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Saw this article over at Pocketnow; what do you guys think? http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/30/bb10-vs-wp8-video
sinister1 said:
Saw this article over at Pocketnow; what do you guys think? http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/30/bb10-vs-wp8-video
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From a recent android to WP8 user, I will put in my two cents worth.
Lockscreen - Yea, I have to hit the button on my 8X, but I would be worried about accidental unlocks on the BB. Also, battery life knowing the screen is looking for that touch. Its a nice touch, but I am hesitant. The animation is nice, that faded edge is a cool touch, but I like the bounce the WP8 gives, and I am always trying to see how little I have to slide to get the unlock to happen, or how slow I can make it go.
Notificaitons - Ok, why is everyone complaining about the notificaitons? I don't have any problem, and I am getting texts all day, as well as emails to two accounts, and other notifications. Yea, there is no blinking light to tell me I have them, but since I keep my phone with me all the time, I know when it vibrates or makes a sound, I have a notificaiton. I remember as well if I have or have not checked what that notification is.
Local search - The video corrected it. So thats a wash.
Launching an app - Live tiles just rock. The static view on the BB is too reminiscent of Android. I think its neat that you can have the most recent apps shown, but only 4? I use about 8 to 10 a day, so scrolling up and down as I go about isn't that intuitive when I can set my screen on the WP8 to have those 10 in the first page.
Multitasking - Ok, BB got it easy here, the click on corner to completely close is nice.
My observations:
Its still too static, and I think its actually a cross between iPhone's all icons and Androids customization (most recent apps shown). I didn't see any widgets, so assuming there are none, it makes it more bland to me. That tells me its much more business orientated. I thought they would have gone personal this time, but guess not.
The keyboard - I don't like that line between rows, seems like they just wanted to make it different than other OS's, so the only thing left was to add a line instead of increasing the size of the keys or adding a gap between them.
Screen - didn't seem as crisp as the WP they were using, but not seeing it in person, cant really make that a definitive claim on my part.
Responsiveness - Seemed just as snappy as any good smart phone out there.
Build and design - It seemed a little simple, which isn't a bad thing. With this being a lifeline to RIM (or Blackberry) I thought they would have come out a little more 'radical'. But the quality seems there, and its a simple phone with some pleasing lines.
Over all, I think its going to appeal to the working force, but the trick is going to be making it affordable and easy to set up for the corporate officer. Personally, I don't think it will go well, but I am not a power user nor a reporter.
I think the WP8 platform still has it beat, and at least the 8X is much more visually appealing.
My two cents. For what its worth now a days!
http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/31/bla...nderdog?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
sinister1 said:
what do you guys think?
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The reviewer really seems to be avoiding talking about how things are done on WP8, and why they're done that way, he even misses a lot of points for WP8, possibly because he hasn't even used it for a long enough time - at least this is the impression he leaves me with.
The Lock Screen - BB has notifications on the lock-screen on the left, possibly if any app has something to say, it will show up there, plus the calendar is showing appointments in the middle. WP8 has only 5 notification icons, customizable(point BB), but there is a main and secondary app that can show info as well - one for the lock-screen background, and one for under the time/date zone.(point WP8)
I agree with the power drain issue, when constantly looking for a touch-slide from the bottom vs physical button.
Notifications - This Notifications fetish comes from Android(I think), and it's a useful feature for Android. WP7&8 has Live Tiles. Different concept. A pencil and a pen are both used to write, but don't blame your pencil for not using ink. If we count the steps on BB to know what happened last - say you received an email - it takes you a complex swipe(from bottom to middle to the right), a swipe to the right(to get rid of Twitter), a tap on the Unified center, and a tap on the email itself, and you're done(if that tap opened the actual email and not just the email app). On WP8 it's a tap on the home screen(if you're not already there), a tap on the email tile(because you see it flashing with a 1 on it), a tap on the conversation and you're done. OR maybe you can omit the last two, if your email tile is set to large - then you see the whole email without even entering the email app.
Lets do a recap:
BB: Complex swipe -> Optional Simple Swipe(if say Twitter is open) -> Tap on Unified Center -> Tap on email | That's 1 complex step, 2 simple steps and 1 optional simple step.
WP8: Optional tap on start -> Optional [Tap on email -> Tap on conversation] because if tile is maxed, then you can already read it. That's 3 optional simple steps.
The Windows Phone method may not have the bling you like to see on your BB, but you have to admit, its faster.
jerrya said:
I think its neat that you can have the most recent apps shown, but only 4? I use about 8 to 10 a day
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Actually he scrolled down to show a total of 8. Its nice to have a list of recently used apps. But if you want that I guess you can just place them toward the top of your home screen on WP8 for easy access.
jerrya said:
Multitasking - Ok, BB got it easy here, the click on corner to completely close is nice.
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I have to agree with you. WP8 is nice with the frozen app states for non-active apps, but spamming the back button to keep my navigation list clean kinda sucks.
About the notification light - My phone is in my pocket - in this case the light is useless. Even when it leaves my pocket it goes on my night stand. In the morning, the first thing i do is check if I have anything new and place it back home - into my pocket. If I wouldn't check it for new stuff, I'd probably forget it there for the whole day...
And of course while RIM is a dying company ATM, solely producing both software and hardware, compared to Microsoft - not a dying company - producing software(and hardware rumored), with HTC, Samsung, Nokia, ZTE, Huawei, ASUS, LG, etc backing it with hardware, I believe WP8 has a very strong chance to keep the 3rd place for now.
- My opinion.
jerrya said:
The keyboard - I don't like that line between rows, seems like they just wanted to make it different than other OS's, so the only thing left was to add a line instead of increasing the size of the keys or adding a gap between them.
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Current BB devices with physical keyboards have gaps between the keys, they are trying to replicate that look and feel with the silver spacing.
It's a good idea but doesn't necessarily mean it's a good implementation.
I've had it just about to here with the notifications moaning. The majority of men carry their phones on a belt holster/case and the majority of women carry their phones in a purse. Based on this, how can you see a blinking light? Isn't a vibrate notification better? Or even a ringtone/alert? I can understand (a little) if you're stuck behind a desk all day, but even then I'm sure employers insist on keeping phones on vibrate or off altogether. You certainly can't see a blinking light if you're driving. For those that do, kindly tell me what city and state you're in so I can stay away.
Looneytoon98 said:
I've had it just about to here with the notifications moaning. The majority of men carry their phones on a belt holster/case and the majority of women carry their phones in a purse. Based on this, how can you see a blinking light? Isn't a vibrate notification better? Or even a ringtone/alert? I can understand (a little) if you're stuck behind a desk all day, but even then I'm sure employers insist on keeping phones on vibrate or off altogether. You certainly can't see a blinking light if you're driving. For those that do, kindly tell me what city and state you're in so I can stay away.
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A notification light is just as handy as vibrate. Surely it cant be that hard to believe that people take their phones out of their pocket or purse...Such as placing it on a dresser before bathing or to do a task where you dont want to bang your phone around. Coming into the room to glance at whether their is communication waiting is apparent with color coded notifications. I dont even have to pick up my phone. For the record, I'm not one of those types that incessantly has to be toying with my smart phone.
Understand now? Samsung learned this too, as most of their latest flagship phones now incorporate this. Geewhiz, maybe thats why their the topdog android handset maker now? They know whats good.
UrbanConquest said:
A notification light is just as handy as vibrate. Surely it cant be that hard to believe that people take their phones out of their pocket or purse...Such as placing it on a dresser before bathing or to do a task where you dont want to bang your phone around. Coming into the room to glance at whether their is communication waiting is apparent with color coded notifications. I dont even have to pick up my phone. For the record, I'm not one of those types that incessantly has to be toying with my smart phone.
Understand now? Samsung learned this too, as most of their latest flagship phones now incorporate this. Geewhiz, maybe thats why their the topdog android handset maker now? They know whats good.
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Would you rather have to go into a room and glance to see if there's a notification, or would you rather be alerted when one comes in? I know I don't have that much energy to burn.
Looneytoon98 said:
Would you rather have to go into a room and glance to see if there's a notification, or would you rather be alerted when one comes in? I know I don't have that much energy to burn.
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Keep in mind, not everyone enjoys being tethered to their coveted smartphone as if it were a ball and chain. When I go to watch a movie or something for my own leisure while at home I leave my phone in my bedroom, as I'm sure many other people do as well who get tired of tending to it. Thus its a handy feature at times. Very reminiscent of the blinking light on answering machines in the old days...
Thread related opinion. BB, much like Microsoft has a long way to go in catching up with the integration and functionality of Android and iOS. BB10 demos look gimicky at best showing off UI features that wont sway consumers. If their lucky they can finally get the diehard BB users / holdouts to upgrade from their dinosaur qwerty devices.
^ every app can fully integrate into BB10. not a long way to go at all.
The notification hub alone is more than enough to sway users away from this platform.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
UrbanConquest said:
Keep in mind, not everyone enjoys being tethered to their coveted smartphone as if it were a ball and chain. When I go to watch a movie or something for my own leisure while at home I leave my phone in my bedroom, as I'm sure many other people do as well who get tired of tending to it. Thus its a handy feature at times. Very reminiscent of the blinking light on answering machines in the old days...
Thread related opinion. BB, much like Microsoft has a long way to go in catching up with the integration and functionality of Android and iOS. BB10 demos look gimicky at best showing off UI features that wont sway consumers. If their lucky they can finally get the diehard BB users / holdouts to upgrade from their dinosaur qwerty devices.
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Your contradiction is funny. You want to walk into a room to see if you have a notification and I want to stay as far away from the electronic leash. I'll take a sound alert any day, at least I can hear it from across my house. You are the one who sounds like they are tethered with a ball and chain.
Being a dinosaur myself, I happen to like physical keyboards. You can't "feel" your way across a virtual kb. Maybe someone will make a Jitterbug smartphone one day.
vetvito said:
^ every app can fully integrate into BB10. not a long way to go at all.
The notification hub alone is more than enough to sway users away from this platform.
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What I mean by integration is more geared towards seamless user experiences between desktop (or laptop), tablet, smartphone, and even web based applications. Features and services that create a unified and synchronized ecosystem. Granted all platforms struggle in this regard and all could benefit from further development and refinement. I somehow feel as though Microsoft and Apple have the major advantage by offering BOTH a desktop / laptop and tablet operating system in addition to a smartphone platform.
Canonical understands this with the recent development of Ubuntu for smartphones. They now have a multi-device compatible OS that strives to create a similar experience across all major computing devices.
The biggest dilemma still for a lot of novice users with their smartphones is keeping data, settings preferences, etc synchronized across all their devices without having to spend money on third party applications. These features should be baked into the smartphones stock OS. IMO, Android has great services integration w. gmaps, youtube, etc and iOS is pretty solid in regard to integration with their desktop OS and itunes.
If I wasn't on a contract I'd look at both.
Blackberry has the best push email system. It uses the lowest amount of battery out of any phone, they have a patent that stops anyone else doing push email the same way.
Multitasking is better on BB10, the peek option is handy.
Personally I think Microsoft needs to release a huge 8.5 upgrade in 2013 add lots of things or BB10 is going to slaughter the WP marketshare.
Looneytoon98 said:
Your contradiction is funny. You want to walk into a room to see if you have a notification and I want to stay as far away from the electronic leash. I'll take a sound alert any day, at least I can hear it from across my house. You are the one who sounds like they are tethered with a ball and chain.
Being a dinosaur myself, I happen to like physical keyboards. You can't "feel" your way across a virtual kb. Maybe someone will make a Jitterbug smartphone one day.
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It's not a contradiction. I don't actively interrupt my activities to go check my phone repeatedly when I don't want to be bothered by communication. After all, our smartphones are predominately for...communication. It's about unplugging from technology and constant socializing that these devices tend to overwhelm us with. Which is the whole point of not having the device in your pocket or the same room.
Example, when I'm watching a movie I don't want to have to hear other peoples or my phone(s) go off, worry about spilling a drink on it or damage it in some way, or have an annoying brick bulging in my pocket. I want to be comfortable and uninhibited. Do you get it yet?
So if there's another reason to enter the room where my phone is, it's convenient to be able to just quickly glance over at the device and see a notification light telling you that you have a message.
To each their own as far as preferences go I guess? I can understand if some people don't mind having a phone around all the time and the convenience it gives. But don't call it a worthless feature that Android users are making a fuss about. Gosh maybe their are even people that shower with their phones these days, perhaps Sony employees who have access to the new Sony Xperia waterproof phones that were recently announced?
My phone goes in my pocket when I leave the house. Period.
I think it looks a little too familiar shape wise Some cool features but think it will confuse many non technical users, A very biased opinion from the host who seriously needs to take his tongue out of BBs trousers,
It reminded me a bit of the meego OS on my old N9 with the swiping so not really groundbreaking there, Like everything else it will have its die hard fans
BB10 as far as I have seen it in their presentation doesn't bring too many new things to the table. The keyboard was one thing that was particularly interesting (especially as it allows to mix languages in the text easily). As for "the Hub" - it seems like the people hub in WP with the added benefit of third party app integration. Although - we have already seen something similar in WebOS already. I really hope there are additional filtering capabilities for it (aside from drilling down to the App level). In the demo it looked like the mess the Notification Bar on my GS2 sometimes looks like (e.g. loads of notifications I don't care about so I don't see the stuff that actually interests me).
The minimized view of running Apps is the closest thing to Live Tiles or Widgets but as you can't pin them they die together with the Apps (e.g. 9th opened App closes the least recently used along with it's "tile"). So for "glanceable" information that is quite a deficiency in BB10.
BBM is not as relevant as it used to be. This can also be seen in the fact that they proudly anounced Skype and WhatsApp Support. Those are the Apps used for Video-Chat and Text Messaging nowadays.
As for superior push: either they changed that model (which might rid us of the Blackberry Tax that People had to pay to Operators for supporting Blackberry push) or they royally screwed up it's implementation because in several tests battery life was merely mediocre and in no way superior to the competition.
vetvito said:
^ every app can fully integrate into BB10. not a long way to go at all.
The notification hub alone is more than enough to sway users away from this platform.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
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Maybe it's me but, I see no need for a notification hub with Windows phone 7/8. I do like the idea of a blinking light for new email, SMS, txt etc just to pull my phone out and get an idea if it's worth turning on my phone at that second (HTC does some of this).
Live tiles update, notification hubs are for phones that do not have live updates so you can see when you have new messages etc. My live tiles give me updates for everything I need, if I had a notification "hub" I would never use it and I still dont see the demand for it...
Isn't that what live tiles are for (so you dont need a notification hub) ????? If it's not working for you, maybe you need to setup your tiles so you have the important stuff so you can view it all with out scrooling...
About the only thing I think I would like is shortcuts to NFC, Wifi, bluetooth etc but, it's not worth taking up a tile for...
DavidinCT said:
Maybe it's me but, I see no need for a notification hub with Windows phone 7/8. I do like the idea of a blinking light for new email, SMS, txt etc just to pull my phone out and get an idea if it's worth turning on my phone at that second (HTC does some of this).
Live tiles update, notification hubs are for phones that do not have live updates so you can see when you have new messages etc. My live tiles give me updates for everything I need, if I had a notification "hub" I would never use it and I still dont see the demand for it...
Isn't that what live tiles are for (so you dont need a notification hub) ????? If it's not working for you, maybe you need to setup your tiles so you have the important stuff so you can view it all with out scrooling...
About the only thing I think I would like is shortcuts to NFC, Wifi, bluetooth etc but, it's not worth taking up a tile for...
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Phones that don't support live updates? What phone does t?
Polling tiles can not and will never compete with a real notification hub. Every notification in one place trumps scrolling in efficiency.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
Android - ecosystem = bbos
Looks like the people hath spoken anyway. BlackBerry now has doubled WP8 for smart phone marketshare since the z10 came out. Sorry guys, better luck next season / WP9.
The Yotaphone 2 is now established, no longer on the horizon, so I thought we should have a dedicated thread to it, reviews about it, thoughts etc.
right, yotaphone 2 review so far.
First of all I will say that the specifications of the phone are perfect for me. Yes I like flagship specs but after a few generations of going for the best there is and having tried all the roms and UIs around (miui, touchwiz, sonys one, cyanogen, htc sense, windows, the oppo one etc, it goes on) I decided that I was bored. I wanted something completely different. Considered the jolla but when the yota 2 was announced I was instantly infatuated. Liked the idea of the first model, the second one nails it for me. And to be fair to it – a snapdragon 800 is a very competent soc, does all I need it to do and does everything fast. Currently I don’t need a 64 bit octacore chip, this one handles basically all the things I can throw at it and I don't really play the huge games anyway. Other than an occasional test of a heavy game, its gba and ps1 emulators, casual rpgs and a couple of shooters for me. Also, I read somewhere that Yota’s reasoning was they needed time to get the soc figured out with their device. Yota say they’re using the 800 to keep the heat low, preventing damage to the e-ink screen.
UPDATE: I have since realised that the phone is actually using the snapdragon 801. When announced in February it was using the 800 but it seems they quietly upgraded it before release. The phone says it's the MSM8974pro-aa which can be either 800 or 801 but the gpu clock speed is higher at 578mhz which is exclusive to the 801, so that's a lovely discovery .
On the face of it (both of them) this is a wonderfully pretty phone. At least from my point of view the aesthetics are all spot on. Everything is presented beautifully. This includes the box it comes in and everything in it. Even the charger is lovely to look at. Wonderfully compact and has yotaphone written across the back that lights up when the phone is connected. On the point of the charger, it outputs 1.5A and charges the phone in a couple of hours or so (25% to full takes between 1.30 and 1.45 hours). This adds to the convenience of the phone and lack of battery worries that I will get into later. You also get a load of earphone buds, like, loads.
The front facing screen is an excellent screen. Super AMOLED (my preference, I love the deep blacks), 442ppi on a 5inch screen produces a brilliant, crisp and clear image and the touch responsiveness is excellent. There are a few niggles with using the keyboard (slight over sensitivity with using swype input) but you soon get used to this, once your fingers and thumbs adjust to the screen this goes away I find. It’s much like using someone else’s laptop and their mouse pad is much more sensitive that yours. EDIT: I will concede that the keyboard probably needs a patch sent through, swipe input is fine but normal typing you have to learn to be more accurate than usual. Doesn't take long but if someone borrows your phone... (to be fair, no one is borrowing my Yota. There are many like it but this one is MINE).
The second screen is just beautiful. The whole back panel is made from the same piece of curved gorilla glass so you don’t notice the screen is there, it hardly feels like one but it’s joyous to the touch, smooth (so smooth) and a nice matte black/dark gray. The sensitivity is obviously slower and there are slight delays waiting for the screen to change, but these are minor and you get used to them. I’m still just wildly impressed that yota have pulled this off so well. The backscreen is excellently implemented, the yota mirror feature works like a dream, anything you want on the back can and will be. The screenlock is done using the gyroscope as well, whichever side is facing up is the one that unlocks when pressing the button. Also, the possibility of leaving some vital information like a map or a plane ticket on the back while the rest of the phone is turned off or utterly dead is likely to not be used often, possibly even if ever by some, but the fact that it can be done is a lovely bit of life insurance.
The yotapanels (configurable pages of widgets made for the EPD) are very pretty indeed and very functional. The back screen has its own phone and messaging app. My only niggle with notifications on the back is that the email part of the notification widget is at this point set to the stock email app, not customizable. Only a minor niggle as I would use the front screen for sending emails anyway but it would be nice to choose to check gmail (hoping for an update to change this). The panel grid layout and widgets can be changed to your liking, within reason. I have 2 businessy type pages with clock, calendar, weather, most called people, battery etc a news page with rss reader, emails, important apps and appy geek and a leisure page with games, book and music widget). What surprised me was downloading appy geek then finding a variety of widgets from them I could use on the panels. This gives me hope that more and more third party back widgets will be added over the course of development.
UPDATE: The widgets are better than I thought - the back panel music player associates itself with whichever music app you were playing from last. Also there are some nice easter eggs that you find as certain things occur on the backscreen which give a great sense of Yota going the extra mile. e.g. get someone to text you with just the word cool and leave the EPD face up.
On the subject of development I have received 2 updates so far, optimizing the back screen touch responsiveness, heat output, battery life, yotaenergy mode etc. Also, eventually someone will find a way to root them and then more possibilities reveal themselves. Honestly though, other than being able to use trickster mod, root explorers, remove system apps and a couple of other things I don’t miss all the little features of custom roms. Even sweep to wake isn’t as essential as it used to be for me – yota placed the lock button slightly above the right side (so your thumb is on it when the phone is front facing). This to me begs the question why doesn’t everyone else do that, it’s so much more natural, convenient and keeps the one hand ability going. Yota have made some smart decisions.
UPDATE: The phone has been rooted, Kingo root can do it with drivers you find on the yota website or other drivers online (mine was a case of trial and error). So a root file explorer, wakelock detector, system app remover and a kernel control app installed. Very happy and now its pretty much exactly as I want it.
The phone is very well put together and feels solid. This all improves with the bumper, which adds to the aesthetic further and makes you feel safer. Gorilla glass 3 on both sides or no, this is a phone you worry about dropping, 2 screens = double the vulnerability and double the worry. The back screen is wonderful to the touch but also quite slippery. The bumper gives you a bit more grip and therefore confidence. Despite the worry I have no qualms, it’s a brilliant thing to hold and have around you.
I think my favourite thing so far is being able to keep your phone locked and face down and still see the time, incoming notifications, respond if needed, read, play games and a host of other things. A simple glance is all you need, so convenient and saves those little bits of time and battery that build up over the course of a day. I still gush with appreciation when I look down.
UPDATE: I still do.
On to the battery life – it’s damn good if you want it to be, otherwise it's still not bad. 2550mah compared to 3000 may seem annoying to those that love a top spec’d beast and now that 4000mah phones are starting to come out this paltry little number is in danger of being outdated. However, this phone saves battery in so many ways such as:
1. Having the e-ink display (no battery usage except when it refreshes). How this saves battery is down to you – use the panels properly, get into chess, Sudoku and the other supplied games, use it for reading etc. Get into the habit of using it and you’ll save hours and hours.
2. Having yotaenergy mode. This is not to be underestimated. You can select what you want it to limit or turn off, if you select everything (except wifi cos obviously you need wifi) then cpu is limited, nfc and gps are off, brightness on main screen is down to minimum, the list goes on. Now, most of these I would do myself on a rooted phone, but it’s nice to have a mode that incorporates all the things needed to save a bundle of energy and implements it so well. This has the potential to save you days if used in conjunction with the back display. I use this at work and I can still check emails, notifications, play games for a bit, read etc and a work day ( 7 and a half hours ) will cost me like 5-6% + or – a few depending on the day. Granted I mostly use the back for that stuff but still, damn good so far.
3. Having a vanilla android experience. Having stock android with hardly any additions, all of which you can disable if you want, keeps the minimal drain down.
Now I’m a man that likes a phone to have a battery life that does not concern me. My old one x would require underclocking, a new rom that would need to be reflashed on occasion, greenify etc to get it through the day comfortably with decent usage and screen time. Now this is childs play, it’s a substantial weight off my mind. No real figures yet, haven’t done proper tests as it’s only been a few days. What I can say is that it’ll do a full 24h with heavy usage, wifi and data on, at least 3 hours of games and youtube, all without using energy saving or the e-ink that much and still have well over 30%. That was the second day of owning it, it’ll get better.
I turned yotaenergy on at 92% today, the first 8% drained in a few hours due to a naughty app that is now uninstalled. Going to test how it lasts over the weekend and will report back afterwards.
The bloatware is limited, some is annoying (don’t have twitter so don’t want twitter etc) but to Yota’s credit their own stuff is minimal, and I wouldn’t want to remove any of their own additions. The games chosen function great on the back screen and I dare say look better on it than on the front. There is the occasional little glitch, but most of these can be avoided or solved with a quick screen refresh of changing of modes etc.
I will stop now, I apologise for the length and hope I covered what most people wanted to hear. Will get back soon with long term battery test results.
UPDATE: Battery anxiety is truly gone. Example - took phone off charge at about 1am, up at 6.30, went to work, bit of browsing and game play during day. Got home, played bit of games, read a bit. Went out that night, stayed at a friends, got up at 11am next day. All of that was with mobile data or wifi turned on throughout. By using yota energy in times of minimal usage and EPD for standard things I saved bundles I intentionally took energy mode off when gaming and when was doing things on phone to create a fair test. When I checked gsam battery monitor it reported I'd used 50% in 34 hours, that was with 2.5 hours screen time, with about as much time spent gaming as reading and a fair amount of browsing and app updating etc. For a phone with 2550mah I'd say that's pretty excellent going. Maybe there are phones that can match it but even if so, they're not as much fun to use as this one.
If anyone has any requests for battery tests (full screen on time, how long on battery saver and EPD etc just ask).
Much TL,DR –
Very pretty phone, great front screen, back screen surprisingly useful and nice to look at and touch. Software well implemented. Hopeful for long term development improvements. Very good performance, great battery. Occasional glitch but nothing that detracts from and limits experience.
UPDATE: glitches have lessened significantly over a short space of time, haven't had one for ages.
UPDATE: there is a recurring one - the back panels app shortcuts will occasionally default to the originals. This takes less than a minute to rectify but still, hoping for it to be fixed in an update. This is only glitch I still encounter, the rest seemed to be teething problems.
Overall, loving it. Expensive but very different and a joy to use. Definitely worth it if you get a discount. I managed to get mine with 10% off and 2 bumper cases (longish story), to me that makes it great value because I honestly already see myself getting the subsequent generations, it would already annoy me not having the back screen.
Worth checking their facebook page every now and again to see if they've got another 10-20% discount going again.
Thanks for the in depth review, it's clearly hit the sweet spot for you ☺
I have a question about notifications.....when in the yota panel or yota cover mode and it is on your desk EPD facing up, what happens if you get a notification from say whatsapp or xda developers I.e. one that doesn't have a specific widget on the yota panel, is there any indication on the EPD that a notification has been received and if so can you interact with it or does it just send you to the OLED side?
Secondly, if you have your home screen mirrored on the EPD and again it's laying on your desk, will the notifications appear in the notification shade and can you swipe down the shade to check and interact exactly with them as you would on the OLED display? I.e using whatsapp as an example again , get the new message notification in the shade, swipe it down, click on the message, whatsapp opens and you type in a reply and send it....All from the e ink side.
Battery drain leads to battery anxiety, I am hoping that the yota 2 works how I've described above as I spend a lot of time lighting up the OLED on my phone just checking and responding to notifications and it could be a game changer to be able to do that from the e ink side. Saving the OLED for the more intense stuff like games, videos web browsing etc.
Thanks in advance
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Not a problem, it very much has and also it was a slow day at work .
The notification widget on the panels and covers has 4 items, phone, text, email and general notifications. Phone and text can be interacted with, and lovely apps they are to use as well. A great example is that if someone sends you a text that just says cool (even with third party text apps) then the text will show up and atop it is a picture of a man adjusting his bowtie. Lovely little easter egg. The email sends you to the stock email client, hoping for a way to get that to associate with gmail to come out eventually. The fourth is for other notifications (whatsapp, xda and everything else). The email and notification icons will simply send you to the front screen. You can just mirror them straight back over though. And I suppose having the phone implement everything would be a bit tricky. You never know, development might add them later. Sorry I write too much. In short, you can't interact with 'other' notifications straight from the screen but have to mirror it back.
To answer your second question - yes. If your using mirror on the home screen it will appear just as the same homescreen and same android, just on the back screen. Anything that comes up you can interact with, including pulling down the notification shade, opening your apps (in this case whatsapp) and interacting with them as you would (replying straight from the app). The only difference is its slower obviously, but still very do-able. If your going for super battery saving then it doesn't strike as a problem if you have to take a bit longer. It's enjoyable and pretty anyway, and very easy on the eyes.
So to summarise, yes, you can use the EPD just as you would the amoled. Even if you have to turn over activate the notification from a panel you can just mirror it straight back over, avoiding amoled over use.
I'm the same, always hate having the battery life hanging over me. The yota has got rid of that for me. It came off charge at 6am friday morning, its now just before 5pm - gsam says 34 hours. Battery is on 35%, both data and wifi have been on and being used constantly, games being played a lot, internet and youtube have occurred here and there. I've been trying to push it through its paces when have had the time. Had a couple of cheeky battery draining apps for first half of Friday so got rid of them but still.. It's nice to have 35% and feel confident that I could probably get another full day out of it if needed. And all in such an interesting package.
So, 48 hours battery life without a struggle with normal usage is perfectly feasible and also the charger charges it in a very short time, super convenient.
Hope I helped, sorry for the length again.
Thanks that really helped ?
I really like the idea of a more than one day battery life for moderate to heavy use, I'm out of contract in a couple of months and have been considering an xperia Z3 which has a large battery and is being reported by users as achieving 2 days use, however this phone is intriguing, I can think of so many potential uses for the snap shot on the EPD and to be able to control music and audio books etc. But it's the battery life that is most tempting with this device your quoted figures are impressive, how much were you using it during that period?
Another question if you don't mind, in some reviews and videos I've seen views of yota panels than display what look like short cuts to regular apps such as chrome, youtube, currency converter, maps, whatsapp , can you configure the yota panels to show an icon of any app in the app draw? For instance I use audible a lot and the EPD would be perfect for using and controlling audible from a short cut on the Yota panel. Would this short cut direct you to flip the phone to the OLED then mirror it back as per the general notifications you described above?
Thanks
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
It is a nice freedom to have to be sure, to not feel you have to charge it over night. If caught in those party situations, or when just away from charger its nice to know its fine. I read some z3 reviews and the z3 seems to do something similar with battery. The z3 would almost certainly beat the yota in a hands down typical battry test but for long term endurance with conservative usage (and lots of use of the EPD) then i'm certain that the yota could take it. And even if not, the EPD is amazing to have. Keep stumbling across more uses for it. (currently replying to your review on a laptop with your reply screenshotted onto back of my yota). I would say that other than when at work (minimal usage but still some games here and there) I was using it between normal and heavy usage depending on the time. Normal - moderate for most of the time with a few sessions of heavy usage. Data and wifi on the whole time, almost always downloading and updating apps too. More than I would usually use it basically and 2 days use was a breeze. In a few days I think i'll go for intentional conservative usage and see how long it goes for.
Not at all. The app shortcut widgets have different sizes available, 1, 3 and 6 apps. Each one of these widgets can be configured, you can choose any app. Clicking on the app from the EPD will open the app directly on the EPD, it'll basically activate mirror mode without having to switch over. A wonderful feature I think. So you would be able to open audible from the shortcut and control it straight from the EPD without the need to even activate the OLED at all.
The z3 is a good phone, better processor, better camera etc. It rivals the s5, the m8 etc in terms of features. For me though, the yota covers everything pretty well, even if it's using now slightly outdated specs - it does the job happily. And the EPD adds a whole new level of functionality and makes using a phone a very interesting practice again. It's a new way of using a phone and that's what's most attractive for me.
Thanks again for your reply, it seems that the yotaphone will do pretty much all I would want it to on the EPD, it has really got my interest up now! I'm seeing a yota panel with my most used apps that would not really suffer from being on the EPD, audible, fotmob, kobo, whatsapp, beyond pod maybe even words with friends!
I think along the same lines as you in wanting something a bit different and interesting, I've had two android phones now and before that an iPhone, to be honest another straight forward android seems a little samey now hence deciding that battery life would be my priority rather than screen size or the latest cpu etc.... If only that eye watering price would drop a little come March.....
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Yeah above all I wanted battery life with decent enough specs and something different. I finished my contract and began saving with the express aim of getting this phone, once got the money figured might as well as no other phone appeals to me enough. The modular smartphones coming up certainly piqued my interest but I can't wait for them, wanted a new phone now. For me the yota is worth it so far and I hold out hope for the duration of my ownership of it.
Good luck to you whether you decide to go for it or something else.
20% discount offer on facebook if your still wanting dude. £444 seems pretty reasonable.
zute333 said:
20% discount offer on facebook if your still wanting dude. £444 seems pretty reasonable.
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Oh that's so tempting, i don't have face book tho, where's the discount coming from,yotaphone themselves? I've been waiting for March to see what the HTC One M9 and Galaxy S6 looks like....trouble is android now looks the same on most handsets, so will a M9 be that much different from my M7 meh.
My kids have Facebook tho, how do you get access to the discount?
Thanks
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
yotaphone themselves indeed, celebrating 120,000 fans. Seems a bit harsh on the rest of us but i'm not one to begrudge success on a company I would like to succeed.
They all look the same now. Samsung have never been that good on the aesthetic look of their phone's imo, the m7 is beautiful in the same way as the m8 and m9 and possibly so on. And yeah, launchers are pretty stripped down now, and I find having a launcher that you can theme, or using something like dodol or themer you can get a phone looking exactly how you want, which negates manufacturers launchers anyhow. The only real difference comes from the odd gimmick here and there or in the case of the note edge a part of a screen. That one I kind of get but I'm also of the opinion that a whole second screen beats a sliver of one on the side .
Sorry, what you actually want to see is this: https://www.facebook.com/YotaPhone/posts/439221752895395
I hope the link works and the discount is still active if you go for it.
Well Zute333 thanks for the heads up on the discount , my daughter pulled up the voucher code via her FB and I've bought one at £421.80 ☺????????
It feels genuinely exciting to have something different to use over the coming months. Btw Is it a mini or micro sim?
Thanks again for helping me decide
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Well I'm a bit gutted if i'm honest, got mine at £495-£555 (discount still pending, long story), with the bumper. But to be fair I've had a lovely few weeks and am getting the jolla tablet for hilariously cheap price so counting it a good overall load of deals lol. Still though, £421.80 is epic, congrats and I hope you enjoy it dude. Lollipop on the way at some point, can only improve things.
It's micro sim.
EDIT: nano-sim
No worries dude.
I'm even more gutted: it seems this is only valid in the UK, as I can't change the country field to any other. Website is partly in Dutch, though.
Sad for you dude. I think they made the post in other languages for other countries but can't find em and don't know if they did one for the Netherlands.
I don't really mind having paid full price, just happy to have it. You can always wait, another offer will surely arise, the standard price will also probably drop eventually.
By the way, a reseller here in Holland says in its specs the Yotaphone has nanosim. I assume they're wrong?
---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Also, I see different specs on radio: some say 3G, some say 4G.
bartveld said:
By the way, a reseller here in Holland says in its specs the Yotaphone has nanosim. I assume they're wrong?
---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Also, I see different specs on radio: some say 3G, some say 4G.
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Ah, no I was wrong, I got the names mixed - thought there was mini and micro, equating micro with nano. The yota 2 sim tray is a nano-sim tray.
Also it can do 4g.
Thanks.
Hi all, newbie here! i've just bought Yotaphone 2 couple days ago, can't say how happy i am with this phone so far. It's fast enough and the always-on screen is amazingly convenient. Can't say much about battery life yet as only charged it once so far.
The only couple of minor things to mention though - the back-panel is very, very slippery so can easily drop the phone out of your hands. The other thing - email notifications on the back-panel. It's configured to default email app (as mentioned in some previous posts) and looks like there's no way how i can change it to gmail which is my primary email. But am i right thinking that there should be an update to fix this?
smekla said:
Hi all, newbie here! i've just bought Yotaphone 2 couple days ago, can't say how happy i am with this phone so far. It's fast enough and the always-on screen is amazingly convenient. Can't say much about battery life yet as only charged it once so far.
The only couple of minor things to mention though - the back-panel is very, very slippery so can easily drop the phone out of your hands. The other thing - email notifications on the back-panel. It's configured to default email app (as mentioned in some previous posts) and looks like there's no way how i can change it to gmail which is my primary email. But am i right thinking that there should be an update to fix this?
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Hey dude. Lovely phone isn't it. Yeah the back is pretty slippy, the bumper solves that problem if you can manage to get one? As for the email notification on the back, I agree, it's annoying that you can't configure it but I think they'll probably address that in an update, maybe make they're own email client like with the back sms app or something. Only time will tell on that front I suppose.
By the way, get someone to text you the word 'cool' and leave phone EPD facing up. Lovely little easter egg type addition by Yota. Figuring out various other ones over time
Hi everybody
I know there are a few reviews of the S29 around but I didn't find them useful for my decision to purchase the S29 so I'm going to throw in my own 2 cents (I'm Australian - if you don't know what 2c means then just google it). Hopefully if you are reading this review you are considering buying an S29 and probably (like me) you are faced with an overwhelming array of different devices and options. My plan is to present information that is helpful.
I decided that I wanted to get a smartwatch about three months ago because I'm a teacher and I don't like it when I miss important texts or phone calls from my wife. When I'm in class I will not bring out my phone, and sometimes I'm so busy teaching I don't even notice the phone vibrating anyway. Sometimes, if I had known that I had gotten a text or phone call, I could have gone at the end of the lesson to the staffroom, sorted things out in a minute, and proceeded to the next lesson.
I was also in a situation where the watch I used for running was really irritating me, and it had no way of telling me how I was going, other than the time it took me to run. If I run the same route, it's fine, but if I do extra bits then I have no way of comparing.
I'm also a bit stingy and a bit wary of buying into the next big thing when the price is high. The prices of first generation smartwatches have come down a fair bit in the last 6 months but I would have to spend at least $120 if not more for something that didn't have a great review of battery life and for something that my wife was telling me was a waste of money.
So, my criteria was that it needed to be cheap, have a battery that would last easily through a full day, show me texts and emails, have some kind of pedometer. I was also looking for some sort of storage just in case (some watches have very, very small amounts of storage) but things like camera, photos, and music weren't a big part of this decision for me.
I narrowed it down to about 10 chinese smartwatches that ranged in price from $30 (U8) to $80. Bear in mind that these were AUD.
As I was wading through all the information I decided that I was really drawn to the fake G2 look. Something about the colour and the icons just seemed attractive - it was just a personal taste thing. It wasn't a game changer for me, but looks count for something.
I really wanted a Bluetooth 4.0 or 4.1 but I decided that it was really going to go above my price range (I didn't really want to spend more than $60AUD) and that pretty much knocked that out. That really meant that the No.1 range was out.
After a lot of deliberation I ended up with the S29 and I have to say that I am really glad that I chose it. I managed to get it from Aliexpress for $55AUD (around $34USD) and I got it from China to me in about 2 and half weeks which is pretty good (so kudos to Aliexpress for that).
Having used it for half a week now, I can tell you a number of things about it. It's never going to beat any kind of Android wear for functionality and the software is fidly, but for what I wanted it is perfect.
The look and feel is great - very comfortable and just like the photos.
The software that you can download by QR scanning is useless on Lollipop so don't bother. I am using the Mediatek app (make sure you get the version that was released April 2015 or later) and it makes sure I get all my texts and emails. I have turned off my accuweather notifications (it didn't show the temperature) and chromecast notifications because they were just annoying and I could probably turn off a lot more. I haven't tried Facebook because I don't allow FB notifications on my phone (too many, too annoying, too distracting).
I have been for a run with it, and I'm pretty sure the pedometer works really well. I say pretty sure because it says mileage, but reads km. I knew the distance I ran and converted it from miles to Km and it was spot on.
Battery life is great. I've had a few days worth of fiddling around and changing things and hardly used any battery to do it. I'm up to day 2 without charging and it's still more than half full (according to the icon). I changed the screen on time to 15sec because I just don't need it to be longer and 15 seconds actually feels like a very long time once I've done what I need to do - it's not like a phone where I might be reading a lot of text and not touch the screen for a while etc.
Sound through the speakers is tinny which I expected but it's clear enough for me to listen to if I want - I just can't control the volume using the phone, and I can't get it through the audio icon (it goes for the bluetooth on the phone and opens up my podcast app - who knows why?) but I can get it through the file manager. The Camera is great for low resolution grainy photos but that's about it. The remote camera for the phone works really well. I accidentally had a conversation with my wife through the bluetooth (I haven't got a sim in it even though there is a spot for it) and it was clear enough and I didn't have to hold the watch up to my mouth and ear.
I have sent texts using the tiny keyboard without too many problems, but it's probably easier to get my phone out really.
I was pleasantly surprised by the "multimedia" function which is just sound or video recording - I haven't tried video, but sound was good enough and simple enough for a quick memo.
The interface is quite good. There's no real lag and mostly it's easy to get to the feature you want.
Here are my problems with it...
There is nothing on the screen normally so to see the time I have to press the button. I can't therefore surreptitiously look at the time.
The bluetooth is quite aggressive and wont let me turn it off if it is connected to my phone. I have to go to my phone settings to swap to my car bluetooth. Thankfully I have "trigger" (an app similar to IFTTT but simpler) and it there were enough options to create a rule to hand over the connection to the car and then back again afterwards without any dramas. I think the fact that I have the 450MH Battery is certainly an important part of the battery life with BT3.0 and I think they have made a good choice with it.
There is no way of recording the pedometer readings. I've tried a few apps but they just don't play nicely with the watch. It's no biggie to me, but if you were interested in that kind of thing then you would want to spend a little bit more for a No.1 watch and use Fundo (though be careful which app you download because fundo isn't a unique app name...) You'd also get a heart rate monitor which might be useful. The S29 tells you that it records your calories burnt, but really it just calculates your steps and comes up with a number of calories that you might have burnt.
The pop up notifications are just enough information to tell you who sent you a text and the first line, likewise with email but it's the name with a subject. I'd probably like a little bit more, but lets face it - it's a watch.
These are only very minor problems and I'm really happy with my purchase. My plan is to use it for about a year and then get something with android wear (or Tizen ... maybe).
At the very least I feel like I know the one feature I will have to have on my next watch is the ability to turn on the screen just by turning my wrist.
I hope this has been useful if you are making a decision about a smartwatch.
Hi! Im planning on buying this ZGPAX S29. Have you tried the Watchmaker app with this? Does it really work?? Thanks in Advance!
I picked this device up as a impulse buy to replace my Note 8 and even though there was quite a lot of negative talk about this phone mostly for the software I have to say I don't regret my purchase in terms of why I bought it. I was considering the Z Fold 2, but couldn't justify wasting THAT much money for something I'd most likely break just using it (screen). Anyway, the Duo has been a great multitasking device so far. The only area I'm highly disappointed by is not so much the crappy potato camera, but the fact 1. it takes soooo long to deploy the camera ready to take one. 2. the gigantic f$%&ing delay when taking a picture vs when the camera shutter sound signifies it took a picture. I'm hoping that future updates resolve this phones issues although it sounds like there hasn't been much attention given other than this past January... At any rate, I've bought a few things to improve the usability of this phone. Magnetic usb-c cable for charging and data transfer (miss Qi charging...) and added screen protectors. Finally made some vinyl overlays for the outsides and used CF for grip although negated when the screens are folded open.
Looking forward to receiving mine next week to finally try dual screen. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Note 10 I've been using for the last year or so, particularly for battery life. Also heard it doesn't support ARCore which will be disappointing as was key to one of the main uses I wanted this phone for.
Pretty cool
A lot better build than any of the Folds...
wez_p said:
Looking forward to receiving mine next week to finally try dual screen. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Note 10 I've been using for the last year or so, particularly for battery life. Also heard it doesn't support ARCore which will be disappointing as was key to one of the main uses I wanted this phone for.
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Honestly, I think you'll be disappointed straight away. You'll have to forget most of what you expect a android phone, much less a phone to be and learn how to navigate Microsoft's version of Android and a duel screen (not all Microsoft's fault and the nature of duel screens). With that said if you get comfortable enough with how they want you to do things you may start to love it more than any single screen phone and not want to go back. While I feel pretty adjusted and comfortable with using it for what it is as I was intending. With that said I've run into a few situations where the Duo will just NOT replace a phone at least a flag ship like what I was used to with my Note 8. I don't know if this good or good enough, but I can take the Duo off the charger, go to work, have the bluetooth connected to my headset, playing video, screen at around 15% brightness, be browsing the net or social media at the same time the video is playing and after my 8 hr shift be at around 10-5% battery left. Or I can do a charge for about an hr and a half? and be at around 80 - 90%? Not sure what ARCore is. Let me know if you need any info or help, although in some ways still learning myself.
blackhawk said:
Pretty cool
A lot better build than any of the Folds...
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Thanks, I feel like I'd have wrecked the screen if I had a Fold. I'm not hard on devices, but I still expect it to hold up since I have to use touch so much to interact.
I've changed the outer protectors since this original post. Since I have the ability to make my own vinyl stuff I've been experimenting with a logo. The CF was too big and was peeling at the edges so I needed to adjust the size of the vinyl and cut a new one out. My laptop for comparison to cover the stock logo.
vipfreak said:
Thanks, I feel like I'd have wrecked the screen if I had a Fold. I'm not hard on devices, but I still expect it to hold up since I have to use touch so much to interact.
I've changed the outer protectors since this original post. Since I have the ability to make my own vinyl stuff I've been experimenting with a logo. The CF was too big and was peeling at the edges so I needed to adjust the size of the vinyl and cut a new one out. My laptop for comparison to cover the stock logo.
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Lol, the Folds are designed to self destruct like a Mission Impossible tape... brute force not needed
This isn't intended as a phone per se but I really like the way it's hinged and its conservative but innovative solid design.
A sharp micro laptop... Gene Roddenberry would have loved it.
I'm very interested to hear what your experiences are like with it. It a cool hybrid
blackhawk said:
This isn't intended as a phone per se but I really like the way it's hinged and its conservative but innovative solid design.
A sharp micro laptop... Gene Roddenberry would have loved it.
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Definitely agree. It's really nice hardware. Speaking of which I will watch re-runs of Star Trek TNG if it's on some times.
blackhawk said:
I'm very interested to hear what your experiences are like with it. It a cool hybrid
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My primary use case is in "Nintendo DS" view where I have a screen for video playback on top and then I'm browsing the net, social media, or games on the bottom screen. This is where I think it shines the most. My second use case is like regular phone with one screen mostly for ease of typing like replying to a text message. A cool use case that I haven't done all that much is book view where I have youtube open playing a video and doing whatever on the other screen. This view is primarily nice if I have music playing off of youtube because usually if you try to multi task and youtube will stop the music and close the app entirely. With the Duo I don't have to worry about youtube taking up the screen since I have a secondary one. Something a single screen can't do. Why don't I pay youtube? I'm cheap and part Chinese. lol...
Hi,
Well, given the massive price drop from Microsoft, I decided to go for one that I bought from the MS Store directly.
Openend the package and powered up the device. Well, first thing is you will probably have to wait for 30 minutes for the successive updates to apply... Not really nice on a device that still is 800€ after 50% rebate, but OK.
Once powered up and ready to go, the first impression is amazing. The build quality is about the best you can get. The displays despite what reviewers write, are splendid. And the "Duo" panels are just amazing. App are installed super fast (not sure what memory they used, but here is it indeed pretty fast) ; GPS is super accurate ; communnication areoud and clear and so that is all good
But unfortunately, that only last for some time... And then the problems arise :
- no Led or outter display : you don't have a watch. You'll have to grab the device and open it just to know what time it is. You got a notification ? Same thing just to see what arrived. Even worse : you get a phone call ? You have to grab your phone, open it, see who's calling... and half the times, you'll miss the call because you weren't fast enough !
- the hinges ? Superb piece of craftmanship. Honestly. They feel super solid. They have the exact balance between being stiff enough to allow the displays not to move by themselves but still not to be too difficult to operate and unfold. But once your device is open and if you display, say a webpage, in "full screen" (so on both displays) then you'll just have a gap and so some parts of the page won't be legible... I thought MS would have worked on a seamless displaying of the pages when in "full screen", but no. They went the easy route ;
- the way the dual display are working is totally confusing. When I launch an app, it sometimes will display on the left panel, sometimes the right one. Why ? No idea. But that is OKAY. A little more problematic : let's say that I am using my web browser in full screen (on both displays). I get a notification that I got an e-mail. I go to recents and check the mail, then go to recents again to go back to browser... it works, but will go back to single display, not "full screen", so I have to drag the slider again to have full screen. Maybe I would be able to live with that. But on my device, one of the displays randomly decides to power off. I have to close the Surface Duo and reopen it to get the second display back. That really doesn't fill me with confidence in durability :-(
- and then there is the battery. It's melting like snow in hot summer day. I am used to 5kAh batteries that last almost a week-end given my usage. I know MS wants to mimick some of Apple's features, but why taking the worst and choose the same battery power ? Here, playing a simple game like "Cody Cross" and I will be out of juice within 2h30...
I will not talk about other small glitches, like the MS launcher, which in the Surface Edition is simply a joke ; the fact that some apps will not work in the Surface ; the incredibly poor camera (I don't care, I don't use it but did they even gave a look at the smartphone reviews where the stupid reviewers can take away 1 full star out of 5 for a smartphone just because it's camera is not stellar ?) ; the lack of accessories (proof that it simply hasn't sold)... and some other details.
But the ones I described earlier will probably get me to send the Surface Duo back to MS.
Will wait until September 22 to do that.
Let's see what they'll release on Surface Duo 2...
Because I really would like to love it and justify spending 800€ on a smartphone !
Regards
I bought mine Amazon $419 just to play and get to know - it is a fun device - I couldn't justify the Fold 3 which I had been using contemplating. If I trade this in for a Duo 2 and get US $250+ it's all good.
It fast charges really quickly. It can get to 40C and yes it drains battery terribly.
Even SwiftKey seems buggy - whole thing is more prototype than a finished product - they should be paying us!
But I think I'll wait for Android 12 at this point. 11 is a great already a year old. Also the I like to wait 4-6 months anyway for the any issues.
Hi,
If the Surface Duo was sold in France for 400€, I'd keep it too
But best brand new price I've found here is 800€ (for 256GB model) unfortunately.
This is why keeping it is a question for me :-(
Hello.
So I managed to get a OnePlus Watch when pre-orders went live about a month ago. It was delivered today. After spending almost 24 hours with it, here are my thoughts (might be a little long winded).
1. It is missing ALOT of basic features, chief among which are tap-to-wake and no Google app support. The no Google support is major seeing as you cannot sync apps to the watch properly. My LG urbane does a million more things than the OP watch does.
2. Heavy focus on fitness. I like that they're trying to get people more active but come on, at this point it's basically a fitness tracker. For the price they're selling for, there are much better options out there that are dedicated to fitness. This is meant to be a proper smart watch from a company that is trying to take on the big boys like Samsung and Apple (obviously they have very little chance against Apple but, they can at least give it a go). With their recent products like the OP 8 and 9 series, they're starting to tell the world that they're no longer going to hold back and that their Nord line is for users that are on a tight budget but want something "premium feeling". To come out with a smart watch that focuses heavily on fitness and 0 Google support or features was a mistake.
3. It was clearly rushed to market. Very obviously, it was rushed to market before it was even ready. Personally, I believe that the hardcore OP fans put pressure on them to release a budget friendly smart watch. OP caved and just released what they had. Given more time for development and refinement, this could have been a solid product and I would have happily paid around the £200/€200 mark for it.
4. Notification issues. This has to be in top 3 gripes about the device. When you receive a notification on your phone, it pops up on the watch like normal but, you can't do much with it. If it's a group chat notification and you're getting quite a few messages, the notifications will not stack into one. Instead, you'll get several notifications on the watch about it. Dismissing a notification from the watch also doesn't dismiss it from the phone too and vice versa. There have been several times where I've dismissed from the watch, only to look at my phone later and it still showing up there or vice versa.
5. Poor step counter accuracy. MKBHD pointed this out in his review. I thought that maybe it could have been an issue with his review unit but no, it's an actual thing with the watch. A normal work day would get me 5000-7000 steps according to my LG urbane, the OP watch only registerd 3300. How?
That's my little rant over
Anyways, what's your experience with the watch been like so far? Overall, this watch has a lot of potential but it was let down due to OP wanting to get it to market as soon as possible. This needed a lot more development time and refinement. I'll keep a hold of it for now and see what improvements they bring in the near future.
5H1R42
thanks for your reviews.
MKBHD made me hesitating ; ''buy for what is is, not what it will become''
Cyberpunk like, rush ****, and then is a kinda waste of money.
Anyway, since I did NOT own any watch, and I was looking for a simple smart watch that looks classy (not like a gadget) , I hit on that watch. It was a good 'deal' here in canada, since 20$ off, no duty fee, no shipping and only 1 tax.
Hopefully one plus wont let this watch down. They are pretty good for old phone updates anyway, I guess they will do it on this watch.
I also wish some dev do great port on this watch, I dont know it it will be possible tho...
Any idea how to change the firmware? I got one from aliexpress, when they went out of stock in the US, and it can't be paired with the oneplus health app, only with the chinese oppo app.
I think the firmware is way behind (A38, vs B48 as of today), and I would like to have the oneplus app and updates... Half of this app is in chinese.
Thanks
RSchmauk said:
Any idea how to change the firmware? I got one from aliexpress, when they went out of stock in the US, and it can't be paired with the oneplus health app, only with the chinese oppo app.
I think the firmware is way behind (A38, vs B48 as of today), and I would like to have the oneplus app and updates... Half of this app is in chinese.
Thanks
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Thank you, I will try it.
Is there any hacky way to pair it to a iPhone for some alerts, until official iOS support arrives?
Hello guys. Help me pls
Updated to the global firmware and the exclusive watchfaces cyberpunk edition disappeared. Can you help me with the return of the cyberpunk firmware?
Contact 1+ and ask them about the watch faces, and see if you can liberate some firmware for our hopeful/eventually getting google wear on this B# either via official means or otherwise with the help of the sleepless xda unsung heros.
So I got the watch about the first wave from the store app (which I have not been able to reinstall since after the crash the 7pro had otw to 11) and I'm very impressed with the slick hardware... Shame on them not going the 'lazy' route and doing the Google wear thing, but instead doing their own thing and seemingly not even half-assing many a feature available on a cheap Chinese 30$ watch (with 3g/lte mind you) just because their æsthetic/simplicity metric. If I had nfc ability, the ability to just get coords via gps, or even midi sounds for timers then I could understand not using the hardware to full potential, but as some of the hardware isn't even being used right now, or at least the software provided doesn't allow it's use, the positive isn't much but here is what I got:
The damn thing at least lasts forever, even with 24/7 heart/0² monitoring... (I use only low light levels, no aod)
The first day I had it, I jumped in a pool and everyone was trying to tell me that maybe I should take it off, but it recorded all my strokes & movement amazingly well (if only it was exportable to kml/anything). I shower with it too, w/e.
Charge time is warped to a good ratio of charge/use, so realistically not much miss in data if monitoring is what you're after...
It's quite nice looking, responsive, and screen is anything but dainty. I don't think it's ever lagged.
The fact it does play music via BT is quite decent for a musician, as you can play someone your music on the fly considering there is a speaker with bt on in the vicinity. It's storage is huge as the space that could have gone to good use leaves gigs available...
I hope that oppo seriously gets to convince them that they must make wear a thing so we can choose to kill our batteries like we intend to, rather than have them force 2weeks battery life because it's good for them, rather than our choice to live with that allowance, or be realistic about how ridiculous we know we are being watching netflix on it...
It should be my call afterall. We'll see how it plays out, at least my sister with the iwatch was like "You don't have to charge it everyday, 2weeks!?” That made it almost acceptable...