My First Sony Smartphone - Xperia Z5 General

Just say hello on this part of the XDA world, had my first Sony Smartphone ever yesterday the Z5...
Always used Mostly HTC and a few Samsung and my Last phone was a nexus 6...
First impressions are really good, lot of stuff by default that I used to root the other phones for 2 most useful being the battery percentage (why others don't do this baffles me) and the clear all in the recent apps i could almost live with this phone not rooted...
Its not as super zippy as the nexus 6 and the screen is a little smaller obviously but i found the Nexus just a bit too big.
Hopefully they'll be some more rooting and custom rom options soon...
Not sure about battery life yet but seems ok so far...
Biggest issue is the shape does anybody find this phone comfy to hold ?
Compared to my HTC M8 which is still have (as a spare) it feels really unnatural suppose you get used to it...

Be sure you're using the latest firmware, it made everything snappier and more responsive.
It's my first Sony phone too. Always had iPhones, Samsung and OnePlus phones before.

I highly recommend going for a third party launcher. I myself use Apex Pro for my Z1 which gives me more functions, better graphical effects/animations and overall much nicer GUI. This coupled with custom icons pack "Elun" for an elegant clean design. Pretty much always have a perfectly fluid 60fps interface and scrolling and I have lots of persistant apps that gives me various functions loaded all the time using resources. And I have compared against the S5, S6 Edge, M4 Aqua, Iphone 6S Plus and they all often fall under 60fps making for a stuttery GUI experience while looking worse and having less features running. So keyword is custom launcher to bring out the beast!

Related

So I have an HTC One AND a Galaxy S4 now...unbiased observations between the two

I just wrote this this thread to humor myself and anyone else who cares or is interested in comparisons between the two phones. I'm coming from an HTC Sensation which I've had for about 2 years, previously owned the og Galaxy S (Vibrant), and instead of the S4 I chose the HTC one, and got the GS4 for my wife instead, and use both on a regular basis.
Here are my observations since I actually have both phones and can compare them with no bias...
-A lot of the online mainstream reviews you'll read between the two hit the nail on the head. The One imo is a better "phone". It does indeed have less features then the S4 (although many of them are gimmicks like the eye scrolling/tracking, airview, and a few others) but the speakers are far superior, which obviously aids for anyone who ever uses speakerphone or plays music and videos, the call quality is also a little better, the phone is more fluid and faster than the GS4 with basic functions like scrolling screens etc, and the phone of course has a MUCH more "premium" feel. Sense 5 is MUUUUUCH better than past versions of Sense and like a lot of review say, it *DOES* improve over stock android in actual useful features. The look is subjective of course but it's flat, useful and fast, and to me that's all that matters. The camera is better than any past smartphone I've ever used (Tmobile Dash>G1>Vibrant>Sensation>One) so I like it personally, but compared to its rivals like the GS4 I guess it's not the best, but does everything I've ever asked of it VERY well so no complaints from me.
-The GS4 on the other hand has a superior camera. The camera on the One isn't bad at all, and kills the Gs4 in low light conditions and the aspect ratio and wide lense captures waaay more in each frame, but the GS4 has more camera features, packs a crapload more detail in each shot, has some pretty useful camera modes the One doesn't have, and is just generally better. The Galaxy might not be made of aluminum like the one, but it's lighter and imo actually feels better in my hand (without a case). Once you add a case in the mix, hand feel is null and void obviously but if you like to go commando the Gs4 feels better and will probably hold up to abuse better than the One due to the polycarbonate body and gorilla glass 3. The screen on the Galaxy is bigger than the One while the actual phone altogether is lighter and smaller so that's pretty nice, but it's not really THAT noticeable to be honest. One huge, huge advantage the Galaxy has over the One is removable storage and battery, which *USED* to be a deal breaker for me back in the day, but I've learned to live without them since I got my One, so either way it's a definite advantage but I guess how much so is up to the user. The Galaxy also has native quick settings built in which the one doesn't have (yet), so minor issue but another positive for the galaxy.
As far as negative for each, I'm actually on my second One already. Somehow my camera lense glass cracked even though I keep the phone in case and have never dropped it or bumped it. It just appeared one day in addition to the top speaker grill starting to separate from the body. Weird, but I got it replaced and the replacement is doing fine and actually stands up to overclocking and undervolting better than my old unit, so that made me pretty happy lol. That's really the only issue I've had with mine, but on the whole, the phone is definitely more fragile than the Galaxy WITHOUT a case. It scratches easier, dents, chips, etc...while the Galaxy doesn't.
The Galaxy feels better in hand (caseless) than the One, but it's slippery as hell and slides around easily and can be more prone to being dropped. Again, only an issue without a case, but this is my observation.
Touchwiz...personally I think it's a mess. I don't care for the look, as many have said it feels like your still running Gingerbread 2.3. The look hasn't changed much since I had a Vibrant running Touchwiz from 3 years ago, and while Touchwiz DOES have some unique features and generally does more than Sense and stock android...it's just ugly as hell while doing so lol. The Galaxy also does feel a tad slower and microstutters every so often while the One is almost always fluid and seems much smoother even tho it's running a newer version of android and has slightly better specs on hardware...it just doesn't "feel" like it. Other than that it's a fantastic phone and we haven't had any problems with it whatsoever unlike the One.
Between the two...if I just had to pick one, it's a toss up. I prefer my One honestly but I can see the advantages of the Galaxy S4 with it having more features so I'll just break it down like this...
Usefuleness as an actual phone
One>S4
Camera
GS4>One
In hand feel, portability
One=GS4
Usefulness as a multimedia device
GS4=One
Expandability
GS4>One
I will say that between the two if this even matters to anyone...I get WAAAAAY more props and questions and even jealous stares directed towards the One.........although..........people tend to ask to let them play with the Galaxy S4 quite often lol...
This is going to be TLDR post
I think now I have owned all 1080P phones from mainstream manufacturers and Oppo.
DNA, Xperia Z, SGS4 and One.
Could not live with Xperia Z, unacceptable compromises on a flagship device. Sold DNA as well and now with SGS4 and One (And Oppo find 5 as well, but that purchase was of oa curiosity purchase )
Both have their niggles to be honest at this point. But as far as one is concerned, I am not going to live with Sense 5 in its current form. I just cant. I will keep complaining about blink feed until HTC fixes it to add custom sources or more sources comparable to Pulse. The social media capabilities of blink feed are irrelevent to me as I dont use facebook much and for twitter which I do use, it does not even comes close to functionality of Falcon Pro.
Then the caveats with app drawer, lack of options to change wallpaper from home by long pressing also gets on my nerves. Having to go through 3 steps extra to change wallpaper is just silly. So I had to resort to custom launcher which has its own share of problems due to the fact that for some reason lot of launchers are not butter smooth on One with MSM DCVS governor as well as not as smooth as Note 2 or Nexus 4 even on default On demand governor. For those who have not actually experienced what butter smooth experience means on these device, it appears smooth. My sis who came from SGS2 thinks its smooth. I can feel the jitter in UI and that is really disappointing. And it has something to do with governor and / or kernel as there are issues with jitter and microstutter in 2d arcade games like Hill climb racing on One when the same game runs just fine on older Krait 200 CPU on Oppo Find 5. I got Go launcher to be most close to what I want by adjusting animation speed. But it is still not as perfect as I want it to be.
That and menu button even when mapped to long press back using custom rom does not still behave perfectly 100% of time. Sometimes it just goes back. But I have learned to live with that. But these are notable niggles.
Camera issues I had with older camera are now fixed. I am happy with One camera results now.
The only other bugs that annoys the hell out of me is the contact bug that was there is Sense 4 as well and it is there in sense 5 as well where Sense decides to save new contact to my other gmail account than my primary account even when the second gmail account is not even set to sync contacts. Every time after installing new ROM clean I have to click on Google tab and select my primary account before hitting save.
SGS4 TWUI might be visual mess but it is very functional. Everything just works as it should on Android phone. The actions are not that far away from what we get on stock android. So even with Samsung plastering entire colour spectrum all over, everything works as I am used to. No surprises, no irritating faults. I dont might extra features. I have half of them disabled and bloat removed.
The power saving features on Exynos Octa does not seem to work properly yet, or not as good as they are suppose. The product was clearly rushed, but I guess it will be SGS3 story all over again with Samsung fixing most issues with unofficial leaks over coming weeks and with final release fixing this on OTA for those who dont want to experiement. I have that much faith in Samsung now.
Hardware I leave it to the users but SGS4 does not feel like cheap plastic. Sure it does not feel as premium as HTC One, but that typical BS people on forums and even some press spreading about SGS4 feeling cheap is just plain BS. It feels good in hands, it feels as premium as Note 2 and Note 2 did not feel cheap at all. Specially not in white colour. Rest is upto end user to decide but if you get the chance, do see S4 in person. It is great device to hold and use. With right case which I always use no matter what phone, it is not going to be an issue at all.
Coming down to personal choice, I am still using One as my personal daily driver and S4 as work phone. The bigger real estate on S4 does come in handy though and I have a feeling that in the end it is going to be better overall device to use for media consumption for someone like me who do not listen to songs or watch videos without using headphones. I dont like to watch videos even at home with the Ones wonderful speakers as I dont like disturbing my family members, and specially my hyperactive dog that just wants to get its head between me and my phone to investigate what sound is coming out of this weird device if I play anything on it using loudspeaker So really I am wasting the speakers on One. But that can be big selling points to some. For me, it is nice thing to have but I like to use phone strictly for personal media consumption and not broadcast it to others, neither do I want to disturb others at night in bed when I usually check up on some youtube videos from my subscribed channels.
The bigger real estate also helps a lot in gaming.
In the end S4 has less niggles at the moment. HTC has chosen risky strategy with Sense 5. People will either love it or those like me who simply hate it. I replaced it with custom launcher. Lot of people still love it but plenty are going to be frustrated by it. I never likes less options or restrictive behaviour on any android phone. That is exactly what HTC has done on their stock sense 5 launcher.
UI functionality is as or rather more important that UI design and feel. Sense 5 feels smooth and polished but it is very restrictive in nature and feels like HTC have done some things deliberately different just for the sake of being different without thinking logically if they really needed to do those things differently.
It is case of "So close to perfection, yet so far" with One. It is wonderful device. Good enough for me to be ready to live with the cavates it has. But sometimes I feel like switching to S4 as primary personal daily driver. But the beauty of this device is what keeping me from ditching it. That is ultimate thing in favour of One. But frustrating thing is, it could have been so much better with just few changes.
Thread closed
This thread is another sad example of the reason why we do not wnat any comparison threads here. Although the OP had the best goals with posting it, some fanboy users can't refrain from using it as another battle ground. Deleted 15 posts (some of them NOT being unfair, but I treated all equal)
So thank you OP for the comparison. It stays here as it is helpful. The rest of the discussion is not.

S6 vs iPhone 6 Plus personal Experience.

I had an iPhone 6 Plus and got a S6 instead, here are my thoughts....
Galaxy S6
The samsung galaxy S6 is amazing, the display is unreal, the look and feel is Amazing! The camera is superb, the UI is speedy, sometimes theres a stutter but most of the time its fast. Its lighter than the 6 Plus and smaller in dimensions of course. The S6 has a 5.1 screen.
Liked
I like the screen, the camera, the fingerprint scanner is now press like the iPhone. Touchwiz is a bit smoother.
Disliked
Mostly Android itself, Its a mess. Apps are inconsistent, the UI isnt that smooth and touchwiz is damn ugly!
Battery Life is horrible, heavy use will last half a day (7am to 1pm)
iPhone 6 Plus
The iPhone has been an awesome phone but theres phones with better displays and better battery life. The 6 Plus on the other hand is a different story. The display is clear, not as clear as the S6 but its clear enough, so no complaints there. The battery if god damn Amazing, its last from 7am to 12PM on heavy usage, normal usage would last a day and a half. iOS is super smooth, and apps are consistent and just work. Whats there not to love on the iPhone, sure iOS lacks in features but i do prefer an OS to be clean, consistent and feature lacking then an OS that is rushed, inconsistent and laggy. Also i knew i was getting updates because its Apple.
Liked
The Screen
The UI is super smooth
You get software updates straight away
Apps are consistent,Ios gets exclusive Apps
Disliked
Some lack of features, but you get used to it
Camera, tho it is pretty clear
Overall, the S6 is good but it just doesnt give you that premium UI and OS like Apple does
S6- For people who like personalization
iPhone- who like premium software, wants software updates first and smooth UI
We can discuss more in this THREAD....
I DONT HATE ANDROID OR IOS, THIS IS MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND I DONT TAKE SIDES. IM NOT AN APPLE FAN BOY NOR ANDROID FAN BOY LOL i just love both!!
grom96 said:
Disliked
Mostly Android itself, Its a mess. Apps are inconsistent, the UI isnt that smooth and touchwiz is damn ugly!
Battery Life is horrible, heavy use will last half a day (7am to 1pm)
I DONT HATE ANDROID OR IOS, THIS IS MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND I DONT TAKE SIDES. IM NOT AN APPLE FAN BOY NOR ANDROID FAN BOY LOL i just love both!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems you do, since aside from battery life, your only complaint was android. Not that there is something wrong with preferring iOS but lest be honest here.
With iOS i do hate you cant download attachments from emails like word documents, you cant upload files to google drive etc, sharing stuff has improved but still limited
grom96 said:
With iOS i do hate you cant download attachments from emails like word documents, you cant upload files to google drive etc, sharing stuff has improved but still limited
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are many limitations to iOS. For instance, you can't download any type of file you want, like an mp3, onto your phone like you can on Android. These small nuances are why I don't think I'll be happy with iOS.
As far as battery life is concerned, you can optimise your phone so that it will last you the whole day. Check out some of the threads on battery life. I'm not a heavy user - mainly play WordFeud, Trivia Crack, WhatsApp, some light Facebook usage, Messenger, some web surfing, etc. (no heavy games) and I can get 36 hours out of this thing with about 4 hours of SoT.
Idk how people can think the battery life sucks... I get over 6 hours on screen time. Coming from an htc one m7 the battery in the s6 is wayyy better. I was golfing earlier and hook lots of pics and videos over 2 hours and my battery only drained like 15 percent.
Sent from my Galaxy S6 ~
grom96 said:
I had an iPhone 6 Plus and got a S6 instead, here are my thoughts....
Galaxy S6
The samsung galaxy S6 is amazing, the display is unreal, the look and feel is Amazing! The camera is superb, the UI is speedy, sometimes theres a stutter but most of the time its fast. Its lighter than the 6 Plus and smaller in dimensions of course. The S6 has a 5.1 screen.
Liked
I like the screen, the camera, the fingerprint scanner is now press like the iPhone. Touchwiz is a bit smoother.
Disliked
Mostly Android itself, Its a mess. Apps are inconsistent, the UI isnt that smooth and touchwiz is damn ugly!
Battery Life is horrible, heavy use will last half a day (7am to 1pm)
iPhone 6 Plus
The iPhone has been an awesome phone but theres phones with better displays and better battery life. The 6 Plus on the other hand is a different story. The display is clear, not as clear as the S6 but its clear enough, so no complaints there. The battery if god damn Amazing, its last from 7am to 12PM on heavy usage, normal usage would last a day and a half. iOS is super smooth, and apps are consistent and just work. Whats there not to love on the iPhone, sure iOS lacks in features but i do prefer an OS to be clean, consistent and feature lacking then an OS that is rushed, inconsistent and laggy. Also i knew i was getting updates because its Apple.
Liked
The Screen
The UI is super smooth
You get software updates straight away
Apps are consistent,Ios gets exclusive Apps
Disliked
Some lack of features, but you get used to it
Camera, tho it is pretty clear
Overall, the S6 is good but it just doesnt give you that premium UI and OS like Apple does
S6- For people who like personalization
iPhone- who like premium software, wants software updates first and smooth UI
We can discuss more in this THREAD....
I DONT HATE ANDROID OR IOS, THIS IS MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND I DONT TAKE SIDES. IM NOT AN APPLE FAN BOY NOR ANDROID FAN BOY LOL i just love both!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Always good to have different opinions!
I think with battery life it would be more fair to compare the iphone 6 plus with the galaxy note series, since they are of a similar size.
I agree with your comments on iOS vs Android though. I will never go over to iOS, but I think there is a consistency to the UI (both the base OS and the apps) that isn't there with Android phones. The experience just feels more cohesive. That said, iOS is a lot less flexible.
grom96 said:
I had an iPhone 6 Plus and got a S6 instead, here are my thoughts....
Galaxy S6
The samsung galaxy S6 is amazing, the display is unreal, the look and feel is Amazing! The camera is superb, the UI is speedy, sometimes theres a stutter but most of the time its fast. Its lighter than the 6 Plus and smaller in dimensions of course. The S6 has a 5.1 screen.
Liked
I like the screen, the camera, the fingerprint scanner is now press like the iPhone. Touchwiz is a bit smoother.
Disliked
Mostly Android itself, Its a mess. Apps are inconsistent, the UI isnt that smooth and touchwiz is damn ugly!
Battery Life is horrible, heavy use will last half a day (7am to 1pm)
iPhone 6 Plus
The iPhone has been an awesome phone but theres phones with better displays and better battery life. The 6 Plus on the other hand is a different story. The display is clear, not as clear as the S6 but its clear enough, so no complaints there. The battery if god damn Amazing, its last from 7am to 12PM on heavy usage, normal usage would last a day and a half. iOS is super smooth, and apps are consistent and just work. Whats there not to love on the iPhone, sure iOS lacks in features but i do prefer an OS to be clean, consistent and feature lacking then an OS that is rushed, inconsistent and laggy. Also i knew i was getting updates because its Apple.
Liked
The Screen
The UI is super smooth
You get software updates straight away
Apps are consistent,Ios gets exclusive Apps
Disliked
Some lack of features, but you get used to it
Camera, tho it is pretty clear
Overall, the S6 is good but it just doesnt give you that premium UI and OS like Apple does
S6- For people who like personalization
iPhone- who like premium software, wants software updates first and smooth UI
We can discuss more in this THREAD....
I DONT HATE ANDROID OR IOS, THIS IS MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND I DONT TAKE SIDES. IM NOT AN APPLE FAN BOY NOR ANDROID FAN BOY LOL i just love both!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on what you have written about these phones, I can conclude that you are a very simple user and yes ios is better for simple users who does not need any extra functions.
This does not surprise me at all that you like ios more. Good luck with your phone.
Keyboard, default browser and default maps are the really big problems I have with iOS. I also hate how hard it is to get root, and how that relies on exploits. I like Apple and since I'm not sure I'll root my S6 perhaps I will look again at iOS. I got my wife a Note 4 and that's the best comparison to the iPhone 6 plus. I dont think it is an easy comparison for the iOS device. The note 4 is very good.
I like IOS because of its smoothness clean UI but I want it loaded in an S6 kind of phone which is very impossile to happen.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Well i dont agree at all.
Iphone 6 Plus:
Pro:
Fast updates
Premium design
Cons:
Huge
iOS
Worse camera
Locked ecosystem
NFC locked to apple pay
No customization
No wireless charging
No fast charging
Lightning connector
S6:
Cons:
Not updated fast
Pros:
Fast charging
Wireless charging
Open standard USB connector (i can plug it in anywhere)
Best camera
Best screen
PREMIUM design
Android
Extremely customizable
Themes
Download booster
Material design in android
Extremely fast
This is just my own opinion and its biased, as I really dont like iphones
What I miss the most coming from an iPhone is the amazing battery life.
For being so open it's really amazing that android lacks a feature to choose which apps that are allowed to run in the background. iOS has a simple interface with sliders where you basically just pick which apps you want to keep running.
I always disconnect the charger right before going to sleep, and with the iphone I would wake up with 100 or 99% battery 6-8 hours later. With the S6 it's at 85%.
I would go back to the iPhone if it wasn't for the S6's camera. It's probably the only thing that's noticeably better.
I had the 6 plus and now i own the S6. Both solid phones.
6plus pros over S6:
-Battery life is outstanding
-Screen real estate for watching videos and just more space overall.
-IOS apps are really well optimized. Like twitter for example, i love the animation when you open that app in IOS.
-Consistent UI, No bloatware, Fully IOS.
-Imessage is Fantastic
6plus Cons:
-Even though the screen real estate is nice, the phone is big and can be uncomfortable to handle for many.
-IOS is just boring. The widgets are a joke, the customization is very limited, you can't download files, mp3 songs, torrents and all that.
-Bendgate?
S6 pros over 6 plus:
-Best display on any smartphone since smartphones were invented. Hands down.
- Arguably the best camera on the market
- 5.1 inch is easier to handle vs 5.5 inch
-Exynos SoC built on 14nm offers lots of power
-4K video recording
-wireless charing capabilities
-front facing camera with wide angle view
-Fast charge
-cheaper
-Android OS is very customizable.
-Touchwiz features
S6 cons:
-battery life isnt near as good as the 6plus. My battery life on the S6 is actually quite good but it will never match the big iphone's battery life.
- less screen real estate to enjoy media contents.
-slower updates
-bloatware
-less consistent UI. Lag?No. Minimal stutter? Yes, the android stuff we get use to. Not worth mentioning but im nit picking.
So there you have it. 2 solid phones. I like both personally. But im enjoying my S6 right now. Im sure ill get the 6plus S later this year or something else but right now its S6 time.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Sprint s6 new oe2 update been having the best standby battery life. 52 % 13 hours 3 hours screen time.
Sent from my SM-G920P using XDA Free mobile app
Props to the OP for coming out on XDA with this. It's a classic start to a flame war even though I don't think that was the intention. I struggle with whether or not to switch back to the Apple world of phones. The consistency is nice and things like Facetime - which works well - simply aren't there on Android yet (Google please fix Hangouts FFS). I do agree that the battery life is a mess on the S6 but it seems to be related to software more than anything. This is not unique to Android as several ios users are having problems with 8.2 and 8.3 as well. (Mostly) Google and Samsung will identify this and make the phone usable for an entire day without charging.
I agree with all the ops comments. I was an iPhone user for at least 3 years and loved every minute of it. Switched over to android because KitKat was the tipping point as it made android smooth enough with added consistency and the flexibility of the os locked me in. On whole I'd say iOS is more of a finished product where as android has always been a work in progress. I wouldn't place one over the other though.
Apoxx said:
What I miss the most coming from an iPhone is the amazing battery life.
For being so open it's really amazing that android lacks a feature to choose which apps that are allowed to run in the background. iOS has a simple interface with sliders where you basically just pick which apps you want to keep running.
I always disconnect the charger right before going to sleep, and with the iphone I would wake up with 100 or 99% battery 6-8 hours later. With the S6 it's at 85%.
I would go back to the iPhone if it wasn't for the S6's camera. It's probably the only thing that's noticeably better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then there definitely is something wrong with your phone. I always go to bed with 100% and wake up with 100% if haven't got any notifications or so over a night, else it's 99%.
Yeah 85% sounds crazy. The most I've lost overnight is 3% otherwise it's 1-2% without any incoming notifications.
Note 4 --> Galaxy S6 --> iPhone 6 Plus
barondebxl said:
I had the 6 plus and now i own the S6. Both solid phones.
6plus pros over S6:
-Battery life is outstanding
-Screen real estate for watching videos and just more space overall.
-IOS apps are really well optimized. Like twitter for example, i love the animation when you open that app in IOS.
-Consistent UI, No bloatware, Fully IOS.
-Imessage is Fantastic
6plus Cons:
-Even though the screen real estate is nice, the phone is big and can be uncomfortable to handle for many.
-IOS is just boring. The widgets are a joke, the customization is very limited, you can't download files, mp3 songs, torrents and all that.
-Bendgate?
S6 pros over 6 plus:
-Best display on any smartphone since smartphones were invented. Hands down.
- Arguably the best camera on the market
- 5.1 inch is easier to handle vs 5.5 inch
-Exynos SoC built on 14nm offers lots of power
-4K video recording
-wireless charing capabilities
-front facing camera with wide angle view
-Fast charge
-cheaper
-Android OS is very customizable.
-Touchwiz features
S6 cons:
-battery life isnt near as good as the 6plus. My battery life on the S6 is actually quite good but it will never match the big iphone's battery life.
- less screen real estate to enjoy media contents.
-slower updates
-bloatware
-less consistent UI. Lag?No. Minimal stutter? Yes, the android stuff we get use to. Not worth mentioning but im nit picking.
So there you have it. 2 solid phones. I like both personally. But im enjoying my S6 right now. Im sure ill get the 6plus S later this year or something else but right now its S6 time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sooo... here are my thoughts since I am directly a part of this "Galaxy S6 to iPhone 6 Plus" scenario:
My MAIN problem with the S6 is the battery life which is by all standards abysmal at best. So let me detail my feeling after owning a Note 4 (Snapdragon) for 6 months then switching to S6 for 10 days and eventually to an iPhone 6Plus for 3 days already.
6plus pros over S6:
- Battery life is outstanding. Ditto. Heavy usage (gaming, browsing, photo & filming, photo editing, all sync on on multiple apps, browsing the **** out of everything, etc) is 7 SOT on a charge and 14 hours of standby. A glorious 21 to 24 hours. A day!
- Screen is perfect. Guys, go beyond this market gimmicks and resolution wars! FullHD is, as of today, the best resolution to keep the a balance between what your eyes can actually see in a 5 to 5.7 inch display and the battery drain caused by the display (especially in daylight conditions).
- IOS apps are really well optimized, way more consistent than those on Android and of course more polished!
- Consistent UI, No bloatware, iOS just rocks in terms of simplicity.
- Photography apps are stellar when compared to Android, and I am here referring to those app types that you don't get in Android (e.g Mextures, Distress FX, Superimpose, Glaze, etc)
- Video processing available tools are just "WOW" (when compared to the available ones on Android).
6plus Cons:
- Godzilla sized phone that, because of the aluminum body, can only be handled OK-ish (I have pretty decent sized fingers) when using another "4mm adding width" case.
- The lack of notification light. Apple: **** your "wake up screen" notification system, it's LAME! By the time the phone is in no disturb mode you will miss 110% of your notifications (useful or useless ones).
- IOS is just boring and uninviting. The widgets are ... NO WIDGETS!, The customization is nowhere comparable to Android, you can't download files, .mp3 songs, torrents and all that.
- iOS keyboard put together with SwiftKey usually results in a mess: username can be entered with SwiftKey but the password field can only be filled in with the iOS proprietary keyboard. Bleah!
- Process intercommunication and data sharing among application (specifically moving a processed phone from one specific app to another) is both buggy (see Afterlight) and limited (you cannot share directly from any photo processing app to all the other photo apps).
S6 pros over 6 plus:
- Display is outstanding but nonetheless that resolution for the screen size is overkill (batter and workflow wise) and Adroid apps really make no good use of it (yeah Android, you know... usability!!!)
- OS speed: I never though I was going to say that but the latest update *G920FXXU1AODG* on S6 makes the iOS look like a bloody lazy Windows Phone OS & UI! Really, really fast, no lags at all! Absolutely IMPRESSED!
- Arguably the best camera on the market. iPhone 6 Plus camera is no slouch either (especially in the video department but the 8Mpx senzor it's just not there! Yet!
- 5.1 inch is easier to handle vs 5.5 inch. Correct!
- Exynos SoC built on 14nm offers lots of power BUT it's eventually to much for the battery.
-4K video recording though playing it back home is a PITA: no 4K TV and no 4K player in my courtyard.
- Fast charge. Though iPhone charging via the laptop USB port is way faster!
- Android OS is the customization itself and the WIDGETS are just calling for attention/action on the users behalf.
- Phone design is quite impressive.
S6 cons:
- Battery life is freaking BAD! The standby drain was almost perfect (almost!) in the latest G920FXXU1AODG with a 2-3% drain overnight (8-9 hours of deepsleep).
- The SOT + activity time battery is plain AWFUL! One example: playing 2048 game (lame on resources you know) on an iPhone 6 (not 6 Plus) for 1:40 drained 2% of the battery. On my S6, same daylight conditions, same time playing drained 13% which is plainly unacceptable. This is one thing I insist upon and I know that every Samsung loyalists (still in good faith and good brain condition) would accept is that the power drain while operating the phone (no matter what app you're using... could be just browsing) is just not optimized. It could be the HMP architecture of the Exynos as compared to the hot-plugging in Snapdragon that kills the joy of using this otherwise STUNNING phone.
- Sloooooooooooooooooowwwwww and undocumented updates (most of the time)
- Still bloatware is present but not to the extent it used to be in the past
- Less consistent UI and most of the apps just don't properly scale with the screen resolution which make things both look ugly and affect the apps usability!
That would be all for now on my behalf. Really missing the pocket-ability of my S6, the astonishing camera, the "fast and furious" UI and OS but eventually the battery life just killed it for me. I am a heavy smartphone user and as such I hate constantly peeping at my battery and fearing it dead by the end of the day!
I just home that either uncle Sammy or other enthusiastic developers around (hat's off for KTOOSNEZ) will be able to solve the BATTERY-GATE affair and I, personally, will get back to S6.
I pending between iPhone and Android. Don't really like ios except that it's so much more smooth and don't have any kinds of slowdowns when gaming or anywhere really.
Sent from a mobile gadget...
Really guys? Another comparison of these 2 phones which have been release with more than 6 months time!
Honestly the GS6 is a great phone but compared to an iphone 6, it doesn't bring much...
A new phone is suppose to be better but the small difference with an iphone 6 is just ridiculous!
The design is not as good as the Iphone 6, which is really comfortable in hand (and I don't even speak for the S6 edge), the battery is also not as good as an iphone 6....
The electric plug of the iphone6 is way better !!! No comparison possible!!! You can insert it very easily.
The screen has more pixels but still, pictures look better on iphone6!
However and also the main reason I will always choose Android rather than iOs is the software!
I can do pretty much all I want with this phone!
Cast the video I just downloaded with torrent on my smart tv...
Really easy file transfer between any devices...The list will be too long!
And for an Android phone, the GS6 is just the best one at this time!
To sum up I am really happy with this phone and hope that the overall design will keep improving with the future samsung phone.

Anyone else think Sony has "downgraded" it's UX?

I mean I welcome a cleaner interface, I love how close it resembles AOSP but the launcher... I miss the Xperia Z1 slide from the left to bring up short cuts to the Play Store, etc.
I haven't had the phone long enough but the camera has had a huge improvement in terms of UX.
Also I am hoping they introduce more software features in the Marshmallow update since not much has changed on a software level from the Z1. I never paid attention to the Z2 or Z3+ as I was generally satisfied by the Xperia Z1 up until now. I would have got a Galaxy S6 if the Z5 wasn't waterproof/Galaxy S7 around the corner = me no patience.
I also miss the slide from the left and also the home rotation
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
I hope Marshmallow brings even more stock Google experience personally
Sent from my Xperia z5 using Tapatalk
I agree, it has gone backwards slightly. Nexus devices are stock and in my opinion drab. I appreciate the OEM customization layers.
augie7107 said:
I agree, it has gone backwards slightly. Nexus devices are stock and in my opinion drab. I appreciate the OEM customization layers.
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Click to collapse
That's a slippery slope and one I don't necessarily agree with. Touchwiz on Samsung, for instance crippled the S6 so badly it is ridiculous. HTC Sense caused problems as well. Google's vanilla experience is slick and fast and Android's openness allows you to find a launcher to suit your needs. Odds are there is one that will emulate whatever experience you are looking for. I switched to the Z5 in large part because of its light touch coupled with the hardware features I really wanted (bigger battery, weatherproof, expandable storage).
sci2 said:
That's a slippery slope and one I don't necessarily agree with. Touchwiz on Samsung, for instance crippled the S6 so badly it is ridiculous. HTC Sense caused problems as well. Google's vanilla experience is slick and fast and Android's openness allows you to find a launcher to suit your needs. Odds are there is one that will emulate whatever experience you are looking for. I switched to the Z5 in large part because of its light touch coupled with the hardware features I really wanted (bigger battery, weatherproof, expandable storage).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think our point is they have reduced the functionality of their own software from an initial perspective. I like the labels below the icons on the home screen but the slide to the left thing was really useful, now I have to click the menu button to sort apps, which is about 3 more clicks compared to just 1 swipe and a single click. I may sound tedious but the launcher is a step back, the camera's most recent update however makes it imo the best on Android (the UX itself, I have access to an LG G4, and a SGS6 and Sony's Camera UX is pretty impressive)
Overall the stock firmware is much better than my Z1 (which by todays standards is pretty outdated) but I'm glad I never got a Z3+.
I also hope Sony has kept back some goodies for Marshmallow.
Coming from a Note 3 and a OnePlus One, both running CM12.1, I'm pretty happy with the current Xperia firmware. I was hesitating between the Z5 and the S6 Edge: The almost stock firmware is what made me choose the Z5. I'm glad Sony decided to stick with the (almost) stock Quick Toggles/Notifications panel
Google themselves are putting pressure on manufacturers to not bloat there phones so I think you'll see slimming down of software so that performance isn't affected to much have to say coming from a nexus the raw Google experience is slick, in fairness though pretty happy with the Sony doesn't seem to laggy at all just a few software glitches every now and again, it used to be the manufacturer would skin Google to make it a viable seller but that's less and less necessary these days
Sent from my Sony Z5 ooossshhhh
I was hoping they would make the graphics a lot closer to their whats new UI, and add multi screen support for god sakes,
What I like is that unlike LG, Samsung and xiaomi, Sony has a good balance between stock look and cudtomisation. Its not bloated with confusing and unnecessary features like others but it still has some features that stock is missing.
TheCraig said:
I mean I welcome a cleaner interface, I love how close it resembles AOSP but the launcher... I miss the Xperia Z1 slide from the left to bring up short cuts to the Play Store, etc.
I haven't had the phone long enough but the camera has had a huge improvement in terms of UX.
Also I am hoping they introduce more software features in the Marshmallow update since not much has changed on a software level from the Z1. I never paid attention to the Z2 or Z3+ as I was generally satisfied by the Xperia Z1 up until now. I would have got a Galaxy S6 if the Z5 wasn't waterproof/Galaxy S7 around the corner = me no patience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me!
I really loved the android 4.1.2ui on my xperia ZR with its fluid animations. Then the 4.3 came with white ui and i got used to it and it's themes.. The kitkat was even better bringing transparent status bar and good..
Then lollipop came and i felt the ui not that great compared to the kitkar or jb ones..
Now i tried my friend's Z5 and it looks even bad at some places
I mostly like the new UI. But it just has too many top-bar colours.
I liked the white classy 4.4... But only in the top bar context.
Actually all pop-up windows are looking really good on 5.1, they looked awkward on all previous Androids.
So it's a mixed bag. And I don't miss the left-side menu on app drawer.
However I still prefer Sony's elements over Android's stock ones.
please no
new interface is beautiful looks a lot as AOSP but still have SONY style, new app drawer is nice, i do feel it lacking something but its definitely not the left swipe thing in most SONY phones nowadays, i feel like the app grid is huge we need smaller icons , but those thing doesn't really bother me in experience the phone I love it

Is TouchWiz as bad as they say?

Quick backstory: My phone history is HTC Thunderbolt, HTC Droid DNA, HTC One M8 and the Nexus 6 (since the M9 didn't show me anything good enough). I've stayed away from Galaxy phones since I heard that the OS on top of Stock was laggy and overall not very good. Obviously they've fixed things since it's a hugely popular phone, but compared to Sense and Stock, is it comparable, or even better at this point? Thanks for your time.
Comparable to Sense. Stock/AOSP is smoother/faster. HOWEVER, you sacrifice all the Touchwiz improvements. Best camera, battery life, multiwindow, floating window, etc. They all have their pros/cons
My opinion is that it has gotten much better. Back with the GS4 and GS5 it was pretty laggy at times and I used a custom launcher (novalauncher) as my daily driver.
Since the GS6, Note 5, and i'm assuming the S7... touchwiz has been thinned down and is much improved. I haven't used nova since my S5 days.
The features are now there that i used to use nova for: (customizing the bottom bar, and the grid size) I just don't need the other features that custom launchers provide.
my opinion, is that I think it is just a bullet point for the trolls or haters to easily harp on.
But that is my opinion... I think you will read others feel the same way about TW throughout those generations.
I myself have never owned a Samsung smartphone (The S7 Edge will be my first), BUT over the years I have used a handful of different Samsung devices with TouchWiz owned by my friends and family...and of course I've seen review videos and screenshots online. There's no doubt that TouchWiz has gotten less obtrusive and looks more like Stock Android nowadays. They've toned down the gaudy, over-the-top design elements and putrid shades of teal to make it much simpler and inviting.
Of course, though, it still obviously is TouchWiz. But that's not a bad thing in my book. I used to be a very "Stock Android only" kind of guy, but ever since they've toned TouchWiz down, I actually find it more appealing than Stock, which I now find quite boring. TouchWiz looks nice and adds a lot of cool features, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
I had the note 3 and used Nova Launcher. Touch Wiz wasn't thaaaat bad but I just hated it from some reason. I think it was because the app drawer launcher was not in the center or something. Completely petty, but drove me crazy! I also didn't like something about the menu. I like Nova's customizations.
No it's not.
All these bad rap Touchwiz gets is usually from Nexus elitist. The Nexus elitist are the worst fanboys out there.
I've never used it, so I have no reference or bias. I guess that's a good thing.
Nope its not as bad and bloated as it used to be
For me, it was never that bad since the S4. But Touchwiz from those days compared to now, is night and day. Even the most nitpicking users are giving today's Touchwiz some praise.
ive had the s4, note 3, s6, note 5, and my coming s7 edge and i can say that touchwiz is finally the coming along really nicely. the s6 showed MASSIVE improvement in my opinion
yes, guilty of being a samsung fanboy
I hate TW, I use HTC launcher and weather on every device including my note 5. Will use this on the my S7 too.
To answer the question, no it isn't. Half the people who say it's bad still think of it as it was in the S2/S3. It's moved on and so should they.
It's not bad but coming from manufactures that don't do as much tweaking with their OS as Samsung does... you might miss a few things. Samsung likes to take an almost Apple-like approach to their phones in the sense that they only want you to do the things they want you to do as opposed to things maybe you'd like to do.
I've always been pro-Nexus but do miss the TouchWiz camera and multi-window feature that Samsung has gotten so damn good at..
Been using both TW phones (S4, Note 3, Note 4, S6E) & pure android phones (N5, N5X) since 2013 & I like Samsung's better. The N5 was faster & smoother than my S4 and N3, but TW caught up since the N4. But Samsung offers much better cameras and offers extra functions. Pure android is also too boring for me, kind of like food that tastes bland and could use more seasoning.
Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk
Touch wiz is not bad. I went from the Galaxy s3 to the nexus 5 and now I'm going to get the s7 edge. I liked TouchWiz on the s3. Now that touch wiz looks a lot better being slimmed down, I'm giving it another shot. Stock Android is starting to get boring. Plus you can put themes on touch wiz.
TouchWiz is only bad if you leave all of the bloat enabled in the background (multi-window, edge-screen, one-handed use, full animations and transitions, flipboard, etc.). I disable all of those things, put the screen mode to basic, disable vibrations and sound for keyboard and soft-keys, enable developer-menu and put everything on 0.5 (animations and transitions), and force gpu acceleration. I also use a build.prop file from Sixperience rom (not much difference, but helps on my note 4 at least). That usually takes care of any perceived lag.
Yes it is, but that's why I also have a Nexus 6P
I never experienced TW until the Note 4 and I never noticed an issue. People just look for things to complain about, particularly fan boys of other brands. I think it must've been terrible way back and there is still residual opinions from others who haven't touched a TW phone since.
Much better than it used to be but Sense is still better imo.
I went from the Nexus 6 to the Note 5 a month ago. Even going back from Marshmallow back to Lollipop and stock to TouchWiz it has not been bad at all. I really can not notice much difference. I have used Package Disabler Pro to turn off a few of the Samsung things that I don't need, which I am sure has helped. It will be interesting to see how much better TouchWiz can run on Marshmallow. I should have my S7 edge in a couple of days and will be able to tell. However I really can not see a huge difference anymore. The last TouchWiz phone I had was the S4 and you could really tell on that.

Switching from iPhone XS Max to Samsung Galaxy S10+

Have anyone switched from iPhone XS Max to Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus?
I am planning to get S10 Plus little bit bored of XS Max now can anyone share their experience, thanks.
I've had a xs max now s10+ tbh its personal preference I've always preferred android but wanted to try apple again but still I preferred android just more customizable ok iOS is so smooth but then it would be as it's pretty basic , one ui has been a big improvement over touchwiz so it's better now , I don't miss that horrible big notch on the iPhone the screen on the s10+ is probably one of the best Samsung make good panels , the only thing iPhone was slightly better in my opinion was the vibration motor was superb and sound a little better but still wasn't enough to convert me fully , that's not to say s10+ sound and vibration isn't good it is! just iPhone had slight advantage on that for me would I go back to iPhone definitely not in the near future , camera as well is pretty nifty on s10+ lots of modes and will only improve with updates, face unlock is as quick as iPhone obviously might not be as secure as it's been widely discussed but the ultra sonic fingerprint is quick as well , not to mention bigger lasting battery on s10+ but the iPhone is pretty well optimised so it lasts quite well as well , anyway I'd still pick s10+ over xs Max any day , hope this helps in some way ,
Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
iPhone shoots better Video. Apps are just better. Filmic PRO, anything from DJI, Quik, there are some exceptional video editors like Lumafusion etc. If YOU are a media person, go with the iPhone. I still regret selling mine and Getting the s10 plus.
Android has some advantages FOR a power user. A good File management system, Tasker, Join, autotools and the entire suite, root, customisation etc.
But with age, all those things just do not Seem that interesting anymore. You just Want the apps to work as intended.
Sound is also better on the iPhone. And stand-by time. No Matter what the tests Say, battery life is just better on the xs MAX.
S10? What is new ? The s9 was pretty much the same. And not too far from s8.
I did this exact switch. I used an XS Max for about 4 months, but as an android "veteran" i alway felt restricted. Nevertheless i really liked the experience, and i easily could have kept using the max. In combination with an apple watch, an ipad everything was very easy to use and somewhat gratifying at times.
I have to admit, i had to customize qute a few aspects of my S10+ until i was really satisfied. One hand operations, bxaction, disabling apps and really digging into all the settings took quite some time. All this seems to be unimportant on the apple side of things. Of course you can very much use the s10+ as it comes out of the box, but you are able to further increase the usability and customize the heck out of this phone (or any other android phone for that matter). Thats a big plus for some people.
I also was bored and did the switch. But being bored sometimes is also a good thing. You can invest all the time you gain into other things in life, and just keep using the phone <- true for both sides of the isle...
I switched from iPhone x to the s10+ since March 2019
And till now very happy and never looking back :laugh:
Are you using Exynos or Snapdragon cause I read very bad reviews about the Exynos version
For me
Exynos and it is very good with me with great battery life
But i don't game with my phone so cant comment on gaming performance
I've always had both Android and iPhone .every year I get the newest iPhone to see what's changed and if I can live with it because no doubt the UI is very smooth. But the freedom the Android gives me to do what I want to my phone is why I stick with Android. I bought a xs Max on launch and used it for 2 weeks I went to the browser and wanted to download a file from MediaFire for my customized Nintendo switchbecause I work as a night guard and I don't have a laptop and I use my phones to transfer files to it. It wouldn't even download a file from the browser where Android just would have did it. Always give the argument that you can look at 10 iPhones and they all look the same but you look at an Android and they all look different for a good reason
Ads. I can't stand Ads. Android will always be my OS due to the ability to block Ads with the plethora of Ad blocking apps available. Try blocking system-wide apps on IPhone, wow. I currently use AdGuard, paid, and I see nothing. This alone, for me, is the best and only reason to use Android, specifically a Galaxy S10+. With the increases in speed, updated processors year after year, improvements in camera quality, and numerous other upgrades, it has always been an easy choice for me. Android over IPhone. Just my 2 cents, as I realize everyone's needs are different.
I have both devices but I prefer the XS Max: the apps are better, the UI is smoother (although Sammy has really made incredible strides from its earlier years), the camera takes better shots and accessory availability is wider.
Whenever I have to go out of town and have to bring just one device, I bring the Max.
Apple products are not good because iOS system is very limited and can not be used without internet.it is bound with with Apple server and App Store.
You can try it yourself. try to install an app (after a reset) just like on any Android device. just like on a windows pc. it doesn't work. you always need an internet activation after the reset or if you bought a new iOS device.
The iPhone XS Max and new iPhone 11 Pro Max have only USB 2.0 support.
The Samsung Galaxy S10/S9 have USB 3.1 Gen 1 or Asus ROG Phone II even has USB 3.1 Gen 2 support.

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