Moto X Review (coming from Galaxy S2) IMAGE HEAVY - Moto X General

I have been using a Galaxy S2 for the past two and a half years and have been pretty happy with it overall. Last week my Republic Wireless Moto X came in, and I decided to share my experience.
(Physical Appearance)
Physically, the Galaxy S2 and Moto X are almost identical in vertical and horizontal size. The Galaxy S2 is a hair wider, and not quite as long. The Moto X packs a 4.7” screen into approximately the same sized package as the Galaxy S2 which has a 4.3” screen - though only around 4.45” of the X’s screen is usable most of the time due to onscreen buttons. The Moto X is considerably thicker (the S2 is an incredibly thin phone) though its shape is very pleasant to hold. Thinner is not always better. I was also surprised by how noticeable an increase from 122g to 130g is in my hand – the X feels surprisingly heavier and denser.
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The screens on these two devices are both Samsung-manufactured OLED panels. The S2 uses the same RGB pixel layout as the Moto X, but runs at a lower resolution of 800x480 (16:10) as opposed to the X’s 1280x720 (16:9). The Moto X’s panel is basically the same panel as is used in the Note 2, though with smaller pixels, making it one generation behind the S4 and one generation ahead of the S2. Neither has the RGBG (pentile) layout of the Galaxy S, S3 and S4, which is arguably a plus.
Auto brightness:
Max brightness:
Although it’s difficult to capture with a camera (my second S2, in fact), the Moto X’s screen is a little brighter at any given level of auto-brightness, has a higher max brightness, and a slightly lower minimum brightness than the S2. The saturation is higher on the Moto X than on the S2 though its pixels have faded in the past two and a half years (a common problem with OLED panels). Interestingly, the S2’s blue pixels have faded more quickly than its red and green pixels, which has changed its originally overly-blue image to a slightly red-green tinted image. I have to wonder if Samsung did this intentionally with their tuning, and wonder if the Moto X will suffer the same pixel fading as it ages. Also worth noting is Samsung’s inclusion of “screen modes” which control the saturation, which is absent in the Moto X. I have been using the “natural” setting on my S2 for a while now and I wish the Moto X had the option to decrease it’s saturation a little too.
Subjectively, the Moto X’s screen is an incredible improvement. Text is easier to read due to the higher resolution, and it’s just generally a more pleasant screen to look at. Not to say that the S2’s screen wasn’t acceptable, but displays have come a long way in a short time.
One thing that surprised me was the feeling of the vibrations in the S2 vs the Moto X. The X’s vibrations remind me a lot of the OG Droid (I have not owned a Motorola phone since that one), and are a lot rougher or lower-frequency than those of the S2. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, but they definitely feel different, each being very representative of their manufacturers.
(UI and subjective performance)
The UI on the Moto X (as you probably already know) is very near stock android. Aesthetically, I like it better than TouchWiz on the S2 though functionally they are not very different. Nearly everything is organized exactly the same in the S2’s version of TW, the major differences being in the font choices and colorfulness of icons and menus. One thing notably lacking on the Moto X (with the stock launcher) is the ability to resize widgets and add or remove homepages.
Some of the app skinning done in TouchWiz is arguably an improvement over stock android, and most of the places where things are better there, Motorola has done the same. The most notable example is the camera UI. To be frank, I don’t like the UI Google has chosen for its camera, and am glad Motorola made their own.
The S2 is one of the first phones that I felt was largely “fast enough”. It has a dual core Exynos 4 SOC clocked at 1.2GHz and 1GB of RAM (~830MB usable). The Moto X has a dual core Snapdragon S4 Pro clocked at 1.7GHz and 2GB of RAM. The Snapdragon is considerably faster per clock.
I have been running my S2 rooted since day 1 and with recent 3rd-party kernels, the UI is almost perfectly smooth if there isn’t anything running in the background. There are occasionally dropped frames, and animations can be choppy if things are running in the background. Scrolling up and down webpages as they are loading in Chrome can also show dropped frames. 1GB of RAM is sufficient right now, but only just, and with the increasing requirements of apps I expect the S2 will be limited by its RAM sooner than its SOC. I would like to note that TouchWiz actually runs better than more recent versions of Cyanogenmod, so I have gone back to a modified 4.1.2 TW. The Moto X by contrast has a perfectly fluid UI out of the box, and almost nothing I have done has produced any dropped frames. Subjectively, the Moto X is noticeably smoother than the S2, especially when multitasking.
Game-wise, there is no game on the Android Market that won’t run perfectly smoothly on the S2 (today). It even handles DS emulation smoothly – you can’t tell the difference between a DS game running on the S2 vs the Moto X. So, despite the Moto X being several times faster on paper, games and emulators show no improvement (yet).
Worth mentioning is how much more quickly the Moto X tends to connect to and authenticate over WiFi.
(Features)
The Moto X has several features which I appreciate, but they aren’t make-or-break for me. Sadly, it lacks a few features which almost are.
The twist-to-activate-camera feature is neat, but it takes very little more time to hit the power button and turn it on from the lockscreen. I was surprised to learn (and other reviews hadn’t mentioned) that the motion works regardless of what you’re doing. The camera can be activated via the motion from within a call, while watching a video, or from within a game (unless, I assume, the game takes control of the motion sensors). This is situationally pretty useful.
Active display is a wonderful feature which I find as useful because I can wake my phone without hitting the power button as seeing if I have notifications without fully waking the phone.
Moto Connect is a fantastic seamless integration of texting into your desktop browser, and I wonder why others haven’t done this before. It’s one of the main reasons I used primarily Google Voice for texting before.
Assist’s Sleeping and Meeting modes are useful, but I had to disable Driving as I suspect it was hitting my battery pretty hard (tons of GPS related wakelocks) for what I got out of it. I’ll admit, I sometimes check my texts while driving, but I always wait until I’m in a low-risk area (ie stopped at a traffic light, or when there are no cars for some distance on the highway) and it would probably save more than a few lives if this feature existed on all android phones. I thought the custom SOC was supposed to allow these features without a significant battery hit, but it seems that’s not entirely true. I may revisit this feature later.
Audio effects – I turned this off almost right away. It’s nice to have a system-wide equalizer included but it’s not a very robust implementation.
I haven’t yet felt the need to use Moto Care, but it seems a very thoughtful feature to include for non-tech savvy users.
What is the Moto X missing that the Galaxy S2 has?
1. uSD card slot. On my phone I keep ~16GB of music, ~2GB of audiobooks, ~3GB of game ROMs (PSX games are large), ~1.5GB of system ROMs and backups (or at least I did on my S2), and may use half a GB for photos / backgrounds / other images at any given time. Add in 4GB of system files/apps and keeping at least 20% spare area to keep performance up, and 32GB is just about right for me - assuming that my usage patterns don't change and I don't need any more space than I'm already using in the next 2 years. The Moto X has only around 10.5GB of usable space free unless you get the developer edition (not available through Republic Wireless and probably not through contract either) which a serious, serious problem for me.
I'm not happy with the idea of paying an extra $30+ per month for higher data limit when the amount of storage I need to decrease my data usage to near zero is less than $30 up front. If I don't need to stream anything, I can easily get by with a 300MB cap. Republic Wireless is uncapped when you have their basic data plan, but Sprint’s 3G is pretty much too slow to stream music, much less videos, and coverage is not great. As for the arguments about how it could negatively affect build quality – keep in mind, the phone already has a sim card slot, and uSD cards are not any larger.
2. Removable battery. This one is actually less of an issue for me now as I bought an external battery pack. I can live without it, but this can be a problem for some users. One thing to note is that generally, most of the replaceable batteries that will fit a phone will be manufactured for only as long as the phone is, so if you’re looking to replace an old battery with a new one, most that you buy will probably be equally old, just less used. Still, it is a point of failure that can easily be replaced, which brings me to the next point…
3. No user replaceable parts. Over the two and a half years I owned my S2, I needed to replace the camera module and the charge port. It’s arguable that build quality of the S2 is to blame here, but it isn’t an invalid criticism of the Moto X that parts are not user-replaceable as they are on Samsung phones. Twice I would have needed to replace my phone or send it to the manufacturer for repairs. The total cost of parts was $12 and about 10 minutes to pull the phone apart because of this “feature”. I’m actually waiting on rooting my Moto X until the one-month warranty/return period is over as I’m concerned about part failures.
Despite how much I like the Moto X, I might not have chosen it had it not been for the incredible pricing through Republic Wireless. A uSD card is practically a requirement for me.
(Subjective Sound Quality)
Using my Beyerdynamic DT 880’s, I feel that the Moto X has better quality output, though I know basically nothing about the hardware involved. I think I could most accurately describe it as sounding like the difference between using a pocket amplifier and not. It’s easier to distinguish individual instruments and sounds, and the noise floor is a bit lower.
(Camera)
I spent a bit more time comparing the cameras, because the camera is so important to me.
The Moto X has a 10MP sensor as compared to the Galaxy S2’s 8MP sensor. Both have the same horizontal resolution so the extra pixels on the X’s camera are vertical. The Galaxy S2 takes 4:3 aspect ratio pictures, while the X takes 16:9 photos.
The Moto X has a larger aperture (f/2.6 vs f/2.4) which allows the sensor to collect more light. The X is also capable of taking pictures with an ISO as high as 5000, vs 800 from the Galaxy S2, ISO being the sensitivity to light that the sensor is capable of. These two factors will allow the X to take much brighter low-light pictures at a given exposure time, or take similarly bright pictures with much shorter exposure, which helps to prevent blurry pictures.
The X also has a different subpixel layout than most (all?) other smartphone cameras, having one clear pixel in place of the second green pixel in the camera’s 2x2 grid. This gives the possibility of collecting even more light, but can potentially produce odd artifacts when taking pictures.
Software-wise, the Moto X is very simple to use. Tap on the screen, and it focuses quickly and snaps a picture. The Galaxy S2 uses tap-to-focus by default, and only captures if you hit the capture button, which is small. The Moto X is capable of taking pictures much more quickly.
How do the cameras compare in practice? Both cameras are being used with default settings in the following shots. The left (or if you’re using a small screen, first/upper) image is taken by my Galaxy S2, while the second is from the Moto X’s camera with the latest update.
These two shots were taken in a dark room with the curtains drawn. The Galaxy S2 used an ISO of 400 with 1/17 of a second exposure. The Moto X used an ISO of 5000 with a 1/14 of a second exposure. Definite win for the Moto X, the Galaxy S2’s camera fails miserably in these conditions.
With the curtains pulled back to let in a bit of sunlight, the Galaxy S2 fares better. It continues to use a 400 ISO with a 1/17 of a second exposure, and takes a fair, if slightly blurry picture. The Moto X’s shot comes out sharp in part because it is able to use a 1250 ISO with a 1/40 of a second exposure. There is some software sharpening going on here too though, as can be seen at the bottom of the image. Overall, another win for the Moto X.
In this indoor shot, the Galaxy S2 arguably takes a better indoor picture. Although the Moto X’s shot is sharper, the repeating pattern of the carpet causes weird color artifacts due to the Moto X’s subpixel layout. Additionally, the colors are closer to natural in the Galaxy S2’s shoot. The Galaxy S2 opted for ISO 800 + 1/16s while the X went with ISO 1600 + 1/19s.
In this early-morning outdoor shot, the Moto X performs admirably. There is a deep shadow on the house to the left, with bright sunlight on the right. In order to capture enough light for detail in the shadow, the Galaxy S2 overexposes the building on the right. The Moto X automatically enables HDR and exposes both parts of the image properly. While the Galaxy S2 is capable of HDR, it’s very slow and often results in incredibly blurry shots.
This is a closeup of a fallen pine branch taken outdoors in direct sunlight. The Moto X captures more detail with more natural colors.
This is a crop of a macro shot taken with varying light levels similar to those taken in the 4th set of pictures. These have been cropped (obviously) with the building being at the center of the photo and the leaves on the grass at the bottom being at the edge of the Galaxy S2’s sensor, and near the edge of the Moto X’s. In this shot, the Moto X opted not to use HDR. The Galaxy S2 actually captured more natural colors here. Additionally, I noticed that the edges of many images taken on the Moto X are blurry, and more than can be explained just by having a very wide aspect ratio. Take a look at the leaves on the ground in the two shots.
My apologies for the extremely long images, but it was necessary.
In this shot, there is a sun glare and varying light levels, as well as repeating visual patterns in the plants. The Galaxy S2 takes a hazy shot but the colors are fairly accurate. The Moto X opted for HDR here and took a sharper shot, but messed up the colors quite a bit in the entire image. Additionally, we see the odd color-checkerboard artifacts in the plants near the pool deck, and blurriness toward the bottom edge of the shot. A strong win for the Galaxy S2.
This is another closeup in good outdoor light. The top of the cropped image represents the middle of the image captured by the camera, and the bottom is the edge. I would argue that the Moto X does slightly better in the colors in this shot and has a bit more detail in the center of its focus, but notice the extreme blurriness present at the bottom of the Moto X’s shot.
This comparison shows the common visual artifact taken by the Galaxy S2’s camera which is not present in the Moto X’s shots. Images taken in low light without a flash on the Galaxy S2 do not have consistent color between the center and the edges. It is not generally visible in shots which have detail, but can ruin certain indoor shots.
In this first flash comparison, the Galaxy S2 appears to take a better shot, but it’s deceptive. The S2 has a much brighter flash but it’s almost perfectly white, while the X has an almost yellow-green flash that helps make reddish indoor/evening scenes’ color tone closer to that of sunlight. Also, the Moto X doesn’t need nearly as bright a flash because of its incredible low-light sensitivity. I would say that the S2 generally picks up more detail when its flash goes off (at least on things close enough to be lit by the flash) but the color of the flash doesn’t do good things for a person’s face. (sorry, you’re not getting any pictures of my wife ^^)
The S2 probably makes a better flashlight and is good for taking pictures of “stuff” in low light, but the Moto X is better for taking pictures of people in these conditions – which is what you’re probably going to be taking a lot more pictures of in low light. I’d call this one a win for the Moto X.
Interestingly, the S2 does not have its color problems when the flash is on, while the Moto X does. I would argue that the Moto X is probably best used with the flash off when you can get away with it, while the S2 is basically useless in low-light without the flash.
I would argue that the Moto X definitely takes better low light pictures than the Galaxy S2. In mixed lighting conditions, the Moto X also takes superior shots, assuming its software isn’t confused and color artifacts aren’t produced. In well-lit conditions, I believe the Galaxy S2 takes better macro shots because of its consistency, lack of color artifacts, and no visible edge-blurring in these conditions. In well-lit micro shots, the Moto X displays generally better color accuracy but has noticeable edge-burr, making it a tossup in my eyes.
Overall I would rather have the Moto X’s camera. When it’s working “right” it takes stunning pictures, but the more-than-occasional color artifacts introduced by its unusual subpixel layout and lack of perfect software correction leave me with mixed feelings.
(Battery Life)
The Moto X comes with a much larger battery than the Galaxy S2 (2200mAh vs 1650mAh) so better battery life is expected. Additionally, the S2’s battery is close to 2 years old and may have lost as much as 20% of its max capacity.
I have found that with the Moto X, I am able to get a bit over 5 hours of screen-on time on a charge vs 4 hours with the S2, both mostly browsing the web over WiFi. However, the Moto X does not sleep nearly as well.
Digging into Better Battery Stats, it appears that I had some really bad GPS wakelocks – more than 500 overnight. The S2 will happily sleep for more than 5 days on a single charge without airplane mode, while the Moto X would probably die in 3 days, despite its newer SOC built on a smaller process and larger battery. Because of this I find that on a day of average usage (~2.5-3.5 hours screen on), I tend to have around the same battery remaining on the S2 as on the Moto X, though both easily get me through a day. I’m going to need to play around with the Moto X further to see if I can reduce GPS related wakelocks (isn’t there hardware that’s supposed to make this not a problem?) or just turn it off when I’m not using it. I may write another article on how to save battery on your Moto X at a later date.
Worth noting here is that the Moto X charges much more quickly than the S2 does. The S2 is capped at 650mA charge current, while the X comes with an 800mA charger and can draw more than 1200mA if you have a charger that can support it.
Conclusion – draw your own. I went from a great phone to a great phone, but not everything is an improvement.

thank you for your review. could you comment on the bass audio output of this phone? (through headphones)

Interesting that you say you can easily get 5 days idle on your S2, and the battery stats seem under 0.5% per hour. I've never owned an Android phone that could do that... actually, my iPhone couldn't either but that was a few generations ago. iPhone 3G, 3GS, Droid X, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, and now my Droid X.
Do you have email sync? Other apps syncing/polling? I mean, I don't have a whole lot but Facebook/Google+ sync, Gmail, Weather bug updates hourly... all of that adds up to about 1% or so per hour in ideal circumstances, so 3 days is about all I'll ever get - and that has always been consistent, I've never owned a phone I could get much under 1% per hour if I have normal polling/syncing stuff running.
Not doubting, just interested.

c19932 said:
thank you for your review. could you comment on the bass audio output of this phone? (through headphones)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely.
In comparison to the Galaxy S2, low bass is slightly "warmer" and noticeably less muddy. Whether it's because of a better DAC or more amplification I can't say for certain. I could probably make a recording of the outputs with my PC if you're interested - you won't hear exactly what it sounds like because it will have been processed but you might be able to hear relative differences.

binary visions said:
Interesting that you say you can easily get 5 days idle on your S2, and the battery stats seem under 0.5% per hour. I've never owned an Android phone that could do that... actually, my iPhone couldn't either but that was a few generations ago. iPhone 3G, 3GS, Droid X, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, and now my Droid X.
Do you have email sync? Other apps syncing/polling? I mean, I don't have a whole lot but Facebook/Google+ sync, Gmail, Weather bug updates hourly... all of that adds up to about 1% or so per hour in ideal circumstances, so 3 days is about all I'll ever get - and that has always been consistent, I've never owned a phone I could get much under 1% per hour if I have normal polling/syncing stuff running.
Not doubting, just interested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exchange kills my battery but I have GMail / Calendar / Contacts / Google Keep / Google Voice / Hangouts / Chrome / Drive / Currents Sync on. In things like Words With Friends I disable notifications when the option is present. Beautiful Widgets Weather updates are set to 2.5 hours. I don't have a Facebook app installed, and I close Skype and sign out when I'm not using it. Market is set to not auto-update apps, location reporting is disabled (so you can't track your path around town but it gets rid of most GPS wakelocks), and in apps that have an option of not using data unless on WiFi I enable that, and set WiFi to turn off while the device is sleeping (WiFi -> Advanced).
Functionally, there is very little lost from these settings.
I've recently been playing with Greenify, but it seems unnecessary with the above settings.

Eckyx said:
Exchange kills my battery but I have GMail / Calendar / Contacts / Google Keep / Google Voice / Hangouts / Chrome / Drive / Currents Sync on. In things like Words With Friends I disable notifications when the option is present. Beautiful Widgets Weather updates are set to 2.5 hours. I don't have a Facebook app installed, and I close Skype and sign out when I'm not using it. Market is set to not auto-update apps, location reporting is disabled (so you can't track your path around town but it gets rid of most GPS wakelocks), and in apps that have an option of not using data unless on WiFi I enable that, and set WiFi to turn off while the device is sleeping (WiFi -> Advanced).
Functionally, there is very little lost from these settings.
I've recently been playing with Greenify, but it seems unnecessary with the above settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look into getting Better Battery Stats. You can get a free copy here on XDA. I used it to figure a strange wake lock issue I was having only when connected to a specific wifi router. Based on your high Android OS number I would guess you might have a similar issue. I kept seeing my phone be idle for 7 hours but somehow the CPU total would be over 4 hours and the awake time being almost 1.5 hours. I am trying to figure out what the setting is on my router that causes the issue but so far no luck.

landale said:
Look into getting Better Battery Stats. You can get a free copy here on XDA. I used it to figure a strange wake lock issue I was having only when connected to a specific wifi router. Based on your high Android OS number I would guess you might have a similar issue. I kept seeing my phone be idle for 7 hours but somehow the CPU total would be over 4 hours and the awake time being almost 1.5 hours. I am trying to figure out what the setting is on my router that causes the issue but so far no luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it but I haven't made sense of it yet. The two largest wakelocks I've seen has been qcom_rx_wakelock with more than an hour in a 14 hour period and a count of 6,678, and nlpcollectorwakelock. I don't know what's calling on the GPS yet so my temporary fix for that is to turn off GPS when I'm not using it. There are some minor wakelocks under "Partial" - MMApiWebService.lastChance, MMApiWebService, AcquireWakeLockAction, NotifDataListener - but these are not nearly as bad as the qcom and nlp wakelocks. Without rooting I am unable to view Alarms, and the only reference that works is since "Unplugged". So, every time I have wanted to transfer data to or from my phone I've reset BBS and haven't yet had a good record. I'll definitely be looking into it over the next few days.

Eckyx said:
I have it but I haven't made sense of it yet. The two largest wakelocks I've seen has been qcom_rx_wakelock with more than an hour in a 14 hour period and a count of 6,678, and nlpcollectorwakelock. I don't know what's calling on the GPS yet so my temporary fix for that is to turn off GPS when I'm not using it. There are some minor wakelocks under "Partial" - MMApiWebService.lastChance, MMApiWebService, AcquireWakeLockAction, NotifDataListener - but these are not nearly as bad as the qcom and nlp wakelocks. Without rooting I am unable to view Alarms, and the only reference that works is since "Unplugged". So, every time I have wanted to transfer data to or from my phone I've reset BBS and haven't yet had a good record. I'll definitely be looking into it over the next few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I can't say some of the things on there made much sense to me either but I've at least been able to use it to try and figure out that the drain issues are only happening on specific wifi connections. I wish I had another KitKat device to test to see if it's a Moto X issue or a KitKat issue.

The processor arrangement doesn't have anything to do with GPS. You kept wondering if it did... It doesn't. GPS is separate from the low power chips. The 8 "cores" are used as such:
- 2 for applications
- 1 low power audio processing (Touchless Controls)
- 4 GPU cores
- 1 context aware core (no clue what that means)

natezire71 said:
The processor arrangement doesn't have anything to do with GPS. You kept wondering if it did... It doesn't. GPS is separate from the low power chips. The 8 "cores" are used as such:
- 2 for applications
- 1 low power audio processing (Touchless Controls)
- 4 GPU cores
- 1 context aware core (no clue what that means)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The context aware core I believe controls the sensors used as part of the Active Display. Which would explain why the Moto X does this so much better then on other phones with 3rd party apps.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

natezire71 said:
The processor arrangement doesn't have anything to do with GPS. You kept wondering if it did... It doesn't. GPS is separate from the low power chips. The 8 "cores" are used as such:
- 2 for applications
- 1 low power audio processing (Touchless Controls)
- 4 GPU cores
- 1 context aware core (no clue what that means)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, thank you. I poked around in some other reviews and found this, which agrees:
Brian Klug said:
This stowage and contextual awareness detection comes through fusion of the accelerometer, gyro, and ambient light sensor data on a TI MSP430 controller which enables most of the active display features from what I can tell. These then are exposed as flat down, flat up, stowed, docked, and the camera activation (flick) gesture. The MSP430 also surfaces its own temperature sensor to the rest of Android, which is nifty (the Moto X has an accelerometer, gyro, pressure sensor, compass, and the MSP430’s temp sensor).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For some reason I suspected that the GPS hardware well under this too.
____________
I set the phone back to stock and let it sleep overnight, and here are my BBS results from that:
Calcualtes to roughly 1.33% per hour idle vs <0.5% per hour I was getting before - which isn't going to prevent me from getting through a day, but completely unnecessary. Interestingly the qcom_rx_wakelock wasn't responsible for a large percentage of the wakeups last night, though its count was extremely high.. One thing I can think of that is different is that I'm on my 5GHz WiFi network now, though I'm definitely not ready to point fingers.
I'm going to go through and disable the following, one by one, and see how my device sleeps overnight with each gone:
Activity Recognition (RW specific)
Assist
Location Reporting
Help Improve Motorola Products + Moto Care
And if I still have odd wakelocks, GPS after that.

Assist gives GPS wakelocks to see if you are driving or not. That might be it.

Eckyx said:
I'm going to go through and disable the following, one by one, and see how my device sleeps overnight with each gone:
Activity Recognition (RW specific)
Assist
Location Reporting
Help Improve Motorola Products + Moto Care
And if I still have odd wakelocks, GPS after that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please update us after you experiment a bit.
I have location services turned on, which I'm sure contributes to my ~1%+ per hour idle consumption rate, but I've been happy with that and haven't done much controlled testing. Would be interested to see if that can be cut further - I'll probably fiddle a bit over the next couple nights as well with some of these services.

Thanks TS for posting this thread. I was considering whether to go from my current S2 to Moto X in view of the Cyber Monday discounts.
But the stuff ( expandable storage, fm tuner, gd camera ) that are important to me are unfortunately not found on the Moto X and the costs involved in importing the phone to my country isn't worth the effort.
Hence I've decided to go for an S3 + custom roms to resolve any software deficiencies compared to Moto X instead.
But still... :good: for the effort !

First battery life update -
I disabled Assist Driving and Activity Recognition (Republic Wireless Feature) and let the phone sleep for 6 hours. I had the following results:
* Battery loss reduced from ~1.3% per hour to ~1.2% per hour
* NlpCollectorWakeLock reduced from 8.0% to 1.7%
* NlpWakeLock approximately unchanged
* Overall deep sleep improved from 73.6% to 80.7%
I'm going to re-enable Activity Recognition and see if it hits battery life - disabling both of those gave a not-insignificant improvement, but I'm not sure which is the worse offender.

I'm on the same boat myself. Thinking of switching my dying i777 for the off contract motor x for att edition. I plan on switching to either aio or straight talk next march. I'm debating the nexus 5 but all the features of the x makes it a winner for me. Your review is great man, I wish everyone would do them like yours.
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Sent from the second to last Galaxy
PACman Rom Nightlies
AJK 4.9 "the boss"

Have you guys heard of the Meenova MicroSD card reader? It plugs into the microUSB port and allows you to read your expandable storage. It's smaller than a quarter, and it says it's compatible with the Moto X. I'm planning on getting one for Christmas.
It's not a permanent solution, but you could just plug it in everyone you wanted to "stream" something. And all without data.
http://www.meenova.com/st/p/m3r.html

Theron113 said:
Have you guys heard of the Meenova MicroSD card reader? It plugs into the microUSB port and allows you to read your expandable storage. It's smaller than a quarter, and it says it's compatible with the Moto X. I'm planning on getting one for Christmas.
It's not a permanent solution, but you could just plug it in everyone you wanted to "stream" something. And all without data.
http://www.meenova.com/st/p/m3r.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I have one on my desk it front of me. I haven't had a chance to play with it much but I found that Play Music and Apollo were both unable to play music from the card when I first tried. Play Music saw the files but could not play them, and Apollo did not see the files at all. I was surprised by this as I expected the media scanner took care of finding media. I have heard reports from others with different phones that Poweramp can play music just fine that way, but I haven't had a chance to test it much.
On a related note, .nomedia files don't seem to work on the Moto X (I put them in the folders where I keep my audiobooks to prevent them from being picked up by my media players) which suggests to me that its media scanner may work in a slightly different way than I'm accustomed to.
I'll take a short break from battery testing later this evening and see if I can get it working. At the very least, I should be able to store ROMs and other files that don't rely on the media scanner.

Confirmed - Poweramp will play files off of the USB disk but Play Music, Apollo, and presumably other media players which rely on the system's media scanner rather than scanning folders themselves. Mortplayer (the program I use for my audiobooks) is also fine with the Meenova adapter because it too is folder-based with its own media scanner.
It seems to be a bit buggy though. Sometimes I have to unplug and plug back in the adapter or none of my media will play, even that which is stored locally on the phone.
I think I could live with having my less-listened to music on there, but I have concerns about possible effects on battery life caused by the adapter. I would definitely need to purchase Poweramp, or find a good free player that uses folder structure and/or has its own media scanner. I often go to sleep with my phone charging and listening to an audiobook which rules out keeping those on the card, but game ROMs would probably be fine to move over.

I haven't done this since my 2012 Nexus 7, but I did have some issues with battery/wake time on the old N7 when using an OTG cable and a thumb drive. Basically, if I put the tablet away with the cable/drive plugged in, it would be heavily drained of battery when I pulled it out again, much more so than normal sleeping should account for.
Which makes sense, of course, it's pulling power to keep the drive online, and it's not awful when you're actually using the thing - just mentioning it since it also pulls power when the tablet is sleeping, and dropping your tablet into your backpack, then pulling it out 8 hours later and finding it severely depleted is a surprise.

Related

LG G3 vs Moto X and somewhat vs Galaxy S5

Decided to pick up an LG G3 on Thursday... So far, I am mostly pleased. Here's a review/comparison...in random order:
The display is nice and large, but doesn't feel like a bulky 5.5" in my hand. Easier to hold than my Galaxy S5, believe it or not...I definitely don't think about it as much, probably because of the thinner bezel and body.
While it is high quality, I wouldn't say the display is most amazing screen on the planet - considering the impressive specs on paper. You'll just have to see it. On several occasions, I've noticed that text looks fuzzy/washed out on white backgrounds. But I think now that it's actually an issue with certain apps not being able to produce high enough resolution - not the display's fault.
It does very well in bright sunlight, and seems to have the most reactive light sensor compared to the Galaxy S5 or the Moto X.
Removable battery and wireless charging back (coming soon) are handy conveniences. It also has an IR blaster, which I really missed from the Galaxy S5. Believe it or not, I actually use it very regularly.
I picked up a 32gb MicroSD... The phone can handle up to a 128gb...'nuff said
Photo quality is definitely above average. Night and day compared to the Moto X - even with the most recent Moto X firmware updates. I'd say the G3 is on par with older iPhones; which has always been the one to beat. Stunning? No, but closer than most any Android phone I've owned. Better than the Galaxy S5... The laser focus feature is somewhat noticeable, though I'd say it helps the camera act more like my expectations than being a substantial bonus.
LG has made quite a few tweaks to 4.4.2. Most all are complimentary, and freshen up the interface in a better way than most. Like many though, I was very surprised to find the stock launcher a bit slow and stuttering - especially considering that the phone is quad core with 3gb of ram. I suspect they'll update things in a revision soon... Overall, the phone is snappy. And other than the stock launcher itself, everything else performs very well/fast. I really don't perceive anything negatively as "bloat".
I dearly miss the breathing Moto X notifications. LG does make up for it to some degree by offering the knock-to-power-on convenience. If you aren't familiar, you can simply double tap the screen to turn it on...no buttons to fumble for and press. So this helps to check things very quickly. The notification light on the front also compliments...
The stock keyboard is zippy and performs as well as the Google one. I like that you can change the color scheme and some of the button format, as well as the fact that it has a number bar at the top all the time.
I've been able to root the phone, which has helped to satisfy some of my hacking nature. I quickly got a bit burned out with custom roms on the Moto X - partly because things tend to glitch more than I wanted, and surprisingly because the Moto X actually has a very limited development community...even for my Developer Edition model.
I'm slightly concerned that LG has not announced any support for Android L yet.
Battery life is on par with the Moto X and Galaxy S5...probably because it's powering such a large screen.
Physical build quality is great. And I have quickly embraced LG's genius of placing all the buttons on the rear of the phone. They're very convenient, and you can even program long-press actions (with a hack) to quickly launch the camera or an app from screen off. And again, the knock-to-power-on is by far my favorite. While the Galaxy S5 uses higher quality materials, I definitely find the G3 more attractive and convenient.
I also like that the headphone jack is on the bottom of the phone.
The Moto X speaker blows away the G3. The G3 is on par with the Galaxy S5...somewhat quiet and boring. This affects music and the speakerphone negatively. Call quality on the G3 is disappointing with the earpiece as well (non-speakerphone call)...tinny and dull. Too often I find that I have a noticeably harder time hearing people than on the S5 or Moto X.
Overall, I am pleased. Tradeoffs outweigh disadvantages, and I love that I didn't have to install a ton of add-on apps to improve functionality and remove bloat. If I could unlock the bootloader, increase battery life about 3 hours, and improve the speaker/earpiece quality, it would just about be a perfect phone...
^ Even though I have a G3, I still love my Moto X. The one thing I don't love is the camera, which is where the G3 excels.
Since you have rooted your G3, you can install Xposed and "Display Notifications". It mimicks Active Notifications from the Moto X. Not 100% the same, but close. It can't sense when you take the device out of your pocket, but at least when you first receive a notification and for "x" seconds later (x=your choice), it breathes and you can touch it to see who it's from.

Not impressed by the Galaxy S6 Edge

Hello,
I just want to write a small review of the phone coming from the Galaxy S5 Plus (G901F).
Design: Just beautiful, miles ahead of the plastic used on the S5. The display bezels are much thiner than on the S5. I have the 64GB version so no SD Card slot is not necessarily a drawback. Non removable battery is not a drawback right now for my usage but if I keep it long enough (which I doubt, considering my track record), it will. IP certification is nice to have on the S5, but I usually keep my electronic devices away from water, so not a big loss here.
Display: The higher resolution makes no difference for me. The colours seem to be less saturated or less punchy. The "infinite" display effect is nice but the reflections on it can be disturbing while watching a video/movie, scrolling horizontally is beautiful though.
Battery: Just worse than on the S5 Plus. Not terrible, but just a small downgrade. The standby time is very good though, at least on MM. Both charge blazing fast.
Performance: Strangely, I feel the UI was a little more responsive on the S5 Plus. Otherwise no problems, I dont play games on the phone, nor do any high demanding tasks. I find the camera app particularly fast to launch. Opening the Task Manager is faster now, on the S5 it was painfully slow.
Camera: I was expecting more from the camera to be honest. Both the S5 Plus and S6 Edge share the same sensor, but I thought the OIS and the brighter lens would make a bigger difference. Not necessarily the case here, I must say. Low light shots are nothing to write home about, they are still pretty unusable, the Nexus 5X seems to do a much better job here I feel. The speed of low light shots has definitely improved, the S5 would always take a second or two to take a low light shot (not considering the focusing), on the S6 they are instantaneous.
The focusing speed feels a hair faster, great when there is enough light, not that great on dimmer lighting conditions. To be able to shoot raw and change the exposure time at will is a big plus though, leaves a lot of room to play. Stabilization is definitely improved.
Fingerprint Sensor: I was expecting a big jump coming from the S5, but I must say in my case, the fingerprint sensor found on the S5 was more effective! Maybe I am holding the phone wrong*, but I have to try so many times my fingerprint to be recognized, that I locked the phone several times on the first couple of days. I have even registered the same finger several times to check if that helps, it doesnt.
Overall: I think the feel in the hand and the looks are the biggest differences, otherwise I find both phones pretty comparable.
K,Bye
We have a thread for this already:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6-edge/general/post-personal-s6e-reviews-t3066964

HTC 10 or S7

Hi everyone ,
I thought of getting the s7 edge but the 10 was pretty impressive. Which should I go for ? I flash Roms a lot and will definitely root it. I will be getting it unlocked for sure.
I had the HTC ONE M8. My contract was up this year. I went for the S7 EDGE and aside from missing the IR blaster, I don't regret it. However the lack of decent tempered glass screen protectors for the S7E is irritating.
That said, if the Edge model did not exist and the choice was between regular S7 and HTC 10, I would have stuck with HTC. The Edge uniqueness pipped it for me. I actually use the Edge UI quite a bit.
FYI some more background, I left Samsung years ago and switched to HTC for two reasons 1) fed up with TouchWiz and bloat ware 2) plastic materials. Something I felt HTC were addressing with their Sense and metal materials. I've gone full circle again. TouchWiz is less bloated now and actually enjoyable to use. And the hardware feels premium.
Sent from my SM-G935F using XDA-Developers mobile app
Are you getting the international S7? Because AFAIK, The US models don't support unlocking/root... so that's a big negative. Also, I never had a good experience using an international Note 5 on T-Mobile USA's network (if you're US based).
Each phone has pro's and cons. The S7 is certainly more polished right now, but HTC has been pushing updates daily to fix issues. Performance should ideally be faster on the HTC just because it is less bloated. I really appreciate HTC embracing stock Android as much as possible. I'll give you a quick rundown of my opinion on the devices... I'm having such a hard time deciding, I actually just ordered both and plan on using them back and forth to hopefully decide which I will use until the next Nexus or Note 6.
S7E:
+Insanely fast autofocus... camera is reliable right now. Better manual controls
+Great sunlight brightness
+Waterproof
+OLED screen
+Unique design
+Larger screen
+Huge battery
+Better slow motion video, and 60 FPS video
+Wireless charging
+UFS storage speeds
-micro-USB, v2.0
-TouchWiz
-No root capability for US models yet?
-Fingerprint reader is slower and must press power button
-Curved edges can distort colors (turn blue/green) on white browsing screens
HTC 10:
+Brighter screen in manual brightness
+High fidelity speakers and headphone jack, DAC/amps. High-res audio recording
+Lighter OS
+Better looking display whites
+Type C USB, v3.1
+Unlocked bootloader
+Better front and rear camera hardware (bigger pixels, OIS on front - software needs more polishing)
+$599 after discount code
-eMMC storage speeds
-Smaller display
-Only splash resilient
-Small battery for thickness
-No sunlight brightness boost mode
-LCD contrast (very good, but still nowhere near OLED)
If the 10 were OLED and 5.5", it would have been the perfect phone...
I love HTC, but now, i would pick the S7 edge.
Htc 10 is a good device. The S7Edge is a great device. You pretty much get the best components on the market. Htc 10 asks way too high of a price for what it offers, using emmc storage, bad optics for the camera, OIS not so good either, display is not that good unless you get a specific brand (basically a lottery), it gets too hot too fast ( search htc 10 forums)
The only reason you might wanna consider the 10 is maybe audio, not that its that much better than the S7Edge exynos. Samsung pretty much created the best device money can get to date.
FalconFX said:
Htc 10 is a good device. The S7Edge is a great device. You pretty much get the best components on the market. Htc 10 asks way too high of a price for what it offers, using emmc storage, bad optics for the camera, OIS not so good either, display is not that good unless you get a specific brand (basically a lottery), it gets too hot too fast ( search htc 10 forums)
The only reason you might wanna consider the 10 is maybe audio, not that its that much better than the S7Edge exynos. Samsung pretty much created the best device money can get to date.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're down talking the phone way more than it deserves. Have you even used it yet to back up those claims?
The latest eMMC is not THAT much worse than UFS. Most people are likely to not even notice a difference because once things are loaded in the RAM, it's moot.
How does it have bad optics? LOL. It uses the same sensor as the 6P which BEATS the S7E in plenty of low light tests due to superior HDR processing. The HTC with a bigger aperture AND OIS is a recipe for perfection if HTC can get the camera software right, which so far has gotten better, but is not where it needs to be. And how is the OIS bad?
I haven't seen much complaining about the panels. Apparently the more rare Sharp panels don't have an issue in landscape with polarized sunglasses and may have less visible tinting at extreme angles. But from what I saw in a YouTube video, after 2 weeks, the pink tint was practically gone at extreme angles hinting to it being an adhesive issue in the LCD which will clear up after a little bit of use.
Don't know anything about the heat actually being an issue. Apparently people feel the heat easily - it is an aluminum phone, so maybe it's just better at dissipating it, but I would bet that the S7E is less prone to thermal throttling with its vapor heat pipe. Not an issue for me because I never game on my phone.
Nitemare3219 said:
You're down talking the phone way more than it deserves. Have you even used it yet to back up those claims?
The latest eMMC is not THAT much worse than UFS. Most people are likely to not even notice a difference because once things are loaded in the RAM, it's moot.
How does it have bad optics? LOL. It uses the same sensor as the 6P which BEATS the S7E in plenty of low light tests due to superior HDR processing. The HTC with a bigger aperture AND OIS is a recipe for perfection if HTC can get the camera software right, which so far has gotten better, but is not where it needs to be. And how is the OIS bad?
I haven't seen much complaining about the panels. Apparently the more rare Sharp panels don't have an issue in landscape with polarized sunglasses and may have less visible tinting at extreme angles. But from what I saw in a YouTube video, after 2 weeks, the pink tint was practically gone at extreme angles hinting to it being an adhesive issue in the LCD which will clear up after a little bit of use.
Don't know anything about the heat actually being an issue. Apparently people feel the heat easily - it is an aluminum phone, so maybe it's just better at dissipating it, but I would bet that the S7E is less prone to thermal throttling with its vapor heat pipe. Not an issue for me because I never game on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just the fact that you said that HTC has bigger aperture means you know s***t about cameras, The smaller the number the wider the aperture, 1.7 is better than 1.8. here is a comparison :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFww3-Ne3Fk
When i said optics i meant the lenses, not the sensor, but considering how you dont know which aperture size is better, there is no reason to waste my time on photography 101.
The S7 is the fastest device of the year (exynos), in day to day usage & in heavy tasks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvytFwkI8BA
As i said, the 10 is a good device, but not a great one, for the price they are asking for it, they are delivering the basic things, which every device this year does very well, and arguably the S7 excels not only at the basics, but goes beyond that with extras, (Wireless charging, heat pipe, IP68, etc).
FalconFX said:
Just the fact that you said that HTC has bigger aperture means you know s***t about cameras, The smaller the number the wider the aperture, 1.7 is better than 1.8. here is a comparison :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFww3-Ne3Fk
When i said optics i meant the lenses, not the sensor, but considering how you dont know which aperture size is better, there is no reason to waste my time on photography 101.
The S7 is the fastest device of the year (exynos), in day to day usage & in heavy tasks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvytFwkI8BA
As i said, the 10 is a good device, but not a great one, for the price they are asking for it, they are delivering the basic things, which every device this year does very well, and arguably the S7 excels not only at the basics, but goes beyond that with extras, (Wireless charging, heat pipe, IP68, etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My comment of having a bigger aperture was directed towards it being larger than the 6P, not the S7E. I am well aware that the S7E has a larger aperture, but the 10 has larger pixels. I'm not sure which would equate to taking in more light, but considering the 6P has been capable of producing better shots than the S7E in many scenarios at night, the 10 should be even more capable with its larger aperture (than the 6P).
Exynos is not available here in the US unless you get the international version, which is not worth it considering the issues that may arise trying to use it on US carriers based on my experience with an international Note5 on T-Mobile USA's network. If OP is outside of the US, then that is cetainly something to consider.
The S7 has its additional features, as does the 10. The heat pipe is only relevant if you heavily use the device. IP68 is cool for sure, but I don't know how well I'm warming up to the idea of getting the phone wet regularly. Wireless charging is pointless because it is a lot slower than wired, and you can't really use the phone easily when it's charging like that. The 10 has FAR superior audio (at least vs the SD 820 variant), has a larger aperture for the front camera along with OIS, more refined speaker audio, higher manual brightness, USB Type C v3.1, is less bloated, and - this is a big one for me - doesn't require you to hit a home button for fingerprint unlock OR to go home. I don't know why, but I hate pushing down on a button, especially to unlock the device.
I'm not arguing that the S7 isn't a great device. That's why I have ordered them both to see which suits me best. I'm just saying that calling the 10 only a "good" phone is a bit unwarranted at this point. HTC put a lot of effort in the right places and left it unlocked from the start, and has pushed updates daily since it launched. Samsung hasn't really innovated much like they could have. Last year's Note5 was a huge showcase of that... nothing new other than the updated design.
HTC 10 I liked best the camera.
Nitemare3219 said:
My comment of having a bigger aperture was directed towards it being larger than the 6P, not the S7E. I am well aware that the S7E has a larger aperture, but the 10 has larger pixels. I'm not sure which would equate to taking in more light, but considering the 6P has been capable of producing better shots than the S7E in many scenarios at night, the 10 should be even more capable with its larger aperture (than the 6P).
Exynos is not available here in the US unless you get the international version, which is not worth it considering the issues that may arise trying to use it on US carriers based on my experience with an international Note5 on T-Mobile USA's network. If OP is outside of the US, then that is cetainly something to consider.
The S7 has its additional features, as does the 10. The heat pipe is only relevant if you heavily use the device. IP68 is cool for sure, but I don't know how well I'm warming up to the idea of getting the phone wet regularly. Wireless charging is pointless because it is a lot slower than wired, and you can't really use the phone easily when it's charging like that. The 10 has FAR superior audio (at least vs the SD 820 variant), has a larger aperture for the front camera along with OIS, more refined speaker audio, higher manual brightness, USB Type C v3.1, is less bloated, and - this is a big one for me - doesn't require you to hit a home button for fingerprint unlock OR to go home. I don't know why, but I hate pushing down on a button, especially to unlock the device.
I'm not arguing that the S7 isn't a great device. That's why I have ordered them both to see which suits me best. I'm just saying that calling the 10 only a "good" phone is a bit unwarranted at this point. HTC put a lot of effort in the right places and left it unlocked from the start, and has pushed updates daily since it launched. Samsung hasn't really innovated much like they could have. Last year's Note5 was a huge showcase of that... nothing new other than the updated design.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know whats so amazing about higher manual brightness being higher, i keep mine on auto, and outdoors i can see the screen no problem, the 10 has way worst outdoor visibility.
Phones are getting stagnant. The S7Edge is the farthest a device can get as a whole package. Next year is where innovation should be made. Any device that you buy this year will have no problem bolding up beyond 2 yrs. I feel like sammy did the right thing with the s7, its improved in every possible aspect. As i said, the htc 10 is a good device compared to this year's flagships, but its the a great upgrade from the M9 and M8.
The htc 10 would be a great phone if priced well. 500$ is the best price for it. It doesnt offer much from the 6p, so it should be priced against it.
I have one more T-Mobile jump until it resets in June. Then I get 3 more upgrades for the year. I'm going to look at the HTC 10 but I don't know if I'll take the leap. Battery life is most important to me and I don't think the 10 will come close to the 8 hours SOT I'm getting with my S7E.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
Nitemare3219 said:
Are you getting the international S7? Because AFAIK, The US models don't support unlocking/root... so that's a big negative. Also, I never had a good experience using an international Note 5 on T-Mobile USA's network (if you're US based).
Each phone has pro's and cons. The S7 is certainly more polished right now, but HTC has been pushing updates daily to fix issues. Performance should ideally be faster on the HTC just because it is less bloated. I really appreciate HTC embracing stock Android as much as possible. I'll give you a quick rundown of my opinion on the devices... I'm having such a hard time deciding, I actually just ordered both and plan on using them back and forth to hopefully decide which I will use until the next Nexus or Note 6.
S7E:
+Insanely fast autofocus... camera is reliable right now. Better manual controls
+Great sunlight brightness
+Waterproof
+OLED screen
+Unique design
+Larger screen
+Huge battery
+Better slow motion video, and 60 FPS video
+Wireless charging
+UFS storage speeds
-micro-USB, v2.0
-TouchWiz
-No root capability for US models yet?
-Fingerprint reader is slower and must press power button
-Curved edges can distort colors (turn blue/green) on white browsing screens
HTC 10:
+Brighter screen in manual brightness
+High fidelity speakers and headphone jack, DAC/amps. High-res audio recording
+Lighter OS
+Better looking display whites
+Type C USB, v3.1
+Unlocked bootloader
+Better front and rear camera hardware (bigger pixels, OIS on front - software needs more polishing)
+$599 after discount code
-eMMC storage speeds
-Smaller display
-Only splash resilient
-Small battery for thickness
-No sunlight brightness boost mode
-LCD contrast (very good, but still nowhere near OLED)
If the 10 were OLED and 5.5", it would have been the perfect phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the comparison. It's really helpful. I'll just get the S7 and the 10 at a go. I'll return either one. BTW I live outside the States.
And thanks, everyone for your thoughts.
Nitemare3219 said:
Are you getting the international S7? Because AFAIK, The US models don't support unlocking/root... so that's a big negative. Also, I never had a good experience using an international Note 5 on T-Mobile USA's network (if you're US based).
Each phone has pro's and cons. The S7 is certainly more polished right now, but HTC has been pushing updates daily to fix issues. Performance should ideally be faster on the HTC just because it is less bloated. I really appreciate HTC embracing stock Android as much as possible. I'll give you a quick rundown of my opinion on the devices... I'm having such a hard time deciding, I actually just ordered both and plan on using them back and forth to hopefully decide which I will use until the next Nexus or Note 6.
S7E:
+Insanely fast autofocus... camera is reliable right now. Better manual controls
+Great sunlight brightness
+Waterproof
+OLED screen
+Unique design
+Larger screen
+Huge battery
+Better slow motion video, and 60 FPS video
+Wireless charging
+UFS storage speeds
-micro-USB, v2.0
-TouchWiz
-No root capability for US models yet?
-Fingerprint reader is slower and must press power button
-Curved edges can distort colors (turn blue/green) on white browsing screens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% incorrect. When the phone is in sleep you simply need to press the home button down with a finger/thumb that's been setup and the phone will unlock. The physical pressing of the home button wakes the device then the fingerprint is immediately read. You don't even need to release the button. The power button on the side at no point needs to be touched.
Beefheart said:
100% incorrect. When the phone is in sleep you simply need to press the home button down with a finger/thumb that's been setup and the phone will unlock. The physical pressing of the home button wakes the device then the fingerprint is immediately read. You don't even need to release the button. The power button on the side at no point needs to be touched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I used the wrong wording. I know you don't have to hit the power button - what I implied was you must hit the home button, physically push it down to wake the device for your fingerprint to be read. If Samsung would have found a way to avoid that requirement, the fingerprint sensor would be a lot more appreciable to me. I dislike the physical home button all together truthfully. I strongly prefer the 10's home button.
I've been using the S7E for a few days now. The 10 has been sitting at home, and will likely be getting returned. It's a good phone in a lot of ways. Maybe even a great phone. But every other phone out there is the best at something. The 10 is best at almost nothing, but good/great at everything. Problem is, most of those phones that are the best at something are also good/great at everything else too.
My biggest complaint with the 10 is the display. It just sucks compared to OLED. It has crazy motion blur, low brightness below 75%, a pink tint to the entire screen even viewed straight on, and has lesser contrast (but very good contrast for LCD). That combined with the display being SMALL, makes it a loss for me. I just don't want to use it as much as I do the S7E or the 6P.
I was really excited about the audio. I was really excited about the camera. I was really excited about the build. It gets all of those things right. But so do the other two phones I mentioned for the most part (headphone audio isn't that good on the S7E, but it's not bad enough to make me not want to use it). With a 5.5" OLED display, the 10 would've been phone of the year in my book, no questions asked.

Moto X Pure vs. Pixel XL - my take

I posted this in the Moto X Pure forum but figured it might be useful to people surfing this forum also.
I swear, the Moto X Pure is the best phone to not get enough attention. Bright, loud, excellent bezel to screen ratio and even full ROM support for AOSP.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mot...pixel-xl-vs-moto-x-pure-t3488807#post69337283
--------------------------
Got my Pixel XL yesterday.
Feel free to ask any comparison questions or buy my two month old mint 64GB MXP listed on swappa.
Camera opens up and is focused, ready to capture pictures twice as fast as the MXP.
Overnight deep sleep was 98.6% over 8.5 hours.
Root & TWRP aren't available yet but Chainfire did root his Pixel and is working out some bugs before giving it to the community. TWRP are still working on something with encryption before offering their product up.
The MXP feels just as "premium" in the hand.
The Pixel's volume buttons are a bit more "clacky". I noticed it right away when I grabbed the phone and my finger kind of tapped the volume button and it made a metallic sound. The MXP does this also, but the Pixel does it more.
The Pixel XL is lighter on paper and in the hand.
But unless you have one phone in each hand, you're not going to notice much of a difference.
Though the Pixel does seem to make my running shorts sag down a little less than the MXP when in my pocket.
I'm on AT&T and used my SIM in both phones, one after another.
In the same spot, the MXP got 6mbps down and 0.1 up using Speedtest.net app.
The Pixel got the same download speed but was much faster with up speed at 4mbps.
Could be a fluke, who knows.
My house is a black hole for 4G network and I always have issues here.
I'll copy & paste my screen brightness findings below:
----------------
I just compared my Pixel XL vs. my Motorola Moto X Pure out under the 12PM Texas sunlight.
Turned off adaptive brightness for both.
Set both to max brightness on the slider.
Opened up the same webpage (yahoo.com).
Also looked at my phone contact pictures.
The Moto X Pure was slightly brighter and easier to see/read with direct view.
When looking at an angle, the Pixel XL was easier to read.
Once root is available, I'll install the Brightness Widget and install ElementalX kernel to see how the Pixel XL looks with the brightness pumped up.
If it gives me 10% more brightness then I think it'll probably be just as bright as the Moto X Pure with direct viewing.
The Moto X Pure has ~715 nits according to some reviews and is just as bright as my old Note 4 was.
---------------
Just tested the speakers with my SPL meter.
It's impossible to get accurate readings since the MXP has dual front facing speakers while the Pixel XL has a single mono down-facing speaker.
But SPL volumes when playing back both ping and brown mono tones *appear* to be mostly identical SPL.
My next test was to play a sports broadcasting radio show to listen to voices while the phone was in my pocket. Simulating what I do when I walk my dog. Put the phone in my pocket, crank up the volume and listen to a sports podcast.
Both phones appear to have the same SPL's again.
But the MXP definitely has more full toned voices.
MXP wins the speaker battle as I expected.
Really still trying to figure out why I bought a $900 32GB Pixel XL and put my $295 MXP 64GB up for sale.
Sounds like the MXP could be a bit better, does it have a SD card slot ?
razor237 said:
Sounds like the MXP could be a bit better, does it have a SD card slot ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MXP was my last phone. It does have a SD slot. It was a great phone but even with 3gb of ram it does not handle memory very well. It would often bog down and close apps. It did this to Google Play Music fairly often, while music was playing. That was stock though.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
I'm switching from the Pure as well. Glad to see the speaker isn't too insane a downgrade.
I still love the hardware and overall design of the Pure, but (in my view) the software side was lacking. Lots of little lags all throughout the system ui on stock software coupled with a lack of ROMs without some quirk or another led to some frustration on my end. I think the performance had a lot to do with the SD 808 and the QHD screen, as the 6p (from my observations indirectly) seemed to perform much better.
Performance is obviously subjective though, with many variables at play. Just my experience.
I'll really miss these speakers and the SD card support, though. I'll actually be moving down to the smaller Pixel and with 32gb at that, so I assume space will be tight if not conscious of it.
I've exclusively purchased Nexus devices since the One, leaving them behind after the 6 and last gen, so I'm generally excited to get back onto a phone seemingly designed to be "open" and with plenty of developer support.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Huawei Mate 30 Pro is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
I'd like to love it
But I don't know if its worth buying yet? I really would like gmail
I've had my M30P imported from China for just under a week now at the time of writing this. Before that, I was using a P30P for 6 months.
My overall experience and feelings for it is very positive. It's my most favorite Huawei smartphone to date and I don't have too many complaints about it so I'll just be honest and upfront about everything I've personally liked and disliked.
There wasn't anything wrong with my P30P from before and I loved most things about the phone (which you'll see me reference it a lot in some of the points below) but the Chinese prices on the M30P and to be first in line for the latest updates for once just tempted me too much - I paid 5800¥ (which is about $820/€736/£634. I'll be basing most of my experiences and comparisons on the P30P as a result since it's the only other, closest rival phone I can match it against and I suspect a lot of people will want to know how they both stack up anyway
Display and Build Quality:
+ Display appears slightly brighter than the P30P with very punchy colours, contrast, deep blacks and decent sunlight readability. The panel isn't quite up there with the Note 10+ but it's still really good and you won't be disappointed.
+ No bezels or even much of a chin as the gorgeous looking waterfall display that spills on to the edges.
+ IP68 rated + equipped with Gorilla Glass 6 whereas the P30P didn't have any form of Gorilla Glass Protection, and the M20P had v5 (still worth putting a screen protector on though!)
+ I am a big fan of the (innovative?) virtual volume buttons that trigger when you double tap on the top left or right edges of the display
+ Supports *AOD* after a recent software update!
- Has a notch even though it's smaller than most other notches, including the iPhone 11, Pixel 4 (if you can count its giant forehead), as well as last year's M20P
- Doesn't have 90hz refresh rate despite some of the strong rumors and leaks that had been circulating around beforehand
Camera:
+ Consistently handles noise, artifacts and retains small details better than P30P in both daylight and night shots - this is due to the newer, improved ISP on a hardware level and camera tweaks on a software level.
+ Industry-leading best in class wide angle lens. It's huge f/1.8 aperture and the sensor size of 1/1.54" that really shows its prowess in both day time and night shots that no other competitor can currently go against at the moment. Let's not forget it defaults to pixel binning since it's actually outputting 10mp shots and the new ISP further enhances it (namely in dealing with noise). All in all, you get more preserved details in both the shadows and highlights, better colour balance, nicer dynamic range and the hardware front here really delivers in all aspects of the shooting conditions. I compared it with an iPhone 11 and a Note 10+ at my local Samsung and Apple stores respectively and the M30P's wide angle is just miles ahead better and I can't see other brands having a superior wide angle lens anytime soon.
+ Sometimes, in ideal lighting and certain scenarios, I will get even BETTER daytime shots on the wide angle than the main sensor as it's not RYYB and the fact that it's got an even bigger sensor size than that actually gives it some advantages to the main lens and compared to generally most other wide angle lens from other phones.
+ Video recording seem better stabilized, with less choppiness when panning around the scene and it can finally record 4k in 60FPS too due to the newer ISP. Wide angle video capture is miles better than the P30P's one due to the significantly superior hardware, especially in low light.
+ I love its quad rear camera design and its shiny ring more than similar rivals' implementations by the iPhone 11, Pixel 4 and even the M20P - just feel like saying it as I've grown to like it now!
+ ToF sensor feels slightly better than the one found in the P30P - my portrait mode shots and bokeh effects tend to be more precise with less clipping and better edge detection around subjects
+ 7680FPS video recording isn't just a stunt as it does work and is fun to use when you want to show off something cool and playful with it. No other smartphone in the industry comes close.
+ Night Mode shots with both the primary and wide angle lens has been improved further against the P30P which was already the king of low light - it captures the smaller details better (mainly only noticed when you zoom or crop in), has less noise and better colour balance in almost every shot I took in low light.
- Occasionally renders warm, red tinges to my photos when shooting with the primary main sensor, but rarely ever happens in all circumstances when using the wide angle sensor (most likely because it's not RYYB). Hopefully resolved with future software updates.
- No periscope 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom capability. You now get 3x optical and 3x digital instead which isn't entirely a dealbreaker as most people won't be using this all the time but I feel it needs to be said anyway.
- I've seen some minor lens flare that I did not ever seem to get on the P30P, or on any other phone I've owned to date.
- Front selfie camera has improved a bit from the P30P but it still applies a lot of digital make-up to my face and smooths out my skin a bit too much for my liking, and that's even with the beauty level set to the lowest in the UI. It's once again still not on the same league as the iPhone 11 or Note 10's front cameras.
- No super macro-mode for close up shots of up to 2.5cm from the subject which used to be found on the P30P - I understand this is due to the new sensors that no longer allow it
- Still lacks an automatic HDR toggle - you need to enable it manually each time under "More" in the camera settings
Battery life and Charging
+ Lasts really long due to the combination of the Kirin 990 on the newest 7nm+ EUV node, a massive 4500mAh battery which Huawei claim also uses "AI" to understand your usage patterns and potentially even being based on Android 10's behind-the-scenes battery optimizations/algorithms (I got more SOT than my P30P)
+ For me, the lack of GMS/Google Play Services definitely improved my battery life too
+ 40w supercharge which tops up the battery incredibly quick without overheating my phone (about 0-70% in 30mins just like before). I've also got a 40w Huawei SuperCharge power bank which is compatible with the M30P.
+ 27w wireless charging - I don't have a wireless charger to test but this makes it vastly superior to most wired charging speeds from other brands.
- "3x faster reverse wireless charging" is still largely a gimmick as it's not that much of an improvement from the previous gen (from 2.5W to 7.5w now) in every day practical use but I can see how it can be useful in emergency situations where even a few % can be useful for a friend if he/she doesn't have a portable charger
Performance and Software
+ Android 10 + UFS 3.0 (being used for the first time by Huawei) + 8GB of RAM = an extremely fluid, snappy and responsive system all-round with no lag!
+ I can still use most of my essential daily apps without Google Play Services by sideloading them, including Brave (which I prefer over Chrome anyway), Google Maps, Google Keyboard, Gmail (via the native Huawei mail handler), Instagram and WhatsApp
+ GPS accuracy in apps such as Google Maps, Cellular strength and mobile data speeds equally as fast and reliable as my P30P or if not slightly better from what I've noticed
+ Kirin 990 chipset performs well despite not using ARM's newest Cortex A77 cores, and shines in the battery life department and in games due to the optimizations to both the CPU +GPU
+ First in line to get the latest software updates if you purchase the Chinese LIO-AL00 model - I've already had 4 in less than a week and most were at least 1GB in size so they weren't all minor patches
- No Google Play Services out of the box, so you'll need to somehow restore your phone using HiSuite with a known working backup that has it or find alternative apps that don't rely on it
- My CN LIO-AL00 had a lot of bloatware that I couldn't easily uninstall and disable under the Settings, so I had to remove a lot of them via adb on my Desktop which took up a lot of time
- I still would've preferred the Kirin 990 to feature the newest A77 cores, as the upcoming Snapdragon 865 is guaranteed to have them (nonetheless the optimized A76s for power efficiency easily match and beat the 855+ in most areas
Audio quality
+ Phone call and speaker sound quality (especially at mid to higher volumes) feels a fair bit louder, fuller, clearer, richer and better balanced than the P30P
+ Audio capture when recording videos seems to be improved by a minor amount over the P30P
- Still has a single downwards firing speaker. Where's the dual stereo nowadays?
Other final thoughts:
+ Under display fingerprint sensor is incredibly fast and responsive - definitely ahead of the one in the P30P
+ Excellent build quality which is to be expected from another Huawei flagship - the whole device feels very premium and screams quality in the hands
+ Battery life is even better than the P30P which was already the Android battery champ!
+ Great price if you can somehow import it over from China - I paid 5800¥ for the 128GB model to a friend who brought it to me (approximately $820/€736/£634)
I hope people will find my well-balanced comparison helpful between the M30P and my P30P!
thanks you for your writing. i remember huawei advirtised is 2.5 cm close shoting super macro. which is very dissappointing for me. i like macro shots. And some reviewers in my country told that night photos are very bright and it makes the sceen very unrealist. Hope they fix this.
ssregitoss said:
thanks you for your writing. i remember huawei advirtised is 2.5 cm close shoting super macro. which is very dissappointing for me. i like macro shots. And some reviewers in my country told that night photos are very bright and it makes the sceen very unrealist. Hope they fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Night mode are just amazing and not much unrealistic for me
But yeah, super macro mode is msising and it's not a good move from huawei...
Does the M30P have an improved haptic vibration motor?
This is something that Samsung improved with the Note 10 series and it definitely makes a difference to the user experience.
Excellent screen, sound, battery and performance
I never was pleased this much with any phone everything is superb specially the camera! has anyone found a way to make google assistance s default or get rid of default home launcher ?
Ggffdd
Byte_76 said:
Does the M30P have an improved haptic vibration motor?
This is something that Samsung improved with the Note 10 series and it definitely makes a difference to the user experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from the following phones I've owned in the past years, I've noticed a slight improvement over all of them. It's definitely not a weak motor.
P30 Pro
Mate 20 Pro
Pixel 2 XL
Galaxy S8
Galaxy S6
Any chance you could give me a list of the bloat you removed?? don't want to take the wrong thing out with ADB and brick it.. Only thing I miss is having to keep pressing Google to voice activate, no big issue, and Google pay, now I have to carry a bank card everywhere
Those two little niggles aside its superb!
Cheers mate!
Great article btw!!
kyero985 said:
I've had my M30P imported from China for just under a week now at the time of writing this. Before that, I was using a P30P for 6 months.
My overall experience and feelings for it is very positive. It's my most favorite Huawei smartphone to date and I don't have too many complaints about it so I'll just be honest and upfront about everything I've personally liked and disliked.
There wasn't anything wrong with my P30P from before and I loved most things about the phone (which you'll see me reference it a lot in some of the points below) but the Chinese prices on the M30P and to be first in line for the latest updates for once just tempted me too much - I paid 5800¥ (which is about $820/€736/£634. I'll be basing most of my experiences and comparisons on the P30P as a result since it's the only other, closest rival phone I can match it against and I suspect a lot of people will want to know how they both stack up anyway
Display and Build Quality:
+ Display appears slightly brighter than the P30P with very punchy colours, contrast, deep blacks and decent sunlight readability. The panel isn't quite up there with the Note 10+ but it's still really good and you won't be disappointed.
+ No bezels or even much of a chin as the gorgeous looking waterfall display that spills on to the edges.
+ IP68 rated + equipped with Gorilla Glass 6 whereas the P30P didn't have any form of Gorilla Glass Protection, and the M20P had v5 (still worth putting a screen protector on though!)
+ I am a big fan of the (innovative?) virtual volume buttons that trigger when you double tap on the top left or right edges of the display
+ Supports *AOD* after a recent software update!
- Has a notch even though it's smaller than most other notches, including the iPhone 11, Pixel 4 (if you can count its giant forehead), as well as last year's M20P
- Doesn't have 90hz refresh rate despite some of the strong rumors and leaks that had been circulating around beforehand
Camera:
+ Consistently handles noise, artifacts and retains small details better than P30P in both daylight and night shots - this is due to the newer, improved ISP on a hardware level and camera tweaks on a software level.
+ Industry-leading best in class wide angle lens. It's huge f/1.8 aperture and the sensor size of 1/1.54" that really shows its prowess in both day time and night shots that no other competitor can currently go against at the moment. Let's not forget it defaults to pixel binning since it's actually outputting 10mp shots and the new ISP further enhances it (namely in dealing with noise). All in all, you get more preserved details in both the shadows and highlights, better colour balance, nicer dynamic range and the hardware front here really delivers in all aspects of the shooting conditions. I compared it with an iPhone 11 and a Note 10+ at my local Samsung and Apple stores respectively and the M30P's wide angle is just miles ahead better and I can't see other brands having a superior wide angle lens anytime soon.
+ Sometimes, in ideal lighting and certain scenarios, I will get even BETTER daytime shots on the wide angle than the main sensor as it's not RYYB and the fact that it's got an even bigger sensor size than that actually gives it some advantages to the main lens and compared to generally most other wide angle lens from other phones.
+ Video recording seem better stabilized, with less choppiness when panning around the scene and it can finally record 4k in 60FPS too due to the newer ISP. Wide angle video capture is miles better than the P30P's one due to the significantly superior hardware, especially in low light.
+ I love its quad rear camera design and its shiny ring more than similar rivals' implementations by the iPhone 11, Pixel 4 and even the M20P - just feel like saying it as I've grown to like it now!
+ ToF sensor feels slightly better than the one found in the P30P - my portrait mode shots and bokeh effects tend to be more precise with less clipping and better edge detection around subjects
+ 7680FPS video recording isn't just a stunt as it does work and is fun to use when you want to show off something cool and playful with it. No other smartphone in the industry comes close.
+ Night Mode shots with both the primary and wide angle lens has been improved further against the P30P which was already the king of low light - it captures the smaller details better (mainly only noticed when you zoom or crop in), has less noise and better colour balance in almost every shot I took in low light.
- Occasionally renders warm, red tinges to my photos when shooting with the primary main sensor, but rarely ever happens in all circumstances when using the wide angle sensor (most likely because it's not RYYB). Hopefully resolved with future software updates.
- No periscope 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom capability. You now get 3x optical and 3x digital instead which isn't entirely a dealbreaker as most people won't be using this all the time but I feel it needs to be said anyway.
- I've seen some minor lens flare that I did not ever seem to get on the P30P, or on any other phone I've owned to date.
- Front selfie camera has improved a bit from the P30P but it still applies a lot of digital make-up to my face and smooths out my skin a bit too much for my liking, and that's even with the beauty level set to the lowest in the UI. It's once again still not on the same league as the iPhone 11 or Note 10's front cameras.
- No super macro-mode for close up shots of up to 2.5cm from the subject which used to be found on the P30P - I understand this is due to the new sensors that no longer allow it
- Still lacks an automatic HDR toggle - you need to enable it manually each time under "More" in the camera settings
Battery life and Charging
+ Lasts really long due to the combination of the Kirin 990 on the newest 7nm+ EUV node, a massive 4500mAh battery which Huawei claim also uses "AI" to understand your usage patterns and potentially even being based on Android 10's behind-the-scenes battery optimizations/algorithms (I got more SOT than my P30P)
+ For me, the lack of GMS/Google Play Services definitely improved my battery life too
+ 40w supercharge which tops up the battery incredibly quick without overheating my phone (about 0-70% in 30mins just like before). I've also got a 40w Huawei SuperCharge power bank which is compatible with the M30P.
+ 27w wireless charging - I don't have a wireless charger to test but this makes it vastly superior to most wired charging speeds from other brands.
- "3x faster reverse wireless charging" is still largely a gimmick as it's not that much of an improvement from the previous gen (from 2.5W to 7.5w now) in every day practical use but I can see how it can be useful in emergency situations where even a few % can be useful for a friend if he/she doesn't have a portable charger
Performance and Software
+ Android 10 + UFS 3.0 (being used for the first time by Huawei) + 8GB of RAM = an extremely fluid, snappy and responsive system all-round with no lag!
+ I can still use most of my essential daily apps without Google Play Services by sideloading them, including Brave (which I prefer over Chrome anyway), Google Maps, Google Keyboard, Gmail (via the native Huawei mail handler), Instagram and WhatsApp
+ GPS accuracy in apps such as Google Maps, Cellular strength and mobile data speeds equally as fast and reliable as my P30P or if not slightly better from what I've noticed
+ Kirin 990 chipset performs well despite not using ARM's newest Cortex A77 cores, and shines in the battery life department and in games due to the optimizations to both the CPU +GPU
+ First in line to get the latest software updates if you purchase the Chinese LIO-AL00 model - I've already had 4 in less than a week and most were at least 1GB in size so they weren't all minor patches
- No Google Play Services out of the box, so you'll need to somehow restore your phone using HiSuite with a known working backup that has it or find alternative apps that don't rely on it
- My CN LIO-AL00 had a lot of bloatware that I couldn't easily uninstall and disable under the Settings, so I had to remove a lot of them via adb on my Desktop which took up a lot of time
- I still would've preferred the Kirin 990 to feature the newest A77 cores, as the upcoming Snapdragon 865 is guaranteed to have them (nonetheless the optimized A76s for power efficiency easily match and beat the 855+ in most areas
Audio quality
+ Phone call and speaker sound quality (especially at mid to higher volumes) feels a fair bit louder, fuller, clearer, richer and better balanced than the P30P
+ Audio capture when recording videos seems to be improved by a minor amount over the P30P
- Still has a single downwards firing speaker. Where's the dual stereo nowadays?
Other final thoughts:
+ Under display fingerprint sensor is incredibly fast and responsive - definitely ahead of the one in the P30P
+ Excellent build quality which is to be expected from another Huawei flagship - the whole device feels very premium and screams quality in the hands
+ Battery life is even better than the P30P which was already the Android battery champ!
+ Great price if you can somehow import it over from China - I paid 5800¥ for the 128GB model to a friend who brought it to me (approximately $820/€736/£634)
I hope people will find my well-balanced comparison helpful between the M30P and my P30P!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ssregitoss said:
thanks you for your writing. i remember huawei advirtised is 2.5 cm close shoting super macro. which is very dissappointing for me. i like macro shots. And some reviewers in my country told that night photos are very bright and it makes the sceen very unrealist. Hope they fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MACRO mode works wonderful but it is only available for the M30
The M30 Pro lacks this feature due to different camera setup - I had both models so I can testify this from my own experience,
Pretty much best hardware best camera one of the best battery life out now, bar none
alon3232 said:
MACRO mode works wonderful but it is only available for the M30
The M30 Pro lacks this feature due to different camera setup - I had both models so I can testify this from my own experience,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gosh... Personally I would expect m30pro to support super macro. I was expecting a software update will fix this.
Sent from my LIO-L29 using Tapatalk
I bought my Mate 30 Pro on February 1th 2020, when it was launched in Romania. Since I preordered it, I received the phone bundled with the Freebuds 3, which are surprisingly good and I'm a music producer, hence I care about the sound I have, even though I'm only listening music on it occasionally. I have also received a $210 coupon discount which turned this 256 Gb version of the phone into a total no brainer. No macro shots hurts, true, but besides that, after a month of usage I can still say I'm very happy with it!
A worthy successor to the Mate 20 Pro
I like it. But what about love...I don't know. I am not quite sure about my feelings yet))
hello
have a nice day
alon3232 said:
MACRO mode works wonderful but it is only available for the M30
The M30 Pro lacks this feature due to different camera setup - I had both models so I can testify this from my own experience,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know its being a year already lol....but how much camera quality differs between the vanilla & pro version?

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