No.1 Sun S2 Smart Watch Review
Thanks to GearBest for the sample
First Impressions: Having already had a “first look” at the device, that being a read up online all about the thing, I had a fair idea of what was coming. The box seems alright, nothing too fancy. Inside there we have the watch. It looks nice in the flesh. Though I’m still not sure I love the triangular pattern round the edge, feels like it’s there just to make it look more watch like. Mind you given how often I smack the face of my other watches off of things maybe it’s there and so raised to act as a defensive measure?
Picking it up I rather like it. I like metal bands and while I’ve seen reviews say its strap feels so light and cheap I can’t say I agree. Maybe normal watch straps are made of lead but to me it feels nicely weighted. Very flexible too, I like very much. I have never loved tightly fitting watches, I like them a little loose on the wrist and with this I can. Don’t think the heart rate thing will like that but how often will I use that?
Specifications: Built-in chip type: MT6260, Bluetooth version: Bluetooth 3.0, Waterproof Rating: IP67, Health tracker: Pedometer, Heart rate monitor, Alert type: Ring, Vibration, Screen: LED, Screen resolution: 240 x 240 px, Screen size: 1.33 inch, Camera pixel: 0.3MP, Battery capacity: 350mAh, Standby time: About 90 hours, Product weight: 0.120 kg
Actually there are tons of more details in the full spec list but I’ve skimmed to the bits that I think matter. Some spec too are variable, like the band material. My one is metal, silvery metal but you can get black too or leather of varying colours. The bands are actually standard watch straps so you can change it for anything you want. You hear that Motorola, Sony!!!! Standard bloody watch straps! So if you don’t like the strap or just feel like a change you can use anything you like and you shouldn’t have any trouble doing so.
Screen: The screen is pretty nice. It does do the Moto 360 “flat tyre” thing. You know where the bottom of the round screen has a black flat cut off at the bottom. For the most part this doesn’t really bother me as I’m used to it but….. when you use a round dial its really noticeable that 6 is missing and the faces all seem to pretend that the bottom is there. I don’t know why, the 360 does this too, just acts like it’s there when it’s not. Otherwise though the screen is pretty damn good. I was expecting poo viewing angles give the low cost but it’s actually really wide. It’s not perfect but its works great all the way to angles you would never encounter in the real world. It can get rather bright too. I’m really impressed for the price.
UI: This if anywhere is where things drop. The UI is not Android Wear. The UI is a proprietary thing I think made by Mediatek. While China has absolutely got hardware nailed I cannot say the same in regards to software. It all works, functionally but it can be odd. Like there is just 3 fascia’s for the watch. The white backed one I don’t like as the flat tyre is so noticeable. The two black ones, one having silvery typeface and the other goldish. Now it so happens I really quite like the silvery one so I was happy to use it but I could find no way to add any more options. Then when you go past that first face you are greeted with a digital, in yellow with a call button and a message button below it. You cannot change this screen and it’s different from the one in the photos, the one it the photos doesn’t seem to exist anywhere which I found really odd. The UI on the whole is quirky, once you start delving into menu’s you often feel a bit lost. Now you’ll hardly ever do it but you know. The rest of the functions, there are all fairly easily accessed. Somethings on there though, I don’t get. Like what use is the video playback app or the video recording when the storage space is so super tiny? Like I said, quirky but for the most part it’s pretty simple.
Features: The Sun 2 has a couple of really unusual bits. Now you see how the face looks like a watch and it has the little dial on the side where you would either wind it up or set the time? Well obviously you do neither with it, so you may wonder what it’s for, just decorative? Hell no, that thing is a camera!!! Yes you read that right, a camera. Granted it’s a low quality, 0.3 mega pixel camera but the 10 year old in me thinks it’s kinda awesome. Come on a real camera in your watch, that is some James Bond type gadgetry right there!!! Oh and you know what else!?!?!? The damn thing has a speaker and a microphone built in so it can initiate and receive calls, on the watch!!! Now I get you may look weird taking a call on your watch but…… come on, that is so James Bond. I can tell you if I was 10 and had this thing I would be ecstatic. As a grown up, I love the idea but I think I might feel too self-conscious to use in public.
Weirdly you can also use the watch to playback music on from your phone. I don’t know why you would chose to do this. I hoped I could use the watch as a remote control for audio being streamed to a Bluetooth pair of headphones but the Sun 2 and the headphones (Blueudio T2S) refused to be both connected to the phone (Moto G) at the same time.
Where you can use the watch as a remote control though is for your phones camera. It’s a little bit odd, there is no live transmission so you can’t see on the watch what your about to snap on the phone. Still it’s kinda cool that you can. I’m not quite sure what you’d do with it, maybe some more James Bond spying perhaps?
The other features that you may want to make use of are the health stuff. Now things like the pedometer it seemed to act more like a stopwatch than being some background, always monitoring feature. Same for the sleep monitor and sedentary reminder. So I don’t know if it was me missing something but they just seemed realistically of minimal use. The “Heart Rate” and ECG apps seem to be pretty much the same thing. They don’t continually monitor but if you’re interested in your heart rate they will tell you. I found it be really very accurate too.
Build Quality: It feels rather solid. Now it doesn’t exude luxury it doesn’t look or feel like a piece of jewellery. It feels like a man’s watch. Some plain stainless steel, polished on the face, brushed on the band. It’s a pleasant, plain, functional object. It appeals to my sense of the functionally aesthetic. Well bar that triangular bevelling, I still have mixed feelings about that. It feels like decoration for decorations sake. The rest of the thing looks fairly chunky, functional, and manly. You can barely see them unless you take the watch off but near the strap attachments and the underside you can see that its screwed together. I like that.
Usability: Well it depends what you want to do. If you’re happy to pair it up, just let it notify you of calls and texts you’re golden. It does this very ably. If you want to start doing things on the watch, like initiate a call or god forbid send a text, not so much. The round screen is a pain and to make things more awkward the big bevelled facia makes it hard to hit things near the edges. It sadly is awkward to do much more than hit the answer button or to acknowledge the notification of something. Stick to the basics, which is what I really want a watch for anyway, you cannot over estimate how handy a vibrating notification on your wrist is in my opinion. In these days of giant phones, leaving your phone on your desk or pocket means you might miss the vibration but when it’s on your wrist, you notice.
Battery: The battery life I found to be quite variable. I had the thing set to light up with a flick of a wrist. It would seem that while sleeping some nights I did this a lot and others not so much. Therefore sometimes the battery would last nearly 3 days others it would be dead in the morning when I went to use it. You should really just get in the habit of charging it overnight anyway. Like you do with your phone, it’s what I would have done normally if I wasn’t specifically reviewing to see how long it would last.
What was more of an issue I found was the charging dock. It is a little dock that magnetically clamps to the underside of the watch. The thing is it didn’t always seem to quite get the contacts lined up. More than once I put it to charge and sever hours later I discovered it hadn’t been. That got really annoying, if it just had some light or something to let you instantly see if it’s charging or not would have solved this. There is not, if you want to see you have at wake it up and see if the battery meter is animating.
Connectivity: I’ve seen people say they have had issues connecting different smart watches to their phones, so this category is here but I can’t say I did. There is some issue with the variety of apps available. Having the latest “Meditek SmartDevice” app it paired saw each other and worked just fine. Its range seemed more sensitive than my android wear watches, if I left the phone and wandered to the other side of the flat it would start ringing and vibrating to let me the Bluetooth connection had been lost. When I wandered back it reconnected automatically. That is with multiple devices all over the place too.
Value: Ahh value, there is no getting around the headline fact that as “smartwatches” go this is cheap, hell’a cheap. Right now it’s for sale, with a little Xiaomi LED light thrown in, for US$63 or with the handy discount code GBSS2 its US$54. At present exchange rates that’s just £35. So £35, with the cool wee light and delivered to your door. So that’s pushing one tenth of what an Apple watch would cost you. While I found the Sun 2 more limited and a little quirky, if what you want, the most important aspect for a smart watch for me, the notifications right there on your wrist. You feel it vibrate where you rarely feel your phone in your pocket and you can glance to see if it’s worth bothering to dig your phone out. With phones getting stupid big this matters ever more. Tbh even if you just use it for a watch, it’s still kinda bargain priced.
Conclusion: So I have 6 different “wearables” in arms reach right now. Yes I have issues, I know. You know you can never really judge an item on its own without having some other thing to compare it to. You know, your mothers Victora Sponge is cake and all cake is nice, then you have a big slice of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte that’s had a generous drizzling of Kirsch. One is good, one is to die for. The Sun 2 then, it falls into the first category. It isn’t a device that will wow you, change the way you look at existence, have you pondering in awe of the miracle that is human creativity. The Sun 2 is a good product, a solid product that has a clearly defined parameter of functionality.
The Sun 2 is about just a few things, telling you the time, looking like a proper watch and notifying you of people trying to reach you. Both calls and text notifications come through perfectly. Its functionality that my long vanished, ancient Sonyericsson MBW-100 that I so loved, provided. The Sun 2 replicates those functions admirably and throws in some little extras. Most of those extras are things you probably won’t use. Like the camera, it’s a super cool novelty but not actually useful. It’s just a cool little gadget.
Would I buy one, I dunno. I’ve gotten used to my Android Wear watches that do lots more but then they cost a lot more too. This therefore I see appealing to the young, seriously 10 year old me would have freekin’ loved this thing beyond belief. The other group being those who want the notifications in a reasonably looking package. To both those groups it suffices perfectly. It also is a really cost effective way to see if you can get used to wearing a watch but mostly I see it being for those who are forever not noticing calls and texts. When something strapped to your wrist vibrates, you notice it. It is that simple. So do you think you fall in to those categories? If so it’s a nice, functional, pleasant, watch looking way to get that without having to throw down considerably more money.
Photos i tried to add but it wouldnt let me, no idea why. however if you want to see them they are all in here http://www.mobiletechtalk.co.uk/no-1-sun-s2-smart-watch-review/
No.1 Sun S2 Smart Watch Quick Review
Thanks to GearBest for the sample
Brief: Bargain Bond watch.
Price: US$63 but with code GBSS2 US$54 ( so about £35)
Specification: Built-in chip type: MT6260, Bluetooth version: Bluetooth 3.0, Waterproof Rating: IP67, Health tracker: Pedometer, Heart rate monitor, Alert type: Ring, Vibration, Screen: LED, Screen resolution: 240 x 240 px, Screen size: 1.33 inch, Camera pixel: 0.3MP, Battery capacity: 350mAh, Standby time: About 90 hours, Product weight: 0.120 kg
Accessories: It comes with its little dock/charger and a micro USB cable to link it to a USB socket.
Build Quality: It feels very sturdy, chunky, and functional. I’ve seen people say its band feels really light but I don’t think it is, not in the least. It’s all rather weighty and solid.
Comfort/Fit: Great. I like metal banded watches and I like them to sit loose on my wrist. If you like more snug you can remove links or just change bands. Oh or you could pick it with the leather and not metal band.
Aesthetics: I mostly like it. It comes is several options so you chose what you like most I guess but that triangular bevelling still looks a bit flashy to me. I kinda think I might have preferred the black metal one, that being less reflective. It’s hard to say but it certainly gives you plenty of options.
UI: Hmm quirky. Works but I doubt you’ll use most of it. What use is the image viewer or file manager? Much of it seems rather superfluous to me.
Functionality: Where the Sun 2 excels is acting as a notifier for calls and texts, I regularly don’t notice my phone as I always keep it on vibrate. Vibrating in my pocket isn’t something I always notice but you do when something strapped to your wrist vibrates and lights up. That is handy beyond words in my opinion. Also I have to mention the camera, super cool but not so functionally useful. I did though have an issue with the limited number of fascia’s available, just 3. That was bluntly disappointing and I couldn’t find any way to add more. Lastly you can use the watch to make calls, it’s got a mic and speaker built in, super cool but I’d feel super silly using it in public.
Battery: Variable. Screen on time hammers the battery so clearly in my sleep I would set it off and that slashed the battery life. Though if you take it off at night you’ll easily get a few days out of it.
Connectivity: Great. Would drop if I left the room with the phone but that’s what its supposed to do. Never had it give any problems.
Value: It is a bargain priced device. Sure it’s not got the functionality of Android Wear watches or the Apple watch but it’s just a sliver of their price tags. If all you really need is notifications then this will got the job done considerably more cheaply.
Pro’s: Bargain price tag. Chunky feel. Standard watch band fittings.
Con’s: UI is interesting. Limited fascia’s. Docking charger not always catching.
Related
Two out of Five stars. (Amazon Review)
"This phone was a nightmare! I hate it with a passion", May 31, 2010
Here is a review of the Xperia X1. I have owned the X1, HTC Touch Pro2, HTC HD2, Nokia E90, Nokia E72, Nokia N95 and Apple iPhone. Other than the iPhone, I really hate this phone.
1) Build Quality - the plastic on this phone peeled off everywhere! The finishing on this phone is very susceptible to friction. The plastic chrome will peel off. The paint on the metal battery cover will scratch or peel off. The internal housing will crack. It's like the device had an earthquake and cracked itself. I didn't even sit on the device or drop it on anything. There is no way to prevent the plastic from cracking and peeling. All of this happened within 6 months.
The keyboard will also loose sensitivity. Over time, you will have to press on the keys harder and harder when you want to type something. The keyboard will only satisfy you for a year. And on top of that, the keyboard sucks. Don't even think about speed typing on this bad boy.
2) Efficiency - the phone is very inefficient. The terrible feedback on the keyboard forces me to use the virtual keyboard on the phone. On top of that, the screen is so small that using the virtual keyboard is a nightmare. This prevents me from being efficient with contact management and note taking. In deterred me from actually using the calendar and responding to text messages and emails. Unlike on the E72, I was not motivated to be organized with the software.
The phone is also very, very slow. Even with the latest firmware, it is very slow. This made me abhor using this phone for any reason. Don't even think about installing software that runs in the background, because it will eat your battery and retard your phone. The only way to make the device run at decent speeds is to minimize the software and the ROM.
3) Battery - the battery life is terrible. It only lasts 12-15 hours on standby without 3G enabled.
4) Camera - the camera doesn't beat the N95, but it's alright. The camera software is sluggish and is very uncomfortable to use. The camera has bad auto focus and weak flash LED.
5) Multimedia - the speakers on the phone is very weak so don't even bother watching movies or listening to music. Since this is a touch screen device, the screen isn't big enough for me to enjoy videos or web-browsing.
The sluggishness of this device also applied to it's Wi-Fi. That's why I avoided web-browsing altogether. It was just plain terrible. In fact, I prefer the Nokia E90 or Nokia E72 for web-browsing (they are non touch screen phones).
6) Phone - the call quality and loudness was at least better than my Nokia E72. However, the X1 speakerphone can't even compare to the E72 speakerphone. Please recall that phones usually have two separate speakers: the speakerphone/loudspeaker and the normal speaker. Well, the X1 has a very bad speakerphone/loudspeaker.
8) Internet - the internet is slow, the screen is small, and the CPU needs an update. This should conclude everything.
9) Price - at 800 U.S. dollars, it was an expensive piece of junk. But now that it is sold for 400 dollars brand new, it's a little more forgiving.
10) Something to consider - regardless of all of the cons I have provided, I enjoyed using the phone because it was highly customizable. Unfortunately, it lacked everything I expected from what was advertised: an awesome keyboard, perfect build quality, fast processor. I tried to make the best of it by customizing it with software and 'tricks' and that alleviated some of the pain. Also, so many people complemented on the beauty of my X1.
11) History on X1: When the X1 first came out, all of the reviewers gave the phone high marks for it's amazing build quality. Within a year, everyone noticed that its cosmetic and physical condition deteriorated greatly. The phone reviewers returned the X1 to the 'lenders' before they got the chance to witness the true nature of this phone.
I recently bought a X1 to use instead of a HD2 I also own, for emails etc. because of the hardware keyboard. I bought the X1 on ebay for £150 mint boxed condition, the HD2 was about £450 new. So far I am really loving the X1 vs the HD2 and wish I'd not bought the HD2 really.
I probably wouldn't be so happy with the X1 if I'd paid full retail price for it though!
Something is wrong with your particluar X1 if it cant last more than 12 hours in standby - leave mine on standby over night not charging at say 50 percent, wake up and its usually about 49 percent so maybe a problem with your battery.
Obviously its not perfect and it has many many problems but i've had it since it came out in the UK and i'm still with it (different one obviously since its been sent back so many times) but it works for me, its does what i want and how i want so its great, and internet browsing is greate and easy! Have you tried Opera Mini Beta? download it from their website - can easily look stuff up on the go!
Hey if i wasn't so much in a rush, i'd post a solution for almost every problem your facing. iv'e had my x1i for a month now and although it took me quite some time searching and posting throughout this forum! iv'e maximized as best as i could,My phones super fast,super stable,not to mention the internet. made mine alot louder both in speakerphone and music without any distort or damage,and all while having a look so good that makes peoples mouth water! anyone else agree?
Zeyn Karim said:
Hey if i wasn't so much in a rush, i'd post a solution for almost every problem your facing. iv'e had my x1i for a month now and although it took me quite some time searching and posting throughout this forum! iv'e maximized as best as i could,My phones super fast,super stable,not to mention the internet. made mine alot louder both in speakerphone and music without any distort or damage,and all while having a look so good that makes peoples mouth water! anyone else agree?
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Click to collapse
I agree with everything you said . I've had my phone for 8 months now and have never had to send it in to get repaired for anything?
I agree with the second poll option but i'm not supprised that this was XDA's #1 device, at the time this device was awesome and sleek.
poetryrocksalot said:
Two out of Five stars. (Amazon Review)
"This phone was a nightmare! I hate it with a passion", May 31, 2010
Here is a review of the Xperia X1. I have owned the X1, HTC Touch Pro2, HTC HD2, Nokia E90, Nokia E72, Nokia N95 and Apple iPhone. Other than the iPhone, I really hate this phone.
1) Build Quality - the plastic on this phone peeled off everywhere! The finishing on this phone is very susceptible to friction. The plastic chrome will peel off. The paint on the metal battery cover will scratch or peel off. The internal housing will crack. It's like the device had an earthquake and cracked itself. I didn't even sit on the device or drop it on anything. There is no way to prevent the plastic from cracking and peeling. All of this happened within 6 months.
The keyboard will also loose sensitivity. Over time, you will have to press on the keys harder and harder when you want to type something. The keyboard will only satisfy you for a year. And on top of that, the keyboard sucks. Don't even think about speed typing on this bad boy.
2) Efficiency - the phone is very inefficient. The terrible feedback on the keyboard forces me to use the virtual keyboard on the phone. On top of that, the screen is so small that using the virtual keyboard is a nightmare. This prevents me from being efficient with contact management and note taking. In deterred me from actually using the calendar and responding to text messages and emails. Unlike on the E72, I was not motivated to be organized with the software.
The phone is also very, very slow. Even with the latest firmware, it is very slow. This made me abhor using this phone for any reason. Don't even think about installing software that runs in the background, because it will eat your battery and retard your phone. The only way to make the device run at decent speeds is to minimize the software and the ROM.
3) Battery - the battery life is terrible. It only lasts 12-15 hours on standby without 3G enabled.
4) Camera - the camera doesn't beat the N95, but it's alright. The camera software is sluggish and is very uncomfortable to use. The camera has bad auto focus and weak flash LED.
5) Multimedia - the speakers on the phone is very weak so don't even bother watching movies or listening to music. Since this is a touch screen device, the screen isn't big enough for me to enjoy videos or web-browsing.
The sluggishness of this device also applied to it's Wi-Fi. That's why I avoided web-browsing altogether. It was just plain terrible. In fact, I prefer the Nokia E90 or Nokia E72 for web-browsing (they are non touch screen phones).
6) Phone - the call quality and loudness was at least better than my Nokia E72. However, the X1 speakerphone can't even compare to the E72 speakerphone. Please recall that phones usually have two separate speakers: the speakerphone/loudspeaker and the normal speaker. Well, the X1 has a very bad speakerphone/loudspeaker.
8) Internet - the internet is slow, the screen is small, and the CPU needs an update. This should conclude everything.
9) Price - at 800 U.S. dollars, it was an expensive piece of junk. But now that it is sold for 400 dollars brand new, it's a little more forgiving.
10) Something to consider - regardless of all of the cons I have provided, I enjoyed using the phone because it was highly customizable. Unfortunately, it lacked everything I expected from what was advertised: an awesome keyboard, perfect build quality, fast processor. I tried to make the best of it by customizing it with software and 'tricks' and that alleviated some of the pain. Also, so many people complemented on the beauty of my X1.
11) History on X1: When the X1 first came out, all of the reviewers gave the phone high marks for it's amazing build quality. Within a year, everyone noticed that its cosmetic and physical condition deteriorated greatly. The phone reviewers returned the X1 to the 'lenders' before they got the chance to witness the true nature of this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had my Xperia for over a year (since feb 2009) and I am still happy with it,
1 My Xperia is the silver version so no paint to scratch off. Usually I carry it around in a case so no real scratches. It does have a couple of the notorious cracks though, (Just under the volume control and above the camera) but they are not noticible unless you look for them and they do not affect the functionality of the device.
2. The keyboard is mostly good for me. It seems to have a few rare times when it is being tempramental but on the whole no issues. I use the onscreen keyboard occasionally and can type relitively well without using the stylus if I have to.
3. My batttery life with the R3A rom was over and around 3 days with light use. My current rom (Christians full rom) requires charging around once a day so I am going to change to a lighter rom.
4. The camera is a bit slow, and the LED flash isnt the best, but I find it does what I need it to do, I use it as my main camera since I cant be bothered carying around two devices and have no complaints. It takes scenery and people quite well, for dark scenes it may take a bit of playing around.
5 Yes the loudspeaker is bad, But I watch movies and play multimedia with the headphones, sound quality is great then. I only run into problems when I want loud speaker for phonecalls in noisy environments, which isnt often.
6 I manage web browsing fine, yes its true I would use a device with a larger screen if I bought one along, but I often dont because the xperia is extreemely portable and web browsing is no problem for me.
7. I haven't run into any problems with the wifi, the wifi seems to operate as well as anyone elses phone.
8. Yes I agree that when it was released it was overpriced, but arnt most devices? the age old lesson is that you should wait a bit before buying somthing, Dont get caught in the hype.
Their is a simple fix for the sound on the Xperia X1. It's called "optxperiabeta02". I've been using it for 7 month's now.
hungry81 said:
I have had my Xperia for over a year (since feb 2009) and I am still happy with it,
1 My Xperia is the silver version so no paint to scratch off. Usually I carry it around in a case so no real scratches. It does have a couple of the notorious cracks though, (Just under the volume control and above the camera) but they are not noticible unless you look for them and they do not affect the functionality of the device.
2. The keyboard is mostly good for me. It seems to have a few rare times when it is being tempramental but on the whole no issues. I use the onscreen keyboard occasionally and can type relitively well without using the stylus if I have to.
3. My batttery life with the R3A rom was over and around 3 days with light use. My current rom (Christians full rom) requires charging around once a day so I am going to change to a lighter rom.
4. The camera is a bit slow, and the LED flash isnt the best, but I find it does what I need it to do, I use it as my main camera since I cant be bothered carying around two devices and have no complaints. It takes scenery and people quite well, for dark scenes it may take a bit of playing around.
5 Yes the loudspeaker is bad, But I watch movies and play multimedia with the headphones, sound quality is great then. I only run into problems when I want loud speaker for phonecalls in noisy environments, which isnt often.
6 I manage web browsing fine, yes its true I would use a device with a larger screen if I bought one along, but I often dont because the xperia is extreemely portable and web browsing is no problem for me.
7. I haven't run into any problems with the wifi, the wifi seems to operate as well as anyone elses phone.
8. Yes I agree that when it was released it was overpriced, but arnt most devices? the age old lesson is that you should wait a bit before buying somthing, Dont get caught in the hype.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I owe and use every day my X1 as a main and only
pocket computer since December 2008.
Use is heavily.....
And I must say basically it still rocks.
Regarding the problems from the first post:
I agree that a keyboard gets a bit worse after that time. I didn't happen to SE P990 which I've also used for 1,5 years.
Now I owe also X2 and THIS IS THE KEYBOARD!!
The paint on the black back cover got scratched but
this is what happens to every device.
Plastic peeled off only on the 4 direction pad.
The rest is perfect.
The one crack I have is only be because it dropped badly and nothing else happened actually.
Battery is perfect. If not used heavily it's like 2 days.
The speed: that's interesting.
I don't know what did you do with your X1
@poetry
My X1 is still on R1 firmware (!!!!!)
and it is lightning fast!
I mean really fast....
I also saw lately Omnia I who somebody owned:
that was a crap man......
@poetryrocksalot: I do not agree with you. So far I have only made the best experiences with my Xperia X1.
Build quality: Like I stated on various occasions here at XDA the build quality of my Xperia X1 is absoluetely ok. Ok the paint of the baterry cover comes of but this is only a minor issue. In fact every phone has it's weak points and this one is really not serious. What's more my phone is completely free of cracks.
Battery: Are you kidding me? I have not seen many smartphones that have better endurance with one battery than the X1. I have got two batteries and if I mind how often I use the phone those two batteries easely last 4 days and there is still some power left after those 4 days. There are only a few smartphones out there that last more than a day with one charge.
Screen: What influence has the fact that the X1 is a touchscreen phone on it's performance when it comes to multimedia features (such as playing videos). Would the screen be big enough so you could enjoy your videos if the screen wasn't touchable? Where is the context in this statment? I consider the screen still among the best on the market as long as we talk about quality. It could be bigger that's true but SE never claimed to sell the phone with the biggest display. Show me all phones out there that are capable of playing 800 * 480 movies fluently. There aren't many and the X1 was launched in 2008.
Internet: What makes you think the X1 is bad for webbrowsing? I use Opera 10 and it's by far not sluggish. Normally the speed of webbrowsing depends on the connection whitch itself depends on your provider and the network coverage. Even the HD 2 is slow when using GPRS Once again my phone is not slow neiter on WLAN nor on HSDPA/ UMTS.
Price: It's true the initial price of 800 $ was too much. Thats why I did not get it when it came out. I bought my phone back in November 2009 and I paid 570 Swiss Francs. In $ that is approximately 450. And that was without a contract. It's an old story: Early adopters will always pay the price.
I could go on like this for several lines but I think I have already made clear my attitude. The X1 has its flaws like every product but it's by no means a bad product.
Some remarks from me below. I've had my X1 since september 2008.
Build Quality
Seems to differ a lot from batch to batch, and from color to color. I have a black X1. Noting have peeled off anywhere, but a letter in the SE logo. Almost no scratches on the battery cover. No cracks in the usual places although I've dropped it rather frequently.
However, I do have a crack in the metal surrounding... but the hit the phone took when that appeared made me surprised the phone is still alive at all.
Keyboard. No issues whatsoever. Might need a little cleaning soon.
Cooling of LED bad. Made my vibrator stop working... 'til I dropped the phone the next time. Plastic lens cover broken. Got squeezed into a table corner when I moved.
2) Efficiency
Software updates from SE... sucks.
3) Battery
Not as good as when it was new, but it's ok. Always on 3G.
4) Camera
Can live with it. Not good.
5) Multimedia
Speaker utterly rubbish. The lack of xvid support is crap.
6) Phone
Ok. Nothing more. Nothing less.
8) Internet
Always using Opera Mini 5, way better when Opera Mobile IMHO. Fast and stable.
9) Price
Eh... I don't know. The discounts here in Sweden are very, very, very, very good if you sign up for two years. I pay about the same price as seven Big Mac & Co a month for flat rate data and I can still use all those money to make calls with. Phone was free of charge.
Conclusion: Will probably go for a Desire in two months. Or Iphone 4G. Or something else. Not a Win Mob phone.
Build quality isnt soo good - i noticed the black paint comes off so i got some cheap carbon fiber looking tape and covered it, its protects it well.
i hate the silver parts on it - thought it was metal till one day i noticed there was a crack and i haven't dropped yet,so i attached a piece of string on the bottom to decrease the chances of cracking on its own.
the battery is good in my opinion lasts 3,4 days for me
camera sucks because you have to press down on the button to take a picture which may put the phone focusing out of place, but htc sense roms with touch focus to take a pic is alot better
speaker is weak when outside.
i still think its a great phone, but i dislike the O\s when it comes to efficiency
the processor and its hardware should be fine for a phone.
I acquired a second-hand semi-broken X1 very recently, after owning, testing, repairing or playing with most WM phones on the market. My own conclusion - not bad at all, most impressed by the screen.
Got Nuts ROM and sound optimizer loaded - like it even more, can't say I would ever be happy with the original ROM, but with TF3D ports I got everything I needed. Every device will have its own little quirks and bogies, none will ever be perfect, my only gripe with X1 is the keyboard, but only because I also keep my old trusty 128Mb HTC Universal as a second device and its QWERTY simply can't be beaten. Even Wizard has better keyboard!!!!
X1's keyboard is miserable and next to useless - button feedback is misleading, general inconsistency in pressure requirement and double-typing is common, buttons are fiddly, even for my small and adept fingers - all leading to slow and deliberate usage, which is counter-productive.
No issues whatsoever with anything else. From past experiences with X1s brought in for repairs, main issue is, of course, flex. But that is simply called 'all-slide desease' and should be expected regardless of the make and model.
I do believe the silver version is a much better option, silver metallic parts can be lightly polished and be as good as new, I have no peeling paint or other obvious cracks, apart from tiny, barely noticeable ones here and there. The battery door opening could be better thought out design-wise, even a simple spring lock would be preferable to peeling it off with your fingernails.
Optimizations, tweaks and various add-ons are out there - don't complain about lack of this or that - find the solution!
Almost forgot - those complaining of lack of playback support for this or that - find the solution and you will be surprised how well everything will play. As far as browsers are concerned - nothing beats Opera 10 for me (well, for now anyway), got Opera mini 5 running on my LG Arena - had gutsful, but had no choice, so glad I don't have to on Xperia
Was not a hard decision of buying, whereas I was in search of a 7"tablet replacement with easier calls. But as just after its release I read many disappointing messages here in XDA, I decided to write my first impressions (3 days usage). Most are the answers to the previous user issues, which were also my drawbacks.
1. Call quality: I hear perfect, ppl hear perfect. The biggest fear of an uncomfortable call is indiscreet.
2. Display: More than perfect. Very bright, so that I have to limit by a 30%. Everything is crystal clear, seems no color interferences, crisp fonts. Just as the most users mentioned, the same. I feel lucky to not have that pinky shades, grayish or blurry regions, dead pixels. pentile or rgb? a big nonsense.
3. Connectivity: Wireless has no problem. At least inside home. Router is in one room, from both stores the transfer is as fast as it can be. 3G>no problem. BT file transfer is still not tested. Just tried the bt headset, it's still the same, still sucks. I guess nothing about SGN, I hope. Standard mini usb socket was a must, and there it is.
4. Material: Used plastic material seems classy, but not rugged. I prefer more protective, softened side and corner parts without a need for a case. The flipcover case is a good idea, replacing the tiny absurdly thin back cover, but the cover is so easily detached while using. No locking, just pull and its aparted. Its sure in a short time abrasion is possible. While opening the back it sounds like cracked. But still changable back cover is a well thought idea. Device is really so lightweight thus I am looking for cases to make it heavier Being weightless its quality feel decreases a bit.
5. Buttons: I agree the volume rocker is placed to the wrong side, accidentally pressed many times. Upper side is better I guess. (but who cares, its too late, please next time ask us samsung). The capacitive buttons are also not wanted. You have to be careful all the time not to press. Is it so hard to function the power button as a shutter while camera is active?
6. User interface: This is the site for all modifying the interface functions, so only a few to add; the 5 main shortcuts should be arranged by personal needs. (or there is a way already?) Also the menus should be viewed in landscape position as in galaxy 7" tablet. If its said to be a tablet. Its annoying to turn it every time while using landscape. BTW why everyone is obsessed about sliding? Saw some movies guys saying hmmm its sliding really fluent. Everyone tries to test how it slides, all comparisons made on this. Whats the point?
7. Audio: Loudness is enough. But more is always appreciated. Especially for a deaf as me. But anyway sound in terms of loudness, and clarity is better than I expected. In fact its not enough to tell but I found its quality very very well. People here discussing the sound issue should have devices manufacturing faults, or are really obsessive audiophiles (I thought myself to be one, actually I prefer to pay thousands to a car audio system) So nothing lacks about hearing. But its a fact, to get best results in low and high freqs one should prefer lossless audio.
8. Video: BRRip movie of 9000kbps-1080p plays smooth. No gaming experience and will have no.
9. E-book: Bigger display is better, so not good as my 7". But the best option as a handy set.
10. Size: I feel its my ideal phone size with my monstrous hands. One handed usage is easy for me. (used 7" easily, thats not a challenge now)
Again I think the ppl who mentioned "SGN is embarrassing to make phone calls" are exaggerating. ( I have a standard 1/8 proportion head size). (ok I will not lie; a lilbit tall maybe)
11. S-Pen: Great toy. Works with a delay (in msecs.) but still usable. Great for daily sketches. (Not for taking notes, I completely forgot handwriting)
12. Battery: 1 day with nearly full usage.
13. Kies: Sux. Go change the name first please.
14. Accessories: Anyway people will drop it more than the previous little sized phones. So a more ergonomical handy case is needed, maybe with finger holders/stickers/ on it. Flip covers are a must but not user friendly. Otterbox>a must. I guess in a short time the acc. producers will wake up and make more options, I am sure this phone will have more sales than everyone expects.
15. Pocketability: Of course.
Conclusion: This phone is great in all aspects. People are sharing the problems they face, but it is normal every product to have production related errors, with acceptable ratios. I am lucky about the manufacturing, hope also lucky in using it without dropping, stolen etc.
ps.My previous phone was an iphone4, now my sis uses it, I really cant txt anything without false. Later I fully replaced it with galaxy7" due to my need for a bigger display.
ps2.(and just before SGN for 2 months I used an old nokia 3110, great phone with 6 days battery on excessive usage. Except the last 14 titles everything is same compared to SGN))
Good to hear that . .
Good to hear everything is working great on your end.
Hope I do not ignore some issues. I again try to find something to annoy me, especially the display faults. . But nothing. Somethings wrong here. Nothing in my life goes that well. Tomorrow will go n buy an insurance package including loss to robbery. Technology never catches my losing speed.
Unless your being sarcastic shouldnt you be happy that you cant find any faults on the unit that you got?
I meant no sarcasm; Before buying I almost accepted the display problems you mentioned b4, bad audio is ok also. But the bad call quality was not acceptable. Anyway, just 1or2 of those issues should be acceptable. But together 3 or more problems, the device loses its charm. I was sure to face those issues, so although I found really cheaper smuggle SGNs, without hesitation bought from official store nearly twice the price with 2 years warranty.
if now there is no problem that means will be bigger ones. Like losing it. Karma! Also Im sure day by day as getting used to it, I'll find many missing-malfunctioned things to ask here.
i'm going to have to disagree with you on the buttons since this is how all samsung smartphones are arranged. It wouldn't make sense to change that now
Yea I know that from 7"tablet, but also I many times pressed its 4capacitive buttons by mistake. However note is a phone (I decided lastly, its a phone) and 1 handed usage is necessary many times. The back >lower right button is pressed unintentedly with inner palm, oppositely if you intend it's hard to reach and press this time. 2 hands, no problem. I wonder if developers can make customizable buttons. (ICS will make this as i understand?)
Got my OnePlus One yesterday... here's a poorly organized list of review points.
I was initially very concerned about getting it setup properly based on reading about the troubles of AT&T LTE when you're coming from another carrier. The guy at the local AT&T shop had never heard of the One before, but he knew exactly what he needed to do and took care of it without issue. Truthfully the biggest point of confusion was that the SIM holder is sort of upside down, lol.
Aaaanyway. As soon as I got home I unlocked the bootloader, installed custom recovery, and rooted. Just sticking with 11S for now though.
I won't post a zillion pictures, everyone else has already done that. If there is some picture I can offer that has value, let me know and I will do so.
The phone is beautiful... I disagree with those who say the small metal looking band between the screen and body looks cheap. I actually think it's a very nice simple look that lots of people have already commented on when they see it. The sandstone back cover is really cool and fun to hold. I'll feel badly covering it up with a case.
The phone is well balanced but it is definitely a bit tall. I am getting used to using it with one hand, though. I tend to hold it with my pinky under the charge port (which is also upside down for no reason, lol) so the top right is easy enough to reach but the top left is a bit tough... but I am getting used to it.
The bottom speakers are great. I won't pretend they sound like my home theater system, but they are loud and clear... which is what I want. I don't sit there and rock out to my speakerphone.
The screen is great. I definitely get the warm profile/settings thing... and actually, if you watch closely as 11S loads you can see where it switches from the colder coloring to the warmer when the profile is loading (I guess). I played with the settings and bit and I can get it looking more true white-ish, but I actually like the way they configured it to be honest... at least as far as the last 12 hours go.
Yes, I see A LITTLE of what I think people are referring to as the yellow band at the very very very bottom. If I use on screen controls, I cannot see it at all. If I use the h/w buttons, then I can see it IF I struggle and have something white on the screen... I think. I think I see it. Honestly, at least for my device, it's such a non issue that I feel silly for mentioning it. I only do so because I know it is a hot issue right now.
The phone is very very fast. I loaded up all of my apps. Restored data (via Titanium) for a select few that I thought I had to, setup the rest from scratch. No lag, no crashes, just really smooth and fast performance.
Aside from Twitter and various messaging apps, I probably use Bluetooth more than anything... I am commonly streaming. To my car, to a stereo out on the deck with friends, to a headset at the gym. Lots of bluetooth. On my past 2 devices (a Galaxy S4 and a Galaxy Nexus before that) I would get little cutouts here and there (not often enough to be a problem)... or in my car if I hit "next" on a song in Slacker or Google Music too fast I'd get outright disconnected. So far, I've had none of that... and I tried. I tried to break it so I knew what to expect and it just performed amazingly.
Reception has been good, LTE has been fast, though typically I am on wifi. The 802.11ac connection has been strong and stable (unlike on my S4 where I just stuck with 802.11n because ac wasn't stable enough).
The included Hexo theme for 11S is nice. Simple and clean. I may or may not go back to Flux eventually... I like to change it up regularly.
LED works great with Light Flow.
I took exactly one picture and it was of my wife so I won't post it here, lol... I'll test out the camera more and follow-up later.
So far, though... I really cannot say enough good about the device, I really like it.
Good review man. I ordered mine yesterday. Look forward to playing around with it
Thanks... Please go here for further discussion...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2685348
Hello,
So I was in the market for a new watch. I figured that if I am going to go out and buy a watch, I may as well go with a smartwatch. I want it solely to show me what time it is and for notifications. (Phone Calls and Text Messages mainly) So I could care less about a heart rate sensor. Here are all of the watches that I have considered, but decided against for various reasons:
Asus Zenwatch 2: This was originally what I wanted to get, until I went and looked at it at Best Buy. I can't stand the bezels. If the watch face was all display, I would have one on my wrist right now.
Moto 360 1st Gen: Then I looked at this, as it was $150 from Motorola for the model I liked. (Champagne w/ brown leather) The dated processor and smaller battery turned me away.
Moto 360 2nd Gen: I do like this overall, however by the time I get it the way I want, I can just buy a Huawei watch for the same price. (Dodging the flat tire LCD for an AMOLED)
LG Watch Urbane: I have mixed feelings about this one. I'm not crazy about the overall design and I have heard numerous reports of screen burn in.
Huawei Watch: I like this watch overall. However, I feel a 2nd Gen is right around the corner, and the price is a bit high.
Tag Heuer Connected: I really like this one! I do not like its $1500 price tag though....
Samsung Gear S2 Classic: I feel this watch is PERFECT for me. I love the design and the rotating bezel! I was super bummed to find out the display size and that it wasn't running Android Wear though....
This brings me to my last choice, and the one that I ended up ordering: The Fossil Q Founder.
I really do like the design of the watch itself! I feel it looks quite nice. I prefer leather bands, so the fact that it accepts pretty much any 22mm watch band is a big plus. (I wont wear metal bands) I also feel the Fossil Q is a better investment, which played a big part in my decision. The Intel Atom processor, 1GB of ram, and internal speaker make it seem more future proof to me. The 400mah battery should be sufficient for a full day of use. I expected to have to charge whichever watch I ended up getting nightly. The only downfall to the Q in my opinion is the infamous flat tire on the display. I can live with it though. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to have a Fossil Q Founder with the Huawei Watch Display. It is what it is though.
After reviewing pretty much every Android Wear watch, I found that none of them are perfect. There are pros and cons to all of them really. Even the Tag Heuer Connected, although I feel its only con is its price tag. lol. With very similar hardware and pretty much identical software I guess it comes down to personal preference of aesthetics ultimately. I like the design of the Fossil Q. The fact that it is a little better specd than others as well is what ultimately made me decide to get it.
I will update more when I get it. I am also going to (very carefully) pop the bottom off to see if I can find out which Intel Atom processor it is running exactly.
So what Android Wear watch did you go with and why?
xx
dazultra2000 said:
I stopped wearing watches a few years ago as the bulk on my wrist started to annoy me and my phone told me the time so it seemed pointless. A few months ago the vibrate on my M8 stopped working, and as it was out of warranty and considerably hacked in the software department, I was kinda stuck until I can upgrade. I found myself missing notifications and calls and got pretty annoyed about it. I was holding out for the zenwatch 2 as it was cheap enough that if I didn't get on with it, it wouldn't be such a loss money-wise. However, it had limited availability and I didn't want to wait any longer as I would end up just waiting for the next better watch. I found a decent discount for the urbane and went for it. I always had chunky metal watches before (my last was a casio g-shock GW-1210U which I loved dearly, so I figured if I could change the band on the urbane to a nice metal one it wouldn't be much different. The Urbane is actually thinner than my old G-shock. Anyway, I love my urbane. Battery life is great, display is nice and it feels like a quality item. My only real issue with it is that it does lag sometimes, but I was expecting that so it doesn't put me off too much.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
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Nice! I did look at the LG Urbane. Amazon has it right now for $250 brand new. So it was tempting. Especially being it has an AMOLED display with no flat tire. I just felt for $25 more dollars I am getting a slightly larger display, double the ram, and future speaker support. Personally, I like the design of the fossil more as well.
Zenwatch 2. I love it. Honestly, the software is all the same, and hardware to mostly. Zenwatch is more affordable meaning when gen 2 or 3 watches come out, you can put that extra money to get those.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto G6, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto G6 is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Got it activated first on Project Fi 3 days ago, for some reasons - I was "expecting" it to be a little bigger but it's just 2 clicks larger than the Nexus 5X getting traded in with the "generous" upgrade. For an entry/mid-range smartphone in 2018, I voted a 4 out of 5 (not that the absence of NFC or inability to use G.Pay is a make or break deal, I hardly use it & most places still do not accept it as mobile payment here in the US)
Dolby sound is very good, screen is bright & audio played via the speaker is fine - giving it a good workout as we hit the road today for a trip, more on the G6 later ... bootloader still locked at the moment.
Net cost to get this brand new G6 to me is about $120 after the trade-in, not really spend much more than paying someone to replace the old, tired & not as good 2.5 years old battery on the Nexus 5X, so I'm a little biased on this Lenovo/Motorola piece.
Letitride said:
Got it activated first on Project Fi 3 days ago, for some reasons - I was "expecting" it to be a little bigger but it's just 2 clicks larger than the Nexus 5X getting traded in with the "generous" upgrade. For an entry/mid-range smartphone in 2018, I voted a 4 out of 5 (not that the absence of NFC or inability to use G.Pay is a make or break deal, I hardly use it & most places still do not accept it as mobile payment here in the US)
Dolby sound is very good, screen is bright & audio played via the speaker is fine - giving it a good workout as we hit the road today for a trip, more on the G6 later ... bootloader still locked at the moment.
Net cost to get this brand new G6 to me is about $120 after the trade-in, not really spend much more than paying someone to replace the old, tired & not as good 2.5 years old battery on the Nexus 5X, so I'm a little biased on this Lenovo/Motorola piece.
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Similar thoughts as you (also running the Project Fi version of the phone).
- Phone is smaller than I expected.
- Loving the thin bezels, looks much more premium than the actual cost to me ($200)
- I don't use NFC. Don't trust it, so the lack of NFC is not a big deal
- Battery life is good, front facing speaker loud, screen is bright and sharp
- Responsiveness is in line with what you would expect from a $300-400 phone IMO
- Nearly stock Android experience = CLUTCH
Agree with others. Coming from a 5X most everything is acceptable given the price. I was blown away by the speaker. BUT my biggest gripe is the cameras low light performance...its not good by any means, very grainy, colors are bad. Regular outdoor pics are good though. Also wouldve preferred for it to NOT have a glass back since im a klutz and guaranteed to break it.
Have had this phone a couple of weeks now. Got to say I like it a lot. Definitely a step up from my Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 that I had for 3 years. This is also the most expensive phone (about $250) I've had as I'm a cheap skate and no way I'm ever paying $400 plus for a phone. Just can't bring myself to do it. The price I paid for this phone is "high dollar" for me, lol. Still getting used to the new 18x9 screen. A part of me likes it and a part of me likes 16x9 better. Since pretty much all phones are going to this size, I guess I better get used to it. The new screen size almost feels like a "cheater" to me. Moved the menu icons inside screen and made the width smaller making keyboard in portrait view (which is the way I text) actually a little smaller than what I had. Taller view but most stuff you view in landscape has bars so I don't see the benefit to it yet. Most comments I read about it, people love it. Me not so much. Phone itself is very good. Performance is very good, screen resolution is very good, camera is very good, battery life is very good (especially compared to my Redmi Note 2 which was a battery sucker). I like Android 8 and Moto apps. Pretty much bloatware free, and is nice and snappy. Had to put a case on it (put a Spigen on it) cause the phone actually felt a little small in my hands. The case gave it a little more bulk and made it feel a lot better in my hand. Love the fingerprint scanner which to me is the coolest thing since sliced bread (yup I'm a dinosaur). To tell the truth I would probably still be using the Note 2 but it started acting up on me. Now since I got this one though, it pretty much blows away my old phone in every way possible which of course is a good thing since I spent the bucks for a new phone. All in all I'm pretty damned happy with this phone. About the only thing I could say I wished it was, was a bigger phone. I went from a 5.5" 16x9 screen to a 5.7" 18x9 screen and this feels smaller than the other one to me in my hands. In the 18x9 size, I wish a had like a 6" or 6.5" screen. That would give more width that I would like to have. The width on the 16x9 was actually about 1/4" wider than the18x9 one, which is actually a substantial difference when using a keyboard.
Deleted: Double post
MikeO89 said:
Have had this phone a couple of weeks now. Got to say I like it a lot. Definitely a step up from my Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 that I had for 3 years. This is also the most expensive phone (about $250) I've had as I'm a cheap skate and no way I'm ever paying $400 plus for a phone. Just can't bring myself to do it. The price I paid for this phone is "high dollar" for me, lol. Still getting used to the new 18x9 screen. A part of me likes it and a part of me likes 16x9 better. Since pretty much all phones are going to this size, I guess I better get used to it. The new screen size almost feels like a "cheater" to me. Moved the menu icons inside screen and made the width smaller making keyboard in portrait view (which is the way I text) actually a little smaller than what I had. Taller view but most stuff you view in landscape has bars so I don't see the benefit to it yet. Most comments I read about it, people love it. Me not so much. Phone itself is very good. Performance is very good, screen resolution is very good, camera is very good, battery life is very good (especially compared to my Redmi Note 2 which was a battery sucker). I like Android 8 and Moto apps. Pretty much bloatware free, and is nice and snappy. Had to put a case on it (put a Spigen on it) cause the phone actually felt a little small in my hands. The case gave it a little more bulk and made it feel a lot better in my hand. Love the fingerprint scanner which to me is the coolest thing since sliced bread (yup I'm a dinosaur). To tell the truth I would probably still be using the Note 2 but it started acting up on me. Now since I got this one though, it pretty much blows away my old phone in every way possible which of course is a good thing since I spent the bucks for a new phone. All in all I'm pretty damned happy with this phone. About the only thing I could say I wished it was, was a bigger phone. I went from a 5.5" 16x9 screen to a 5.7" 18x9 screen and this feels smaller than the other one to me in my hands. In the 18x9 size, I wish a had like a 6" or 6.5" screen. That would give more width that I would like to have. The width on the 16x9 was actually about 1/4" wider than the18x9 one, which is actually a substantial difference when using a keyboard.
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Great post, MikeO89...
Love your enthusiasm for the G6. It pretty much echoes mine.
I paid £220 here in the UK for mine, and like yourself, it's really about as much as I want to pay for a phone these days. There's been a considerable amount of coverage over the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and certainly the specs do look pretty damn awesome, but at close to nearly a £1000, an eye-watering sum of money for me... well, I just couldn't envisage spending that amount, even if I had it. Maybe when I have the next winning Euromillions lottery ticket, I'll buy one or whatever flagship is out then, but until that auspicious and lucky day arrives, I'm more than happy with my Moto G6.
And which I bought to replace my ageing and battery-dying HTC One M8, which I paid £530 for back in 2014. I remember my Dad at the time saying in almost stunned and amazed disbelief "You want to spend how much on a phone??!!!" as though he'd not quite heard me correctly. Of course, I did try to explain that it was more of a personal pocket computer that just happens to have the ability to make phone calls. After I bought one and he saw it in action and began to understand the capabilities of it... well, he went out and bought one himself!
That was four years ago, and I'm a little bit more price conscious these days, so when my One M8's battery began to die earlier this year, I knew I needed a new phone.
Initially, I made the mistake of assuming that you needed to spend £600 or £700 on a phone to get a quality device. I'd been hearing about the Moto G series phones and the rave reviews they'd received around a year before, so when I heard about this years G6 release, I checked out all the reviews. My initial response was one of skepticism ~ how can a company like Lenovo release a phone with such great features at just a shade over £200 AND make a profit. Surely there's a catch, I mean there has to be, right? Wrong!
As it turns out, the Moto G6 is every bit as good as the reviews say it is. And you don't need to mortgage your soul to own one. I mean, where do I begin... fast turbo charging, really nice vibrant colourful screen, amazing battery life, Android 8 Oreo with next-to-no bloat, and fingerprint unlock. Yeah, I love fingerprint unlock. It's like your very own personal ON switch that nobody else can use, and no more playing join-the-dots and trying to remember which unlock pattern is correct for this device amongst the other devices (tablets) I own.
As for the size and aspect ratio, I love it. Coming from my old HTC One M8 which had an aspect of 16:9 and a resolution of 1080x1920...
...to the Moto G6 with an aspect of 18:9 (Rhetorical question: why isn't it just simply called 2:1) and resolution of 1080x2160, which my calculations reveal to be a 12.5% increase based on number of pixels alone. It is a sort of a cheat, but I feel in a good way. I now have a phone that doesn't feel significantly bigger than my One M8, because the width has stayed the same, but the height has increased, but not by that much when you 'add-on' the One M8's speakers at the top and bottom, but the actual screen size increase on the G6 is quite noticeable.
I use Nova Launcher, and I like tinkering around with Themes, Icon Packs, Wallpapers and Layouts and with the increase vertically, I now have more layout options for things like icons and widgets, because there's an extra couple of rows on the Nova desktop. And 5.7 inches feels about right to me. I'm not sure I would feel comfortable handling something like a 6 inch or larger device. If I can, I like to operate my phone one-handed and the bigger these things get, the more difficult one-handed operation becomes.
I do take your point about black bars in landscape mode though, particularly if you're watching video content, most of which tends to be shot in 16:9 aspect. This doesn't overly bother me really, because I generally don't watch a lot of stuff on my phone anyway. And when I do, I just sort of ignore the black bars. I watch a lot of old films and TV dramas on my TV back when things were shot in 4:3 aspect, and I just got used to seeing left and right black bars on my TV, so on my phone it's really not an issue for me.
I guess we can quibble about the shortcomings of the G6 ~ for example, the one thing I do miss is the left and right stereo HTC BoomSound front facing speakers that provided great quality audio on my old One M8. On the G6 there's only a single mono speaker - it sounds pretty good, but I miss the stereo - gotta dig out my headphones now if I want stereo. Great that there's an old fashioned 3.5mm audio socket on it for me to use my headphones. Won't get that an some £1000 flagships! I jest of course; I'm not having a pop at flagship devices, I'm just amused by the irony of it.
So, on the whole, minor quibbles aside, the Moto G6 is a pretty amazing phone for such a great price. It performs brilliantly and looks great. The Gorilla Glass back adds a touch of class to the device, although it can feel a little bit slippery at times. When I first got it, I had unpleasant visions of it sliding out of my hand and crashing to the concrete outside and cracking all that beautiful glass (the horror, the horror!), so I have now ensconced it in the protective embrace of a Spigen case, which actually looks quite good, and feels good in the hand too.
Well, that pretty much says it all really. A great phone at a great price. Can't really say much more than that... Well, I could, but then I'd be here all night typing superlatives and this post would just go on and on and on and on, etc., etc. and etc.
Ged.
its not the fastest device but for a budget device I really like it.
Overall probably the best bang for your buck if your looking at carrier specific devices. Came from a Galaxy S7 which I kinda went swimming with. I'm loving the 18:9 screen. I do notice the occasional hiccup when multitasking, but the battery life is on another level compared to my old S7.
Love my North American unlocked G6! Great value for the money. The battery life is fine, but I suggest using a browser for some of your social media, if you want to get plenty of power for a day of use.
I've already gotten direct looks at my phone from other people, and some folks can't believe I paid less than $300 for it. Glad I chose the oyster finish vs deep indigo. I do have a case on it, as the glass back is known to crack easily if the phone falls hard on the ground. My B&H order came with a free frosted silicone case, and tempered glass for the screen. Perfect!
Coming from U11 life, this phone seems better.
VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling work out of the box with T-Mobile
Rather loud speaker
I think 2:1 screen is OK
It looks like plain Android
Cam looks OK under low light
Decent reception with B12
It's fast like 6xx processor.
Adjustable screen tint
I am satisfied with the phone for the price.
Cool looking..
I've manageg to buy mine G6 for 129EUR, for that price it's best device I could choose.
Great phone for ~$100 now on eBay that's still getting security updates.
Pros:
+ $100 now on eBay for like-new condition
+ Almost pure stock Android, very little bloat and what is there I actually use (chop twice for flashlight, etc). Very stable.
+ Great band support, unlocked XT1925-6 will work on any US carrier, only missing bands 14, 46, and 71.
+ 3gb RAM is plenty sufficient to keep about three resource-heavy apps active at once.
+ Camera is decent enough and about what you'd expect from a phone in this price range.
+ You can adjust DPI under developer options, which makes content on phone appear larger/smaller so you can fit more on-screen. Very handy.
Cons:
- SD450 is an obvious bottleneck in resource-heavy apps, expect sporadic lag if you're playing PUBGM or running a browser with ten tabs open.
- Battery life could be better, usually end the day around 20% with moderate use. Not bad, but not great either.
If this had a SD600 series and a slightly larger battery it'd easily be 5*. For $100 bucks though it's hard to be upset with it.
Well I found the first problem with this phone. I can't get it to recognize an external microphone to record with the camera. I plugged in an external mic I had (3.5mm with 4 pin plug) and at first thought it was working as I made a couple of videos. Then I noticed in the videos that the sound would go up and down through the video. As I later found out, the volume was going up and down each time I would walk away from the phone while recording being the external mic had a 6 ft cord on it. I then actually tested the external mic this time (like I should have from the beginning) and found out the whole time it was still recording with the onboard mic even with external mic plugged in. The G6 was just ignoring it as a microphone and treating it as a headphone. So now I'm stymied. The onboard mic works well enough but I really wanted to have an external mic if I wanted it. I can hardly find any info on this whole external mic vs onboard mic thing with cellphones. Still like this phone and plan on having it for quite some time but a little bummed about this latest development.
OK, doing a follow up post to the one above concerning the issue with G6 not recognizing external mic when making a video. I had about given up on this and I had been searching like crazy about it. With my lack on finding anyone having similar issues like this, I was starting to think I'm the only one who is trying to use an external mic with this phone to make videos. I thought maybe is was just a jack issue so I then tried same external mic with my voice recorder app. With that app the external mic was working. Now I knew it wasn't the jack. I then installed "Open Camera" from the Google Play Store. There was actually a setting in video settings to select an external mic for recording. I then went ahead and made another video using the external mic and what do you know it worked perfect! One other setting that I'm excited about so far in Open Camera is the video stabilization setting. I don't have the steadiest hands and always had to use a tripod or my videos would come out like being on a boat. Made one with that setting on and it kept the video still as I was shooting it. It made me look like my shake was gone (wish it really was). This Open Camera app just kicks the living **** out of the Moto G6 stock camera app! Sure glad I tried it.
Got one on Motorola promo for $100. Very nice inexpensive backup phone!