[Q] A few questions about the Omnia 7 - Omnia 7 General

I'm thinking about getting an Omnia 7 and I have a few questions about the device that I was hoping you could help me with:
(1) How is the call quality? I saw a review that made this out to be the biggest gripe with the phone.
(2) How good is the (A)GPS? I recall seeing complaints about it. It is pretty important for me that the GPS is fast and accurate. At least not worse than my current $100 nokia symbian s60v5 handset, which has in fact been very reliable.
(3) How annoying is the amoled screen? I know it looks great in terms of color, contrast and viewing angles, but I've seen some seriously angry threads elsewhere regarding the faux resolution issue with pentile matrix. 653x392 is it?
(4) Also, can you view the screen with polarized sunglasses in both portrait and landscape? I reckon it would go black at some angle, but is it a clever 45 degrees like the Iphone or 90 degrees like for instance the ipad? (youtube.com/watch?v=78GdcXCM9nk&feature=related)?
(5) I've seen a lot of 720p video recording samples and they all seem a bit jerky? From what I understand it is a CPU limitation? I also recall SonyEricsson had a similar problem with the same CPU on one of their handsets and they improved it slightly by tweaking the codec to dynamically lower recording quality? Anything like that happening on WP7 or Omnia 7? Any other fixes?

I'm thinking about getting an Omnia 7 and I have a few questions about the device that I was hoping you could help me with:
I think you should wait a little, to know when new devices will appear. (with Mango update comes new devices)
(1) How is the call quality? I saw a review that made this out to be the biggest gripe with the phone.
Phone call quality : quite good but not excellent, even with all firmware updates.
(2) How good is the (A)GPS? I recall seeing complaints about it. It is pretty important for me that the GPS is fast and accurate. At least not worse than my current $100 nokia symbian s60v5 handset, which has in fact been very reliable.
For me A-GPS is good, fast and accurate
(3) How annoying is the amoled screen? I know it looks great in terms of color, contrast and viewing angles, but I've seen some seriously angry threads elsewhere regarding the faux resolution issue with pentile matrix. 653x392 is it?
Wait for a Super AMOLED PLUS (the "plus" is the big difference : http://www.oled-info.com/super-amoled-plus-resolution-explained
(4) Also, can you view the screen with polarized sunglasses in both portrait and landscape? I reckon it would go black at some angle, but is it a clever 45 degrees like the Iphone or 90 degrees like for instance the ipad? (youtube.com/watch?v=78GdcXCM9nk&feature=related)?
I have polarized glasses : it's black about 45°.
(5) I've seen a lot of 720p video recording samples and they all seem a bit jerky? From what I understand it is a CPU limitation? I also recall SonyEricsson had a similar problem with the same CPU on one of their handsets and they improved it slightly by tweaking the codec to dynamically lower recording quality? Anything like that happening on WP7 or Omnia 7? Any other fixes?
720p is a litte laggy, new devices (with new processor like the MSM8255) will not have any problem

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. And yes, I am waiting for the specs (and prices) of the new phones before I act. But I doubt that any of the new phones, like the Sea Ray, will be anywhere near €200 like the Omnia 7 is now on Ebay. Hence my ambivalence.

Is it still wise to get the Omnia 7? Or just wait for the Mango devices?

(1) In the UK on Three, the call quality is just fine, its better than my friends Blackberry Torch. Apparently there is a new Radio software that should improve it for everyone.
(2) The AGPS is ok I suppose, It works. GPS initially takes a minute or two (the VERY first time its used but afterwards, it gets a lock within 15 seconds) Accuracy is fine.
(3) The AMOLED screen has amazing quality but when looking at the screen VERY closely, the straight lines are very slightly jaggy. All AMOLED screens are arranged in the pentile pattern. The Super AMOLED Plus screens have the pixels arranged in a more traditional manner. However its not much of an issue for me, its probably wise to have a look at a Super AMOLED screen and judge for yourself!
(4) Not sure really, I can view the phone fine with 3D cinema glasses to pretty much most angles as without.
(5) I've shot a 720p video and it seemed fine to me! I doubt its a CPU limitation, its most likely the software which needs tweaking. Again, its probably wise to test one of these devices out to see how it performs. I think only one WP7 device has the MSM Snapdragon (which has an Adreno 205 GPU instead of our Adreno 200. Also its a die shrink which would use slightly less power)

Related

Touch HD vs. SE Idou

Hey guys.
There's a new competitor in town. SE is definitely looking to gain some market share with the Idou scheduled launch Q2 '09. some specs listed are :
Sony Ericsson Idou
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA 900 / 2100
Coming soon. Exp. release 2009, Q3
TFT touchscreen, 16M colors
360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
Symbian OS
12.1 MP, 4256 x 2832 pixels, autofocus, xenon flash, video, video LED flash, secondary VGA videocall camera
- Built-in GPS
- aGPS function
- Camera images geo-tagging, face and smile detection
- Google maps
- FM radio with RDS
- MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player
- Organiser
- Built-in handsfree
- Voice memo/dial
- Java MIDP 2.0
Some links:
Engadget
Phonedog
Some other video
What are your thoughts on this new model.
The SE Idou has a smaller screen, lower resolution, not WinMo, no North American 3G (Telstra model has 850).
The only positive that jumps out is the camera, but that's not enough to overcome the above negatives for me. Sorry, not interested.
I bet the Idou-NOT camera will still be shooting 3gp video in 320*240 resolution
My 3 and a half year old Universal has a bigger, higher resolution screen than the Idou. If that's progress I'm not impressed.
That phone was epic back in the day! Still has some decent specs now!
really cant stand all those nonstandard resolution.
heck, enough's enough already with vga wvga q and square stuff!
crashDebug said:
really cant stand all those nonstandard resolution.
heck, enough's enough already with vga wvga q and square stuff!
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Well get used to it - it's the same resolution that all the new touchscreen Symbian handsets are coming out with such as the Nokia 5800 and the Samsung OmniaHD.
The reason they've gone for it is that it's a 16:9 aspect ratio.
There's no point trying to compare the Touch HD to the Idou as one of those handsets isn't even available yet.
In fact, going on SE's recent form, I'd be very surprised if they get it into shops this year. And I'd even go so far as to say that someone like Samsung or LG will have released a different 12mp handset before Idou is available.
Also, why on earth does anyone think that 12mp on a phone is going to be a good thing?
Think about how poor the camera on the HD can be, do you really think cramming in an extra 7 million pixels will make things better?
Too low res for me - 800*480 is simply a sweet spot, it's the major thing HTC got right.
I bet the 12mp camera takes shockingly bad pictures too. That's more than almost all aps-c DSLRs out there (and the few that tried 14/15mpixel didn't sell, because they took worse pictures than the 10/11 models).
Idou would be a good phone. If this (or N97) is out now, I would not have bought the HD. Don't get me wrong. I am very satisfied with HD (with all the tweaks and cooked roms). Coming from a S60 N95/82 and after using HD for the last 3 months I have to honestly say somehow WM is still not as good an OS compared to Symbian. Symbian is still more robust, nimble and more efficient.
not impressed with it's spec's compared to some of the 2009 htc devices on the horizen...like the Firestone, etc.
I don't know for sure, but normally cameras with these resolution ain't better than any 5 MP camera. Its not the resolution that limits the capacities, but its the lens.
mib1800 said:
Coming from a S60 N95/82 and after using HD for the last 3 months I have to honestly say somehow WM is still not as good an OS compared to Symbian. Symbian is still more robust, nimble and more efficient.
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Everyone has their own preferences.
Until the Nokia 5800 was released, I'd never used a Symbian phone that I liked. I just don't feel the way the menus are laid out works all that well.
johnpatcher said:
I don't know for sure, but normally cameras with these resolution ain't better than any 5 MP camera. Its not the resolution that limits the capacities, but its the lens.
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It's both.
Yes the lens makes a big difference but so do the number of pixels.
By cramming more pixels onto the same size of sensor, each pixel is smaller and consequently less light hits it.
Because less light hits it, the picture will appear duller unless you increase the amplification of the signal from each pixel. But if you do that, you also increase the amount of noise, which is detrimental to the picture quality.
Even with premium components it's impossible to amplify a signal without having noise appear but there's no way that a phone is going to be fitted with premium components, so the noise will be much worse than it would be on a digital camera of the same quality, not to mention that proper digital cameras would also tend to have a physically larger sensor anyway, so they wouldn't have to crank the amplification up so much.
Even the C905 (which is, according to GSMArena the best 8mp camera-phone on the market from a camera perspective) already has serious issues with noise and, at best, Idou will have a sensor of the same physical size but with more pixels.
However I've already read rumours that the sensor will, in fact, be smaller than the C905's which will make it all even worse.
Step666 said:
It's both.
Yes the lens makes a big difference but so do the number of pixels.
By cramming more pixels onto the same size of sensor, each pixel is smaller and consequently less light hits it.
Because less light hits it, the picture will appear duller unless you increase the amplification of the signal from each pixel. But if you do that, you also increase the amount of noise, which is detrimental to the picture quality.
Even with premium components it's impossible to amplify a signal without having noise appear but there's no way that a phone is going to be fitted with premium components, so the noise will be much worse than it would be on a digital camera of the same quality, not to mention that proper digital cameras would also tend to have a physically larger sensor anyway, so they wouldn't have to crank the amplification up so much.
Even the C905 (which is, according to GSMArena the best 8mp camera-phone on the market from a camera perspective) already has serious issues with noise and, at best, Idou will have a sensor of the same physical size but with more pixels.
However I've already read rumours that the sensor will, in fact, be smaller than the C905's which will make it all even worse.
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I agree with everything you said, and being a photographer I'm very familiar with issues you described.
However, Sony is leading the market in compact digital cameras, and as such, it would not surprise me that these 12 megapixels turn out to produce "decent quality" photos.
Decent for average Joe Snapshooter, of course. Because, although for last 5 or so years I have been listening to "OMG, they're putting EVEN more pixels onto that tiny sensor", somehow the manufacturers are still running the megapixel race, and image quality has had a small but steady quality improvement. First time I heard this sentence was when first big megapixel jump happened: from 1 megapixel to 2.
So, let's just wait and see before bashing the new Sony, at least camera-wise.
I'm not waiting, I hold out zero hope for Idou or any other 12mp handset.
I've seen both 100% crops and A3 printouts from the C905 and as I said before, noise is a huge problem.
I just don't see how adding extra pixels is going to do anything but make matters worse.
Also, since when have Sony been leading the market for compact cameras?
I must admit I'm not as au fait with everything since the pixel numbers went through the roof but last time I checked, Nikon and Canon were sharing the spoils.
Rozenthal said:
Decent for average Joe Snapshooter, of course. Because, although for last 5 or so years I have been listening to "OMG, they're putting EVEN more pixels onto that tiny sensor", somehow the manufacturers are still running the megapixel race, and image quality has had a small but steady quality improvement.
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There have been tests recently that showed the best compact ever made was the Fuji f30, a 4 year old 6 megapixel model (people pay a ton of money for them on ebay). Even with improvements in tech since, they've not been able to counteract the quality decrease that cramming more megapixels in causes. Fuji themselves tried to reign back the megapixel race, hold at 8 max for quality reasons, but marketing trumps all and they've had to give it up.
I had a 15mpixel Canon pocket camera recently, the quality was awful.
arfster said:
There have been tests recently that showed the best compact ever made was the Fuji f30, a 4 year old 6 megapixel model (people pay a ton of money for them on ebay).
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I don't suppose you have a link?
I tried my fair share of Fuji cameras in the past and was never hugely impressed by them, so I'm a little surprised at that.
Also, for them to try and position themselves as the voice of reason in the megapixel war is rather hypocritical since they were the manufacturer who traditionally always aimed for more, staying on with interpolation long after most other manufacturers had given up on it.

The truth!! X10 vs. SGS...

Hi guys,
I own a Xperia X10 ( latest firmware version available)and i had the opportunity yesterday to use a Samsung Galaxy S for the whole day. SGS belogs to a friend of mine.
Here are my impressions of the Sam G. S in comparasion to our "beloved" X10.
1.Screen
Colours are more vivid on SGS, but X10 has better resolution. I could differentiate the pixels on SGS, but not on X10. I'm quite picky with screen resolutions. I own a Iphone4 aswell and i can say X10 its not very behind iPhone4 concerning the screen resolution and crispness image. X10 just needs the 2.1 to boost to 16 million colours and get more vivid contrast.
2.Touch screen.
Exactly the same. They're balanced. I just wish to get MT on X10. MT can be useful in certain situations.
3. UI Performance.
Although X10 has the old 1.6 Android, i had the impression that lags less (mine doesn't lag at all and i´ve plenty of applications installed) than the SGS. I felt that the fluidity of X10 is pretty good, now that i've used my friends SGS for a whole day. Switching screens was more laggy and the refreshment rate was worse than on X10 - i couldn't believe what i was experiencing.
4. Multimedia.
Oh god. I've just to say that there isn't any phone with such a great audio quality as the X10. Miles ahead of the SGS and even Iphone4 that i also own. Crispy and balanced tones on X10. SGS was pretty average.
Video is also interesting: Refreshing rates / fps were the same watching the same movie. X10 is more crispy and the SGS has more vivid colours.
conclusion:
Android 2.1 will leverage X10 to a much higher level and it will be on pair or even better than almost all Android phones including those with the 2.2 version.
I'm not replacing my X10 for the SGS as i was planning before.
Hope it helps!
That seems like a fair comparison and is very inline with what I experienced using the AT&T Captivate. I had that device for 28 days and replaced it with the X10.
The lag is generally believed to be because of the file system Samsung chose (RFS). It's not clear why they chose RFS and the lag fixes floating around basically make a new data partition with EXT2, EXT3, or EXT4. It doesn't matter for me at this point but I'm glad I don't have to rely on Samsung to fix all the issues on their Galaxy S devices. There are many other annoyances on the Captivate but I won't bother listing them. The bottom line is that for me the X10 is a much better device.
Thank you very much for an interesting post in a long time and thank you for a good clean review! Very much appriciated
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
miguelsantos1979 said:
4. Multimedia.
Oh god. I've just to say that there isn't any phone with such a great audio quality as the X10.
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REALLY??? I hope you are not talking about x10's speaker audio quality..
i LOVE x10.. but seriously.. i have to listen to everything through bluetooth headset or an earphone.. the sound is HORRIBLE when you just have it on the speaker, and it hurts my ears.. especially on higher volumes...and yes.. i've compared it to other phones.. my lg new chocolate sounds a lot better compared to x10.. (only comparing the speaker audio quality)
Seems fair both phones have their positives and negatives, i think the 2.1 update will make the x10 a lot more solid, some people think theres not much difference between between 1.6 and 2.1, but it has its obvious advantages. preferably i would have liked to have seen 2.2 on there but hey il take whatever i can get.
I have both phones and I agree with some of what your saying,yes it lags a bit and text in definitely not as sharp
but in the multimedia you made no sense... The sgs is far better when it comes to watching movies the sharpness is basically the same as the x10 plus more vibrant colours (it also has divx support out of the box). Audio quality is superior on the sgs without a shadow of a doubt even the gsm arena say so(lets not forget it has an equaliser). It has a better battery life and its fully rooted with full boot loader access you have missed out so many sections, sigh maybe i should make my own proper comparison.
I agree having owned both. SGS colors "pop" more, but the colors are not accurate at all. I used to compare to my Nexus One and colors were actually way off on the Samsung.
SGS plays just about any video codec you throw at it which is nice. Listening through headphones the X10 kills it. The screen is just a smooth I think as well.
Go on a Captivate and read web text while scrolling very slowly. There is a really bad "rolling" effect that actually bugged me while using it.
When the X10 gets 2.1 it will certainly hang with the Galaxy S models in my opinion. I just wish the Xperia had the internal storage of the SGS line.
btw, gps performance on the X10 is spot on where Samsungs tend to not be great in that area. Even after their gps "fix" it won't be as fast and accurate as the X10.
I work for AT&T and I see many problems coming in with the Captivate. The browser crashes often and the phone reboots itself a few times a day sometimes. I owned one and my gf still owns one and her's has some of these issues.
Just for clarification:
i meant that the audio quality via headphones...using high quality headphones. Yes X10 is the best in the market. I owned a Nokia N900 and i did the comparasion as well.
Sorry for disagreeing, but the X10 is also more sharp watching videos than the SGS. SGS has to saturated colours.
miguelsantos1979 said:
Just for clarification:
i meant that the audio quality via headphones...using high quality headphones. Yes X10 is the best in the market. I owned a Nokia N900 and i did the comparasion as well.
Sorry for disagreeing, but the X10 is also more sharp watching videos than the SGS. SGS has to saturated colours.
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Well i have to disagree in the audio department but thats down to audio taste i guess. But the sgs video quality is better than the x10 i have viewed the same HD video on both, side by side and you would be a fool to tell anyone the the x10 is better to look at.
Edit: In fact im looking at both now, the sgs blows it out of the water sorry. I can upload pics if you want proof.
rocketpaul said:
Well i have to disagree in the audio department but thats down to audio taste i guess. But the sgs video quality is better than the x10 i have viewed the same HD video on both, side by side and you would be a fool to tell anyone the the x10 is better to look at.
Edit: In fact im looking at both now, the sgs blows it out of the water sorry. I can upload pics if you want proof.
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Since tihs is a VS. Thread any proof can be uploaded.
I would like to ses the pics
berbecverde said:
Since tihs is a VS. Thread any proof can be uploaded.
I would like to ses the pics
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Sure as soon as I get home around 6 ish my 14mp cam is at home.
What is the rom from SGS? I know that Sony Ericsson have 1GB SLC, 50% to ROM and 50% to Storage, in some websites shows 15GB of ROM to Samsung, others 2GB of ROM, 16GB os MLC in SGS is for ROM+Storage like the 1GB SLC in X10?
My best mate has a SGS. We compare all the time. For those in this thread that think the SGS screen is producing more saturated colours etc...
You are just not used to the REAL colours. The SGS has the best screen on the market. It has a 50000:1 contrast ratio! The blacks are near perfect. Which makes the non-black elements "pop" off the screen.
When we both load up the exact same black screen on the same brightness, my x10 looks like it's GREY compared to his SGS. I can use my full black screen in a dark bathroom as a dull light, he can not. As for video watching, the SGS screen is much clearer and and crisp. This is because of its extremely high contrast ratio. Moreover, the x10 on 1.6 can only show 65k colours on a TFT screen. While the SGS SAMOLED screen on 2.1 uses 16million!
I love my x10 guys, but the SGS screen and display is far superior and certainly looks like it when placed side by side with an x10.
Now, when x10 finally gets 2.1 which will allow the x10 to display 16m colours, it will be a whole lot different for comparison, but it still won't match up to the super high contrast ratio that the SGS has.
Samsung uses fake colours, the sony dont have the best screen, but is good, and with great resolution, Sony have 13.3' screen with 1920x1080 in notebooks, and others better than this, Apple and Sony are the kings of resolution
skydirt said:
My best mate has a SGS. We compare all the time. For those in this thread that think the SGS screen is producing more saturated colours etc...
You are just not used to the REAL colours. The SGS has the best screen on the market. It has a 50000:1 contrast ratio! The blacks are near perfect. Which makes the non-black elements "pop" off the screen.
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REAL colours and 50000:1 contrast ratios? HAHAHA. First off, maybe a handful of lcds in current production produce accurate colors and they're not put in mobiles. Secondly, 50000:1 contrast ratios is a marketing gimmick and means something, but it isn't an objective measure in any sense as different companies scale it differently.
When we both load up the exact same black screen on the same brightness, my x10 looks like it's GREY compared to his SGS. I can use my full black screen in a dark bathroom as a dull light, he can not. As for video watching, the SGS screen is much clearer and and crisp. This is because of its extremely high contrast ratio. Moreover, the x10 on 1.6 can only show 65k colours on a TFT screen. While the SGS SAMOLED screen on 2.1 uses 16million!
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Now that there is a huge exaggeration. Also, video quality also varies depending on the media file, player, And screen. Either way, lcd screens on mobiles aren't that great to begin with.
I love my x10 guys, but the SGS screen and display is far superior and certainly looks like it when placed side by side with an x10.
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Maybe, but you certainly don't have any compelling arguments as to why the Galaxy S is better than the x10. Even with the increase in colors, how many can the eye actually distinguish from another? Certainly not 16 million.
Now, when x10 finally gets 2.1 which will allow the x10 to display 16m colours, it will be a whole lot different for comparison, but it still won't match up to the super high contrast ratio that the SGS has.
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Once again, contrast ratio is a subjective metric defined by manufacturers used as a marketing gimmick.
will.m said:
REAL colours and 50000:1 contrast ratios? HAHAHA. First off, maybe a handful of lcds in current production produce accurate colors and they're not put in mobiles. Secondly, 50000:1 contrast ratios is a marketing gimmick and means something, but it isn't an objective measure in any sense as different companies scale it differently.
Now that there is a huge exaggeration. Also, video quality also varies depending on the media file, player, And screen. Either way, lcd screens on mobiles aren't that great to begin with.
Maybe, but you certainly don't have any compelling arguments as to why the Galaxy S is better than the x10. Even with the increase in colors, how many can the eye actually distinguish from another? Certainly not 16 million.
Once again, contrast ratio is a subjective metric defined by manufacturers used as a marketing gimmick.
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Whats your point ? the x10 has a better screen?
He is suggesting that the samsung dont have a fantastic screen as it appears to be...
anjo2 said:
He is suggesting that the samsung dont have a fantastic screen as it appears to be...
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well in all honesty its quite an amazing screen and down playing the specs doesnt make any less amazing.
Samsung is known for it's great picture quality, from it's out of this world LED Tv's to it's cell phones.
the Samsung Galaxy is a superior phone. The X10 better get a lot better with the 2.1 upgrade. Otherwise, Im upgrading it to 2.1 just to add a selling point.
In 2009 it stays in 4th place in TVs...
1º Pionner Kuduro
2º Philips
3º Panasonic
4º Samsung
5º Sony
Something like that, so, nothing impressive... btw, i dont like the samsung colors, totally fake...

[Q] Poor Video Quality?

I just received my Google Nexus 10 yesterday. After reading all the great reviews about the video quality I must admit I was shocked how poor it was. Don't get me wrong, it isn't awful by any stretch. The detail is certainly there and there is so much detail it might actually be detriment to the product because I can pick up compression artifacts and pixelization I didn't even know was there on some of my videos. However, this really leads in to what I think the source of the problem is on this device, that is, the black level. The first video I took a look at was Ice Age since it came with the N10. If black level is off on animations they can look washed out and it certainly did in this case. My projector on a 100" screen could actually reflect a better image in my opinion. Moving over to other videos like a 1080p MKV of Battleship displayed some improvement, but the poor black levels were still there. Oh, and I should mention this was with using MX Player.
So, are others seeing something similar? Again, I'm not trying to really downplay the image entirely because the detail is certainly there, but again, I'm disappointed by the black level. Is there possibly a way to adjust it that I'm not aware of? All I can seemingly find is Brightness and that doesn't do enough. Perhaps a gamma control would help? Any guidance from others is appreciated.
U get ice age free with N10?
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
verusevo said:
U get ice age free with N10?
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Yes.
2 posts? Troll?
Techie2012 said:
2 posts? Troll?
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Thanks for the welcome. Did people say the same about you when you had 2 posts? Trust me, your accusation is utterly ridiculous. This is simply my first Android device and this was my initial impression. I hoped that there might be some kind of workaround or fix so I simply did a Google search for a Nexus 10 forum and wound up here. As I allued to in my initial post there are plenty of things I like about the device and black level might not be a deal killer, but if there was a way to resolve it, why not pursue it?
Techie2012 said:
2 posts? Troll?
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Only 245 posts and a member since February of this year? You must clearly have very little to contribute anywhere since you don't have at least a 1k post count or year+ membership (sarcasm btw; post count and join dates means absolutely nothing in determining a person's status lol)
I believe a few others have mentioned black levels not being optimal on the N10. I myself don't really see it as a problem, but then again I rarely watch videos. I believe Contrast itself might be a better option to modify over Brightness, but I'm pretty sure Contrast isn't adjustable currently.
Possibly when Kernel development matures enough, we may be able to modify screen settings, but I don't think we're there quite yet. Maybe some video players might have an option for adjustments?
Those frequenting here have varying social skills. Be tolerant.
Suggest posting some pics of screen's black level, alongside another device used as a baseline. A thousand words and all that.
Also suggest searching Play store for "display settings" and try out the various widget/apps available.
That's seriously put me off buying this tablet now.
A poor black level can ruin video quality. I know this because my laptops black level is shocking bad, picture below.
Now I might either get a Note 10.1 or wait for something with a high res screen and a good black level.
Haha you guys are funny.
Anyway back to the original question, this device has a LCD screen, and like most LCD TVs, the black is not as black as you'd like or you would see on a PlasmaTV or Amoled screen.
If black levels are highly important to you, i'm sorry to say you bought the wrong device.
Ok, so I took a previous poster's advice and got a hold of an iPad3 with Retina Display and compared it against the N10. The difference was not as significant as I thought it might be. Ultimately, I didn't think either producing razor sharp images with inky blacks and that is because they don't my own HDTV's (LED) in my home along with my home theater projector crush both devices. Why? Well, first, I wasn't aware that the contrast ratio was so poor on all the tablet devices. Most of my other products have something like a 50,000:1 contrast ratio whereas the tablets are around 1000:1, a very big difference. Also, I'm accustomed to watching BluRays on those displays. BluRay quality just doesn't seem to exist on these tablets right now. So was I expecting too much from the N10? Yes.
Spending some time with both devices side-by-side allowed me to sort of critique both on my own terms and decide which one I like best. I'm probably an atypical user so my opinions here are my own and I don't expect others to find the same items valuable.
1. Display - the iPad wins here, but not by as much as I might have thought. Whites are more warm and not as bright on the N10 when compared to the iPad. Blacks are also better on the iPad, but I expected it to be a dramatic difference. It wasn't. I've included some images to this post that will help you see the difference a bit more. There are some images where the difference looks very pronounced, but that is the digital camera really exposing the faults of the N10 and making them appear more significant. I wouldn't say that is the case in reality. Also, something you'll notice from the images is the light leak. It is there on the N10, but not on the iPad. Too bad Samsung couldn't have done a better job here. It would have made it appear as a more quality product.
2. Form Factor - I find the form factor of the iPad better than the N10. I like to use portrait mode more often than most I think and the iPad gives you more space to work from horizontally when doing so. This makes web browsing much easier and I actually feel more cramped using the N10 to browse via landscape. I would MUCH prefer the N10 to have the iPad's shape.
3. Weight - I would have never thought 50 grams or whatever it is would make a difference, but to me it does and the N10 is a clear winner here. After handling both devices for some time I simply enjoyed holding the N10 more. The lightness made for a more enjoyable experience.
4. Rubber Backing - When I saw on this on the N10 I thought it was sort of a gimmick, but I really like it. Again, it just seems to feel more comfortable holding it.
5. Heat - I have no idea why, but the back of the iPad got pretty hot while using it. The N10 had some slight warmth, but ever since I've used it it has stayed relatively cool.
6. Speakers - The N10 really crushes the iPad here. The front two speakers are awesome and can push out good volume. Going back to the iPad with its rear mono speaker almost feels silly in comparison.
7. Web Browsing - The winner here is the iPad. Pages came up more quickly, they are easier to scroll through (only slightly), and are displayed better. In portrait mode the clear winner is the iPad since you have more horizontal space to work with, something I like.
8. Off-axis viewing - Not that you ever really need this because tablets are really made for a one person audience to be looking at the device head-on, but I did notice it. For whatever reason the iPad had a better image once you move off-axis from the device. The N10 was washed out more quickly as you moved off-axis.
9. Bugs - Oh man, Jelly Bean has them. I have essentially the base image on the N10 and I've already seen the battery information incorrect (stuck), freezes, my folders just disappearing after the device becoming frozen, and some other very quirky things. The iPad in comparison was stable. The iPad just feels a bit like driving a Lexus. It doesn't really do much to excite you, but it does what it is designed to do and does it well. The N10 is probably more like a BMW X6. Is it a sports car or an SUV? No one really knows. It does some things that are really neat, but in other categories it sort of falls apart. Just my own silly analogy.
So which will I keep. Based on all the criteria above I would say it is very close and probably a tie in my mind, but I'm leaning toward the N10. I'm not sure why, but I struggle a great deal with going to a closed environment like the iPad is. It feels boring to me and I just think I might enjoy tinkering with the N10 more. If I give it more thought I might change my mind, but for the moment this is where my head is.
I hope all this might help someone. If anyone has any questions about the comparison or the images please feel free to ask.
A lot people seem to crank the brightness even when they don't need it. The N10 with the back light turned up definitely has poor black levels but it's actually pretty decent when below 40%(more comfortable to view also)
I agree. I'm totally unimpressed by the video quality of Nexus 10. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but my older Galaxy Tab 2 P3100 had much better video quality than this. The colors are totally messed up and the it just seems bland and boring.
Frankly, I don't think this is an iPad killer in anyway, and I'm not an apple fanboy either. I had to download apps just to get the Volume to a reasonable level eventhough it has stereo. Wow, the ipad claims much less but delivers more, Nexus 10 claims tall but falls short.
Thinking about getting back the iPad 4 if the Nexus doesn't grow on me. Sorry, Nexus. Android has failed you :crying:
JPW1 said:
Most of my other products have something like a 50,000:1 contrast ratio whereas the tablets are around 1000:1, a very big difference.
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Click to collapse
The 50,000:1 contrast ratio is actually dynamic contrast ratio. How dark the screen is at it's lowest brightness and how bright the screen is at it's highest brightness. It's really just a marketing gimmick.
The real static contrast ratio could be anywhere between 1000-5000:1. Not a huge difference at all.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,23137918
Looking at your screenshots I can definitely say you have the brightness set waaaayyy to high on the Nexus 10. Turn it down and the picture will be drastically better.
And for the other little problems you have to wait some time. Most of them will be gone with the first good custom roms/kernels. The device is still brand new.
I tried both the Transformers and Ice Age films streaming from google play, and I thought the video was pretty poor. Wifi signal was strong.
Video quality from all the streaming services I've used on Android have relatively poor quality. If you are attempting to benchmark the device's fidelity then I suggest making a high bit rate rip of a Blu-Ray
The high bit rate 1080p and 1440p videos I've seen look pretty great, but I agree videos from streaming services look pretty awful in terms of both blurriness and contrast.
Also, the hardware decoders like most devices do not have as high of picture quality as some software decoder. For instance, for the same video the hw decoder will look softer than the sw decoder in MX Player

What are the main cons of this Axon 7 ???

Hey Everyone,
So Guys , I'm about to buy the Axon 7 A2017 the Chinese variant (Since I'm outside the US) with 4gb RAM and 128gb of storage as an upgrade of my old LG G4, that's why I'm asking you guys to answer me honestly what was your personal experience with this device ? what are the bad sides that have made you frustrated or made you regretting making this purchase ??
I've heard many downsides but I cannot really believe them since many reputable reviewers on Youtube have said the opposite ??
Some Cons I heard :
1-The sound output from Headphones are not really great same for the dual front facing speakers.(Which is a bit shocking as the main promoted feature of this smartphone was the audio capabilities ).
2-The Screen is not clearly visible at direct sunlight
3-The Camera is awful , in other words a piece of crap (I dont really care about Photography or low light stills , but I also hate a smartphone that cannot take some sharp stills at daylight ,such as portait of myself for social media)
4-The capacitive buttons are not back lit , but I think I could get used to them.
5-The UI is buggy and bloated , the phone doesn't have any support from devs and the Company didn't fix many issues and bugs.
6-The fingerprint is not that fast or accurate (I've heard from a review that it works 60-70% of time)
7-Multi tasking and app launching is not good either comparing to smartphones that have the same cpu/gpu like Oneplus 3 , LG G5 ,..
8-Gaming experience is worse , as the 1440p leads to fps drops.
9-Notification are not received , bad sync
10-bad signal reception , bad GPS reception , Wi-fi range ??
Yes I know this is so long because after reading many opinions and seeing many reviews that's what came out !!
I still hear that all this can be fixed by an update but till now (after 6 months of releasing) nothing to be confirmed.
I'm a casual user , I don't root my phones , or install custom roms I can bear the Stock Rom if it's doing well , no bugs or lags.
Guys Please be honest , I know that almost every opinion will be biased , I don't want to buy a whortless smartphone because I also consider buying Oneplus 3 since my brother got it and it's an amazing smartphone blazing fast , takes some good images at good light , charging really so quick , everything is good with it except the battery drain when playing heavy games , the standby drain , and some heat issues.
The reasons that pushes me to consider buying Axon 7 over OP3 is it's great 1440p screen VR ready and the front facing speakers even if the Oneplus 3 have a good display despite it's FHD only and also a decent loudspeakers .
Yeahhh this thing is damnn long, but You know I don't wanna spend 400$ for useless features !!
Best Regards , Youssef
1- Not true, the sound is great with both speakers and headphones, although you may have problems with some apps and compatibility.
2- I use the phone a lot outside and never had any problems reading the screen
3- the camera is awful in low light, but its a really good camera in good light. REALLY good.
4- Yes, this is a con, but you get use to it.
5- False and true. The ui is not bloated and it works really good. I actually like it more than pure stock. But regarding bugs and dev support, its really, really bad.
6- It could be faster.... and yes, you get a couple of misreads, but its not as bad as you make it sound.
7- Really don't know what are you referring to. Apps launch fast and multitasking work great (when the phone doesn't kill you app, though)
8- I don't do gaming on my phone, can't comment.
9- This is a mayor problem that should have been fix a long time ago. This is pretty much a killer point.
10- Except for some minor GPS issue indoors, my WIFI and phone receptions have been really great.
As I said in other threads, get the OnePlus 3T. Save yourself some headaches.
This phone is great in paper, and the hardware is excellent, but its pretty much dead. You are going to be really disappointed if you want to change ROMs or get community support.
yamils said:
1- Not true, the sound is great with both speakers and headphones, although you may have problems with some apps and compatibility.
2- I use the phone a lot outside and never had any problems reading the screen
3- the camera is awful in low light, but its a really good camera in good light. REALLY good.
4- Yes, this is a con, but you get use to it.
5- False and true. The ui is not bloated and it works really good. I actually like it more than pure stock. But regarding bugs and dev support, its really, really bad.
6- It could be faster.... and yes, you get a couple of misreads, but its not as bad as you make it sound.
7- Really don't know what are you referring to. Apps launch fast and multitasking work great (when the phone doesn't kill you app, though)
8- I don't do gaming on my phone, can't comment.
9- This is a mayor problem that should have been fix a long time ago. This is pretty much a killer point.
10- Except for some minor GPS issue indoors, my WIFI and phone receptions have been really great.
As I said in other threads, get the OnePlus 3T. Save yourself some headaches.
This phone is great in paper, and the hardware is excellent, but its pretty much dead. You are going to be really disappointed if you want to change ROMs or get community support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really appreciate your answer it's really helping , as I don't really care about updates or custom roms I think it's bearable since you said it's not bloated . I mean overall this smartphone is great !! But I'm afraid that what you said is only applicable for A2017U (US variant) and not the chinese variant A2017 becuz as I stated before I'm not from The US , so I need to import the device from China.
The only one I agree with is the unlit capacitive buttons. This phone is pretty solid otherwise.
Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk
I have EU variant A2017G
1- Havent heard anything better yet on mobile phones (havent tried LG V10 or V20, which I believe should have better headphone output)
2- No problems
3- Photos depend on situations actually, daylight are quite good. Software needs to be fixed, manual mode is not that much manual
4- Got used.
5- I use Nova on top of MiFavor and it's almost like anything else.
6- It's fast, reads fingerprint in any direction also, sure sometimes it doesnt get it, but works fine.
7- Dont have OP3 or G5 to compare to.
8- Tried some games, and except for heating and huge battery drain I didnt notice anything. Heats up to 40C, when usually it sits at ~30C.
9- This. Waiting for fix.
10- GPS seems to work good, WiFi good. Signal - not really. on 2G it's great, on 4G - it's there, but drains battery as it's always very low, and it seems that is a problem with A2017G's only, not all, but there is a problem for some people who reported it.
Why *****ing about the capacitive buttons not lit? I mean, it's not like you didn't know before you bought the Axon, right? It would be like complaining about the size of the display...
Youssefmans said:
Hey Everyone,
So Guys , I'm about to buy the Axon 7 A2017 the Chinese variant (Since I'm outside the US) with 4gb RAM and 128gb of storage as an upgrade of my old LG G4, that's why I'm asking you guys to answer me honestly what was your personal experience with this device ? what are the bad sides that have made you frustrated or made you regretting making this purchase ??
I've heard many downsides but I cannot really believe them since many reputable reviewers on Youtube have said the opposite ??
Some Cons I heard :
1-The sound output from Headphones are not really great same for the dual front facing speakers.(Which is a bit shocking as the main promoted feature of this smartphone was the audio capabilities ).
2-The Screen is not clearly visible at direct sunlight
3-The Camera is awful , in other words a piece of crap (I dont really care about Photography or low light stills , but I also hate a smartphone that cannot take some sharp stills at daylight ,such as portait of myself for social media)
4-The capacitive buttons are not back lit , but I think I could get used to them.
5-The UI is buggy and bloated , the phone doesn't have any support from devs and the Company didn't fix many issues and bugs.
6-The fingerprint is not that fast or accurate (I've heard from a review that it works 60-70% of time)
7-Multi tasking and app launching is not good either comparing to smartphones that have the same cpu/gpu like Oneplus 3 , LG G5 ,..
8-Gaming experience is worse , as the 1440p leads to fps drops.
9-Notification are not received , bad sync
10-bad signal reception , bad GPS reception , Wi-fi range ??
Yes I know this is so long because after reading many opinions and seeing many reviews that's what came out !!
I still hear that all this can be fixed by an update but till now (after 6 months of releasing) nothing to be confirmed.
I'm a casual user , I don't root my phones , or install custom roms I can bear the Stock Rom if it's doing well , no bugs or lags.
Guys Please be honest , I know that almost every opinion will be biased , I don't want to buy a whortless smartphone because I also consider buying Oneplus 3 since my brother got it and it's an amazing smartphone blazing fast , takes some good images at good light , charging really so quick , everything is good with it except the battery drain when playing heavy games , the standby drain , and some heat issues.
The reasons that pushes me to consider buying Axon 7 over OP3 is it's great 1440p screen VR ready and the front facing speakers even if the Oneplus 3 have a good display despite it's FHD only and also a decent loudspeakers .
Yeahhh this thing is damnn long, but You know I don't wanna spend 400$ for useless features !!
Best Regards , Youssef
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had any issues whatsoever with this phone. I'm coming from A LG-G4 as well.
1) Sound is phenomenal! You'll have nothing to worry about.
2) It's not as bright as some other phones like the gs7 or IPhone 7, but it's better visibility than the G4 which is every you're coming from.
3) Camera is mediocre compared to today's phones, but it's similar to G4 performance. So it's slightly behind, but I don't take issue with it for such a good price. Daytime shots are really good, night time are meh, hdr makes them look pretty good but you have to stay really still. Manual mode is great if you know what you're doing.
4) Chinese variant uses on screen keys from my understanding. So the issue of non-backlit isn't relevant in your case.
5) UI is not stock Android, but waaaay closer & smoother than LG's UI. You'll have no issues with bloat coming from a G4 imo. Company has taken care of the major concerns like the notification bell on the lock screen and other things of the like. They was my biggest one, do I'm good now.
6) Fingerprint doesn't always get it perfect, but it's good like 85% of the time for me.
7) I haven't done any speed tests against any other phones, but from what I've seen on YouTube, it is slightly slower than competitors. For me, this isn't an issue cuz we're talking an incomprehensible real world difference. That's my opinion however. Its still faster than the G4.
8) No lag issues with gaming here. It on lagged on me once while I had Need for speed open in the background, a photo backup uploading my 32gb worth of photos going, while playing NBA live. It was only a slight stutter though. Other than that one incident, it's really smooth.
9) No issues with notifications or sync here. Could have been an early problem. I got the phone after they released the latest marshmallow build.
10) I get slightly worse reception than my G4. To me it was expected due to it being a metal phone vs a plastic one. I compared it to the G5 at a Tmo store and it wasn't to far off. Like 3dbm lower signal (higher number). Wifi is great though! Faster speeds, more stable signal, & prefers the 5ghz band when available. I always felt like the G4 sucked with wifi.
Overall, you cant go wrong with this purchase. One plus 3 is also a great option. I picked this phone over the OP3 because I'm a sucker for its design. I think it's sexier. I have been thrilled with my purchase so far and have no regrets. It's got all some quirks, but nothing that is a deal breaker for me. I also have the US variant so obviously this is my experience with that model and your mileage my vary if you are shooting for a Chinese unit. But there is my 2¢, hope it helps with your decision! Best of luck.
Thanks Guys I really appreciate your answers , I was about to switch to the OP3 , but I guess I may get The Axon 7 , cuz I'm a regular user and I'm not seeking for a fast responsive smartphone if this is doing the job well , I was also considering the Xiaomi Mi5s Plus 6gb ram version due to the better camera onfiguration and the latest snapdragon but Yeah , a 2k and Front facing speakers worth it !!
I've read cell reception is really bad and therefore I won't buy it.
Enviado desde mi SM-G920F mediante Tapatalk
Cell reception and how it does hotspot compared to my previous phones are pretty bad. But everything else is spot on.. Love the phone. My wife has the oneplus 3 and keeps it stock.. Both phones are awfully similar. I would get the axon if you keep it stock and the oneplus if you plan on installing custom stuff.
From my limited experience with the device (about 1 week, coming from a Galaxy S7 edge).
1) Sounds has been great for me. Both the speakers and headphone sound are louder and clearer that the S7 edge.
2) Screen is really, really good. Sunlight visibility may be a smidge less than the S7 edge, but I like the way the colours pop a lot more on the A7.
3) Not a big photog to be honest. S7 edge had the better camera, for sure. The A7 camera seems pretty good in good lightning, and pretty bad in low lighting.
4) Definitely not backlit, but I honestly have no issue with them. Your muscle memory kicks in pretty much straight away.
5) Definitely not bloated (especially if you come from Touchwiz). Haven't noticed any large scale bugs yet, but need more time.
6) It could be better. I'd say it's accurate about 80% of the time. It seems to work best with a double tap for me.
7) Can't really compare to those devices, but it's about on par with the S7 edge.
8) Gaming has been as good or better than the S7 edge for me (mine is the Exynos variant though).
9) Hard to say since I turn off most notifications. SMS and Slack are my primaries, and they seem to work fine.
10) WiFi has been fine. Haven't tested GPS much. LTE is definitely weak though. I seem to hover around 2-3 bars most of the time. My house, which for whatever reason is a weak spot for my carrier, poses a particular problem.
Youssefmans said:
1-The sound output from Headphones are not really great same for the dual front facing speakers.(Which is a bit shocking as the main promoted feature of this smartphone was the audio capabilities ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries here. Best speakers hands down. Only phones that come close are HTC M8 and Alcatel One Touch. Headphone output has been great for me, but I think it works best with high end headphones.
Youssefmans said:
2-The Screen is not clearly visible at direct sunlight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More visible than most thanks to color saturation and low reflectance. Maximum brightness of 360cd/m² is not the highest but thanks to low reflectance and high color saturation sunlight contrast ratio is amongst the best, just below OP3T and S7 but better than iPhone 7.
Youssefmans said:
3-The Camera is awful , in other words a piece of crap (I dont really care about Photography or low light stills , but I also hate a smartphone that cannot take some sharp stills at daylight ,such as portait of myself for social media)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera has very good color accuracy and low light is actually pretty decent considering the small pixels size, you just need to be steady or it can become blurry. In bright daylight pictures are good but less sharp than on other 20MP devices (e.g. X play). Noise reduction is a bit too aggressive. I find the camera adequate but it is clearly the main weaker point of the Axon 7 (but I come from the x play which is exceptionally sharp and a very pleasing camera, so I may be a bit biased).
Youssefmans said:
4-The capacitive buttons are not back lit , but I think I could get used to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got used to them very quickly but in the dark I occasionally miss them.
Youssefmans said:
5-The UI is buggy and bloated , the phone doesn't have any support from devs and the Company didn't fix many issues and bugs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UI is great, only the launcher is not that good, but I replaced it with HTC blinkfeed launcher from xda, as I love their blinkfeed + theming and other aspects.
Youssefmans said:
6-The fingerprint is not that fast or accurate (I've heard from a review that it works 60-70% of time)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People who have this issue did not map their finger correctly, that is not from all possible angles. If you make sure you map your finger from every possible angle and position it works perfectly. It took me a couple of tries to get it right but after that no issues. If you activate ZTE Locker daily wallpaper feature it may reduce recognition times, so may prevent successful recognition if the finger is removed too fast. For me it's no big deal but I know some people prefer to deactivate daily wallpapers to speed up recognition.
Youssefmans said:
7-Multi tasking and app launching is not good either comparing to smartphones that have the same cpu/gpu like Oneplus 3 , LG G5 ,..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that may be true because of the use of a different file mapping system (I read something about this) however this may become default in Android nougat so may not be an issue going forward. I personally don't find app launching slow but other phones are slightly better.
I know that OP recently implemented this file system on their phone:
https://www.google.fr/amp/s/www.xda...fferences-and-f2fs/amp/?client=ms-android-zte
I think this can be replicated on any phone where the ROM build support this. It was replicated on the OP3, it should be positive to get it to work on custom ROMs for the Axon 7 if not done already.
Youssefmans said:
8-Gaming experience is worse , as the 1440p leads to fps drops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the Axon 7's display has a pentile arrangement, it is not a true 1440p, this means the display actually has fewer pixels so the difference in performance is not that dramatic. That also explains why the Axon 7 can maintain good battery performance despite 1440p display.
Youssefmans said:
9-Notification are not received , bad sync
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never had this issue. However you need to know that as a default the phone kills apps that are in the background and does not let apps interrupt deep sleep, so you need to set up exceptions for each app to allow them to share notifications.
Youssefmans said:
10-bad signal reception , bad GPS reception , Wi-fi range ??
Youssef
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't confirm this, I actually found this phone to have better reception than OP1, OP1 and Moto X play. My house has thick walls and in spots where I usually had poor reception I now have good reception, access to 4G, etc. I compared db values and they were better than on my other phones.
1- The sound output from headphones is perfectly fine, as good as you can expect from a phone really. The speakers didn't come close to living up to the hype and reviews if you ask me. The only problem with sound is that you'd have to use their stock music app for the Hi-Fi DAC to work, and that app is beyond trash. Super laggy, super buggy, with less than bare-bones functionality. That and the phone apparently only outputs 16 bit sound despite having a 32 bit DAC.
2- Almost no phone is visible in direct sunlight, this phone's brightness is absolutely fine and very bright. Only phones like the Galaxy S7 with super contrast modes can be more visible.
3- The Camera is indeed utterly useless in low light, but in good lighting conditions is okay-ish. It's not in the same league as expensive flagship phone cameras, this is where they really cut costs (aside from the software).
4- Yes, they are not back lit, and yes it's easy to get used to, but super annoying in the dark.
5- The software is abysmal, by far the worst I've ever used. The empty promises and months of not delivering make me completely regret my purchase. If I was within the return period I'd refund the phone and get a OP3T.
6- The fingerprint sensor is very fast and works 95%+ of the time for me. Anyone who's having issues likely didn't register their finger prints from all angles as the phone explicitly tells you to do in its instructions.
7- There's nothing about multi-tasking that has annoyed me yet aside from the occasional bug where a program just closes, but I don't do side by side comparisons so I don't know if it's outperformed by other SD820 phones.
8- I haven't gamed all that much on it, but its gaming performance should be pretty much the same as any other SD820/1440p phone, or slightly better than some of the earlier SD820 phones. I've ran emulated PSP games at 1440p with all settings maxed out without frame drops. If you want a 1080p phone for better performance buy a OP3T.
9- I've had no issues with notifications aside from the lock screen being garbage (even if you disable the stupid bell, which took them forever to update to allow).
10- It's an aluminium unibody phone, of course it's not going to have the same reception as a glass or plastic phone. In my experience it's only slightly worse and hasn't affected me much.
Most your concerns are nothing to worry about, it's the software/non-existent support that would make me turn around, run away, and never look back.
puremind said:
Since the Axon 7's display has a pentile arrangement, it is not a true 1440p, this means the display actually has fewer pixels so the difference in performance is not that dramatic. That also explains why the Axon 7 can maintain good battery performance despite 1440p display. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, this is actually a major problem with pentile. The resolution has to be rendered as normal, they have no magical trick that renders based on subpixels, it's per "pixel", so all these pseudo-1440p phones actually are rendering the software at 1440p if set to full resolution.
1) it's pretty clear, better than any other phone that I have used. Might need an extra amp if you plan to use 70ohm+ cans. Anything else is driven really well if you use DVC within poweramp.
2)no problems for me, but reports have said it is only around 320~ nits which is just not true as I compared it to a Nexus 5 and 5X, and it was brighter than both of them. Even if it was dimmer it should be just fine anyway. I'd compare the level to be a iPhone on 90%.
3)pretty good camera front and back, I don't take selfies as I hate myself amongst other things. Good in normal sunlight and medium to low light (bedroom). I have no idea what the standard is these day and I frankly don't care as I don't use it that much. Good enough to not have your friends laugh at you.
4)I don't like back lit anyway since I normally turn them off and if you can't turn them off they stand out too much at night since the screen is AMOLED.
5) No bugs, just different, I'd say it's the best custom UI that I've used. Close to stock with more compact icons etc. Like a half arsed attempt at making android 7 UI on 6 which is actually pretty good if you look at other manufacturers like Samsung.
6)If you wet your fingers and touch it, lightning fast. I find that if I have really dry hands (half an hour bike ride) I might have to slide it around a bit more but it works. Just do what the setup tells you and keep moving your finger around that scanner. More you cover the better. If you unlock while taking out your pocket you have at least 3 attempts at the scanner at least unless your are Sherrif QuickDraw. If you are using the Chinese version you can even set certain fingers to use certain apps such as camera, very useful as you can add up to 5 fingers.
7)True, but it's marginal. You probably have seen those benchmark videos where they open up 20 apps all in one row and time it. Not a big deal if you consider that the time for each app is like half a second longer each. Doesn't bother me. Been using android since gingerbread, I've experienced full minute waits before.
8)It's 1440p like you said, if you root it you can do some xposed hacks and run it at 1080p shouldn't be that big of a deal anyway. Most games run just fine. I play asphalt 8 (yeah bit old but oh well) just fine.
9)Some ****ty power settings that are enabled by default, just look around in the settings for a bit and you should be fine.
10)It's on par or better than my S3. No dropped calls or missed texts but then again not a lot of people contact me:crying:.
Like you said, if you are a casual user, it shouldn't bother you. 70% of the phones on the market will be just fine. Phone have reached a level where if you don't go for the big names or just buy smart you can use them for 2+ years easy. Sister still rocking Nexus 5 just fine. Battery is crapping out but it was never that good to start with.
If you like games and media, get the Axon. Best portable device I have brought for years. Provides solid audio when paired with good IEMs. Games like Asphalt come to life with the front speakers. Also for a phone this size, it's very easy to hold. If you look at the phone next to a 5" one it's wider by not even 1cm.
If your bro has a OP3 I personally won't get one as well just to be different, also might get confusing. BUT it has:
-better software support (you said you were a normal user so doesn't matter really)
-tad faster with better general battery life due to smaller screen, less GPU load etc.
-more accessories, it's a more popular phone.
-get the 3T instead if you plan on getting this.
-notification slider thing, if you go to college this will be handy as you don't have to pull your phone out.
The Axon also has a few nit picks that I like to pick:
-the notification light is RG not RGB, Not that anyone actually uses that light, I just use it to see if my battery is full lol.
-didn't notice this but some guy on reddit also said that because the headphone jack and the charger is on different sides it lead to some weird holding positions which is true.
-the right speaker (button side) is not in the middle but at the bottom right of the phone due to the charging port. Didn't notice this until I saw a tear down video now when I watch youtube I try to listen out for it. Most of the time I can't but it's there.
Google VR Is also SOON^TM, some guy also said it didn't fit due to the bands touching the hardware buttons. But the ZTE headset is pretty cheap $50~ I think but it's china only.
[/COLOR]
Cyrus D. said:
No, this is actually a major problem with pentile. The resolution has to be rendered as normal, they have no magical trick that renders based on subpixels, it's per "pixel", so all these pseudo-1440p phones actually are rendering the software at 1440p if set to full resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is accurate.
IPS 1440P screen has 11M lighting elements whereas
Pentile 1440p oled only has 7.3M lighting elements - only marginally more than the 6,220,800 Lighting Elements of 1080p IPS LCD display
I bought the phone just before B08 came out so I really wasn't troubled by the software at all, especially since I always install HTC Blinkfeed launcher from HTC, which replaces clock, weather and gallery.
I had no trouble using the HiFi DAC on other apps so far, which app didn't work for you?
puremind said:
I don't think it is accurate.
IPS 1440P screen has 11M lighting elements whereas
Pentile 1440p oled only has 7.3M lighting elements - only marginally more than the 6,220,800 Lighting Elements of 1080p IPS LCD display
I bought the phone just before B08 came out so I really wasn't troubled by the software at all, especially since I always install HTC Blinkfeed launcher from HTC, which replaces clock, weather and gallery.
I had no trouble using the HiFi DAC on other apps so far, which app didn't work for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's correct that pentile has 1/3rd less subpixels than a standard RGB array. "1080p" on an AMOLED would have the same number of subpixels as a real 720p panel. But that wouldn't matter for software, it's still coded per pseudo-pixel as far as I know. Resolution output isn't coded by subpixels.
As for the DAC, every program I've tried sounds different than the stock music player. That includes PowerAmp's latest alpha (called a beta in the app store). The difference is most apparent in instruments, they sound noticeably sharper on the stock music player. I don't know for sure if this is some sort of equalizer or software tricks in the stock player that can't be disabled (the stock player has squat for options) or if it's indeed due to the DAC.
As for the the claims it outputs only 16 bit sound, I haven't ever found out exactly what that means. Whether it's just the stock music app that is limiting it, or if it's coded in the ROM to work like that.
Cyrus D. said:
It's correct that pentile has 1/3rd less subpixels than a standard RGB array. "1080p" on an AMOLED would have the same number of subpixels as a real 720p panel. But that wouldn't matter for software, it's still coded per pseudo-pixel as far as I know. Resolution output isn't coded by subpixels.
As for the DAC, every program I've tried sounds different than the stock music player. That includes PowerAmp's latest alpha (called a beta in the app store). The difference is most apparent in instruments, they sound noticeably sharper on the stock music player. I don't know for sure if this is some sort of equalizer or software tricks in the stock player that can't be disabled (the stock player has squat for options) or if it's indeed due to the DAC.
As for the the claims it outputs only 16 bit sound, I haven't ever found out exactly what that means. Whether it's just the stock music app that is limiting it, or if it's coded in the ROM to work like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you try MX Player?
For pentile displays there is a formula that calculates the subpixel intensities for each subpixel based on the desired "theoretical" pixels, so there are fewer operations being computed. Those operations are only marginally more complex than on an RGB display so the added complexity is offset by the much lower number of operations being conducted. From experience with calculation engines, it is usually more efficient to reduce the number of operations than to reduce the complexity of computations in terms of processing time.
Camera is the only major con for me.
The buttons on the bottom of the screen are ****ty too. Cant see them at night but i can deal with that.
puremind said:
Could you try MX Player?
For pentile displays there is a formula that calculates the subpixel intensities for each subpixel based on the desired "theoretical" pixels, so there are fewer operations being computed. Those operations are only marginally more complex than on an RGB display so the added complexity is offset by the much lower number of operations being conducted. From experience with calculation engines, it is usually more efficient to reduce the number of operations than to reduce the complexity of computations in terms of processing time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I tried to use it and compare the same song side by side to PowerAmp and the stock music player and I couldn't do it because that software is rage inducing. It's not designed at all to be a music player, so even if it could use the Hi-Fi DAC I wouldn't use it.
And that's interesting, I've looked into it and never found any info or article about the resolution output being optimized for pentile displays. Would you happen to have a link so I can read more about it?
Cyrus D. said:
Well I tried to use it and compare the same song side by side to PowerAmp and the stock music player and I couldn't do it because that software is rage inducing. It's not designed at all to be a music player, so even if it could use the Hi-Fi DAC I wouldn't use it.
And that's interesting, I've looked into it and never found any info or article about the resolution output being optimized for pentile displays. Would you happen to have a link so I can read more about it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried MX player? Did you find a difference? What is your go-to app? Which software version do you use? Have you made sure the dolby module was activated when comparing? It could be some apps somehow switch it off and you have to manually switch it on again.
If you don't compute values for each subpixel you have no means of producing the right colors on each theoretical pixel, this is true for both RGB and Pentile OLED. From a colorimetry standpoint there is no other way to control intensity and saturations, you have to drive each subpixel individuallly.

[Editorial] One Week with the Nexus 6

Perhaps it was just interesting timing that my previous secondary phone (the HTC One) died when it did, but whatever the reason was, I ended up picking up a used Nexus 6 a few weeks ago to serve as a combination backup and secondary phone. When the battery in my daily driver, the Moto X Pure Edition, took a crap last week, the "backup" side of that purpose was put to the test. Here's how it went:
XDA Stuff: Unlocking the bootloader, obtaining root, and installing the Xposed Framework (along with MinMinGuad and GravityBox) & A.R.I.S.E. audio was extremely painless. You'd be hard pressed to find too many other newer Verizon-compatible devices that are this easy to get started with that stuff on.
Device's casing: For having a screen that is only .26" larger, this phone sure is a lot wider than the Moto X Pure Edition. It's also extremely slippery. I'm surprised these things last as long as they do among folks with "normal-sized" hands. Anything much wider than 3" is a recipe for droppage. Thankfully, I got it with one of those giant super-grip kickstand casings. While this improves the grip dramatically, it makes the device extremely cumbersome to pocket. The kickstand comes in handy all the time though. It's sad that this monstrosity covers up the loud-and-proud NEXUS badge on the back though. It's kind of like hiding the Verizon logo; you just don't do it.
Screen: Easily the Nexus 6's biggest weakness. Aside from Samsung, Motorola seemed to be one of the biggest proponents of Oled panels during the days of the Nexus 6 (and even before). I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, but the Pure Edition's LCD really spoiled me, so the Nexus 6's panel was a letdown. Not only is there no option to switch to a more natural color profile under the stock rom/kernel, but the panel also isn't the brightest and burn-in is a noticeable problem, especially thanks to Motorola's insistence on using software keys instead of hardware navigation buttons. Despite these flaws, it is functional and usable, but the cartoony/awful color calibration just looks goofy. Turning the brightness down low takes it from "kind-of silly" to laughably bad. As a short-term backup/tester, it is acceptable, but I wouldn't daily this thing long-term without installing a customer kernel and applying some corrections.
Quirks: Like the Moto X Pure Edition, the Nexus 6's screen is set very low on the face of the device (although it is less noticeable on the former). I'd imagine that this serves to make the machine slightly more manageable duing single-handed operation (like a hardware implementation of Apple's "reachability" ) and also to improve visual symmetry with those software navigation keys (while the screen is on).
Also, the MicroUSB port is strangely upside-down on this phone.
Camera, Speakers: Seems comparable to the Pure Edition. Optical stabilization makes getting a steady shot in low light (or any lighting, for that matter) much easier and negates the need for digital stabilization in video recording mode, which improves field-of-view. Speakers sound about the same, although the hardware/software that drive them is noticeably "crustier" sounding. Still, it's very much usable.
Wireless Radio performance and compatibility: Didn't test side-by-side, but anecdotally seems identical to the Pure Edition. The massive number of GSM, CDMA, and LTE bands supported by this device is highly impressive, just like the Pure.
Vibration motor: Still noisier than it should be, but not quite as terrible as the Pure Edition. Also feels a bit stronger.
Software: Bland and boring, but gets the job done. I miss the Motorola camera and flashlight gestures (although the power key double-tap eliminates the need for the former) as well as the IR-assisted active display feature. Also, the "attentive display" (which keeps the screen awake as long as the camera can see the user) was very much missed. Also also, I was disappointed to see that there is no way to enable any kind of "night mode," even on the latest-and-greatest Android 7.1.
Conclusion: Nexus 6 is a good phone for the price these days. The camera is better than I originally gave it credit for, but don't buy this phone for its screen. If you want a cheap (but modern) Android phone that works on Verizon Wireless and can have its bootloader unlocked easily, (but don't want to pony up the additional $35-60 that the Moto X Pure Edition sells for) it's hard to go wrong with the 6. The battery is not user-replaceable, but holds up well. And, unlike the Nexus 6p, it won't fold in half!
Bottom line: Budget-minded Verizon customers might be better off with the Pure Edition, but if even that phone costs too much, the Nexus 6 is not a bad consolation prize. I couldn't ask for a better secondary/tester device.
Bill720 said:
.
Software: Bland and boring, but gets the job done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude this is vanilla android. Here we dont want crappy oems bloats and features. We want pure android. This is a Nexus not crapsung
Realistically, I have no idea what the OP is talking about when refers to the software being bland and boring. Motorola's implementation of Android was equally bland and boring. The few things Motorola added to Android didn't change matters.
That said, I'm guessing he's comparing the N6 to the Moto X Pure from 2014. The Moto X Pure/Style from 2015 my roommate uses has a camera with more megapixels but lacks OIS. I would argue the N6 camera is better despite having fewer pixels than the Moto X Pure (2015) 21MP shooter, simply because the N6 camera actually lets more light in. Then there is HDR+. People don't like it because it's slower than HDR from other manufacturers. HDR is faster because it's a software overlay on the image, rather than hardware compositing of images like HDR+.
Based on my experience with both the Moto X Pure (2015) and the Nexus 6, the Nexus 6 is the easier device to customize. Not only do you not have to beg Motorola for an bootloader unlock code with the N6, you also have more extensive custom ROM support. My roommate's Moto X is running Lineage OS because there's virtually no ROM support for the device.
The "Quirk" of having the screen set low on the body is because Motorola designed the display for both devices to always have the soft keys always up. With them up the usable display area is actually centered. Between the two, the N6's AMOLED screen, despite its issues in sunlight, is still the better screen. It's hard to beat a screen that actually displays the color black as black and not gray as it does on an IPS LCD.
thoughts on responses
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
That said, I'm guessing he's comparing the N6 to the Moto X Pure from 2014. The Moto X Pure/Style from 2015 my roommate uses has a camera with more megapixels but lacks OIS. I would argue the N6 camera is better despite having fewer pixels than the Moto X Pure (2015) 21MP shooter, simply because the N6 camera actually lets more light in. Then there is HDR+. People don't like it because it's slower than HDR from other manufacturers. HDR is faster because it's a software overlay on the image, rather than hardware compositing of images like HDR+.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am thinking of the 2015-release Pure Edition, which does indeed lack optical stabilization. Despite this, the seemingly-ludicrous resolution actually lends itself to capturing a lot of interesting detail that I've come to enjoy. Given that, I'd have to say that image quality is probably a draw, depending on conditions.
As for HDR+, I don't know if it's hardware-exclusive, but it does do some pretty amazing things, even in subpar conditions.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Based on my experience with both the Moto X Pure (2015) and the Nexus 6, the Nexus 6 is the easier device to customize. Not only do you not have to beg Motorola for an bootloader unlock code with the N6, you also have more extensive custom ROM support. My roommate's Moto X is running Lineage OS because there's virtually no ROM support for the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't speak to the quality of the custom roms on the Pure Edition, but the stock Rom is pretty darn good, so it's not as big of a loss. The stock kernel is pretty decent too. All I needed to install with that unlocked bootloader was Root, the Xposed Framework, and A.R.I.S.E. audio. While getting to that state of unlocked bootloader was a bit more fiddly than on the Nexus 6, it's better than most Verizon-certified devices.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Between the two, the N6's AMOLED screen, despite its issues in sunlight, is still the better screen. It's hard to beat a screen that actually displays the color black as black and not gray as it does on an IPS LCD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the contrast is better, I don't consider the burn-in, green tint, (pink tint when the brightness is set low) and horrible default calibration to be worthy sacrifices to make for it. And this is coming from almost five years of Samsung Oled use. Compared to a low-grade LCD, the 6's screen might be arguably superior, but the Pure Edition has one of the best screens in the business, so the Nexus 6 is no match for it, both objectively and subjectively. Make no mistake - it's a decent and very much usable panel by itself, but definitely not the best.
Two years ago when I was in the market for a new device my final two choices were between the N6 and the Moto X Style. The Moto X Style lost. Not because it isn't a good device - my roommate has one - but because of two things. The screen, and the camera.
No matter how you slice it, LCDs are older technology, and not as battery efficient as AMOLED. As a more mature technology they are more trouble free than AMOLED however. But for media consumption, having your blacks actually be black more than compensates for burn in. Burn in which, I might add, I don't see on my device to any noticeable degree. Oh, and size did matter here.
As for the camera, ignoring the obvious, the lack of OIS, more pixels does not equal better pictures. Wonder why so few flagship devices go above 13 megapixels in 2017? It's because of the law of diminishing returns. A simple truth about a digital camera is that the more pixels a camera has the less light each pixel can take in due to decreased surface area of the individual CCDs making up the sensor. The solution OEMs came up with? Decrease the pixels and increase the aperture. For me, the decrease in pixels was more than offset by improved light gathering capability and the presence of OIS. HDR+ is a bonus but didn't figure in my decision.
Heading into 2018, I still would take the N6 over the Moto X Style. But about this time next year I anticipate having a Pixel 2XL, so there you go.
Two things I don't like about displays today:
1) Unnecessarily high resolution, which makes the SoC work harder, leading to less performance and worse battery life. There is no point in having more details than the eye can see (around 300 dpi).
2) Pentile on almost all amoled displays. It looks fuzzy, unless of course the resolution is unnecessarily high. It was noticeable on the Galaxy Nexus with its lower resolution, and it makes me think twice about the OnePlus 5.
Google should have given the N6 a 1920x1080 display without pentile.
screen technology and camera performance
runekock said:
Two things I don't like about displays today:
1) Unnecessarily high resolution, which makes the SoC work harder, leading to less performance and worse battery life. There is no point in having more details than the eye can see (around 300 dpi).
2) Pentile on almost all amoled displays. It looks fuzzy, unless of course the resolution is unnecessarily high. It was noticeable on the Galaxy Nexus with its lower resolution, and it makes me think twice about the OnePlus 5.
Google should have given the N6 a 1920x1080 display without pentile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo. The reason why the Galaxy Note 2 (that I used before) was able to get away with just 720x1280 on a 5.5" Oled panel was because it used a proper subpixel layout that did not share pixels. These days, 1080x1920 is probably a more appropriate choice for this size class, but if the panel uses the dreaded "pentile" layout, then it automatically decreases the perceived/effective resolution.
Thanks to its proper RGB subpixel layout, the Pure Edition could've gotten away with a 1080x1920 panel and had resolution to spare, but the Nexus 6 needs its 2K display in order to compensate for the loss in sharpness that is caused by use of pentile.
No matter the reason, as you mentioned, forcing the chipset to render exponentially-higher resolution graphics strains it more than would've been necessary.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Two years ago when I was in the market for a new device my final two choices were between the N6 and the Moto X Style. The Moto X Style lost. Not because it isn't a good device - my roommate has one - but because of two things. The screen, and the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's interesting that you mention this because, one year ago, I was in the market for a new device and the Pure Edition won on the basis of its unlockable bootloader, Verizon compatibility, and having one of the best screens in the industry. I'd been burned by Samsung and their "super" amoled nonsense twice in a row by that point and decided to get away from it altogether for future daily-driver smartphones (at least until the technology matured).
While I too was originally concerned by the high camera resolution, figuring that the mainstream reviewers' opinions were probably right, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually does a really good job. You are correct to say that resolution isn't everything, but I was pleasantly surprised. Lack of optical stabilization was a slight letdown, but I've been nothing short of blown away by the quality of the photos, especially when one considers how low the bar was set by the mainstream reviews.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
No matter how you slice it, LCDs are older technology, and not as battery efficient as AMOLED. As a more mature technology they are more trouble free than AMOLED however. But for media consumption, having your blacks actually be black more than compensates for burn in. Burn in which, I might add, I don't see on my device to any noticeable degree. Oh, and size did matter here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "battery efficiency" thing is debatable, but the contrast ratio of the Pure Edition is very good as it stands, especially considering its nearly-triple maximum brightness output when compared to the 6. The lack of "perfect black" is hardly even noticeable unless you're using the device in a particularly dark environment or are really looking for it.
I could give the 6 a pass here if the software complemented the hardware, but as it is, the default calibration is nothing short of horrendous (and it gets worse as you turn the brightness down). Having to install a custom kernel and fiddle around to get something that almost matches what the other phone can do out-of-the-box with the stock kernel is a noteworthy letdown for me.
Screen calibration? You've been watching too many of Erica Griffin's review videos on YouTube. She is the only device reviewer I'm aware of who goes so insanely into depth regarding the screen. And I get why she does it, since without a screen a smartphone is but a chunk of plastic, metal, and silicon. But there are more people like me than there are you: people who don't actively look for issues like that. That said, I have to wonder if my device, being a late vintage, used an updated panel. The colors are about as accurate as on my laptop.
I say that because I've never had to install a custom kernel to fix something that to me isn't broken.
some idiot comes into a nexus forum filled with a million ways to change anything you want and cries about not being able to change things... what?
@def1003: And who exactly is the idiot? Up until your post the discussion has been civil between @Bill720 and myself. We may not agree with each other, but he has put forth solid reasoning behind the assessment he made. He's earned respect for that, as the two devices are indeed very similar in specifications, and choosing between one and the other is difficult.
on Oled screens...
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Screen calibration? You've been watching too many of Erica Griffin's review videos on YouTube. She is the only device reviewer I'm aware of who goes so insanely into depth regarding the screen. And I get why she does it, since without a screen a smartphone is but a chunk of plastic, metal, and silicon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say that I watch too many of her videos, (the last one I actually remember was the Galaxy Note 2 dummy phone drop test series) but I'll study up take a look at some of her thoughts on the Nexus 6.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
But there are more people like me than there are you: people who don't actively look for issues like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My opinion is based on more than benchmarks (which objectively demonstrate poor quality) however. I'm not "that guy" who has a calibration gadget and calibrates all his monitors, but I can tell the difference between "good enough" and when everything looks like a cartoon. It's not just that I'm accustomed to the Pure Edition and all of the other monitors and screens that I use on a regular basis; it's also the fact that, after looking at the real world and then the Nexus 6's portrayal of the world, the mind knows that something isn't right.
That's not to say that it isn't fun to look at sometimes, but the mediocre default calibration crushes the natural vibrance of the displayed image, both objectively and subjectively. And that's at normal brightness. Turn the dial down, and things go from disappointing to downright silly.
I realize that OEMs are bound by some unseen force to perpetuate the myth of Oled's "vibrance" by applying these hyped-up calibrations from the factory, but all I'm asking for is the option. In the Moto X Pure Edition's stock rom/kernel, the user is given a choice between a "natural" and "vibrant" profile. If they'd provided something like that on the Nexus 6's stock software, I'd be accepting of their willingness to make an effort. From what I've heard, Samsung and OnePlus now give at least 2 choices on their Oled-equipped phones. I understand that even the "natural" option isn't anywhere close to perfectly calibrated, (regardless of display technology) but it at least lands the ball in the park, which is all I want.
Ironically, that is what Google is doing for the Pixel 2/2XL. But only after people complained about the natural color palette Google used. If blame were to be applied for the punchy and vibrant colors of AMOLED, look no further than Samsung. And since they are the biggest Android OEM, more people see their screens and expect all other screens to look like that.
I think I'm one of them. My last device was a Galaxy S4.
thoughts on Oled calibration
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Ironically, that is what Google is doing for the Pixel 2/2XL. But only after people complained about the natural color palette Google used. If blame were to be applied for the punchy and vibrant colors of AMOLED, look no further than Samsung. And since they are the biggest Android OEM, more people see their screens and expect all other screens to look like that.
I think I'm one of them. My last device was a Galaxy S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps Samsung has trained its customers to expect cartoony results on Oled screens by using their marketing muscle to perpetuate the myth of Oled's "vibrance." This doesn't mean that it's a mainstream opinion though, as Apple has historically managed to get their iPhones in the ballpark as well. We'll have to see what they do with the new Oled-based iPhone X.
I don't know if it will do anything, but I just installed an Android 8.1 ROM and toggled the SRGB colorspace option in Developer Options.
Bill720 said:
Perhaps it was just interesting timing that my previous secondary phone (the HTC One) died when it did, but whatever the reason was, I ended up picking up a used Nexus 6 a few weeks ago to serve as a combination backup and secondary phone. When the battery in my daily driver, the Moto X Pure Edition, took a crap last week, the "backup" side of that purpose was put to the test. Here's how it went:
XDA Stuff: Unlocking the bootloader, obtaining root, and installing the Xposed Framework (along with MinMinGuad and GravityBox) & A.R.I.S.E. audio was extremely painless. You'd be hard pressed to find too many other newer Verizon-compatible devices that are this easy to get started with that stuff on.
Device's casing: For having a screen that is only .26" larger, this phone sure is a lot wider than the Moto X Pure Edition. It's also extremely slippery. I'm surprised these things last as long as they do among folks with "normal-sized" hands. Anything much wider than 3" is a recipe for droppage. Thankfully, I got it with one of those giant super-grip kickstand casings. While this improves the grip dramatically, it makes the device extremely cumbersome to pocket. The kickstand comes in handy all the time though. It's sad that this monstrosity covers up the loud-and-proud NEXUS badge on the back though. It's kind of like hiding the Verizon logo; you just don't do it.
Screen: Easily the Nexus 6's biggest weakness. Aside from Samsung, Motorola seemed to be one of the biggest proponents of Oled panels during the days of the Nexus 6 (and even before). I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, but the Pure Edition's LCD really spoiled me, so the Nexus 6's panel was a letdown. Not only is there no option to switch to a more natural color profile under the stock rom/kernel, but the panel also isn't the brightest and burn-in is a noticeable problem, especially thanks to Motorola's insistence on using software keys instead of hardware navigation buttons. Despite these flaws, it is functional and usable, but the cartoony/awful color calibration just looks goofy. Turning the brightness down low takes it from "kind-of silly" to laughably bad. As a short-term backup/tester, it is acceptable, but I wouldn't daily this thing long-term without installing a customer kernel and applying some corrections.
Quirks: Like the Moto X Pure Edition, the Nexus 6's screen is set very low on the face of the device (although it is less noticeable on the former). I'd imagine that this serves to make the machine slightly more manageable duing single-handed operation (like a hardware implementation of Apple's "reachability" ) and also to improve visual symmetry with those software navigation keys (while the screen is on).
Also, the MicroUSB port is strangely upside-down on this phone.
Camera, Speakers: Seems comparable to the Pure Edition. Optical stabilization makes getting a steady shot in low light (or any lighting, for that matter) much easier and negates the need for digital stabilization in video recording mode, which improves field-of-view. Speakers sound about the same, although the hardware/software that drive them is noticeably "crustier" sounding. Still, it's very much usable.
Wireless Radio performance and compatibility: Didn't test side-by-side, but anecdotally seems identical to the Pure Edition. The massive number of GSM, CDMA, and LTE bands supported by this device is highly impressive, just like the Pure.
Vibration motor: Still noisier than it should be, but not quite as terrible as the Pure Edition. Also feels a bit stronger.
Software: Bland and boring, but gets the job done. I miss the Motorola camera and flashlight gestures (although the power key double-tap eliminates the need for the former) as well as the IR-assisted active display feature. Also, the "attentive display" (which keeps the screen awake as long as the camera can see the user) was very much missed. Also also, I was disappointed to see that there is no way to enable any kind of "night mode," even on the latest-and-greatest Android 7.1.
Conclusion: Nexus 6 is a good phone for the price these days. The camera is better than I originally gave it credit for, but don't buy this phone for its screen. If you want a cheap (but modern) Android phone that works on Verizon Wireless and can have its bootloader unlocked easily, (but don't want to pony up the additional $35-60 that the Moto X Pure Edition sells for) it's hard to go wrong with the 6. The battery is not user-replaceable, but holds up well. And, unlike the Nexus 6p, it won't fold in half!
Bottom line: Budget-minded Verizon customers might be better off with the Pure Edition, but if even that phone costs too much, the Nexus 6 is not a bad consolation prize. I couldn't ask for a better secondary/tester device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the same money, about $100, the Kodak Ektra has much faster overall performance and brighter screen.
RGB and Kodak
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
I don't know if it will do anything, but I just installed an Android 8.1 ROM and toggled the SRGB colorspace option in Developer Options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That option is there in the stock rom too, but it doesn't do anything. In fact, if you back out of the developer options and go back in, you'll find that it is turned back off.
damiloveu said:
For the same money, about $100, the Kodak Ektra has much faster overall performance and brighter screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting-looking product for sure, and while I would have to assume that they put a decent camera in the thing, there's very little support or discussion on it anywhere. It doesn't even have a forum on XDA DEVELOPERS. The biggest non-starter for me, however, is lack of band 13 LTE and CDMA support/certification for Verizon. This could possibly be an attractive buy for AT&T or Tmobile customers, however, depending on how the rest of the experience holds up.
@Bill720: If I recall correctly it's nothing special, with its only claim to fame being the camera.
And I did notice that the SRGB toggle shut itself off.
Kodak fails to replace Motorola...
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@Bill720: If I recall correctly it's nothing special, with its only claim to fame being the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably true. After reading/watching some of the few mainstream reviews that do exist for it, the conclusion reached is that the camera is acceptable, but nothing better than the high-end phones of 2016. The rest of the experience was average (at best) and the device does not appear to have gained enough mainstream traction for "XDA stuff" (root, Xposed, custom roms/kernels, etc.).
While we're on the topic of alternative phones however, for folks who can tolerate Oled, the OG Droid Turbo combines the camera, features/software, and elegance of the Moto X Pure Edition with the screen technology and chipset of the Nexus 6, while adding in a positively massive battery pack. The prices on that phone have now dipped down below $100, (with some being sold for as little as 75-85) but a $25 ransom must be paid to be able to unlock the bootloader. If it weren't for the Oled screen, that thing would come dangerously close to "daily driver material" for me personally, and the fact that the navigation keys are hardware instead of drawn on-screen does eliminate the prime cause of uneven Oled panel wear.
with the nexus rooted and using the paid app colour changer pro i have tweaked my nexus 6 to a really good screen with all the colours and tones looking perfect , without that app the screen was not the best , now i think it is , but using the same app on my samsung s8+ has boosted the look and feel perfectly , if your not happy with your screens look then try that app as it will make you enjoy your old nexus 6 or any oled or lcd phone.
@peekie: I'm sure he has already done that. As much as we may like the device, we have to keep in mind this device is not perfect. As someone new to the N6 he found the experience disappointing, mainly because of the screen. I can understand where he is coming from, even though I've not had any issues with the screen. What I did find laughable was the poster who thought a budget Kodak phone could in any way compete with two flagship-level devices.

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