Database Users

A review from your average joe. DHD

This is my first android phone. I had the htc touch hd before but didn't flash or anything. I have to say android is great but does need some getting used to which is a fun element in its own aspect.
Desire HD is great !!!! When you heard it's fast, believe you think it's fast but you have no idea. It's instant...almost too fast for some people's liking...
I'm pretty sure you've read many reviews so i'll just cover main points.
First of all the back covers aren't that much of a hassle, i quite like that design with unibody design...although sure they could've used better plastic but it's not something you would care about.
The screen despite it being "normal LCD" is so amazing...it's so viabrant until i compared to sgs then i was like ehh...however watching images and movies...the sgs over did the colours and sharpness...Dhd just the perfect natural images. and oh yeah it's very very clear. AND BIG.
Battery i'm afraid isn't impressive...11 hours only but that may because it'd had all sync on's,everything on and heavy use since it's new...but 11 hours is still poor.
Now i'm not a photographer or anything but i thought the camera was great and the recording at 720p was amazing too but i'm not qualified to judge very accurately on that.
Now the speaker doesn't do this phone justice but don't get me wrong it's not that bad. I see people making it sound like it's hopeless..."I missed calls when the phone was next to me" ? is a complete lie...i have to say i heard the phone in the next room this morning while i was getting ready. It's "hearable" as in usable but it's still poor
but not deal breaker issues
Apart from that this is pretty much the perfect phone for a long time now...
unibody design with 4.3 inch screen? I don't think anything will match it very soon
I love this phone ...a bit too much...despite the bad battery life.

Android first timer as well.
So far, no regrets. A few complaints ( like the power button execution and the inadequate battery ) but nothing worth diminishing that grim on my face when I put on Avatar or Backbreaker in the gaps btw lectures at uni and immediately theres a crowd of 20 DHD-owner wannabes on my head. They say the best advertisement is making someth brilliant and lettin it speak for itself. Well those korean muffies it. Period ;]

my only regret is I cannot have 3g on my carrier (rogers)..... so I am in limbo right now.... so with no 3g and usb debugging on, the battery lasts me all day... I turn off wifi and gps when not in use.... if I decide to keep the phone, I will get another battery....
I also love the phone, but I am very disappointed in the camera and flash.... If I look at a yellow piece of paper through the phone, it looks white.... the screen and photos look washed.... but I do love the size. Wifi is so fast and smooth on this phone....
adding the otterbox case, makes the power button and volume rocker much more accessible....
Over all, a great phone.... but I do not know if I can make it without 3g

Hey good Review...liked u being very frank in the review. considering you are a first timer...this device is gonna keep u busy for atleast some time...as u pointed out...its gonna take some time of getting used to...but u won't regret the time spent learning this...
I don't want HTC to come back next month introducing a Duo core processor with the same screen size[4.3" is Just right] and better battery life with more RAM..Now i hate that

Until you've flashed a custom rom and oc kernel...only then can you say its fast hahaha...because trust me...stock is not that fast at all...
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

rixsta said:
Until you've flashed a custom rom and oc kernel...only then can you say its fast hahaha...because trust me...stock is not that fast at all...
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i considered this fast...I'll wait a little while before flashing, i need to learn everything since i don't even know what kernal is...
v6kgang said:
I don't want HTC to come back next month introducing a Duo core processor with the same screen size[4.3" is Just right] and better battery life with more RAM..Now i hate that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will come out with duo core processors early 2011 ( but then again there's always delay on everything these days) secondally i heard it'll be useless...since you don't need that much processing power.
never the less it may be usefull with other features released in the future. They won't make a 4.3 inch duo core soon enough...might start off with a 3.7 then that uni body design won't be duplicated till ages.

A 3.7 dual core handset would be just great but I can't see it coming any time soon. The trend seems now to be more towards 4" plus. Still having the debate with myself whether the 4.3 inches of the dhd is just too much or whether the trade offs are worth it. Then of course there is the small matter of £500 if I want it in a reasonable timescale!

Mr.Kakarot said:
I also love the phone, but I am very disappointed in the camera and flash.... If I look at a yellow piece of paper through the phone, it looks white....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Change your White Balance setting

mixedape said:
Change your White Balance setting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, although the auto white balance is terrible and should be much better than it is.

Gurps777 said:
They will come out with duo core processors early 2011 ( but then again there's always delay on everything these days) secondally i heard it'll be useless...since you don't need that much processing power.
never the less it may be usefull with other features released in the future. They won't make a 4.3 inch duo core soon enough...might start off with a 3.7 then that uni body design won't be duplicated till ages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets just hope so...Considering this is the Best phone of the Current lot...i want it to stay so for some time atleast

A comment on the flush power button. I see many people complained (including myself) about the power button being hard to press and effort to reach since it's on top of the phone...you have to curve your finger around it kinda...if you get what i mean...I figured...since the headphone jack is on the bottom now ( it makes sense for wires to hang at the bottom when you hold it - personally i like the initiative..) hence you would put the phone upside down in your pocket and it'll easily press the power button in some cases...I think that may be the reason for flush power button...But since the volume keys are also flush...i guess there's a chance they've just messed it up...but never the less i found the power button useful in some aspect...

Hold the phone in 1 hand while pressing the power button in the other hand
Simples
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

**Have you ever any little disappointment with your galaxy SII, what you think guys!!

Remember these pros&cons are figured on stock Phone we got from Samsung, as well as no extra tweaks considered
This is not a review of the phone. The Idea behind this topic is that it has been 10 Months of time SII launched and as usual every cellphone has its own Pros. & Cons.
What you found good and what you think this phone is missing.
From hardware to software, build quality, its Camera, Display, and software update support from Samsung Mobile, Everything, feel free to input your Experience here!!
My Input, Cons.
• Gorilla Glass ?- There are so many Youtube videos to be amazed about the Power of unbreakable and unsearchable Gorilla glass – But many Samsung Galaxy S2 users complaining got scratches!
• The swiping screen lock , that opens the phone is waste of time, as there is a hardware unlock key already.
• Battery Life – Battery life is about Max 14 Hrs and Minimum 10 Hrs on a heavy use after a overnight full charge .
This is standard usage without any tweak .
• No hardware key for camera – It really sucks, If I want to use camera I have to go through the software menu, no hot hardware key to start the camera!
• Plastic Uni body feels cheap in the Hands
• I am missing one touch call answering function like, Iphone or Htc! Swyping from one end to onother is a hassle
My Input, Pros.
• Screens display Quality is superb – bright with vibrant real colors
• The 4.3" Screen size is good enough for games and watching movies, It makes hassle free handling.
• Love the camera’s features like touch focus and pinch to zoom.
• Light weight(119 g)- You don’t feel like carrying it !
• Call quality is good
• Love the video ([email protected] ) quality and the image quality (8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash)
• Phone is running in top speed as it has dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, experience extremely fast operations all the time.
• Software update: all ready 6-7 leaks of ICS
This is what I experienced with Galaxy SII, now guys your turn

Until now its been a great ride.
Way better than my HTC.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

kachrukamble said:
I am missing one touch call answering function like, Iphone or Htc! Swyping from one end to onother is a hassle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings --> Call --> Answering key "Accept incoming calls by pressing the home key".
I presume from your post you've had your phone for nearly 10 months and not found this option.
Let's see what else there was:
Gorilla Glass isn't scratch proof.
Swiping screen unlock prevents phone unlocking itself in your pocket.
Battery life rant, I wouldn't touch your comments on this with a barge pole.
No hardware key for camera - mod exists.
Plastic feel - Get a case

oinkylicious said:
Settings --> Call --> Answering key "Accept incoming calls by pressing the home key".
I presume from your post you've had your phone for nearly 10 months and not found this option.
Let's see what else there was:
Gorilla Glass isn't scratch proof.
Swiping screen unlock prevents phone unlocking itself in your pocket.
Battery life rant, I wouldn't touch your comments on this with a barge pole.
No hardware key for camera - mod exists.
Plastic feel - Get a case
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I told it for soft touch key not hard press key
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using Tapatalk

I've been using it for around 8 months now. I've been able to find solutions to many of my initial complaints. The only disappointment that I can't get over is the wake-up lag. I'm just jealous of friends with HTC phones whose phones turn on instantly. This may seem like a small issue to some people, but I turn on the screen around 200 times a day. 600 ms lost on each one makes it 2 minutes a day lost just waiting for the phone to wake up. In 8 months, I've lost a total of 480 minutes, which makes 8 hours of my life lost just because of this "feature".

The only thing i don't like is: Y S2 NO HAVE TEGRA2 GPU...

1. I have a screen protecter on mine, just to be on the save side.
2. I use widget locker, and made my own lockscreen
3. I got the the 2000mah originale samsung batteri, right now its been running over 19hours, 4h 12min screen on, and I still have 27% on battery.
4. Yeah feels a bit plasticy
5. Try another dialer?
Ive had my SGS2 for over 6months now, all n all im very happy with it.

kachrukamble said:
My Input, Cons.
• Gorilla Glass ?- There are so many Youtube videos to be amazed about the Power of unbreakable and unsearchable Gorilla glass – But many Samsung Galaxy S2 users complaining got scratches!
• The swiping screen lock , that opens the phone is waste of time, as there is a hardware unlock key already.
• Battery Life – Battery life is about Max 14 Hrs and Minimum 10 Hrs on a heavy use after a overnight full charge . This is standard usage without any tweak .
• No hardware key for camera – It really sucks, If I want to use camera I have to go through the software menu, no hot hardware key to start the camera!
• Plastic Uni body feels cheap in the Hands
• I am missing one touch call answering function like, Iphone or Htc! Swyping from one end to onother is a hassle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gorilla glass is not scratch proof, its scratch resistant so its possible to get scratches. Also this is xda so some of your complaints has been worked/fixed on custom roms. I last around 19 hours with wifi on, streaming some vids, some games, a lot of txt message and a few phone calls. Also tons of music. Some roms do have a hardware button for camera. There also is a lockscreen that opens by touch, cant remember the name or where I saw it though. The plastic body is much better than pure glass like the iphone that can break a hell lot more easily than the SGS2.

biohazardious said:
The only thing i don't like is: Y S2 NO HAVE TEGRA2 GPU...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May be Samsung pushing their own creation
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using Tapatalk

biohazardious said:
The only thing i don't like is: Y S2 NO HAVE TEGRA2 GPU...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because tegra 2 GPU sucks compared to Mali GPU.
Sent from my GT-I9100

In May I will have owned the S II for a year. My opinion (AFTER I bought the 2000mAh battery and started using superb roms/kernels):
• Awesome phone.
• Really have no complaints at all.
• Battery lasts me enough to get trough each day perfectly fine.
• It's fast
• Easy to hold and fits very good in your pocket
• good camera..
•Great screen, though resolution is not as awesome and future proof. Many phone's with HD res are coming out.
The only small problem is I'm starting to get bored a little bit. But as soon as the ICS madness starts (ROMs, kernels) it will be fun again

My main complaints:
1) I can't type as fast as I used in Nokia qwerty phones I have. Will I ever type as fast as I used to?!
2) Battery life...Uh will I ever get one day with full use?!
3) Notification of Message Delivery is the same as SMS and it confuses me. i wish I could change
4) GPS location sucks!!!
All the rest is simply incredible!

albsat said:
My main complaints:
1) I can't type as fast as I used in Nokia qwerty phones I have. Will I ever type as fast as I used to?!
2) Battery life...Uh will I ever get one day with full use?!
3) Notification of Message Delivery is the same as SMS and it confuses me. i wish I could change
4) GPS location sucks!!!
All the rest is simply incredible!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. You will probably never type faster on a touch screen than on a physical keyboard. You can try different keyboards on the market though, and find out what works the best
2. True at that. But every smartphone has this problem..
3. Message delivery? I don't use that, why do you even want it?
4. Might be just me, but I think the GPS location is pretty damn accurate and fast.
My complains:
1. Market works kinda slow with the standard firmware (don't know why, but when I use CM or another mod, the market is like 3x faster).
2. Camera focus!!! worst thing on this phone. It's bugged. When you click to zoom, it will focus and then turn back blurry and show a red square.
3. Kies. Nothing more to say.
4. Couple things in Touch Wizz (app drawer, boring lock screen). It's just too out dated when ICS will be realeased with Touch Wizz, so I'll be forced to use a costum ROM to get the full experience of ICS...
I don't see the plastic phone as a bad thing. In fact, I love it. I laugh at people who accidentaly drop their iPhone and it breaks so quickly. I dropped it several times on a hard floor, nothing happened
+ it makes the phone very light and slim. love it.

I've had mine since June 2011, it replaced a Desire HD, which repaced a Desire..
I LOVE my SII, the batter life is a revelation after the Desire, and especially the Desire HD..
NEVER used a screen protector, only a £2 ebay case, and the screen is totally as new, even though I take it to work as a kitchen fitter every day...
Lanyard facility is a lifesaver for me, has prevented many a drop to the floor, and the only thing I've done FW wise, is to debrand and install stock 2.3.5, although I am REALLY itching to go foe ICS now...
Had the chance to have a play with a friends Sensation a few months back - God it was heavy... Also another friend has the new Nexus running ICS, but again, I prefer the feel and look of the SII..
Mike

Complaints:
1. Although battery life is still dependent upon your usage, still, 1650MAH is a big joke. It should be around 2200-2500MAH.
2. Camera really sucks with low light. The flash light makes it even worse.
3. Echo problem while I am on call. It is really annoying
Other than that, everything is fine. I only moved from SGS to SGS2 for faster lag free performance. I am happy I got what I wanted to have.

Rubbish sound quality
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

SGS2, the best phone there is. I switched it to a WP7 phone which was horrible. Now Im using my Huawei Ideos X5, and now I cry every night after my darling. I just wanted some perspective.

NO HD VIDEO, NO FIRMWARE TO FIX IT
camera useless at low light
pink spot
poor sound
several screen quality issues
yes, I am disappontied, it should be the best phone out there.

well i overall am truly pleased but for a few things..
i had gs2...spent 2 months with an iphone 4s and then returned to gs2...
things that truly are lacking on our device is mostly sound quality and battery life..and the iphone is in both respects, about 3 times better, or maybe more..
sq is pathetic and battery life is a heart attack race..but other than that, its all i ever wanted in a phone.

camera, pink spot shouldnt be there
white should be white, i like to take pictures to books really ruins it.
other than i wish it had xenon flash, i guess nokia really spoil me. too bad i am never touching a nokia phone again.

So far so good, another boring review :)

Here we go another boring review of the ZF2, I'll try to make it short and sweet...
Canadian Version, Asus Zenfone 2, 4g/64gb Silver version
What I came from?
Samsung Galaxy S5 16g, truly loved this phone when I got it less then a year ago. Has been serving me good until Lollipop update which on a 16gb version phone doesn't leave you much to play with. Even apps/games copied to MicroSD, I was left with 1 gb left on the phone to use and no idea what was chewing up the memory. My S5 was starting to lag a bit on a daily usage.
When I got the ZF2...
I wasn't looking to get a new phone but when my neighbour bought one, she had me set it up for her, that did it, I went out and bought it the next day, it was truly that good in my hands. It literally blew my S5 away in so many ways and I'll outline some of them here.
Unrealistic reviews...
I did a lot of reading that evening on the ZF2 before I got it, a good 10 hours of reading to be exact. The only things that I didn't like pre-purchase was the obvious, battery life, top power button and the non-removeable battery. I was quite amazed that a lot of people were listing negatives of the ZF2 compared to high end phones, ok ppl, this is not rated as a high-end phone although it competes quite close to them. You need to understand that you are comparing a $380 cdn phone to $800 to $1100 phones, apples and oranges folks.
Some glitches I've noticed...
Well, only one but not a huge deal. A couple of my games start up fine but controls are way off, ie. the controls are mirrored, meaning where the screen joysticks are, the sensitive is actually mirrored vertically, weird. The rest of my games are fine, just a couple I've noticed. Again, I don't play a lot of games so not a big deal. The other is we have LTE here and I'm use to the LTE icon on the status bar, on the ZF2, it just says 4G, which is basically the same thing, again, cosmetics, the speed is the same if not faster then my S5 for internet.
What I love...
Not sure what everyone is complaining about the battery, I haven't noticed any excessive drain then the usual, I get a whole day of usage from mine and even a bit left over before it hits the charger. This was the same as my S5 maybe a tad more probably because of the bigger screen. The fast charging makes up for this, the S5 took forever to charge. Also, the S5 was waterproof IF you remember to close the sync door lol.
In the end my decisions were the 64gb, you don't know how much nicer that is compared to a 16gb until you have the amount of apps/games I do Speed, this phone is insanely smooth and fast, I've used the Galaxy S6 and I'm not able to tell the difference between the two under normal use. Dual-sim, I use a US/Mexico Roam Mobility sim, so I can just leave this in my phone and activate it when I'm in those areas, nice and convenient. Screen size is nice and big but I'm not a big screen phone fan, single hand use is tough. Fast battery charging, this phone charges super fast.
Overall this phone I've had for about a week now has served me well. The screen is not as bright as my SuperAMOLED S5 but again, the price makes up for that. Screen looks good to me though, pictures are vivid, HD MKV movies play perfect, no complaints there. The outer case is fine, a little slippery, doesn't look cheap, volume buttons are oddly in the center on the back but I'm starting to like it there, I use to have fiddle around with my S5 on the sides and almost dropped the phone a couple of times doing so, the ZF2 volume buttons I think is more accessible because my index is naturally there when talking on the phone. A couple of things I did find interesting, the ZF2 has better call quality and reception then my S5 which I find quite odd for a phone that's much cheaper. Unassisted GPS works and syncs very fast using Sygic.
For the price and the caliber of this phone, I say I made the right decision. Unlocked, dual-sim, 4 gb/64gb, Quard-core, 5.5" screen, fast charging, you really can't lose. I just can't wait to get my protective case and glass screen protector, I'm really paranoid about dropping or scratching it now So, I will give it another week or so, if it performs like it does now still, my unlocked Galaxy S5 will probably go on sale with the unfortunately ZF2 incompatible Galaxy Gear watch (damn Samsung )

I can highly recommend the zenwatch to go along with your ZF2. It also punches well above its weight for the price.

Congrats Minim3. I just picked up a 4gb/64gb model in gold today from NCIX. Loving it so far.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app

What I hate about zf2 is its black plastic bezzel got scratches easily if you are not using any case, second its button does not have any background lights

Yea I've literally received mine today but the first thing I've done is put it in a case. No matter how small a nick you get it will always annoy you.
As to backlit capacitive buttons that's a matter of preference. The last phone I had with them was the S3 and the first thing I did with it was switch the lights of as they annoyed me so much. (-:
Sent from my ASUS_Z00ADA using Tapatalk

When ppl are reviewing this phone how come no one mentions the 100GB Google drive offer, at least for me this was a fifty dollar value.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA

Yes codgib, that was a very welcome bonus. I am so pleased with this phone and the bonus.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app

nice review,
the 2nd sim slot is useful for me too, and the double tap to turn on/off is very useful on that big screen (even it consume power)

I've had mine for a few weeks now. I got the 1.8GHz/4GB/32GB model. I came from a 1st gen Moto G.
Pros
- Big, colourful display
- Good performance (in general and on gfx-heavy games)
- Multitasking is a breeze thanks to the RAM
- Great reception (at least compared to my previous phone)
- Native call recording
- Expandable memory
- OTG (although seemingly not NTFS. Disappointing)
Cons
- Average camera (although the app itself is much better than the base Google Camera)
- Average sound volume. I had to bump the dB levels of my mp3s before transferring to the phone (although it's fine through headphones). Misleading speaker grille at the rear of the phone (I was aware of this before purchase)
- Below average sound quality (bass seems almost non-existent/tinny)
- Average screen brightness. Can be very difficult to use in direct sunlight (The 720p model apparently has better brightness)
- Average battery life
- Power button is awkward to reach at times, saved only by double-tap on/off screen
- Volume up/down button on the rear. I use my phone to play radio/music so it sits on a table etc. Having to lift the phone to adjust the volume is a bit of a nuisance
- Can get sluggish after a while (granted, this is really more down to the 5.0 LP memory leak issue)
- Too much pre-loaded software

Yes I forgot those, good call. Was so use to my s5 buttons lighting this will take time to get use to.

Nice review, I have also had mine for almost a month now.
I am quite fond of the device, and have no major issues with it. I am still getting used to the size, and ZenUI is not my favorite., but a custom launcher makes it "feel" better to me. The latest update has done wonders for battery life, which I was initially concerned about as mine was drastically different then the one a good buddy picked up on the same day. For my usage patterns the phone works perfectly well; call quality, camera, audio, radios, and screen responsiveness included.
Some of my biggest pros for the device are: overall speed, storage, SD Card, battery life, camera, quick access lock screen apps, USB OTG, and tap to wake. Oh, and quick charging is awesome, I love it.
My cons are mostly related to all of the ZenUI apps now listed on "My Apps" in the Play Store, the occasional missed gesture, and lack of customization options for the tools on the quick settings panel (which is a nice option to have, but I would like take better advantage of it, especially from the lock screen). I would have loved to have had wireless charging, but if that is a trade off for quick charging, I am fine with it.
All in all, I am more than pleased with the device, and will recommend to anyone not scared of the size.

Maybe we are one of the lucky ones not experiencing the battery drain issue, I get a full days use with some left over on mine, which is what I got from my Galaxy S5. Yeah, I hear ya, the ZenUI is a bit gruesome but I'm a big fan of Nova Prime and that was installed pretty quickly after.
As for the bloatware, some are actually useful, it's not really creating an issue for me, just hide the apps if you don't want to see it and I use the Startup Manager to disable startup on most of them, no biggie. I am however a bit disappointed and I hope Asus reads these threads, with all the bloatware, you would think they could at least put in an app that syncs with Outlook Contacts and Calendar, it is a pretty widely used program but I'm force to buy a 3rd party app that syncs contacts and calendar. I've tried Outlook.com etc, but I'm not a big fan of dumping my contacts and calendar online and syncing that way. Samsung has Kies to do this and so does LG, really, with all the bloatware how hard is it for Asus to create a simple and effective sync app for Outlook.
I hear you with the size thing and the phone is a bit slippery, until my case and screen protector arrives, this is will be handle with extra care, gorilla glass or not I thought my S5 was big to handle, this one is bigger, will take a bit to get use to but I think the phone is worth it.
jaysus145 said:
Nice review, I have also had mine for almost a month now.
I am quite fond of the device, and have no major issues with it. I am still getting used to the size, and ZenUI is not my favorite., but a custom launcher makes it "feel" better to me. The latest update has done wonders for battery life, which I was initially concerned about as mine was drastically different then the one a good buddy picked up on the same day. For my usage patterns the phone works perfectly well; call quality, camera, audio, radios, and screen responsiveness included.
Some of my biggest pros for the device are: overall speed, storage, SD Card, battery life, camera, quick access lock screen apps, USB OTG, and tap to wake. Oh, and quick charging is awesome, I love it.
My cons are mostly related to all of the ZenUI apps now listed on "My Apps" in the Play Store, the occasional missed gesture, and lack of customization options for the tools on the quick settings panel (which is a nice option to have, but I would like take better advantage of it, especially from the lock screen). I would have loved to have had wireless charging, but if that is a trade off for quick charging, I am fine with it.
All in all, I am more than pleased with the device, and will recommend to anyone not scared of the size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

godgib said:
When ppl are reviewing this phone how come no one mentions the 100GB Google drive offer, at least for me this was a fifty dollar value.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
phppt. In my case because I got 1TB when I picked up the i3 Acer chromebook last fall... 100GB is nothing...
Something that I forget to mention on the negatives, now having had the phone for several weeks now using it daily are the non-backlit capacitive buttons. In the dark, I generally hit them correctly but having them lit would've been nice to have.
The top power button doesn't really bother, but I'm not sold on the rear volume buttons.
Side mounter externally accessible uSD and SIM slots would've been better as well as a more readily user replaceable battery, beyond that I'm with the review coming from a nexus 5 with the added bonus that this phone is capable of twice the bandwidth(4G) that my n5 was capable of in the identical geopgraphical locations as well as apparently overall better antenna design(better signal reception from just above the n5 to WAY better in many cases...).

cutterjohn said:
phppt. In my case because I got 1TB when I picked up the i3 Acer chromebook last fall... 100GB is nothing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing when compared to 1TB maybe, but it's still a considerable chunk of 'free' cloud space. I still have my 50GB from my Moto G offer and that was ~18 months ago. To be honest, I only use ~8GB on my Dropbox/Drive anyway so it wasn't a big pro.
I think their gist was that they didn't make a big (or any) deal of the 100GB. I (and most others) didn't even know it was a thing until we got the phone. The 1TB on those Chromebooks was offered as an incentive and as a kind of offset for the small SSDs that normally come with them. What's on yours? 32/64GB?

I appreciate the free 100gb of cloud storage.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app

100 GB or 1 TB, all I know is you can never have too much Google Drive :good:

cutterjohn said:
phppt. In my case because I got 1TB when I picked up the i3 Acer chromebook last fall... 100GB is nothing...
Something that I forget to mention on the negatives, now having had the phone for several weeks now using it daily are the non-backlit capacitive buttons. In the dark, I generally hit them correctly but having them lit would've been nice to have.
The top power button doesn't really bother, but I'm not sold on the rear volume buttons.
Side mounter externally accessible uSD and SIM slots would've been better as well as a more readily user replaceable battery, beyond that I'm with the review coming from a nexus 5 with the added bonus that this phone is capable of twice the bandwidth(4G) that my n5 was capable of in the identical geopgraphical locations as well as apparently overall better antenna design(better signal reception from just above the n5 to WAY better in many cases...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you on the capacitor buttons but I'm starting to get use to it, the double tap on and off on the screen is actually becoming very handy. I come from the Galaxy S5, the lit buttons were nice I wish they had the double tap on and off, I much prefer that.
As for the volume button, I actually find it more natural for me the way I hold the phone if I need to turn the volume up or down while speaking on the phone, personal preference. Also, I'm use to putting my phone down face down on a table/desk because I'm paranoid about something dropping on my screen, this happened to my Galaxy S3, face up on my desk, I went to pick up my coffee mug and it slipped, landed right center on my S3 screen and cracked it and the mug wasn't very high off the desk, ever since then I've been paranoid about leaving my phone anywhere face up. That said, when I'm playing music on my phone, while face down, it's much easier to adjust volume when it's easily accessible on the back top rather then on the sides. Again, personal preference.
Absolutely, side mount accessible cards would be great, but again, you're comparing a phone that's less then half the price of most of the phones that have those features. Even some of the more expensive flagship phones don't have these options either. ie. Nexus, no exp. memory, built in battery also, the new S6 Galaxy, built in battery, no SD Card expansion etc etc. I read endless reviews and I find it hilarious that people out there want a Mercedes Benz phone but want to pay Honda Civic prices. When you build a phone at this price, some corners have to be cut, then when a phone comes out with all these features and the price is high, people complain about the price, you can't win.
I love the phone for what it is and how much it broke my bank, if it does what I need it to do and it's better then my last phone, then I see it as a investment, it's a new phone, there will be issues as all new phones do, Galaxy S6 is having their list of problems just now popping up and so on. The phone is only about a month old maybe? I won't write it off, way too early, talk to me in about 6-8 months, if the same issues persist, then that's another story.
My brother just got his Galaxy S6 Edge phone, I told him about this phone and all he does is knocked the phone down because he has the "almighty" Galaxy S6 Edge, we start comparing features and honestly, it's not that big a list, yes, granted, it has a beautiful screen, bit faster processor (but if you put the two side by side and actually use it, I really can't tell that much of a dif), wireless charging but no SD expansion slot. That's great, but then I asked him how much he paid for it..... $900 plus taxes. No comments.

LeEco Le Max 2 6GB/64GB vs. Recent Flagship Phones - Some Guy's Review

PURPOSE
So 1st and foremost, the plan here is to give you my experience with the LeEco Le Max 2 6GB version compared to some other recent flagship phones I have tried. Granted, I have only used the Max 2 for about 1/2 a week now and can say I have yet to fully break it in to find everything that may or may not be right / wrong with it. However, this will be a unbiased look and comparison. I'm neither a fanboy or sheep. No brand affiliation. Not a programmer either, just a pro-sumer Senior Member of XDA willing to get trolled, flamed, etc. for sharing a look at these 3 phones. Hopefully, I can give "the everyday guy / gal look" without getting bogged down in stats, variables or benchmarks. Here goes...
MY BACKGROUND
No one special. Just a guy that likes the latest tech... phones being at the top of the list. I am a nerd. No doubt about that. I think anyone that knows about XDA probably is to some extent. No brand loyalty. Recently, I have had the privilege to try out the following phones:
1. LeEco Le Max 2 6GB
2. HTC 10
3. Huawei P9 4GB
4. LG G5
5. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
6. Huawei Mate 8
7. Huawei Nexus 6P
8. LG Nexus 5X
9. Samsung Note 5
10. Apple iPhone 6s+
And probably some more, but these are the most recent. Does that make me qualified to make a review... Maybe. It does make me an idiot that likes new phones, though. I am always looking for something that meets my needs but also is a good phone. Currently with TMobile but have been with ATT, Verizon & Sprint at some point 20 years of using cell phones.
MY NEEDS
I drive about 40 miles everyday to work (yes, my work week is currently 7 days a week with a few occasional days off). So, with this in mind and where I drive. I need the minimum requirements:
1. Can Stream Music
2. Bluetooth is fully compatible with my 2016 vehicle
3. An equalizer of some sort since I have only switch out my new cars speakers for better ones and don't plan on changing or adding a better sound system.
4. Decent pictures when needed
5. Works with my Huawei Watch
6. Relatively not laggy - will sometimes do some ROM-ing or some customization but since I tend to get rid of the phones quickly I try not to void warranties or make it too non-stock
THE COMPARISON
I am looking at my experience with the Max 2 and the other flagships under/around these requirements and some normal stuff like battery, screen, snappiness, heat, speakers, etc. Here goes:
SOUND OVERALL
Lets start out by saying that I'm not a person that needs a phone that has good external speakers... I really have no use for them and as long as they are loud enough for notifications then I'm cool. Also, I am not a cross-training adventure workout junkie that requires 3.5mm in order to do everything with my phone... I state this now so that I clear the air with the Max 2 being one of the first phones not to have a 3.5mm jack and require a CDLA to 3.5mm adapter or CDLA USB Type C Headphones... I think the Max 2 may even come with the adapter and since I so don't give a brown matter from my butt about it, I haven't even taken it out of its packaging. Personally, the only time I use headphones is skiing and I have bluetooth wireless headphones built into my helmet... and like someone in the 21st century I realize I can have wireless headphones. :good: Now, my main sound experience with the Max 2 is bluetooth to my 2016 HR-V. It connects with zero issues, phone and bluetooth audio both work great. As a bonus, the built-in Dolby ATMOS makes my otherwise tinny speakers without equalization sound great. It also doesn't detract from the volume output like other similar apps... It allows me to blast bassy metal to offend anyone I want, which is a great double bonus situation for me. Nothing like driving by a church blasting GHOST and having the lyrics Hail Satan play loud, clear and rockin' hahaha. Seriously though, in recent memory, this is the only phone from 2016 flagships I haven't had to use a workaround app that drastically decreases the volume. Now I will say that the Dolby ATMOS setting works a little wonky and easily resets itself if you enter into the sound settings or back out of sound setting after enabling... once you know about this though, it is easy to workaround just by hitting home button instead. For the external speaker people, the Max 2 is super loud and the speakers do sound crisp... I think it is stereo speakers as well, if you care about those things... bass-wise, the speakers are not the best but not bad also... definitely as good as of not better than the HTC 10 or LG G5.
WINNER: NO DOUBT SO FAR IN 2016 - LeEco Max 2
BATTERY
From my experience so far, I have had decent battery life out of the Max 2. 3100 mAh does seem a tad small for this larger phalet... but I'm yet to say that its a problem for me. Of recent phones, LG G5 has the worse battery life with the HTC 10 being next in line, then S7 rounded out at the top with the P9... The P9 has a Kirin processor so lets toss it out. Out of the Snapdragons I will say that with my usage so far the Max 2 matches the S7 with battery life from my usage. Max 2 has fast charge as well which helps keep it on par with the other 820's. Just yesterday, I used the Max 2 all-day no recharging with 2 heavy usage periods for a total of 3 hours plus of screen on time playing Clash Royale. The rest of the day was standard usage of checking emails, looking at some news items, etc. It lasted the whole day from 8:30am until 1am in the morning with 15% left. This was on wifi the whole time as well. I feel this adequately meets my needs to last a whole day without recharge (which rarely happens since I always recharge when in my car) with moderate usage all day long.
WINNER: It's close to call but since its the larger phone and still performs well even though no wireless charging - LeEco Max 2
HEAT
I have yet to see a real heat spike with the Max 2. I have heard reports of heat but maybe this is with the 4GB version. Since the lack of need to flush RAM or actively manage memory more critically with the greater space, this may play a factor. Not a super nerdy tech guru on this so someone that understands this more may have to chime in. I have also yet to place it in a what I like to call, a pocket burning situation like at a concert were I'm using the camera a lot, there's high tower saturation causing the radio to work more, etc. I can say the phone barely heated up trying to download a 1.5GB update on LTE... so I guess that says something right? The only other phone that runs this cool is the P9 with it Kirin processor... all the 820's run a little hot when taxed so I would not be surprised if the Max 2 was the same if push to limits. I can say that I have gotten overheat warnings on the S7 when setting up the phone and downloading copious amounts of data.... and my first G5 overheated that it caused an internal malfunction causing me to have to replace the phone under warranty. The HTC 10 seemed to be the coolest out of the other 820's I have tried.
WINNER: Still is the P9 however out of the 820's - LeEco Max 2
SNAPPINESS
I have explained in some of my other reviews, I like to talk about performance in terms of snappiness with normal day to day usage with the phone rather than throw up meaningless to most people AnTuTu stats or whatever. I am going on out on a limp here and saying that the Max 2 dominates of course due to 6GB of RAM... it's like pitting a turbocharged version of a car vs. its not turbocharge version... more under the hood most of the time leads to better performance. No loading issues, no lag from app to app. What I can say is that EUI is a fairly nice GUI take on Android, better than EMUI, but not as nice as the new HTC 10 Sense / Stock like interface. I however did my standard change of porting over the sense launcher to the Max 2 which I just love... as far as getting use to how things work, there is a lot of configuration that can be done with notifications, much like Huawei's EMUI interface that might make it off putting to some... I lucked out and the aliexpress merchant I bought the Max 2 from pre-loaded the Google App Store when I got the phone. I since did 2 updates (one I downloaded and force flashed myself, the other was through LeEco's update system directly) and the app store continues to work fine.... There are redundant apps for email, calendar, message, etc. to google versions... however most of these are built well enough that you might not want or need the google versions. Notifications seem to work OK although some do not like that it does not litter the top of your screen with icons for every single notification.... rather it just typically puts an icon with "..." and a circle at the top... takes a little to get use to, but with a notification LED as well, I think this bypasses this small issue for some. :laugh: Also, people are starting to create ROMs for it and it is easily rootable albeit in Chinese at first, so you can definitely get more out of it with some tweaking.... haven't heard if they released Kernels yet. But it is only a matter of time given it popularity in China.
WINNER: Maybe just because of the 6GB but still... LeEco Le Max 2
DISPLAY
This to me is one of the areas much like sound where if it is not screwing up the way I use the phone then I care less about stuff like resolution. If someone can truly tell a load of difference between QHD, SuperHD, 1080p, etc. etc. good for you. Here what I can say. The Max 2 screen is great! Plus, its the largest compared to the other Flagships I have tried... forgot how nice it is to use a larger phone... It does not suffer from which ultimately made me get rid of the HTC 10 from the screen polarization being applied wrong causing you not to be able to use it outdoors with sunglasses on.... I know right... major f-up IMO that HTC 10 did... I couldn't see it in my car with sunglasses on, too annoying for me. Thankfully, don't have to worry about this with the Max 2 even with a tempered glass screen protector. Since it is somewhat screen related, I can say that the fingerprint sensor is something to be desired. Its slow, sometimes taking 3 tries for it to read properly... I have tried multiple times to reprogram and it does not help. Definitely the G5 and P9 beat it hands down when talking about rear facing fingerprint sensors... Even touchwiz laggy S7 sensor beats it. Hopefully, updates help with this. Like capacitive buttons it has, in the configuration I like with back button on left... apps button also reveals the control center feature on the Max 2... similar to Apples swipe up control center... not placing these toggles in the notification panel is a fresh take on using these toggles and I like it... Color balance seems good on the phone as well if you care about those things... No Always-On feature for the Max 2 either but not a huge deal with a configurable notification LED.
WINNER: The S7 still has the best "looking screen"; G5 has the best always-on screen - Max 2 is ok but not the best in this class of phones.... Does get bonus points for the control center feature and correctly orientated IMO capacitive buttons
PHONE DESIGN
The Max 2 is a good looking phone especially with a premium metal chassis... I do have to say that I had to get the "Gold" version of the phone since it was the only one available at this point in the 6GB Version... I use "gold" here loosely as like other can report... gold is actually rose gold... not that rose gold is bad, but a pinkish phone for a guy is not cool... No matter, I got a Matte black hard case today the covers the back and pretty much takes care of the covering most of the pinkish gold exterior.... I believe there will be other colors out there soon but I could not wait any longer... Camera and button placement is nice. Phone feels great in hand. Although bigger than the other 2016 Flagships, its not gargantuan either... doesn't feel like putting a tablet up to your ear like other phalets can feel like. Pretty thin too and not overly heavy. The biggest design issue is of course no SD Card add-on memory since the SIM tray only accommodates dual SIMs. At 64GB, this isn't an issue for me as I don't save a lot to my phone and jam pack it with needless stuff. The fingerprint sensor is in a good natural position albeit if it only worked on the first try... Its not like Megan Fox / Candice Swanepoel good looking phone rather more like Melissa Benoist / Kate Upton good looking. You ain't going to wake up after a long night of drinking and go "my god... what did I do..." but you are also not getting the top of the heap in design characteristics either. It's nice looking but not someone you'd use your "hall pass" on over your wife, if you get my point..." Notification LED work great and should be noted as not being blinding at night like others can be.... looking at you HTC 10... I like no 3.5mm jack since I don't use it anyway... less holes to get dirt into... in this case, having less holes to stick stuff into wins out!!! :silly:
WINNER: Still S7 for overall design, wireless charging, etc. - Your not bad Max 2, but pinkish gold is makes my balls instantly shrink!!!
CAMERA
Another big deal for some but not really a huge concern for me is the camera on smartphones... Personally and I have gone over the reasons time and time again, I went to school for photography and have used some really great cameras, film and digital. So when you start looking at smartphone cameras, even in 2016, it is still hard to compare to the output of an actual camera. With that said, there is no real gimmick with the Max 2... looks to be an alright camera that I will post examples later of. Doesn't have "superpixels", low light lens, dual lens, etc, etc. etc. It will take pictures decently and in most cases that's all you need it to do. I can say that it does have one of my major pet peeves when it comes to the camera app in video mode... no focus lock.... honestly who uses always on auto focus in video mode.... looks like a bad wedding video... when you are recording something that you are a fixed distance away, like a concert lets say, you don't need for it to re-focus... it annoying. So, I am going to cut this section short and just say, the Max 2 has a camera, its nothing special and if you are ok with a no gimmick no frills nexus like camera than its absolutely fine for what its supposed to do.... :highfive:
WINNER: S7 for low-light, G5 for wide angled, P9 for dynamic range; HTC 10 for camera app & Max 2 for no frills OK no gimmicks camera
CONCLUSION
For my daily usage case, the Max 2 is great! When you consider that it outperforms in most cases phones that are $200 - $400 more than what it costs... It tends to soften the negatives. I think for me the greatest of which is the current functionality of the fingerprint sensor... I hate struggling to get it to read than having to still punch in a pin when it fails. Besides this, all the othe negatives are minor. Camera - its really ok just nothing special. Color - if you can wait, you can get a more manly color unless you want to go with the 4GB version (you can get different colors now). EUI - definitely not as big of a learning curve as EMUI but it does take a little bit of commitment to get use to all the customization you can do. Looks like LeEco plans to release updates frequently since there has been at least one since it released in May... Yeah, it doesn't have a headphone jack... grow up and get with the 21st century... hahaha. To get a 6GB phone, under $500, 64GB internal is not too shabby. Would it be stellar with a SD Card add-on, yep it sure would but I can make do without having the SD Card in most cases unless I really started ROM-ing and backing up TWRPs with it.... I think if you are looking for a good, well performing phone at a good price with some decent specs and killer sound, this does the trick, most definitely. Could it be better, you betcha... but I can say that for any of the 2016 Flagship phones. Lastly and as always, this is just Some Guy's Opinion... :good:

Good review, makes it sound really awesome. My experience is very different.
I have the 6GB version and its regularly becoming warm.
Sound is ok, but Huawei Mate 8 is a different class altogether (better).
As a mid level budget phone the Eco Max 2 is very clearly on the cost performance side.
But I think the battery softens its advantage.
The hardware specs on the Max 2 are all top class, but there is definitely muuuch room for improvement. On the paper the network is Cat 12, but tell you the truth in daily usage it doesnt differ speed to Huawei Mate 8. Same for the user experience speed.
Also its not funny if the phone reboots occasionally
LeTV has fixed some of the issues with the upcoming EUI 5.8 release, but they need to do more !!
If you are thinking about getting it and tweaking it for your local marcet you have to do little homework with Google playstore etc. Its a gadget for geeky power users, but not mainstream user, to many changes required.

EverPing said:
Good review, makes it sound really awesome. My experience is very different.
I have the 6GB version and its regularly becoming warm.
Sound is ok, but Huawei Mate 8 is a different class altogether (better).
As a mid level budget phone the Eco Max 2 is very clearly on the cost performance side.
But I think the battery softens its advantage.
The hardware specs on the Max 2 are all top class, but there is definitely muuuch room for improvement. On the paper the network is Cat 12, but tell you the truth in daily usage it doesnt differ speed to Huawei Mate 8. Same for the user experience speed.
Also its not funny if the phone reboots occasionally
LeTV has fixed some of the issues with the upcoming EUI 5.8 release, but they need to do more !!
If you are thinking about getting it and tweaking it for your local marcet you have to do little homework with Google playstore etc. Its a gadget for geeky power users, but not mainstream user, to many changes required.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny mine never rebooted once. No heat even under load. No big modifications to get google play. Mine was stock and able to OTA... Google Play just took a simple APK download and agreeing to "unknown sources." Yes, its not a consumer mainstream phone outside of China... however doing a review on XDA, pretty much means its a review for a more "geeky" crowd easily capable of simple APK downloads from shared sources mentioned at least 10 different times in 10 different posts in this forum. The Huawei Mate 8 succeeds because of Kirin... however of 820's and at this price point, its hard to beat... maybe only by OP3 once they figure out the RAM Management. The camera is better on the Mate 8 but it's not as good as the P9... Plus all in all, its just as difficult to install the Play Store on the Mate8 & P9... both phones I owned and sold, as I was able to get just as good as and somewhat better phone for $200 to $300 cheaper. In the states, all these phones max out our 4G LTE networks so seeing any major difference between the P9, Mate8 and the Max 2 in modem performance is minor. Once again, OGO

Thanks for the feedback, maybe I am just unlucky this time. The apk's I downloaded from apkmirror etc don't seem to work on my Chinese version max 2. I also tried Xiaomi installer version 2, Opengapps, LeTV Playstore zips for same.
I think in terms of price LeTV has found a sweet spot in the marcet, but overall the software quality is just not there yet. However the upcoming update will fix some of it.

Hi,
Thanks for the review. Could you tell me if it has MHL ?
Regards

I tried with my MHL-Adapter, which is working fine with LETV LE 1 (X600). Didn´t work ...

Ok, thanks for the info. MHL is so usefull when you want to see a film at the hotel...

I think it should have MHL (I might have found this hint in some descriptions) but actually it is not working (for me?)...

Having been in IT, the first thing you learn is most problems are usually user problems. Most of the issues that I have come up against are problems of my own doing. For example, some thing may not work because I deleted a necessary file in my quest to remove Chinese Le-bloat. So it has been trial and error. I installed the CM 13 yesterday, but didn't like the tinny sound the speakers were making. Went back to the dev 5.8 stock, installed Google play and a few apps and it's running like a charm. I have not experienced any overheating issues. This phone does everything that one does with a phone very well. I sure you can find an individual that does intense things on their device, but for the average user that surfs the web, watches you tube, plays a few games, sends/reads email and IM's others, this phone is hard to beat. This morning I had an antutu of 140491, which is pretty good considering I only have the 4/32 GB version. Can you say fast phone?!

Hi,
I may add a comparison to a phone that can be considered as the direct competitor to the Le 2 Max : the One+ 3.
There is one area where the Le 2 Max clearly wins : it's the display. I don't care about 2k or FHD. It's hard to tell the difference in real life anyways. But I'm talking about brightness and legibility in sunny daylight conditions. And there, there is no question : the Le 2 Max is superior to the OP3, even after OP3 released the new display drivers that improves things on the brightness side...
And the 0.2" more is a nice addition too... Really noticeable when you used the LeEco for several days and you then go back to OP3
But apart from that (which is really important I admit it), the Le 2 Max is lagging behind in almost every other aspect...
BATTERY LIFE : OP3 wins without a question...In really heavy usage (GPS + BT active +display on all the time) I get about 3h45minutes of battery life with the LeEco... and about 5h30 in the same conditions with the OP3. That's almost 50% better battery. Think the 2K display has a cost unfortunately
SNAPPINESS : the LeEco is OK. But once you compare it to the OP3, the overall feeling is clearly pointing into the OP3 direction !!! And just install a custom ROM like Tipsy, and your device seems to fly, when the Le Eco seems to walk
HEAT : under the heavy usage conditions I described before, the LeEco gets mildly hot. It's much cooler than the Nexus 5 used to be in the same conditions( where it lasted about 1h40 on battery !). But the OP3 is simply almost cool. On that side, OP3 wins...
SOUND : I admit that I don't give a **** about sound coming from the speakers. But on phone calls OP3 clearly wins. On Le 2 Max I have a "ghost sound". I seem to hear everything I am saying to the other person like he has a loudspeaker on. Doesn't happen on OP3.
CAMERA : I am not a great camera user. But both deliver pictures that are good enough for me. But I must say it's difficult to tear them apart
FINGERPRINT SCANNER : it's adictive to use on OP3 because fingerprint is recognized in a fraction of a second and is ALWAYS recognized. I cannot count the times I left my finger on the finger print scanner for seconds before it decided to consider it has to recognize a finger... and then I would say about 30% of the time it doesn't recognize my finger print on first attempt, and about 15% of the time it doesn't recognize it at all so I have to fire it up with the power key and pattern.
DEVELOPMENT : It seems LeEco has no intention at all to consider those phones as an important part of their business. Look at their website : they're ahrdly advertised. Go to their forums : there no activity. An official from LeEco shows up about once every 3 weeks. All in all, discussion and support are simply dead. All tehy keep saying is "Stay tuned, we have a lot to unveil"... but no date nor nothing ! And after 4 months of phone existence what do we have : a tweaked Stock ROM and a CM13 build that is obviously not really actively developped. After 3 weeks of existence, OP3 has tweaked stock ROM, CM13 and 3 derivatives, 3 or 4 AOSP derivatives and just recevied multi ROM... So all problems may have a fix some day... There's really little hope to have that with LeEco
Even CM13 builders doesn't publish their github source which would allow to work on other ROM's...
PERFORMANCE : not that I really care about benchmarks... as I am convinced that 3k or 4k points in Antutu will go unnoticed in real life. But on the OP3 if I run several Antutu tests in a row, I have only a really slight variation in results It goes from 142k to 136-138k on 3rd/4th pass. On x820 results vary from 140k (generally on first pass) and then sink to 110k (sometimes even less) on third/fourth pass... And that sounds really weird to me : maybe there's a throttle on the phone ?
ALL IN ALL : I'd love to keep the LeEco because of it's display. But considering all the "cons" it has, I am afraid it will soon join an ad site for used devices And that's a shame because with a little support from it's manufacturer, it would be THE device to keep
So LeEco : if you hang around here sometime, show us some love and release official device trees.

Well said and your comments are spot on @NexusPenguin
Le needs to release kernel sources to their phones to survive in this industry. They absolutely do not want to go down Xiaomi's footsteps.
If they don't release device trees, most people will simply not buy their Le Max 3 or whatever they release next. Simple to earn bad-will and buey themselves to ground.

it is definitively fast but....
Dear jim262,
it is really fast. With Google Keyboard app, not debloated and after autoupdate to EUI 5.8.016S mine had a Antutu v6.2.1 of 139.159
But:
- I Need a international ROM
- why can´t the user decide wether he want´s the LeTV Software on it or not? So debloate that phone. I don´t want a fixed button on the Screen wich leeds to Chinese Websites. Unfortunately I can´t speak/read Chinese.
- The cam should have more Software ability to take pics with lower size. Actual it doesn´t allow less than 8 MP`s
jim262 said:
Having been in IT, the first thing you learn is most problems are usually user problems. Most of the issues that I have come up against are problems of my own doing. For example, some thing may not work because I deleted a necessary file in my quest to remove Chinese Le-bloat. So it has been trial and error. I installed the CM 13 yesterday, but didn't like the tinny sound the speakers were making. Went back to the dev 5.8 stock, installed Google play and a few apps and it's running like a charm. I have not experienced any overheating issues. This phone does everything that one does with a phone very well. I sure you can find an individual that does intense things on their device, but for the average user that surfs the web, watches you tube, plays a few games, sends/reads email and IM's others, this phone is hard to beat. This morning I had an antutu of 140491, which is pretty good considering I only have the 4/32 GB version. Can you say fast phone?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

LeTvNewby said:
Dear jim262,
it is really fast. With Google Keyboard app, not debloated and after autoupdate to EUI 5.8.016S mine had a Antutu v6.2.1 of 139.159
But:
- I Need a international ROM
- why can´t the user decide wether he want´s the LeTV Software on it or not? So debloate that phone. I don´t want a fixed button on the Screen wich leeds to Chinese Websites. Unfortunately I can´t speak/read Chinese.
- The cam should have more Software ability to take pics with lower size. Actual it doesn´t allow less than 8 MP`s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the roms are international roms with the ability to select language when you start.

Yeah, the phone is not a Galaxy S7 killer but I don't think we ever had such a device ~$250 on the market. Oneplus One might have been the only thing that came close but now their devices cost ~400€.
It doesn't have any real weaknesses, only a few things like the camera and software are mid-to-high end.
Clearly we'll see a drop in smartphone prices in the coming years, users won't pay 700€ anymore if you can get the latest for less. And these cheap manufacturers will catch up to Samsung and co. eventually.

mahst68 said:
PURPOSE
So 1st and foremost, the plan here is to give you my experience with the LeEco Le Max 2 6GB version compared to some other recent flagship phones I have tried. Granted, I have only used the Max 2 for about 1/2 a week now and can say I have yet to fully break it in to find everything that may or may not be right / wrong with it. However, this will be a unbiased look and comparison. I'm neither a fanboy or sheep. No brand affiliation. Not a programmer either, just a pro-sumer Senior Member of XDA willing to get trolled, flamed, etc. for sharing a look at these 3 phones. Hopefully, I can give "the everyday guy / gal look" without getting bogged down in stats, variables or benchmarks. Here goes...
MY BACKGROUND
No one special. Just a guy that likes the latest tech... phones being at the top of the list. I am a nerd. No doubt about that. I think anyone that knows about XDA probably is to some extent. No brand loyalty. Recently, I have had the privilege to try out the following phones:
1. LeEco Le Max 2 6GB
2. HTC 10
3. Huawei P9 4GB
4. LG G5
5. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
6. Huawei Mate 8
7. Huawei Nexus 6P
8. LG Nexus 5X
9. Samsung Note 5
10. Apple iPhone 6s+
And probably some more, but these are the most recent. Does that make me qualified to make a review... Maybe. It does make me an idiot that likes new phones, though. I am always looking for something that meets my needs but also is a good phone. Currently with TMobile but have been with ATT, Verizon & Sprint at some point 20 years of using cell phones.
MY NEEDS
I drive about 40 miles everyday to work (yes, my work week is currently 7 days a week with a few occasional days off). So, with this in mind and where I drive. I need the minimum requirements:
1. Can Stream Music
2. Bluetooth is fully compatible with my 2016 vehicle
3. An equalizer of some sort since I have only switch out my new cars speakers for better ones and don't plan on changing or adding a better sound system.
4. Decent pictures when needed
5. Works with my Huawei Watch
6. Relatively not laggy - will sometimes do some ROM-ing or some customization but since I tend to get rid of the phones quickly I try not to void warranties or make it too non-stock
THE COMPARISON
I am looking at my experience with the Max 2 and the other flagships under/around these requirements and some normal stuff like battery, screen, snappiness, heat, speakers, etc. Here goes:
SOUND OVERALL
Lets start out by saying that I'm not a person that needs a phone that has good external speakers... I really have no use for them and as long as they are loud enough for notifications then I'm cool. Also, I am not a cross-training adventure workout junkie that requires 3.5mm in order to do everything with my phone... I state this now so that I clear the air with the Max 2 being one of the first phones not to have a 3.5mm jack and require a CDLA to 3.5mm adapter or CDLA USB Type C Headphones... I think the Max 2 may even come with the adapter and since I so don't give a brown matter from my butt about it, I haven't even taken it out of its packaging. Personally, the only time I use headphones is skiing and I have bluetooth wireless headphones built into my helmet... and like someone in the 21st century I realize I can have wireless headphones. :good: Now, my main sound experience with the Max 2 is bluetooth to my 2016 HR-V. It connects with zero issues, phone and bluetooth audio both work great. As a bonus, the built-in Dolby ATMOS makes my otherwise tinny speakers without equalization sound great. It also doesn't detract from the volume output like other similar apps... It allows me to blast bassy metal to offend anyone I want, which is a great double bonus situation for me. Nothing like driving by a church blasting GHOST and having the lyrics Hail Satan play loud, clear and rockin' hahaha. Seriously though, in recent memory, this is the only phone from 2016 flagships I haven't had to use a workaround app that drastically decreases the volume. Now I will say that the Dolby ATMOS setting works a little wonky and easily resets itself if you enter into the sound settings or back out of sound setting after enabling... once you know about this though, it is easy to workaround just by hitting home button instead. For the external speaker people, the Max 2 is super loud and the speakers do sound crisp... I think it is stereo speakers as well, if you care about those things... bass-wise, the speakers are not the best but not bad also... definitely as good as of not better than the HTC 10 or LG G5.
WINNER: NO DOUBT SO FAR IN 2016 - LeEco Max 2
BATTERY
From my experience so far, I have had decent battery life out of the Max 2. 3100 mAh does seem a tad small for this larger phalet... but I'm yet to say that its a problem for me. Of recent phones, LG G5 has the worse battery life with the HTC 10 being next in line, then S7 rounded out at the top with the P9... The P9 has a Kirin processor so lets toss it out. Out of the Snapdragons I will say that with my usage so far the Max 2 matches the S7 with battery life from my usage. Max 2 has fast charge as well which helps keep it on par with the other 820's. Just yesterday, I used the Max 2 all-day no recharging with 2 heavy usage periods for a total of 3 hours plus of screen on time playing Clash Royale. The rest of the day was standard usage of checking emails, looking at some news items, etc. It lasted the whole day from 8:30am until 1am in the morning with 15% left. This was on wifi the whole time as well. I feel this adequately meets my needs to last a whole day without recharge (which rarely happens since I always recharge when in my car) with moderate usage all day long.
WINNER: It's close to call but since its the larger phone and still performs well even though no wireless charging - LeEco Max 2
HEAT
I have yet to see a real heat spike with the Max 2. I have heard reports of heat but maybe this is with the 4GB version. Since the lack of need to flush RAM or actively manage memory more critically with the greater space, this may play a factor. Not a super nerdy tech guru on this so someone that understands this more may have to chime in. I have also yet to place it in a what I like to call, a pocket burning situation like at a concert were I'm using the camera a lot, there's high tower saturation causing the radio to work more, etc. I can say the phone barely heated up trying to download a 1.5GB update on LTE... so I guess that says something right? The only other phone that runs this cool is the P9 with it Kirin processor... all the 820's run a little hot when taxed so I would not be surprised if the Max 2 was the same if push to limits. I can say that I have gotten overheat warnings on the S7 when setting up the phone and downloading copious amounts of data.... and my first G5 overheated that it caused an internal malfunction causing me to have to replace the phone under warranty. The HTC 10 seemed to be the coolest out of the other 820's I have tried.
WINNER: Still is the P9 however out of the 820's - LeEco Max 2
SNAPPINESS
I have explained in some of my other reviews, I like to talk about performance in terms of snappiness with normal day to day usage with the phone rather than throw up meaningless to most people AnTuTu stats or whatever. I am going on out on a limp here and saying that the Max 2 dominates of course due to 6GB of RAM... it's like pitting a turbocharged version of a car vs. its not turbocharge version... more under the hood most of the time leads to better performance. No loading issues, no lag from app to app. What I can say is that EUI is a fairly nice GUI take on Android, better than EMUI, but not as nice as the new HTC 10 Sense / Stock like interface. I however did my standard change of porting over the sense launcher to the Max 2 which I just love... as far as getting use to how things work, there is a lot of configuration that can be done with notifications, much like Huawei's EMUI interface that might make it off putting to some... I lucked out and the aliexpress merchant I bought the Max 2 from pre-loaded the Google App Store when I got the phone. I since did 2 updates (one I downloaded and force flashed myself, the other was through LeEco's update system directly) and the app store continues to work fine.... There are redundant apps for email, calendar, message, etc. to google versions... however most of these are built well enough that you might not want or need the google versions. Notifications seem to work OK although some do not like that it does not litter the top of your screen with icons for every single notification.... rather it just typically puts an icon with "..." and a circle at the top... takes a little to get use to, but with a notification LED as well, I think this bypasses this small issue for some. :laugh: Also, people are starting to create ROMs for it and it is easily rootable albeit in Chinese at first, so you can definitely get more out of it with some tweaking.... haven't heard if they released Kernels yet. But it is only a matter of time given it popularity in China.
WINNER: Maybe just because of the 6GB but still... LeEco Le Max 2
DISPLAY
This to me is one of the areas much like sound where if it is not screwing up the way I use the phone then I care less about stuff like resolution. If someone can truly tell a load of difference between QHD, SuperHD, 1080p, etc. etc. good for you. Here what I can say. The Max 2 screen is great! Plus, its the largest compared to the other Flagships I have tried... forgot how nice it is to use a larger phone... It does not suffer from which ultimately made me get rid of the HTC 10 from the screen polarization being applied wrong causing you not to be able to use it outdoors with sunglasses on.... I know right... major f-up IMO that HTC 10 did... I couldn't see it in my car with sunglasses on, too annoying for me. Thankfully, don't have to worry about this with the Max 2 even with a tempered glass screen protector. Since it is somewhat screen related, I can say that the fingerprint sensor is something to be desired. Its slow, sometimes taking 3 tries for it to read properly... I have tried multiple times to reprogram and it does not help. Definitely the G5 and P9 beat it hands down when talking about rear facing fingerprint sensors... Even touchwiz laggy S7 sensor beats it. Hopefully, updates help with this. Like capacitive buttons it has, in the configuration I like with back button on left... apps button also reveals the control center feature on the Max 2... similar to Apples swipe up control center... not placing these toggles in the notification panel is a fresh take on using these toggles and I like it... Color balance seems good on the phone as well if you care about those things... No Always-On feature for the Max 2 either but not a huge deal with a configurable notification LED.
WINNER: The S7 still has the best "looking screen"; G5 has the best always-on screen - Max 2 is ok but not the best in this class of phones.... Does get bonus points for the control center feature and correctly orientated IMO capacitive buttons
PHONE DESIGN
The Max 2 is a good looking phone especially with a premium metal chassis... I do have to say that I had to get the "Gold" version of the phone since it was the only one available at this point in the 6GB Version... I use "gold" here loosely as like other can report... gold is actually rose gold... not that rose gold is bad, but a pinkish phone for a guy is not cool... No matter, I got a Matte black hard case today the covers the back and pretty much takes care of the covering most of the pinkish gold exterior.... I believe there will be other colors out there soon but I could not wait any longer... Camera and button placement is nice. Phone feels great in hand. Although bigger than the other 2016 Flagships, its not gargantuan either... doesn't feel like putting a tablet up to your ear like other phalets can feel like. Pretty thin too and not overly heavy. The biggest design issue is of course no SD Card add-on memory since the SIM tray only accommodates dual SIMs. At 64GB, this isn't an issue for me as I don't save a lot to my phone and jam pack it with needless stuff. The fingerprint sensor is in a good natural position albeit if it only worked on the first try... Its not like Megan Fox / Candice Swanepoel good looking phone rather more like Melissa Benoist / Kate Upton good looking. You ain't going to wake up after a long night of drinking and go "my god... what did I do..." but you are also not getting the top of the heap in design characteristics either. It's nice looking but not someone you'd use your "hall pass" on over your wife, if you get my point..." Notification LED work great and should be noted as not being blinding at night like others can be.... looking at you HTC 10... I like no 3.5mm jack since I don't use it anyway... less holes to get dirt into... in this case, having less holes to stick stuff into wins out!!! :silly:
WINNER: Still S7 for overall design, wireless charging, etc. - Your not bad Max 2, but pinkish gold is makes my balls instantly shrink!!!
CAMERA
Another big deal for some but not really a huge concern for me is the camera on smartphones... Personally and I have gone over the reasons time and time again, I went to school for photography and have used some really great cameras, film and digital. So when you start looking at smartphone cameras, even in 2016, it is still hard to compare to the output of an actual camera. With that said, there is no real gimmick with the Max 2... looks to be an alright camera that I will post examples later of. Doesn't have "superpixels", low light lens, dual lens, etc, etc. etc. It will take pictures decently and in most cases that's all you need it to do. I can say that it does have one of my major pet peeves when it comes to the camera app in video mode... no focus lock.... honestly who uses always on auto focus in video mode.... looks like a bad wedding video... when you are recording something that you are a fixed distance away, like a concert lets say, you don't need for it to re-focus... it annoying. So, I am going to cut this section short and just say, the Max 2 has a camera, its nothing special and if you are ok with a no gimmick no frills nexus like camera than its absolutely fine for what its supposed to do.... :highfive:
WINNER: S7 for low-light, G5 for wide angled, P9 for dynamic range; HTC 10 for camera app & Max 2 for no frills OK no gimmicks camera
CONCLUSION
For my daily usage case, the Max 2 is great! When you consider that it outperforms in most cases phones that are $200 - $400 more than what it costs... It tends to soften the negatives. I think for me the greatest of which is the current functionality of the fingerprint sensor... I hate struggling to get it to read than having to still punch in a pin when it fails. Besides this, all the othe negatives are minor. Camera - its really ok just nothing special. Color - if you can wait, you can get a more manly color unless you want to go with the 4GB version (you can get different colors now). EUI - definitely not as big of a learning curve as EMUI but it does take a little bit of commitment to get use to all the customization you can do. Looks like LeEco plans to release updates frequently since there has been at least one since it released in May... Yeah, it doesn't have a headphone jack... grow up and get with the 21st century... hahaha. To get a 6GB phone, under $500, 64GB internal is not too shabby. Would it be stellar with a SD Card add-on, yep it sure would but I can make do without having the SD Card in most cases unless I really started ROM-ing and backing up TWRPs with it.... I think if you are looking for a good, well performing phone at a good price with some decent specs and killer sound, this does the trick, most definitely. Could it be better, you betcha... but I can say that for any of the 2016 Flagship phones. Lastly and as always, this is just Some Guy's Opinion... :good:
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Thanks a lot this is thorough.. Impressive stuff

I really like my Le Max2. It's not perfect, but no phone is. It is certainly a fast and powerful phone. No lag and handles everything I throw at it with ease. Antutu scores of over 140K are crazy in a $230 device!! I am enjoying its audio output and have been mostly very impressed with the photos I have taken so far. The fingerprint scanner is very fast and reliable for me. I quite like eui as it is fairly light and has some very useful features, especially for power management (I have generally been getting 5 to 7 hours SOT). This is my first 2K display phone, and the clarity is fantastic. The black levels are good, and the colours are vibrant. Probably my main criticism of the phone is the viewing angles and max brightness level of the display. Colour shifting is pronounced when viewing at any angle much off straight, and the max brightness is just OK - I would like to be able to crank it up a fair bit more at times.

kanagawaben said:
I really like my Le Max2. It's not perfect, but no phone is. It is certainly a fast and powerful phone. No lag and handles everything I throw at it with ease. Antutu scores of over 140K are crazy in a $230 device!! I am enjoying its audio output and have been mostly very impressed with the photos I have taken so far. The fingerprint scanner is very fast and reliable for me. I quite like eui as it is fairly light and has some very useful features, especially for power management (I have generally been getting 5 to 7 hours SOT). This is my first 2K display phone, and the clarity is fantastic. The black levels are good, and the colours are vibrant. Probably my main criticism of the phone is the viewing angles and max brightness level of the display. Colour shifting is pronounced when viewing at any angle much off straight, and the max brightness is just OK - I would like to be able to crank it up a fair bit more at times.
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Anything special you did to improve fingerprint response
Mine does work but it becomes unresponsive if not used for a while but after first unlock the consecutive ones are fast
Which rom are you on?
Did you never had any fingerprint problem?

[email protected] said:
Anything special you did to improve fingerprint response
Mine does work but it becomes unresponsive if not used for a while but after first unlock the consecutive ones are fast
Which rom are you on?
Did you never had any fingerprint problem?
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Click to collapse
I am currently using the Parasite debloated version of S19. I have also used Cuoco92, stock Chinese 17S and 19S, and Indian 16S. Haven't had the slightest problem with fingerprint on any of them. I always register two with the same finger (my right index) and the other with my left index. I'd say it is 99% accurate - it really only misses if I put my finger in at a very weird angle or move it too much. Fast too, not instant but pretty near it - less than a count of one.

kanagawaben said:
I am currently using the Parasite debloated version of S19. I have also used Cuoco92, stock Chinese 17S and 19S, and Indian 16S. Haven't had the slightest problem with fingerprint on any of them. I always register two with the same finger (my right index) and the other with my left index.
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So you never have problems like the fingerprint doesn't recognize the first touch?
Or after all night standby the fingerprint takes a few seconds to unlock?
Do you think my fingerprint problem is hardware?
I bought it like 2 weeks ago I can return?
But it's a really good phone for the price
Only things that annoy me is fingerprint and lack of custom rom support both of which letv is to blame

[email protected] said:
So you never have problems like the fingerprint doesn't recognize the first touch?
Or after all night standby the fingerprint takes a few seconds to unlock?
Do you think my fingerprint problem is hardware?
I bought it like 2 weeks ago I can return?
But it's a really good phone for the price
Only things that annoy me is fingerprint and lack of custom rom support both of which letv is to blame
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Click to collapse
Honestly never. Scanner has been rock solid for me. What ROM are you on?

This is why I am returning my HTC U11

HI guys.
Just wanted to share some of my frustrations with this device. Please note that I am compering it to my old galaxy s8 and it is only a matter of personal opinion. Please let me know if you experienced any of these issues.
1. Strange auto brightness incidents. When I open the phone or move to different apps (such as camera, google photos gallery or chrome) the brightness changes. I was really surprised since I don't have an option for auto brightness.
2. AT&T reception issues. Calls are connected really slow and I get spotty coverage (in Chicago). It is worse then the galaxy s8.
3. Boom sound is not booming at all. The galaxy s8 has a very similar volume but looks like they tweaked it for higher highs so it sounds crisper. The upper speaker on the U11 is really not necessary and effects the overall quality of the sound . If I have a stereo speaker, why one side have to be worse?
4. I cannot do it without the headphone jack. I tried to walk around with the converter and I agree it gives amazing sound but I just can't do it.
5. Cumbersome system menus that are different from the stock android we all got to love. Its so hard to find the NFC and there is no shortcut for it.
6. call speaker clarity= its not clear.
7. The squeezing does not work for me. I set it up for medium strength (which was hard since its its not calibrated for medium power) and the phone kept on turning my camera in my pocket. So dies that mean I cannot wear skinny jeans anymore?
8. Tap to wake is not consistent, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
9. Also I noticed a strange behavior with the home button (I don't use fingerprint): sometimes I can tap it to wake the phone, sometimes I need to tap it twice and sometimes I cannot unlock the phone by tapping on it. When the phone is awake the home button works perfectly.
10. Bluetooth connectivity lost at random times in my car.
11. I got a strange "do not disturb" toggle (on and off) when I make a call.
12. The camera is not noticeably better the the galaxy s8. The shutter speed is the same, the light exposure is the same. Not sure it is worth the upgrade. In addition the edge sense works really bad here since squeezing the sides of the phone to take a pic creates a tremor because of the awkward way you need to hold the phone up.
Selfie camera is sub par.
13. The galaxy s8 has a better sun visibility since its brightness can be cranked up even higher. I tested it side by side. WTF HTC, you have an lcd panel.
14. The size.... OMG the size. I know that HTC made a great looking phone but one you go infinity edge, impossible to go back.
15. Red glow. Comparing the galaxy to the U, it is notably reddish, even after making the screen "cooler" in the options it is still red looking to me.
16. HTC phone migrate tool is not working on the Galaxy and it crashes (not a big deal but its annoying).
17. Earphones drain battery (wtf?!?).
18. HTC horrible call center.
19. Muffled car Bluetooth sound quality . More then one call sounds fed horrible comparing g to the s8.
***PHONE RETURNED ***

Overall I prefer the S8 but was chucking you call it "old": still fairly new IMHO! ?
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Ok............

Old s8? The thing didn't drop a dollar yet
As for the rest this is typical feedback for anyone coming from s8, just like few reviews, some of comments hold true like s8 sun brightness due to over drive (I dare to use it like that extensively)
But other like the boom and audio is completely non sense
Remaining few bugs here and there which are being addressed in the imminent update
Speed, response and fluidity however completely slaughters your s8
As for camera, unless you zoom and crop you will not appreciate this mobile camera bomb
Red glow as opposed to pink tint on the s8? Extended display color options are coming in the imminent update
Size and ergonomics I fully agree there, however some tips which has massively improved my experience, Nova launcher for swipe up and didn't action, simple controls to add quick access to have buttons, I now rarely touch the back button, a slim or the inbox case is recommended to save ergonomics, or naked if you have the heart for it...naked it this is the most comfortable phablet you can find, let's remember that its a phablet after all, same size as pixel XL, ah yes let's remember kids the s8 is not really bigger screen than this phablet not even close
Peace, go back to your tiny s8 :laugh:

The boom sound is not that great. The Galaxy sound as crisp. Plus the two mods it provides is another headache. Theater mode is muffled and music mode is just not good.
BTW . The Galaxy S8 is my wife's , I will get the plus .
Yes, the Galaxy S8 has a smaller screen only if you watch videos all day
The sound quality is exactly the same! And the camera is not a lot greater. BTW, I can notice the different approaches this manufacturers took .
On zoom the u11 is sharper but pixelated . The Galaxy is less sharp but smoother .
3.5 Jack and and a higher screen ratio would have make this phone perfect . Too bed it's far from it.

I bought this phone becuase it wasn't an S8
As someone who has owned a number of devices I wanted some things that people call "old" such as the home button back. I could get by without it on my Z3 compact but there were apps that blew up so bad I had no choice than to restart the phone because the software home button wouldn't show up, but after holding down the power button the restart option would show up and respond.
I have seen the S8 and as someone that owned the S2-4 I really didn't like it. The S5 is the last Samsung phone that I really liked. Though I went with the Z3 compact because it was smaller and cheaper.
I agree that the lack of a headphone jack is disappointing but on nearly every other point listed I disagree. My screen has nearly zero tint to it, my Z3 compact and Samsung's had strong blue tints to them. My Moto phone had a greenish tint to it.
The speed of the S8 is frankly so shameful it isn't even funny. I bought the Galaxy S phones back when they had speed. Now with all of the junk useless crap on the S8 it seems like a $300 phone not 700-800.
Also any phone that isn't 16:9 needs to be thrown into the trash. Don't like it or care for it and want the trend to drop dead ASAP. Though if we could get a flagship device with a removable battery I guess then I would suck it up and deal with an odd ball screen.
This phone's reception on AT&T is really good as the voice quality couldn't get much better to me.
I almost bought a Sony XZ premium, but wanted to try a HTC phone and save some money so here I am. Overall the Sony XZ premium is likely the best flagship device out now but I wanted to pay a bit less and get the home button back so that's why HTC got my money this time.

I didn't think the phone was that great either, but most of your points are bull****.
1. You can turn auto brightness off
2. These reception issues probably has nothing to do with HTC, it is completely compatible with AT&T
3. boom sound is still better than most phones lol
4. if you can't do without the headphone jack, why did you buy this phone in the first place?
5. i'll give you that one
7. lol
The rest are pretty unfortunate for you to have, I kinda agree with you on 15 though. The screen was warmer compared to my other phones

1. My phone doesn't do that. It only changes brightness in camera or when there more light hitting the sensor
3. Boomsound is kind of weird. Doesn't work too well in landscape since it's unbalanced. Treble can be boosted a bit of you install Viper4Android. I don't think the snapdragon S8 has root to install sound mods.
4. I use Bluetooth, so this isn't a problem for me.
5. Isn't this exactly like stock Android? It's under more where it's always been. You can also search it.
7. I have the issue where edge sense didn't always activate when I squeezed the phone.
8. Don't know about this one, always use fingerprint.
10. Bluetooth connection to car is broken for me too. I think it's due to bugs in 7.1.1
11. That's weird
12. only squeeze with one hand, easier to take pic.
13. Wish it could do iPhone levels too but not dissatisfied
What i really love about this phone is how smooth it is. Night and day coming from my S7 edge. Using Google maps, browsing while downloading anything, experience is so much better.
+ We have an unlocked bootloader and can root

i have the s8 right here on my table didnt turn it on for two weeeks, the whole S8 sounds just as good argument is just absurd, its terrible, super low volume and dont make me start on the joke that is audio recording and voice messages, even when using the speakerphone i have to raise the phone to my ear
you would have won a decent objective argument if it wasnt for that absurd audio comment
s8 audio is good only in certain tones, ideal for certain ringtones that is i guess this is what you call crisp, you want to see how bad the audio is on your s8? just revert back to the stock song ringtone....just laughable
4ktvs said:
The speed of the S8 is frankly so shameful it isn't even funny. I bought the Galaxy S phones back when they had speed. Now with all of the junk useless crap on the S8 it seems like a $300 phone not 700-800.
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this! why people walk passed this as if its not important, the S8 speed is hilarious, in gaming its a mid range and its even much slower and hotter in the worldwide exynos version
you want to pay 800$ for a phone operating like an iPhone 5 in terms of speed, fluidity and response be my guest, just leave us out of it
Galaxy S8 lovers (lets admit we all love it) it should be in your favor to bash Samsung for the incredible bad performance and lying reviews in order for them to fix this in the future and HTC deserves to awarded for doing this beast of a phone

Samsung Note 4 user here. Can't defend the S8 or Samsung of late since they bent the screen and locked all snapdragon bootloaders and blamed it on Google and Qualcomm. Fragile hot mess there! No thanks.
I'm remotely considering this phone but keeping options open.
I'm inclined to agree that updates may smooth some OP complaints but the first thing I would try is take phone out of battery saver mode and give performance a good try. That may be causing the inconsistency with brightness, cell signal and edge squeeze?
There are other battery saving methods to try. I never trust factory battery saving modes. That especially applies to Samsung. Please stop trying to optimize my phone; you're inducing lag and really need to learn how to manage RAM, Samsung. Try again just doesn't seem to be working for you.
Ultimately, Android and third party apps may do a better job. But HTC Boost+ is an app I use on my Note 4. LOL; I know that's an HTC app with ad sponsorship. Maybe HTC users get a free ride regarding the ads?
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Boomsound is crap? And your S8 sounds better? Really?
And from when did Samsung phones had stock android experience?
This writing of yours is more suitable in the S8 section. It would make many happy though it mostly doesn't make sense.

Hahahshshahhsfjkdldndirkdbhdkdnbdkuxx
Boomsound is crap? S8 sounds the same ?
Holy ****balls he just went full retard.
Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

I guess he never had a U11 in his hands, because (almost) every point is just nonsense.
And some people are so much addicted to Samsung that they just can't see the advantages in other devices.
I myself am addicted to HTC: Legend, Desire, One S, M7, M8, 10, U11.
There is one Samsung device i had a longer time and that was the Galaxy S2. Later i tried the S6 and S7, but both phones were greatly disappointing my expectations. All the UI and ROM just didn't feel like a flagship. Slow and unstable. I even experienced reboots with S7 when opening MAPS. Sound crappy, internal AND external. And so on. Only good thing was the camera and Amoled.
So if you really think your Samsung is better, then go with it and try to be happy.

HTC's systems menu is very close to stock. Samsung has the a** backwards system menu. Get out of here you skinny jean wearing troll.

borisb said:
HI guys.
Just wanted to share some of my frustrations with this device. Please note that I am compering it to my old galaxy s8 and it is only a matter of personal opinion. Please let me know if you experienced any of these issues.
14. The size.... OMG the size. I know that HTC made a great looking phone but one you go infinity edge, impossible to go back.
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that sounded wrong...
you love that big black samsung phone dont you l:laugh:

Digitalkarma said:
that sounded wrong...
you love that big black samsung phone dont you l:laugh:
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Click to collapse
No I don't . But I don't have anything else.
If the U11 had a 3.5 jack I would have kept it. Yesterday I wanted to play music at my friends back yard, so he handed me a 3.5 mm cable; you should have seen his face when he realized I have no way of connecting it (he is an owner of an iphone 5s).
On the other hand if the galaxy 8 had no "edges" and has a normal resolution it will be the perfect phone right now.
Maybe the note 8 could be a better choice for me or the Oneplus 5. Money is not an issue, I am willing to spend 600-850 on a new phone but it has to be used properly and not just look great.
Besides, the U11 has a serious issue with lighting.

Samsung fans try so hard to hate HTC, they would be very disappointed if they couldn't find anything wrong. It's so bad that I have even been seeing Sammy fans buying this device, (or pretending to) just so they can show proof why this phone sucks Lol. Then they threaten to return it :laugh: It is killing them that this great phone just might be better than their Holy Samsung :crying: LMAO!

borisb said:
No I don't . But I don't have anything else.
If the U11 had a 3.5 jack I would have kept it. Yesterday I wanted to play music at my friends back yard, so he handed me a 3.5 mm cable; you should have seen his face when he realized I have no way of connecting it (he is an owner of an iphone 5s).
On the other hand if the galaxy 8 had no "edges" and has a normal resolution it will be the perfect phone right now.
Maybe the note 8 could be a better choice for me or the Oneplus 5. Money is not an issue, I am willing to spend 600-850 on a new phone but it has to be used properly and not just look great.
Besides, the U11 has a serious issue with lighting.
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If you want a 3.5 headphone jack then get the Sony XZ premium because you can pick one up for under $800 USD though clove UK. It's better than the S8 in every way other than maybe the camera.

@borisb and why did you ignore the included 3.5 adapter?
anyway i dont see a point of a thread like "why i am returning" these threads are always controversial
besides no one asked you :laugh:
---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:22 AM ----------
4ktvs said:
If you want a 3.5 headphone jack then get the Sony XZ premium because you can pick one up for under $800 USD though clove UK. It's better than the S8 in every way other than maybe the camera.
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but but but the bezel, i would sell my soul for that bezel :laugh:
@borisb serious issues with lighting: simply switch to touch auto exposure from the camera settings but hey you are not here for solutions

hamdir said:
besides no one asked you :laugh:
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But, he....then you...ugh....dag....
All I can say is...apply liberally.