... coming from 6.5win this still kicks its ass.
mootmaina said:
fair enough of the v 3 "requirement" RAM is still well below the others anyway ... what really is so good about this phone? timescape... not a chance... mediascape umm.... screen, a little bigger but not a OLED or anything super.... in call volume is terrible.... outdated software and **** support.
X10 isnt top and thats all there is to it! however... coming from 6.5win this still kicks its ass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The support being **** isn't really fair, we've had more than one update every month that fixes a lot of issues so the support isn't bad. The outdated software has a point but the OS shipped with the phone is being updated and we're going to see a new OS in a matter of weeks.
OLED? I can go on for pages about it but I'll just mention two points. Sunlight and bad resolution.
It's totally crap in sunlight, even more so than any other screen I've experienced. I've tried to use the Desire in sunlight but even max brightness and shading it with my hand didn't help.
The resolution is crap. Period. Not only does it have a effective lower resolution when you use it compared to counting the actual pixels but it also makes text and high contrast graphics really blurry. If you have an oled display nearby I invite you to look closely at black text on white background on both it and a tft display and compare them. Even though the difference is smaller when look at from a distance many have complained that the difference, even though hard to notice from a distance, gives them headaches.
For me brighter colours don't make up for crap resolution. I'll gladly take fewer colors if it means that I can read on it and use it outdoors.

Christmas miracle :')

Two days ago operator made me an offer of any smartphone for free, I narrowed it down to the most expensive hehe: Iphone 4, Desire HD or a sgs and don't know which to buy. This is a once time deal I can't wait for dual cores and whatever else comes out next year I need to reach a decision this week.
What should I buy? I have seen and used all OSs . The only thing I like about the ios is the app store, I generally dislike Apple and Idrones.
I'm relatively tech savvy (in the non-douchy kinda way xD
Except some minor annoyances here and there I love android. Can any one give some advice? Thx and ho ho ho
iPhones kinda nice but not as much for the geek in you.
HD Desire ??
SGS awesome phone. Too bad they're blowing up left right and center.
Android app store is choke full of goodies and I've found cool stuff my bro can't get on his iphone4
Imo the SGS, the screen is just beautiful and the processor is a monster compared to the Desire HD and iPhone 4 is just not my cup of tea.
SGS will most likely be more optimised after Nexus S is release, I realy think it's already fast and powerfull, and it will only get better!
Camera is amazing and Night mode is franckly pretty amazing, you'd get more than what you can see!
HD Videos is pretty good also!
Sync is all with your GMail account, so pretty simple and straight forward. You can sync your outlook with GMail if needed.
And if you need to access the files on the device, the USB can be mounted so it's pretty fast to transfer things.
Only down I can see on the SGS is the "sometime" flawing GPS, not all the time but can be anoying sometimes :|
Videonut said:
SGS awesome phone. Too bad they're blowing up left right and center.
4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Say whaat?
I think you should go for the Desire HD. It's got 768 MB of RAM vs. the 340 MB available (out of a claimed 512 MB) on the SGS. And it's got a bigger screen, almost an equally powerful processor, very snappy, and it's already got 2.3 Gingerbread.
If you need a powerhouse for games, SGS is the way to go though. Nothing matches it's GPU at the moment.
ed10000 said:
I think you should go for the Desire HD. It's got 768 MB of RAM vs. the 340 MB available (out of a claimed 512 MB) on the SGS. And it's got a bigger screen, almost an equally powerful processor, very snappy, and it's already got 2.3 Gingerbread.
If you need a powerhouse for games, SGS is the way to go though. Nothing matches it's GPU at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but i hear the battery wont hold me the entire day thats kinda important for me
and how does it have gingerbread ? the nexus s isnt even out yet i assume its just ripped from the emulator
calexus1182 said:
Say whaat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The internal SDCards are crapping out...
hmmm isnt that becouse of the ****ty samsung filesystem and/or bad kernel
and should i be concerned about only 339 ram?
Buy the iPhone 4, sell it for $600-$800 off contract, buy whatever phone you want. Personally I'd says Desire HD simply because Sense is much better than Touchwiz and it has the Sense.com features (free remote wipe, GPS tracking, text through phone through website, etc). However, the battery is kind of weak so I'd recommend a bigger one if you can find one.
calexus1182 said:
but i hear the battery wont hold me the entire day thats kinda important for me
and how does it have gingerbread ? the nexus s isnt even out yet i assume its just ripped from the emulator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They ported it from Nexus One to Evo, and Desire HD is basically a variant of Evo
Damm I'm more confused now than when I started...
Iphone: don't really like how it feels in my hand, really small screen, absolutely no customization whatsoever.
good things: apps, no major bugs and better shades of blue lol.
Desire HD: seems to have the worst hardware out of the three (cpu and gpu) piece if crap battery, seems if it falls once is over, ****ty battery and sim cover and imo the camera that sticks out like the evo is really effing ugly
Good things: most ram out of the three, htcsense.com, biggest screen (preferences but I think 4" is perfect)
SGS: plagued by software bugs apparently, random data corruption, no flash, needs most tweaking out of the box
Good things: best screen cpu & gpu, the nexus s is almost the same phone which means better development porting the works(here's hoping) and best battery life
By comparison seems that the sgs wins overall categories
Its easy. If you want the best smartphone the its sgs.
Iphone is not as good many say.
I did have one and i did sell it.
Iphone has more good games. That's the only good with it.
The rest is much better with sgs.
HD phone is not better either.
It has more serious flaw then both sgs and iphone together.
Sgs is a powerhouse and it got the best screen of all phones.
Sure sgs can be laggy out of the box, but that is easy to fix.
So right now there is not a phone that's has anything to compete with.
The sgs will win it all the time.
**Using my own JPU kernel, z4mod, 339MB Ram and ext2 filesystem**
My father has an iphone3g and my uncle has the iphone 4 I jailbreaked it for him honestly I wasn't that impressed with the phone. The only thing I like about it is the apps mainly the games are much more refined than on android phones
Also why has the sgs only have 340ram ? On every page I looked it says 512. Will that bite us on the ass later I mean the dhd almost has 800 and phones are moving on 1gb .are you telling me the sgs has as much ram as my old ass hero?
calexus said:
Also why has the sgs only have 340ram ? On every page I looked it says 512. Will that bite us on the ass later I mean the dhd almost has 800 and phones are moving on 1gb .are you telling me the sgs has as much ram as my old ass hero?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does use a 512MB chip, but only ~340MB of it is visible after you're booted up. Out of the other ~172MB, there's around 40MB that's unaccounted for (we don't know where its being used) and the rest of it is "reserved" (even when the functions it's reserved for are not in use) for stuff like video playback, 3G calling etc.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I'd have to say i agree with Product F(RED)
Desire HD is the best phone on the list IMHO. But getting the ipoop and selling on will mean you can get the HD desire and still have some cash in your pocket
sgs is the best (imho!) it's a pain out of the box but that's why we love it so much, let's face it, most of us like tweaking and playing with our phones, it's half the fun. Flashing new roms, installing different lagfixes, uninstalling new roms, uninstalling new lagfixes, whoops I've broken it, nope, it's going again. The sgs is a geeks wet dream and in my experience it is very difficult to fully brick.
So if you want a phone that you are going to have to fiddle with, get the sgs. Jpu seems to have ironed out a lot of problems, I get perfect gps now, although it was pretty good before. I'm actually a little disapointed that jpu works so well, it kinda takes the fun out of it all
If this doesn't appeal to you then get the hd, it's a good phone, screen is not as good and it doesn't feel as fast as my tweaked sgs, but overall it's definitely a winner and you won't be disapointed
The iphone is also a good phone and not to be sniffed at, if you don't mind being spoon fed by apple.
i have to say SGS, because of the most powerful hardware, software is not important, because we can fix that easy , as surprise Samsung also tries there best, i think with JPU Firmware they show that they are willing todo everything, Hardware we can't fix, SGS has currently the fastest CPU + GPU specially the GPU!!!!! is amazing, why do you think Google went with Nexus S , because of Hardware, Speed, Quality, Availability.......
Nexus S and Android 2.3 Gingerbread was made to give game developers the best available Hardware and with Gingerbread many things which will make Game development easier and because of the CPU + GPU, which is almost the same as Iphone 4 has (SGS a little bit better), it will also make porting games from iphone to android pretty easy now.
About HTC Sense i agree it is a nice homescreen, but on the other hand it is a memory, cpu and battery monster! why do you think they have 768MB Memory and if we look at different homescreen replacements (ADW, Laucher Pro, Zeam,.......), then i really don't see the big advantage at all, but thats a taste decission
So for me i have to say i am very happy that i went with the SGS, i really can't understand users who say that the SGS is built cheap, i have the SGS now since the beginning, i don't use a screenprotector, the plastic is thin but it still looks like new also after falling on the floor (shame on me), compared to my previous HTC Units which where loosing color on there great metal casing and not by falling on the floor but because i used a leather case, the signal was often a issue for me (metal), dust was behind the screen after a short time,........
I have to say that the Samsung Hardware is such an improvement compared to HTC that i won't anytime soon look back to any HTC unit even if it would have a killler hardware.
But that are just my 2 cents on it
Go for the iPhone 4 unless you really need flash. It has the best screen of the three(the pentile matrix of the SGS is just horrible) and works correctly out of the box.
Toss3 said:
Go for the iPhone 4 unless you really need flash. It has the best screen of the three(the pentile matrix of the SGS is just horrible) and works correctly out of the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to elaborate on this? The iphone does have a gorgeous screen, but to call the sgs screen horrible is a bit like saying that Angelina Jolie is a dog. Sure there are better looking girls out there than her, but would you kick her out of bed? Most definitely not, unless you bat for the other team of coursee, in such a case swap angelina for brad or whom ever floats your boat.

[Q] Still worth buying Samsung galaxy s?

Hi guys
I want to buy a new smartphone and I am thinking about samsung galaxy s i9000 because it's obviously very good phone and currently the price is very reasonable. But this phone has only 512 ram and I want for example at the same time to use web browser, skype, listen music, etc. I mean is all that ok for a phone or it will start lagging a lot? Maybe it's not worth buying it cause it's already 1 year old and phones with 2x more ram and dual core cpus comming, so maybe it's worth waiting for them to get cheaper? Or it's still very good investment for a price? (SGS2 costs like 1.7x more so too much for me)
Have a look at that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1173923
I still would recommend it, especially because it's now about 300€ and there are only a few little bugs left, which i hope will be fixed with the next update (like browser-scrolling etc.). Also battery life is very good since JVO i think.
Today I was doing a side by side comparison on my 9000 / 2.3.4 with my cousins 9003 / 2.3.3
Edit SGS from 3 / 2.3.4 vs SGS2 from craphonewhorehouse / 2.3.3
the 9003 is physically bigger, and has a physically bigger screen, and it has a dual core cpu...... but......
speaking *personally* the 9003 is a little too big, in fact the 9000 is already pushing the boundaries on size for a "phone"
the bigger screen in nice, but I know someone who uses a 7" galaxy tab as a phone, for phone / mms / email the 9000 screen is as big as I want.
dual core? well if I played games I might need it, but the single core on my 9000 does everything *I* ask it to, including playing video seamlessly.
=========================================
sweet **** all in it so far, all personal preferences...
the REAL difference is the 9000 is mature, incredibly well known, with an incredible set of resources and knowledge.
the REAL difference is not being the latest and greatest any more, the 9000 is cheaper, significantly cheaper.
I was offered a straight swap today 9000 <> 9003, I turned it down.
Johnny55555555 said:
if I was offered a straight swap today 9000 <> 9003, I turned it down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes right, of course you would
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Thanks for opinions.
Well the main thing for me I think is RAM. Is SGS not slow when having several programs running (skype, web browser, music..)?
I only recently got an i9000 and found it really doesn't matter about its age, it performs incredibly well, and has the advantage of having a massive load of excellent custom roms to use.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
Besides the the missing dual core, I think i9000 is gold for it's value. Which I might add, is running current performance standard for all phones since dual core is considered high end atm.
Johnny55555555 said:
Today I was doing a side by side comparison on my 9000 / 2.3.4 with my cousins 9003 / 2.3.3
the 9003 is physically bigger, and has a physically bigger screen, and it has a dual core cpu...... but......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I9003 don't have dual core cpu it's 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
you can buy i9000 for now as it's still one of the fastest phones and next year you will be able to buy i9100 at less once galaxy s 3 comes
I'd go for a newer phone than the Galaxy S if it had a greater variety of mods/kernels. I don't think that's going to happen for a while =P
The Galaxy S II looks promising, though.
The SGS has a good balance between hardware specs and software / os requirements.
The SGS 2 doesn't have this balance. At this time, 99% of the users simply don't use that extra hardware capacity.
In my view, the decision to purchase an SGS2 vs an SGS really boils down to the screen and the camera. If you want the Full HD video recording, improved camera and better screen and you think the price premium warrants it - then go for SGS2.
But if you think the SGS is more than satisfactory in these areas, then SGS it is.
People talk about the improved hardware specs of the SGS2... but until that translates into real-life improvements "my SGS2 can do this...and your SGS can't" then we simply won't see people rushing out to buy them.
You can guy mine if you want....comes boxed with everything!
RoOSTA
Recently got one. I look at it as a mid range phone with lots of custom roms. For me, its a great phone to start off for Android due to its resources.
i've only gotten mine for about 2 months now, and it's worth it, came from a wildfire... and i must say the community here is heaps more different than the wildfire community (i enjoy it here more)... the wildfire community had some ppl that annoyed me so much and were so clueless about everything lol
drasifriaz said:
Yes right, of course you would
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you EDITED my post from "I was offered..." to "If I was offered...."
the fact that you have to make me a liar to make your point says it all.
I was offered a straight swap by my cousin, I turned it down.
Unless u got cash to burn or always wanted to have the latest gadget. If not, I would say SGS is still worth to buy.. With many custom rom.. I would say it's one of the stable android phone around.. Of cos, not the latest in terms of hardware (dual core)..
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
You should definitively go for the SGS.
I got mine 2 months ago, and I'm sure I'm going to still like my phone in 2 or 3 years, if it makes it through
Get the sgs, then get the sgs 2 in 18 months when its cheap (if you can handle large size) sgs is great, android apps not really able to fully exploit dual core yet
Sent using geek power
I don't really worry about dual core cpu, I worry more about rams. This phone does not have much of them and noone answered my question how laggy is phone when several programs running (skype, web browser, music player...)
Kblavkalash said:
I don't really worry about dual core cpu, I worry more about rams. This phone does not have much of them and noone answered my question how laggy is phone when several programs running (skype, web browser, music player...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very laggy
Get the iPhone!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
pkhbdb said:
You should definitively go for the SGS.
I got mine 2 months ago, and I'm sure I'm going to still like my phone in 2 or 3 years, if it makes it through
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We will take care of that ;-)
I allways buy a phone every three years so will continu development and mods ;-)
That is from the launch date of the SGS so to speek...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

[Q] Should I buy?

I am wondring if I should buy the Xperia arc S now, or should I wait for the next generation in this price range.
What do you think?
Really. THERE LIKE 100 people making the exact threads everyday.
Can't you search for someone asking the same question???
It may be an old threads ...
Yes :-
1-Clear display
2-HDMI
3-Awesome speaker
4-sexy design
5-The Best camera phone. (not better than xperia s)
6-Will recive ICS update officially.
7-good battery life
8-noise cancelling mic
No:-
1- Became Old cause most of new android devices are dual core and quad.
2-Lags alot with ICS .
3-Not good for HD games even when using GB.
4-Overheat from the back when playing games or surfing the web using DATA.
5-when you speak the other side (who listing to you) will hear your voice repeated specially when using the speaker.
6-Less custom roms ( seriously that's why i started making my own roms) than Galaxy or htc users.
*So it depends on you whether you wants high performance device for gaming and fast picture shooting or not .
Don't do it.
It's too old
Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk
I want to break some myths about the Xperia S. The screen is .1 inches bigger but the phone is massively bigger due to the screen bezel and the antenna design and does not feel good in hand. The material feels quite cheap for some reason. The Arc isnt a solid phone but feels more solid and is thinner and lighter. I have been using one form of ICS or another since December with Arc (not S) and its as stable and fast as it ever was with GB. The official ICS ROM will make for even better custom ROMs. The camera is marginally better on the S but is not the best by 2012 standards. I hate the feel of capacitive buttons on the S but I guess ICS on screen buttons would take care of that.
The Arc S is a good phone for its current price but I expect development to slow down in a few more months as more and more developers are upgrading hardware. The One X and the One S is definitely the bar right now. The screens, construction, processors and camera are all the best on the market. I have Sony everything so its hard for me to exit the brand so I'm keeping my Arc for one more year but for others, the One is the upgrade for 2012.
I have played with all of the phones above and Arc overclocked feels the same as S.
One S is better in almost every way vs Xperia S. The feel in hand to the performance. The construction is superb aircraft grade aluminum treated to a very nice finish. The only thing you'll miss is NFC but its still not mainstream with enough practical applications right now (it takes two hands to clap). The super AMOLED is not an issue coming from a lower resolution Arc and is a superb screen despite reviews.
One X is hands down the best phone I have ever played with. There are only two things inferior to the One S and thats battery and finish. Its still gorilla glassed front with ultra high impact-resisting polycarbonate, which is very strong and solid but something about that black aluminum magic is so sexy about the One S.
Either get one of the Ones or Arc S. I cant recommend the Xperia S to anyone.
hellocng said:
The Arc S is a good phone for its current price but I expect development to slow down in a few more months as more and more developers are upgrading hardware. The One X and the One S is definitely the bar right now. The screens, construction, processors and camera are all the best on the market. I have Sony everything so its hard for me to exit the brand so I'm keeping my Arc for one more year but for others, the One is the upgrade for 2012.
I have played with all of the phones above and Arc overclocked feels the same as S.
One S is better in almost every way vs Xperia S. The feel in hand to the performance. The construction is superb aircraft grade aluminum treated to a very nice finish. The only thing you'll miss is NFC but its still not mainstream with enough practical applications right now (it takes two hands to clap). The super AMOLED is not an issue coming from a lower resolution Arc and is a superb screen despite reviews.
One X is hands down the best phone I have ever played with. There are only two things inferior to the One S and thats battery and finish. Its still gorilla glassed front with ultra high impact-resisting polycarbonate, which is very strong and solid but something about that black aluminum magic is so sexy about the One S.
Either get one of the Ones or Arc S. I cant recommend the Xperia S to anyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't want to say get the (htc one x) so the people in this forum doesn't think that i support htc or whatever ... otherwise wait for galaxy s3
I recomend if you still want to buy an arc then get a used one ... so you don't lose too much when you replace it with another phone later .
hemo1001 said:
No:-
2-Lags alot with ICS .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly disagree with this point. With the final update, it will be at least as smooth as GB if not faster. The ICS beta is laggy because of the incomplete/unoptimized 2D acceleration implementation.
hemo1001 said:
No:-
1- Became Old cause most of new android devices are dual core and quad.
2-Lags alot with ICS .
3-Not good for HD games even when using GB.
4-Overheat from the back when playing games or surfing the web using DATA.
5-when you speak the other side (who listing to you) will hear your voice repeated specially when using the speaker.
6-Less custom roms ( seriously that's why i started making my own roms) than Galaxy or htc users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly disagree with most of your points.
1. It depends on what you really need and fit best your needs.
2. You can't even know because there is no official ICS yet.
3. Well it is good enough for HD games. Name one, which doesn't run smooth? I can play GTAIII and MC3 smooth (I don't need anymore ).
4. Every phone heats, you just feel it a little bit more because of the thinness. GS2 users whine about that too.
5. Surely not with normal mic, and for the speaker, I personally don't know any device, which has really good speakers.
6. Less custom ROMs? In Samsung and HTC forums there are only more ROMs, because 80% are stock-based. Do you really need that?
@OP: As I said it depends on what you really need. I am very happy with my Arc S.
BTW: Next time you could search and post your question in Q&A.
dp94 said:
@OP: As I said it depends on what you really need. I am very happy with my Arc S.
BTW: Next time you could search and post your question in Q&A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1- Agree maybe i should wait then judge the Arc s with the official ICS hoping it will become better .
2-GTAIII is playable but with few glitches ...
* I used to be happy with my arc but not after i saw the benchmarking of GSII ... And the face unlocking on ICS .
I'd say Arc S is one of the best phones in that price range. I admit the processor and GPU are kinda crappy, but it's still capable of running HD games(such as Asphalt 6, MC3, GTA3 etc.) without noticable lag!
Arc has a lot of custom roms. Phones like i9000 has more roms, but why do we need hundreds of different roms, because we all know that only some of them are good!
One thing I really love in my Arc is the screen! It's large enough(Frankly, I think larger would be too big), it has good resolution, and it hard to damage(it is more scratch-resistant than ie. Gorilla Glass).
And don't you say ICS is laggy! They haven't even released the final build! I believe Arc has a good potential of running ICS.
hemo1001 said:
1- Agree maybe i should wait then judge the Arc s with the official ICS hoping it will become better .
2-GTAIII is playable but with few glitches ...
* I used to be happy with my arc but not after i saw the benchmarking of GSII ... And the face unlocking on ICS .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I am sure Sony won't release some laggy ****. We should be way more happy with Sony for even releasing a alpha/beta version.
2. IMO, It depends on the ROM. I haven't had any on CM7 and stock based ROM like Arconium.
But still it hasn't enough RAM, apps need more and more RAM.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA Premium App
Motorola Atrix
if u wanna a phone, a good looking phone, with good call quality,camera and sound yes u should, but don't expect it to do any heavy lifting like crazy multitasking or graphic intence gaming..
well,i sold my HTC Evo 3D two days ago and iam using my old Arc For now.
coming from Evo i feel some lag in games but homescreen feels same.overall i dont see much difference in performance(i mean real life performance not benchmarks) but if you are a power user dont get this if you want a overall good smartphone with good camera Arc is pretty cheap now.go for it

1 year with XSP

Hi all XSP users
in just a few days, it will be 1 year since i own this phone. here i'm trying to give a sort of review-ish view and opinion about this phone
So without further ado, allow me to start (please forgive me for any inappropriate or ineligible english since its not my main language)
1 year ago i was looking for a replacement for my samsung galaxy gio which has become obsolete (hardware wise especially) because it cannot keep up with my demands. so at that time i was searching for a phone that meets my budget (cant go on a spending spree at that time) but still packs a can of whoop-ass.
at that time in my country was the time where 3 high spec phones launches samsung galaxy s4, sony xperia Z, and oppo find 5. all of them were top of the class. too bad they were all above my budget
other brand like HTC has no interesting line up for me, LG has some not bad spec phone but none to my liking.
Lo and behold i found out about the xperia SP about 2 weeks before the event. at the price it was offered, no other phone can match XSP specs, camera wise, processor wise (at that time of course). i bought the phone without hesitation.
my review
Size
for me this phone hits the sweet spot for size. although i can still held 5,5 inch phone without problem, but this phone is nice to grasp
screen size
screen size is adequate for me, although sometimes feel a little too small. too bad its not IPS
camera
one of the downfall for XSP for me. the camera quality is quite bad, my dads nokia x5 can even shot almost if not sometimes better images. though in my opinion since 4.3 update and using xperia M ported camera its a little bit better, i still wish it was better
processor
one of the best performance processor for midrange phone at that time and still is today IMO.
GPU
same, one of the best for playing games on a midrange phone
RAM
this is the ultimate donwfall for me in XSP. we were promoted with a 1GB RAM for XSP but how much did we get?? just a freakin' 768 ram.
thats downright false advertising. no amount of excuse and logic can justify a 1GB ram on spec sheet and only 768 in reality. this is what tied down our XSP from becoming the Beast that it could've and should've been.
although after 4.3 update the RAM increased to 848, it's still a long way from 1GB. even lenovo can put 900+MB on their 1GB RAM phone, so i am truly dissapointed at sony for this one.
My Experience
okay, hardware review aside, now im going to share how the phone feels for my daily usage
my XSP is LB, but i root it. i'll split this part to pre 4.3 and 4.3
PRE 4.3
the phone before the 4.3 update was so-so performance wise for me. mind you im a gamer, and understanding that our XSP have adreno 320 it should be handle all graphics intensive game, so i installed many heavy game. real boxing, real racing, asphalt 8, modern combat 4, NFS, chaos rings. all of that game should've played flawlessly if not for that darn RAM. you cant even browse and listen to walkman without the walkman suddenly stop. you gotta change the ram management and dalvik to help ease the RAM management, n i think that sucks. because if im not an xda member and dont root my phone, how else am i gonna improve XSP performance. there were slight regret buying this phone at that moment, but i cant change my phone again. no phone pique my interest yet again.
POST 4.3
post 4.3 update the phones performance got better a little bit since the increase in RAM but, performance wise its still so-so. if i have to give it a score before 4.3 was 7 and now it was 7.5. but luckily 4.3 update brings more than just bigger RAM it brings loads of things, from social camera, updated media apps, themes, so updating to 4.3 was like having a new phone all over again.
Conclusion
im still happy with this phone, eventhough theres major flaw (RAM)
so, will i still use this phone? YES
is it still one of the strongest budget mid range phone right now? YES (IMO, compared with other brand like samsung, LG, HTC, lenovo, OPPO)
will u still suggest this phone to friend of relatives? if they're not going to root it, NO, if they're going to root it then YES
well thats what i think about our beloved XSP
please share your opinion about this :good:
You don't need 500 MB of ram to run one game.
I love my SP,I recommend moving to a custom ROM to increase performance
Also,it's surprisingly strong. I dropped my phone on the asphalt and it slided few meters and it's fine (few scratches) !
darkkfruit said:
You don't need 500 MB of ram to run one game.
I love my SP,I recommend moving to a custom ROM to increase performance
Also,it's surprisingly strong. I dropped my phone on the asphalt and it slided few meters and it's fine (few scratches) !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well u need it if you want to play real racing 3 with default graphics. had not for rr3 graphics apps and reducing it to low, that game was quite a disaster to play for more than 15 minutes.
no, im not thinking of using custom ROM. im not going to unlock my bootloader
pavapizza said:
well u need it if you want to play real racing 3 with default graphics. had not for rr3 graphics apps and reducing it to low, that game was quite a disaster to play for more than 15 minutes.
no, im not thinking of using custom ROM. im not going to unlock my bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to unlock bootloader.:laugh:
You can find a list with locked bootloaders here.
Press CTRL F and type LB then search at the Stock Based roms. You will find 9 ROMs that do not require UBL
Klaudas said:
You don't need to unlock bootloader.:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
darkkfruit said:
You can find a list with locked bootloaders here.
Press CTRL F and type LB then search at the Stock Based roms. You will find 9 ROMs that do not require UBL
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Click to collapse
oh yeah, forgot that there are ROMs that doesn't need unlocked bootloader. but still, I dont want to use custom ROM. its not that I lost hope for this phonr that I don't want to try custom ROM, its the opposite actually. I like this phone and its stock ROM. That's why I only do minor tweaks.
Still loving mine as well. The size, build, fit, look... It's perfect for me. I get lots of comments on it.
I can overlook the minor software quirks. I figure once Sony leaves it behind I'll move over to CM which will be nice n stable by that time!
cyapalmpos said:
Still loving mine as well. The size, build, fit, look... It's perfect for me. I get lots of comments on it.
I can overlook the minor software quirks. I figure once Sony leaves it behind I'll move over to CM which will be nice n stable by that time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, i may also do that when sony has abandoned our phone and no longer supports it. But right now im loving this phone the way it is with all the flaws. Still an excellent rocking phone :good:
Actually, the XSP does have 1Gb of RAM. The amount that you think missing is actually dedicated to the GPU
(kinda like a PC's Graphics card with its own chip and RAM, only here we have 2 in 1 chip, both CPU and GPU)
Other than that, a very reliable review, mate!
cnkhanh said:
Actually, the XSP does have 1Gb of RAM. The amount that you think missing is actually dedicated to the GPU
(kinda like a PC's Graphics card with its own chip and RAM, only here we have 2 in 1 chip, both CPU and GPU)
Other than that, a very reliable review, mate!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so does that mean our GPU memory decreases now, since after 4.3 our device memory increase?
(btw not a sarcastic question, i really do want to know :good
pavapizza said:
so does that mean our GPU memory decreases now, since after 4.3 our device memory increase?
(btw not a sarcastic question, i really do want to know :good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting question, maybe there is also some shared memory now. Or our GPU memory is decreased . Want to know .
Th3Duck said:
Interesting question, maybe there is also some shared memory now. Or our GPU memory is decreased . Want to know .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone has 1024mb of ram but only 839mb is usable because the GPU uses that 185mb that we can't use
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Free mobile app
Please tell me camera quality of SP? I'm gonna buy this tomorrow
I have 2 questions
1-how is the battery life after one year?
2-how often do you charge your phone
eranda84 said:
Please tell me camera quality of SP? I'm gonna buy this tomorrow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the camera is decent. Pictures tend to have a lot of noise. But outdoor picture can still look very beautiful though. If u buy this consider using 3rd party camera app, like camera 360 or lenovo super camera.
ironshadow2 said:
I have 2 questions
1-how is the battery life after one year?
2-how often do you charge your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Battery life is still not bad i think. Im an active user, i chat n play game. If i only chat, n email, n browsing, this phone can last 12+ hours. You can force it to 20+ hours too if u solely use it for chat. Mind you the provider im using has ****ty coverage so that probably factors.
2. I charge it every night. If i unplug at, say 6am, then probably i charge again at 10 or 11 pm. usually i play games at 8 or 9pm, before charge so i can reduce the battery percentage.
noahvt said:
This phone has 1024mb of ram but only 839mb is usable because the GPU uses that 185mb that we can't use
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what i want to know. like i said before 4.3 our memory device is 760, does that mean our GPU can use the other 240mb?
if it can does that mean our GPU memory actually decreases after 4.3, since our device memory got increase to 840mb?
pavapizza said:
thats what i want to know. like i said before 4.3 our memory device is 760, does that mean our GPU can use the other 240mb?
if it can does that mean our GPU memory actually decreases after 4.3, since our device memory got increase to 840mb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They reserved more for GPU in Android 4.1.2 maybe due to Sony thinking it is vital like what they do on the Xperia Z. But after custom ROMs like CM shows that their RAM is north of 800MB, Sony releases more RAM for other purposes.
Nice post, guy! Since I bought XSP I just use it for listening to music, suffering the web, and I don't like to play game on mobile (PC too ). So I think it's actually good enough for my need.
I've been using XSP for almost 1 year too, now I think the RAM is getting not enough to use, maybe it's time to buy a new phone with 2G+ RAM.
quilipham said:
Nice post, guy! Since I bought XSP I just use it for listening to music, suffering the web, and I don't like to play game on mobile (PC too ). So I think it's actually good enough for my need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well if someday you decide to play games, just know that this phone can play almost any game flawlessly
TinaSA said:
I've been using XSP for almost 1 year too, now I think the RAM is getting not enough to use, maybe it's time to buy a new phone with 2G+ RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, me too. been setting my eye for the new g3 or HTC e8. or maybe xperia z3 lol

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