Database Users

If I don't need a hugely powerful phone, have I made the right choice?

Hi all,
When the N4 was announced I had my GNex up for sale within the hour, sold within two! The more I read about the Nexus 4, the more I am unsure it is actually for me. I do not play games and generally use my phone for browsing the net/forums, google currents, bit of music and social networking (Facebook etc.)
I am now unsure whether I have made the right choice, and whether I should snap-up another Nexus while people are selling them off cheap on the forums ready for the N4 upgrade.
I was hoping for upgrades in the following areas
Build quality... this is one area where I am fairly sure I would be happy! N4 looks great!
Screen quality... again, a fairly significant upgrade to me me as the Gnex screen always looked a little washed out and dull when sat alongside other handsets (One X, S3, S2 etc.)
Battery Life... Was hoping for this but am now unsure. Gnex seemed to heat up quite a lot and was looking forward to getting rid of that. it now seems that the N4 may have the same issues and reports of screen on time in the region of 3 hours do not seem that much of a step up from the Gnex
Processor... Whilst a speed boost would be welcomed, as I only use the phone for some casual browsing and not gaming I am unsure how much difference I will see.
Camera... Again was hoping for a major boost, but seems to be a minor incremental boost at best!
Any thoughts? Anyone else in the same position as me and wondering what to do? Price difference is in the region of £100-120 if I were to purchase like for like accessories etc.
Cheers,
Michael

The fact that it's "Nexus" also means you get a standard, Android experience, along with guaranteed quick updates (up until the point where the OS won't run smoothly on the device I guess; which should take a while). Other vendors for the most part offer updates slowly, and choose to make the general UI... non-standard (which usually has more downsides)

yeah... am only comparing the two nexus devices as that is all I would buy... love the specs of the S3 and can be picked up mint for about the same price as a new Nexus 4, but couldn't live without the updates

Literally everything is improved. You'll love it no matter what.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

One thing I wouldn't worry ahbout is battery life,
once the obvious software problems are fixed battery life is going to be good because:
-The battery at 2100mAh is pretty large
-IPS panels are allot more power efficient then Amoled screens, especially if your main use is web browsing
-The S4pro is the most efficient ARM quad-core and is the only one which allows to clock its cores independently
-There will be custom Kernels that allow undervolting and other features that improve battery life

I'm not a gamer either, but that didn't stopped me from getting this I personally think you won't regret getting it, but if you don't like it, you can always just return it and get something else
Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel

wurzelsepp3 said:
One thing I wouldn't worry ahbout is battery life,
once the obvious software problems are fixed battery life is going to be good because:
-The battery at 2100mAh is pretty large
-IPS panels are allot more power efficient then Amoled screens, especially if your main use is web browsing
-The S4pro is the most efficient ARM quad-core and is the only one which allows to clock its cores independently
-There will be custom Kernels that allow undervolting and other features that improve battery life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much of a difference will custom kernels and ROMs make to the battery life? Roughly? 10% or more?
I know my current Galaxy 3 gives me an improvement of almost 30% with custom firmware, but that's because of removing the samsung bloatware.

I try to get the fastest, most powerful phone or computer out there that's at a reasonable price. By reasonable I mean most power per dollar. The people that say they don't need a super fast phone or computer are usually the ones complaining that Web pages open slow or it keeps freezing and slowing down. The better hardware you get, the longer you will be satisfied with the device. And for this price with this hardware/software? You gotta jump on it. You may not need a phone that could run crysis but if you could get it for the same or cheaper price as a lesser spec'd phone, wouldn't you?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

cyberkid2002 said:
I was hoping for upgrades in the following areas
Build quality... this is one area where I am fairly sure I would be happy! N4 looks great! I think we're going to love the build quality. I've said for a couple of years now that if Google could put out a Nexus device that felt like the iPhone 4/4S in the hand, then they'd really be on to something. I believe that's what LG has done here.
Screen quality... again, a fairly significant upgrade to me me as the Gnex screen always looked a little washed out and dull when sat alongside other handsets (One X, S3, S2 etc.) IMO, the screen is going to be great. From everything I've read, the screen is just a slight notch below the One X...so that would make it fantastic. And every review I've read that compared it to the GNex screen says that it's MUCH better and much easier to see outdoors in sunlight. This is a major upgrade.
Battery Life... Was hoping for this but am now unsure. Gnex seemed to heat up quite a lot and was looking forward to getting rid of that. it now seems that the N4 may have the same issues and reports of screen on time in the region of 3 hours do not seem that much of a step up from the Gnex. Again, this is something we'll have to wait and see (as everyone's day-to-day use is different), but I've seen a couple of reviews that say the Nexus 4 gets about the same, or just below, the battery life of the S3. If that's the case, then (for me at least), I'm golden. Yesterday I got 5 hours screen-on time on my S3 (50% brightness, stock rooted ROM, power save turned off, etc.) and I still had 23% battery life left. That's pretty darn good!
Processor... Whilst a speed boost would be welcomed, as I only use the phone for some casual browsing and not gaming I am unsure how much difference I will see. I think you'll see a major boost, even if you don't need it. Apps will open faster and things will just be snappier. I'd much rather have more performance than I need rather than the other way around.
Camera... Again was hoping for a major boost, but seems to be a minor incremental boost at best! This is the one place where I have to really disagree. The camera is VERY important to me (I use it daily in my job) and the shots I've seen seem to show the camera is a MAJOR upgrade over the GNex. While I didn't find the GNex camera to be awful, it certainly couldn't hold a candle to my S3 camera. If this camera is anywhere near as good as the S3, I'm going to be very pleased.
Any thoughts? Anyone else in the same position as me and wondering what to do? Price difference is in the region of £100-120 if I were to purchase like for like accessories etc.
Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my replies above. I believe you've made a great decision. :good:

Engadget has had the most negative response to the battery life of anyone, and they still got 3 minutes longer out of the Nexus 4 than the Galaxy Nexus. Assuming they never fix whatever was causing the poor battery life, you'll see the same as what you get on your Galaxy Nexus.

Nexus 4 or Xperia SP, Please advice

I'm in a dilemma as to which phone to go for. I'd really really appreciate if you'd take a minute to post your opinion. For now, I have decided to go for Nexus 4 or Sony Xperia SP.
Price Difference:Xperia SP is ~40$ cheaper than the Nexus 4 here
The price difference isnt really my concern though, I might as well put in a few extra bucks to get the best phone, if necessary. Ive researched quite and here are some stuff i really need clarifications about the Nexus 4:
What's the battery backup I can get out of Nexus 4[approx of Standby,SOT[browsing],SOT[gaming, say, subway surfers] with custom rom+kernel and stock? [Standby=No Data,Wifi,Bluetooth,GPS]
Is the back glass very prone to shattering? Assume it falls on the ground from waist height, is it sure to crack?
Do you think the Nexus 4 would be outdated in terms of hardware hence i should be waiting for the Nexus 5? Here in India, Nexus 4 launched recently so I'm assuming the nexus 5 might take quite some time as well compared to the US release
IF you do know some stats about battery in the Xperia SP, do put it out as well.
The major advantage i hear about the Nexus is direct updates from google but aren't other phones like the Xperia SP likely to get custom Rom's with the latest software? So what's the big advantage in it? This would be my first android.
Thank you!

I don't know about the sp, but I have a ZL that I can't decide whether or not I like more than the N4. I'll give you some pointers on it since they are similar, to an extent.
My N4 hasn't broken and my kids and I are pretty rough on it. I have a ringke fusion case though. (I'm not a fan of any case for the device though, it has an of form factor to me). Battery gets me about 6-7 hours with battery guru enabled before a recharge is needed.
The ZL is awesome, I don't like the power button or the goofy scratch prone screen protector that is installed at the factory though. Battery lasts almost 24 hours with regular use, about 5 -6 hours of screen on. Almost two days with light use (I leave stamina on 24/7 and low power mode kicks in at 15%) Sony has a lot of nice options in their OS, but a lot of them also feel like they're in the way. If you've ran stock android, it'll feel way more similar than the Samsung and HTC devices, with a few extras baked in.
Ultimately, I love the feel and the display of the ZL, but I miss the stock lock screen and Google wallet too much to use it regularly. Rooting and flashing the ZL really was a pain too, broke NFC with every non stock ROM.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

It really depends on what you need/want. I find Nexus 4 really good but the lack of expandable memory really bugs me and the camera isn't really that good. Battery is so-so, it'll last a day with light use but only 12-16 hours with moderate to heavy use, oh, but I'm on stock with franco kernel and only had this phone for a week so far.
As for Xperia SP, since it has half the spec of Nexus 4 and bigger battery, it will definitely stay longer than Nexus 4. And as per review on Youtube, the performance is not really that much different than Nexus 4 and it has a cool stylish design. But, Sony's reputation on updates is what really stops me and also the lack of devs (hey, it's still new).
If you want better hardware and updates, get Nexus 4, but if you want a regular to use phone and better battery get Xperia SP. Best of luck dude.

Much appreciate the inputs, thank you.
I really don't mind compromising on the camera or the expandable memory however on the SP the lesser 1gb ram does set me back as I'm not too sure how big this lack of ram would affect the phone in the future. Is the lack of 2gb ram a deal breaker for future updates/appa/games?
The only concern about the nexus 4 is the battery. If it can last me for an hour of music on loud speaker with screen off, an hour of browsing,1-2 hours of light gaming and standby for ~9hrs(with data enabled) id go for it. But I don't know if it can give me so much battery backup either. So if you can help me out, thatd be great
Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

One gig should be enough as rumor has it that Key Lime Pie will be runnable even on a 512 MB RAM, rumor though. The only noticeable drawbacks from a lesser RAM is during multitasking, but it won't be that bad on 1 GB.
As for battery life of Nexus 4, most users can get up to 3-4 hours of screen time max. With a few music, browsing on Opera Mini, and some light gaming I think you can get at least 9 hours on stock. Dunno on custom ROMs or kernels, probably better.
Sent from my blazing fast Nexus 4

Here are some pros and cons of nexus 4
Pros :
Good hardware that is future protected at least for two major android updates .
The stock nexus experience , I like the software navigation bar instead of hardware keys .
Great support from developers , look at the xda threads .
Great bang for buck .
Cons :
Battery life is not that great , I could last a day with 3 to 4 hours of screen on time on 2g but lot less on 3g . (future updates may improve it but my 3g network drops a lot , even under good coverage)
Camera quality and screen quality not up to par with s3 but don't take me wrong here , it's still good.
Sound quality is not good , I missed a lots of calls when phone is faced up , but custom kennels and mods improved it .
Storage and battery are fixed.
Heats up if you ate going to game continuously for half an hour or more , or under any heavy load . mine reached 40 degree but that depends on your surrounding temperature .
I think the point here is that if you are not going to root the device then you may find some problems but for all the non nexus devices I had , the development support ended and cease after an year or so .
©

Yes I will be rooting it for sure and trying out anything possible to get the best out of it. I really wish the battery backup was better, I don't really think I could deal with just 3hrs SOT. I mean I don't see the point in getting a powerhouse and not being able to make use of it while your on the move, especially for gaming and stuff. If I were to have to plug in so much I might as well play on my laptop. Even a SOT of 4-5hrs would have been great for me. But I'm really not sure if I could deal with 3.

Actually the more power a phone has, the more battery hungry it becomes. You'll
have to wait until our technology reach a new era, my guess would be around 2 to 5 years until we get some proper full touch screen phones with a good battery without bumping up the battery capacity. Or wait till Google optimizes Android to work efficiently and smoothly without sacrificing the battery.
Sent from my blazing fast Nexus 4

Um any idea what now much SOT other phones in the price range offer? Like the S3,Xperia SP or even the S4,Note 2,HTC ONE? If its the same case with all of them, then I guess it's alright. I just felt 3hrs was a bit too low, like I've said before I haven't used an android before so not too sure if this is the general issue

Sorry but I only know Nexus 4's SOT, I never checked my old devices SOT, just realized how to do it now
You should try asking at the respective device's forum or PM some owners to compare them. Good luck dude.
Sent from my blazing fast Nexus 4

earlier i use to have 3hrs of sot but with the new franco kernel and pa i have a sot of ~3hrs right now and my battery is 40% remaining
i watched videos played some music and took some photos
its always on wifi no 3g but with sync,location acces and all those thing unchanged and a total ~10hrs on battery now
also about heating i undervolt mine by 100mV and its not heating that much
also about screen i changed the color preset to bundi22 and the screen alot more better sometimes i feel that screen of nexus 4 is better than my earlier amoled experience but its all matter of your taste how you like it
hope i helped

mangomonkey00 said:
earlier i use to have 3hrs of sot but with the new franco kernel and pa i have a sot of ~3hrs right now and my battery is 40% remaining
i watched videos played some music and took some photos
its always on wifi no 3g but with sync,location acces and all those thing unchanged and a total ~10hrs on battery now
also about heating i undervolt mine by 100mV and its not heating that much
also about screen i changed the color preset to bundi22 and the screen alot more better sometimes i feel that screen of nexus 4 is better than my earlier amoled experience but its all matter of your taste how you like it
hope i helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very encouraging. As long as I get about 4hrs of SOT ill be very satisfied. The other minor problems don't matter much, I won't be gaming all day long so even if it does heat up its gonna last for only a while. I love the design,dev support and everything about the nexus. The only concern is about the battery. Also do you think it's a good option to wait for the nexus 5?

nithin1992 said:
That's very encouraging. As long as I get about 4hrs of SOT ill be very satisfied. The other minor problems don't matter much, I won't be gaming all day long so even if it does heat up its gonna last for only a while. I love the design,dev support and everything about the nexus. The only concern is about the battery. Also do you think it's a good option to wait for the nexus 5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have no idea when nexus5 is coming if its coming soon then you should wait and buy new nexus5
but if you see in that way there will always be something new,powerful,better to buy in future and even i bought this around 1 month before
and according to me nexus 4 should not be outdated next 1 or 2 years
rest is upto you

mangomonkey00 said:
i have no idea when nexus5 is coming if its coming soon then you should wait and buy new nexus5
but if you see in that way there will always be something new,powerful,better to buy in future and even i bought this around 1 month before
and according to me nexus 4 should not be outdated next 1 or 2 years
rest is upto you
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Click to collapse
Mhmm. Thank you for the advice mate, much appreciated

Im tempted by the Xperia Z!

superleeds27 said:
Im tempted by the Xperia Z!
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Click to collapse
That's past my budget though so I'm gonna have to pick one between the 2 and it looks like its gonna be nexus!

nithin1992 said:
That's past my budget though so I'm gonna have to pick one between the 2 and it looks like its gonna be nexus!
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Click to collapse
i was in the same boat as you but i also decided to buy nexus 4 and guess what , best decision ever no regrets ! my only fear was about battery life which i am getting same as the galaxy s2 which is pretty awesome too so yeah awesome phone

Nexus 4 got better CPU and more RAM. Nexus series will receive new android version very fast but if you have other device, you may have to wait about 0.5-1.5 year to get that android update (or you may not receive an update forever).

Over a week and still in love...

Wow, using it over a week now and loving this phone even more....
Long stretch from my Galaxy S5, why didn't this phone come before I bought my S5 LOL
No battery issues here, getting more out of this phone then my S5 and better after the last OTA update. For anyone who's having battery issues, there are several features to disable to get the most out of your battery, do a search on google, there's a ton of people who's increased battery life by taking these steps.
As for the bloatware, I usually root my phone but I don't see the reason too with this one even with all the bloatware, most you can disable. The PC Link is a godsend, wow, every phone should have this feature. Speed wise, I've got mine on Balance mode and it's lightning speed, you can go all out and draw a bit more speed by using the Performance mode but you'll sacrifice some battery life, I didn't notice a whole lot of battery drain in that mode, may go back just to get that extra speed.
The only real gripe I have with this phone is the ability to sync effectively with Outlook, I keep my contacts and schedule on Outlook and with the S5 Samsung Kies was a nice free option to do so. Wish ASUS had a similar app to sync Outlook. The best way I found so far to do this is SyncDroid, worth the $4 to get my contacts synced alone. Calendar I just use Google Calendar Sync seems to do the job. But still prefer to stick with one PC app that does it altogether. If anyone out there found a better (Free) option then SyncDroid, please let me know. I won't use Outlook.com, I find it a pain and somewhat glitchy. Outlook is a pretty widely used app and I think this should be mandatory for all Android phones, this to me would make Android the ultimate mobile device. I paranoid about syncing my entire contact list and calendar via online/cloud etc. I prefer to do it locally with my pc.
This truly is an amazing product for the price, screen is not as bright as my S5 SuperAmoled but I'll take the performance, size, memory over screen hands down, big deal, it's a bit hard to see under sunlight but honestly, I don't use it under direct sunlight that much to ditch the phone. Asus has made excellent effort to keep OTA's coming, which is more then what I can say for Samsung phones. I don't think this phone is going away anytime soon, the only store that sells this phone in our city can't keep this thing in stock, they are constantly sold out, that's a good thing, if it sells that well, Asus will continue to support this phone. The hardware in the phone has great potential for future improvements, Android OS updates will just keep making it better.
Let's just hope the built in battery (which is my other gripe) will last. I hate built in batteries, gives me Iphone jitters I hope the battery is easily replaceable. But Samsung's new flagship has also gone this route. I saw the Zenfone 2 takedown and it seems relative straight forward so battery replacement is doable, would be nice to see companies start making 4000mAh or 5000mAh batteries for this phone
For all who are having intermittent issues and giving up, just be a little patient, this is a brand new phone, there will always be issues, happens to flagship phones, Asus is doing very well getting OTA's to us to fix these problems and I'm confident there will be more to come, growing pains. And please, don't knock this phone because it's not up to par with your Iphone 6 or S6 or phones that are twice/three times the price, it's like giving a Honda Civic a bad review because it doesn't compare to your Audi or Mercedes, how much did your Mercedes cost compared to your Civic, come on, let's be realistic.
Good luck with your new ZF2!

The problem is large amount of zen2 having defective battery. It causes high battery drain or randomly shutdown issue. I also have my battery replaced from service center. Otherwise, this fone perform very well with its price

Sorry I didn't read whole post...I just want to know how much SOT are you getting?

tuilalnvinh said:
The problem is large amount of zen2 having defective battery. It causes high battery drain or randomly shutdown issue. I also have my battery replaced from service center. Otherwise, this fone perform very well with its price
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Sorry to hear you're having that luck, with any phone there are defective units, I've only read a handful who's had battery issues, which version do you have? ie. North America, China etc.

SRV Rockable said:
Sorry I didn't read whole post...I just want to know how much SOT are you getting?
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I haven't really measured using the battery usage. I go by normal use through out the day comparing it with my S5, I'll go through a day running my typical apps, texting, surfing and emailing and the odd calls. I'll end up with about 60-70% battery life by about 9 pm from about 8 am, that's when I sit down and plug it in to charge, I consider pretty good considering I was getting about 30-40% with my Galaxy S5 using it the same way. Not sure if that helps.

Minim3 said:
Sorry to hear you're having that luck, with any phone there are defective units, I've only read a handful who's had battery issues, which version do you have? ie. North America, China etc.
Click to expand...
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It's a taiwan version, i had issue with it after 2 weeks of using. I also see people report error from other versions too in zentalk

I've used mine for a bit over a day and I'm impressed. Performance is great, build quality seems great too. I've read some reviews that state the phone feels cheap, but to me it feels and looks better than Samsung S4 or S5.
I have no problem reaching the power button on top, it feels easier than pressing the power button on the side of my old 4.7" Blu Life Play phone, as I don't have to change the grip to reach the power button.
Battery life is a concern though. Yesterday I spent the day applying updates, rooting, instalar all my apps and tweaking all config options. The charge did not last me the day. Hopefully today it'll fare better today after all customization and setup is done.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Minim3 said:
I haven't really measured using the battery usage. I go by normal use through out the day comparing it with my S5, I'll go through a day running my typical apps, texting, surfing and emailing and the odd calls. I'll end up with about 60-70% battery life by about 9 pm from about 8 am, that's when I sit down and plug it in to charge, I consider pretty good considering I was getting about 30-40% with my Galaxy S5 using it the same way. Not sure if that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have no problem with battery too, with a normal use, some calls, web browsing, whatsapp and facebook i still have more than 50% at home at night, a great improvement since my samsung s3
i also tested the display on some hours, and it should last 5/6 hours of continuos web browsing

onesky said:
i have no problem with battery too, with a normal use, some calls, web browsing, whatsapp and facebook i still have more than 50% at home at night, a great improvement since my samsung s3
i also tested the display on some hours, and it should last 5/6 hours of continuos web browsing
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Click to collapse
I've been reading a lot of reviews for the ZF2 seems like the CN versions have more problems, I wonder if they got some duds. And also, I've noticed that the ZE551 CN versions have different configurations, maybe that's the problem.

Sorry to bring up an older post, but I see a lot of people loving this phone, and some haters (There's always haters)....I have an iphone 6 now after being on Android for a long time, and I'm about fed up with iOS...All of the things people say about iOS are true...locked down...Boring...Ect... That's a different topic for a different day..
My question is, how is the screen? Lots of people have complained about brightness, or lack there of. Also, camera, is it at least average? I'm looking to go about 300 on a phone and there's a few choices out there, but none seem as powerful as the Zenfone 2 with 4gb of ram, 64gb storage. It seems a little more future proof than the OPO, so I'm thinking of getting it....
Will I be disappointed coming from the Nexus line, then iPhone 6?

smokinjoe2122 said:
Sorry to bring up an older post, but I see a lot of people loving this phone, and some haters (There's always haters)....I have an iphone 6 now after being on Android for a long time, and I'm about fed up with iOS...All of the things people say about iOS are true...locked down...Boring...Ect... That's a different topic for a different day..
My question is, how is the screen? Lots of people have complained about brightness, or lack there of. Also, camera, is it at least average? I'm looking to go about 300 on a phone and there's a few choices out there, but none seem as powerful as the Zenfone 2 with 4gb of ram, 64gb storage. It seems a little more future proof than the OPO, so I'm thinking of getting it....
Will I be disappointed coming from the Nexus line, then iPhone 6?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have little patience to wait little more for 5.1 to come up (which most people dont have and hence judging things wrongly) then its worth having for sure..

I came from a G2 and iphone 6. I still have an iPad. I couldn't be happier to be honest
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

I came from an HTC m7 and I love my new ZenFone 2. I have the 4gb/64gb model and it is superb. I also was worried about screen brightness, but I haven't found it bad at all.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app

smokinjoe2122 said:
Sorry to bring up an older post, but I see a lot of people loving this phone, and some haters (There's always haters)....I have an iphone 6 now after being on Android for a long time, and I'm about fed up with iOS...All of the things people say about iOS are true...locked down...Boring...Ect... That's a different topic for a different day..
My question is, how is the screen? Lots of people have complained about brightness, or lack there of. Also, camera, is it at least average? I'm looking to go about 300 on a phone and there's a few choices out there, but none seem as powerful as the Zenfone 2 with 4gb of ram, 64gb storage. It seems a little more future proof than the OPO, so I'm thinking of getting it....
Will I be disappointed coming from the Nexus line, then iPhone 6?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had mine now about 3 weeks and I think that the phone is great for the price. The camera is OK, certainly not iPhone 6 good, but reasonable, especially when you use alternate camera apps. The screen is fine, but once again, I'm indoors most of the day, so no issue. Max brightness outside is not so great the one or two times I've used it.
I think that the phone is a work in progress and that a lot of the deficiencies that you see people griping about will be addressed with future Android updates. On the plus side, Asus had been sending out updates frequently so they seem committed to making this phone better.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input guys...Really having a hard time between this and the OPO....I still have until the end of the month to make my choice, but I'm leaning towards this phone...Really can't go wrong for $300 per the specs, and I like that Asus is continually updating this phone....

I had the same choice to .and and went for the ZenFone 2. I have had it for 4 weeks now and have had no regrets. This phone performs flawlessly in my opinion.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app

Had mine for 4weeks now....am so LOVING it...
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

i have no problem with battery, It's a taiwan version.
over 2 months and still in love.

smokinjoe2122 said:
Thanks for the input guys...Really having a hard time between this and the OPO....I still have until the end of the month to make my choice, but I'm leaning towards this phone...Really can't go wrong for $300 per the specs, and I like that Asus is continually updating this phone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came from a Nexus 5 and was considering the same two phones as you. Decided to go with the zenfone 2 based on Asus being more reputable and customer friendly from what i read. So far its been great. I did root (which is super easy via one click) and used titanium to freeze all the unwanted apps. Haven't experienced any lag. Camera wont be as good as the Iphone, but definitely better than my nexus 5. I dont game on it because I dont see the point of gaming on a phone, but i did run hearthstone flawlessly. To me, the build quality is nice. comparable to Galaxy s4/5, so im not sure why so many reviews bring it up as a major con. at $300 this phone is awesome. And once Asus pushed out 5.1 it should shine even more, as 5.1 bumps android up to 64bit, and this has a 64bit chipset.

This phone is way better than I expected for $299. I'm coming from an LG G2, and I'm not missing anything. You can spend 3x this much on a phone and you won't end up with much more.
Honestly my biggest nit-pick is the power button placement, but double-tap-to-wake/sleep is far more convenient than any possible hardware switch. Battery life is a touch lower than I'm used to, but QC 2 is really great.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Buying advice: Asus ZenFone 2

I am in the market for a new cell phone to replace my current Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini. Given my budget, I have nearly settled on the Asus ZenFone 2. At $299 for an upper-middle tier cell phone with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, it seems like a solid bet. The only real downfall I have discovered from my research thus far is the ZenUI which overlays the stock Android experience and the massive amount of bloatware that comes pre-installed on the phone.
If I were able to safely get rid of the bloatware and make the phone more like a pure stock Android experience, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
I consider myself fairly able to work with technology, although I have never actually rooted, flashed, or otherwise modded a cell phone. So, I am looking for some guidance. Do you think the ZenFone2 warrants a purchase in spite of the concerns outlined? If no, do you have any suitable reocmmendations in that budget range? More importantly, do you think I would be able to modify the phone to get rid of bloatware and make it a more stock Android experience?
Sorry if this questions has been asked previously. As I mentioned, I am very new to this, certainly new to the forums, and just looking for guidance. Thanks!

Bloatware thing is overblown, you can disable every single preinstalled app on the phone. The performance is amazing, this is a lag free phone. However, I do no recommend this phone simply based on the battery life, its terrible. There is no way around it.

yumms said:
Bloatware thing is overblown, you can disable every single preinstalled app on the phone. The performance is amazing, this is a lag free phone. However, I do no recommend this phone simply based on the battery life, its terrible. There is no way around it.
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I'm not as concerned about the battery life as I am generally near a charger. But, do you think the battery issues might be address through an Android update (I hear 5.1.1 is coming soon to Asus) or even a root/mod like Cyanogenmod?

dchadjohnson said:
I'm not as concerned about the battery life as I am generally near a charger. But, do you think the battery issues might be address through an Android update (I hear 5.1.1 is coming soon to Asus) or even a root/mod like Cyanogenmod?
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Battery life is little fixed for me on this new updates,it's not that bad,but just wait for 5.1.1 update or Android M 6.0 update,zenfone 2 will shine for sure
---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:35 PM ----------
and btw don't install Cm 12.1,i tried it and it's worse than asus stock rom,trust me...

The only bad thing about the phone (550ML) is the battery backup and the memory usage.
Except that, it is good.
Depending where you are, i could advice your to buy the redmi note 2, lower price, more powerfull, pictures a bit better in low light environment, sound better, 5 hours SOT and not three like this phone, lower and brighter screen...

I bought the WW version of the phone you are considering, after upgrading from a S4. Unlike a lot here on XDA, I have left it at stock, with 64gig of storage and 4gig of ram who cares about the bloatware. With Auto Start Manager you can disable anything you want to anyway. It does what I want it to do and I am not stuck to the carrier's software update schedule as I was with the S4.

I've had ZenFone 2 for about 1 month now. My previous phone was first gen Moto G.
ZenUI is surprisingly good. I usually have Google Now launcher or Nova Launcher but I've been sticking with ZenUI. The bloat is only a minor inconvenience.
As for performance: the phone is a beast! Astonishing considering the price. I have 1.8ghz 4gig ram version.
The screen is good. It doesn't get dim enough and so is not ideal for nighttime use. I tried to use rootdim to no avail. I use phone at min brightness for most of day.
Battery life is poor! Struggle to get 3hrs screen on time. I'm a medium to heavy user. Have to charge it twice a day. Hoping this can be improved with 5.1.1. If, not then might consider one plus one.

m98221 said:
I've had ZenFone 2 for about 1 month now. My previous phone was first gen Moto G.
ZenUI is surprisingly good. I usually have Google Now launcher or Nova Launcher but I've been sticking with ZenUI. The bloat is only a minor inconvenience.
As for performance: the phone is a beast! Astonishing considering the price. I have 1.8ghz 4gig ram version.
The screen is good. It doesn't get dim enough and so is not ideal for nighttime use. I tried to use rootdim to no avail. I use phone at min brightness for most of day.
Battery life is poor! Struggle to get 3hrs screen on time. I'm a medium to heavy user. Have to charge it twice a day. Hoping this can be improved with 5.1.1. If, not then might consider one plus one.
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Use lux light as it dims the screen to great nighttime viewing and I get decent screen time and I'm a heavy user as well
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app

I have never experienced the poor battery life others complain of on this phone.
Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

corrsea said:
I have never experienced the poor battery life others complain of on this phone.
Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk
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yeah me too, I get battery backup around 5 hrs easily and the only thing I dont like is memory management and blaotwares that's all but as someone said earlier you can disable and I did around 13 apps xD
Camera and performace and battery is very good. Waiting for 5.1.1'

[/COLOR]and btw don't install Cm 12.1,i tried it and it's worse than asus stock rom,trust me...[/QUOTE]
Well what people need to understand is that ALL of the AOSP roms for the zenfone 2 are in BETA STAGES! Meaning its not 100% stable. Not the devs fault as they are doing there best to get it to a stable release.
As for recommending the phone to OP. Yes I do, is in my list its one of the top phones for 300 and under this year. Now its not perfect(battery, junk bloat, screen brightness, screen to body ratio) but for the 4gb model if you tweak and make it yours you will love the speed and its flagship experience at a mid level price point.

Well, many people have already give you a help but here it goes another one. This phone is just amazing. For this price you only have OP2 or Moto X to compete (both are a little bit expensive).
My battery reach to 4.30h SOT and i have always wifi, bt and 4g on. Play about 1h games, lots of browsing and social networks. 30m talking. In the end of day still have my battery around 25%. Not bad but with 5.1.1 hope this improve. There is very little bloatware and you can remove them or disable easily.
The bad things is the screen body ratio is bsd and make the phone biggest, the camera is not brilliant, the power button on top, the screen brightness.
But every phones have pros and cons so, for me, this is the best for the price
Already bought another for my sister and i recommend alot. Very happy user

Kambz1994 said:
and btw don't install Cm 12.1,i tried it and it's worse than asus stock rom,trust me...
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Strongly disagree with that, it is improving daily and imho already surpasses the ASUS stock firmware. CM has given me a new found love for and enjoyment of this excellent phone.

Delgadovsky said:
Well, many people have already give you a help but here it goes another one. This phone is just amazing. For this price you only have OP2 or Moto X to compete (both are a little bit expensive).
My battery reach to 4.30h SOT and i have always wifi, bt and 4g on. Play about 1h games, lots of browsing and social networks. 30m talking. In the end of day still have my battery around 25%. Not bad but with 5.1.1 hope this improve. There is very little bloatware and you can remove them or disable easily.
The bad things is the screen body ratio is bsd and make the phone biggest, the camera is not brilliant, the power button on top, the screen brightness.
But every phones have pros and cons so, for me, this is the best for the price
Already bought another for my sister and i recommend alot. Very happy user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get more than 5 hrs xD

See xD

903tex said:
[/COLOR]and btw don't install Cm 12.1,i tried it and it's worse than asus stock rom,trust me...
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Click to collapse
Well what people need to understand is that ALL of the AOSP roms for the zenfone 2 are in BETA STAGES! Meaning its not 100% stable. Not the devs fault as they are doing there best to get it to a stable release.
As for recommending the phone to OP. Yes I do, is in my list its one of the top phones for 300 and under this year. Now its not perfect(battery, junk bloat, screen brightness, screen to body ratio) but for the 4gb model if you tweak and make it yours you will love the speed and its flagship experience at a mid level price point.[/QUOTE]
Lol, cm12.1 and aosp roms are in beta version so they need time to be stable. They aren't ridiculous noob

If you're not a hardcore gamer, then better wait for the Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE550KL) variant with Snapdragon 615 and 3GB RAM. I had almost decided to buy the ZE550ML, although I was apprehensive about the battery life, when I read about the new model. It costs marginally higher than the ZE550ML, but should have better battery if somewhat less performance. Plus 3GB RAM should still take care of the ZenUI bloat.

Gustapo said:
If you're not a hardcore gamer, then better wait for the Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE550KL) variant with Snapdragon 615 and 3GB RAM. I had almost decided to buy the ZE550ML, although I was apprehensive about the battery life, when I read about the new model. It costs marginally higher than the ZE550ML, but should have better battery if somewhat less performance. Plus 3GB RAM should still take care of the ZenUI bloat.
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2 Gb ram is enough for gaming if you know how to use phone

ASUS ZenFone2 is a great phone!
Okay, so I'm a bit biased...but this phone is actually really good! (I came from a Nexus). Battery life is really dependent on your location, signal, usage scenarios, etc. But I'm on T-Mo in the Bay Area where signal isn't the best, I use the phone for work and have gotten through an entire day 7-10PM with at least 20% left. Bloatware can be disabled on the latest firmware.

Yeah, I've disabled 23 bloatwares xD

My thoughts about Le Eco Le Max2

Today I've sold this wonderful piece of unsupported hardware.
It's really sad considering the fact that the phone is very well made but plagued by a very weak battery (~4-5 hours of SOT with only Wi-Fi enabled, brightness set to ~30% and very little CPU usage) and practically no official support. I could have overlooked all these issues but this phone's idle battery discharge rate is simply unacceptable - over 0.5% per hour with pretty much everything turned off except a radio module (meaning texts and calls). Also this phone's camera is another letdown: 21MP of blurriness and very bad low light performance. Open source ROMs don't solve this phone issues however add a whole more.
I need to mention that I absolutely love this phone's screen, performance, audio (CDLA + audio effects are top notch), speaker but now I'm considering other options with timely updates and better battery life. They might be more expensive but nowadays you buy a full package and not just a telephone which cannot work without being charged every few hours. I already have a dumb phone which works beautifully and have an exceptional battery life.
I'm choosing between ZTE Axon 7, Xiaomi Mi 5 and LG G5 (which is sold at $250 at the moment) - all three are well supported, however only the latter sports a decent camera, though it's no match for SGS 8 or LG V20 (the top two performers in the world of smartphones at the moment).

if can play continually 4-5 hours of SOT with only Wi-Fi enabled, sounds a great bettery life for me.
you have something blocks sleep ....
Do a full reset , not install anything and turn off wifi and don't touch it. I am sure it will run for days.

It won't run for days and I've already tried four different ROMs, RR, LOS, stock Indian (19s) and Chinese (23s), all flashed after wiping everything, with similar results. And I've already run various apps to assess the idle discharge rate - it's not caused by rogue apps waking up my device, it's the phone's issue.
5 hours of SOT is poor by any definition. SGS 8 can browse the web up to 12 hours or play videos for up to 16 hours with just a slightly better battery.

Mi5s camera is better than iPhone and Galaxy S7 Edge. Support is good too.
Anyway, nothing beat 2k 5.7". With QC3.0, battery life is not a problem.

I think you didn't use the good rom, battery discharge when phone standby you said is unheard of to me ( I use stock mod rom by Tora33). Battery is plenty for me and it's good never discharge when phone is on standby. Maybe some Nougat rom about battery life when it discharge like you said. You can tweak it if it drain too much, I did set Cpu for battery on Nougat roms I tried and it was last very long time. Consider it got 5.7" I think the 3100 mAh battery doing the job very well.
The thing I don't like is it's too big and heavy like a brick, I like more compact phone with less weight.
---------- Post added at 02:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:15 AM ----------
AcoEUI v0.9/Slim 1.0 new battery friendly stock rom.

birdie said:
It won't run for days and I've already tried four different ROMs, RR, LOS, stock Indian (19s) and Chinese (23s), all flashed after wiping everything, with similar results. And I've already run various apps to assess the idle discharge rate - it's not caused by rogue apps waking up my device, it's the phone's issue.
5 hours of SOT is poor by any definition. SGS 8 can browse the web up to 12 hours or play videos for up to 16 hours with just a slightly better battery.
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I get reliable 4-5 hours SOT over about a 12 hour period with 50% brightness using a combination of wifi & LTE data. It isn't great, but it isn't terrible either. I hear similar reports from Pixel XL users, so I think it's OK from a bargain price device which has plenty of other good things going for it, and it charges very fast so I can easily top up anyway. The camera is OK for me too. I get very good results a lot of the time. I rarely use it in low light, and unless you buy an expensive flagship like a Galaxy S, Note, Pixel etc you won't get good low light anyway. Video is meh, but that's not a priority for me.

While I agree to some extent with the op, I'm definitely satisfied with this phone. I had to make some compromises, coming from a g4, then a v10 I was used to great cameras, micro SD and headphone jack. But the trade off was worth it, the screen is great, performance is top notch, even the cdla headphones are great(I had my doubts about this). The bang for buck you get with this phone is incredible, and as for support, the dev community has embraced this phone so we have plenty of roms. I could have gone with a g5 or v20 instead of this phone, but the g5 was too small and the v20 too pricey.
Sent from my Le X820 using Tapatalk

The camera is definitely not bad. Not sure why the hate.

kkcheong said:
The camera is definitely not bad. Not sure why the hate.
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It's not that it's bad, but when comparing it to other devices (in my case the G4 and v10) it just doesn't stand a chance. The sensor has potential, but le eco needs to add better manual controls to unleash the camera's true potential.
Sent from my Le X820 using Tapatalk

To OP. Happy for you, you sold the phone, so bye bye...
By the way, compare a 180 vs 600 dollars phone, great!
Enviado desde mi Le X820 mediante Tapatalk

thetrukos said:
To OP. Happy for you, you sold the phone, so bye bye...
By the way, compare a 180 vs 600 dollars phone, great!
Enviado desde mi Le X820 mediante Tapatalk
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Sarcasm aside, for a 180 phone dollar phone, this baby can give most flagships a run for their money!
Sent from my Le X820 using Tapatalk

luisoman2000 said:
It's not that it's bad, but when comparing it to other devices (in my case the G4 and v10) it just doesn't stand a chance. The sensor has potential, but le eco needs to add better manual controls to unleash the camera's true potential.
Sent from my Le X820 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Not to dissed V10 which is great for wide-angle. I see no point comparing small sensor camera because it's kinda crappy when the light falls. I am happy enough with what x820 can do.
About the blur focus, I haven't encounter any. Have you have blur focus camera before?

kkcheong said:
Not to dissed V10 which is great for wide-angle. I see no point comparing small sensor camera because it's kinda crappy when the light falls. I am happy enough with what x820 can do.
About the blur focus, I haven't encounter any. Have you have blur focus camera before?
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not sure what you mean with blur focus. I know sensors are small, but you can still get some decent night shots with the right tweaks on manual mode.

luisoman2000 said:
not sure what you mean with blur focus. I know sensors are small, but you can still get some decent night shots with the right tweaks on manual mode.
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I also don't understand the blur focus. I pick it up from this forum. Got people complain about it for Le Max 2. So far, my Le Max 2 focusing is as expected.:laugh:

luisoman2000 said:
It's not that it's bad, but when comparing it to other devices (in my case the G4 and v10) it just doesn't stand a chance. The sensor has potential, but le eco needs to add better manual controls to unleash the camera's true potential.
Sent from my Le X820 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Open Camera if you need manual control.
Gesendet von meinem LEX820 mit Tapatalk

luisoman2000 said:
While I agree to some extent with the op, I'm definitely satisfied with this phone. I had to make some compromises, coming from a g4, then a v10 I was used to great cameras, micro SD and headphone jack. But the trade off was worth it, the screen is great, performance is top notch, even the cdla headphones are great(I had my doubts about this). The bang for buck you get with this phone is incredible, and as for support, the dev community has embraced this phone so we have plenty of roms. I could have gone with a g5 or v20 instead of this phone, but the g5 was too small and the v20 too pricey.
Sent from my Le X820 using Tapatalk
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Same here. I'll admit that the FP sensor is a sore disappointment, as is the lack of continued software support.....
But:
- We got 99% working custom ROMs on it
- It's $270.
Seriously. $270 - do you expect an Axon 7 for 50% of its price? If you wanna see a phone holocaust, check out the BLU Pure XL. My philosophy has always been that if you can buy two or 3 of something for the cost of the high end thing, it's probably worth trying. On the whole, if the FP sensor worked and the ROM was stock, I'd say it's pretty close to the perfect phone. Maybe tack on a slightly better cam and a 3.5mm jack, and I'd be peachy keen.
Gotta be realistic though. It's a phone on a steep discount that actually has some quality to it. Even EUI, beyond the Chinese ROM garbage, is decent, if alternative. Who knows. Maybe one day I'll summon the strength to cash out for a V30 or something, but until that point I think that this phone will be quite sufficient. It's also liberating upgrade wise, because honestly, I kind of like that I could upgrade after a year and I wouldn't cry no tears over it.