Overall love - Xiaomi Mi CC9 / Mi 9 Lite Real Life Review

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the , all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

it's what mi9 should have been, in everything except the CPU. It's too bad they used 710 instead of 712 due to the mi9 se. However, the cc9 is still probably the most "well rounded" package from the entire xiaomi line. High quality, great design, great cameras front and back, large battery, light weight, OLED, etc. Just love it. It's something I wanted out of a Mi9 but was let down with that battery. wish there's going to be more community support though, which looks a bit thin right now.

seities said:
it's what mi9 should have been, in everything except the CPU. It's too bad they used 710 instead of 712 due to the mi9 se. However, the cc9 is still probably the most "well rounded" package from the entire xiaomi line. High quality, great design, great cameras front and back, large battery, light weight, OLED, etc. Just love it. It's something I wanted out of a Mi9 but was let down with that battery. wish there's going to be more community support though, which looks a bit thin right now.
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Absolutely, completely ditto. The only thing holding this phone back is the lacking developer community behind it. Even so, the only thing that's keeping me from using the excellent Android 10 GSI linked in the guides is the lackluster camera performances. Honestly, that wouldn't have been a problem if I still had my Whyred since that phone's camera was "meh" at best, but not enjoying this camera to the fullest feels like a sin!

I'm liking mine a lot, screen is nice, as is the fingerprint scanner. Photos are fine, now that I've removed the watermark. Seriously, who WANTS to brand their photos with a manufacturer's watermark?
I can even cope with the notch, which did concern me. The IR blaster is a nice thing, but would be a lot better if it had an Xbox media remote profile added.
I've ones minor irritation. And it's really bothering me. There's a chime that sounds every now and then that I can't switch off. It's a descending sequence of beeps, like when a usb stick is unplugged.
No visual notification, but it can happen in quick succession, and even happens when watching something on Netflix over bluetooth headphones.
It usually comes when the screen is switched on.
Any ideas? Is there a system log file for audio?
Sorted it! It was the NFC talking to my debit cards. NFC off, and annoying MIUI chime noise gone.
Now to figure out Google pay.

That's odd. No equaliser when using Bluetooth ear buds.
Any workarounds? I could do with a bit more bass on the t-elf buds.
Or, do I need to get into ROMs? Haven't flashed a phone in years!

Wildefalcon said:
I can even cope with the notch, which did concern me.
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What is ”the notch”? Do you have protective glass? I'm worried that fingerprint scanner won't work well over protective glass... How's MIUI 11? Does Revolut work on this phone?
---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 PM ----------
iuliusdeblobbis said:
Absolutely, completely ditto. The only thing holding this phone back is the lacking developer community behind it.
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I was considering Redmi Note 8 Pro but gave up that because MTK processor, no drivers which means very small developing community. That's why I choose Mi 9 Lite and now you say that there will not much developing for this phone...

axlina said:
What is ”the notch”? Do you have protective glass? I'm worried that fingerprint scanner won't work well over protective glass... How's MIUI 11? Does Revolut work on this phone?
---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 PM ----------
I was considering Redmi Note 8 Pro but gave up that because MTK processor, no drivers which means very small developing community. That's why I choose Mi 9 Lite and now you say that there will not much developing for this phone...
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Click to collapse
I'm not saying that there won't be a development community to back this phone. I'm saying that right now this phone doesn't have the support that other Xiaomi devices, like the RN5 or RN7, have.
I'm sure that, as time goes on, the community will get up to speed. In the mean time, @gringo80 has been mantaining a functional and frequently updated build of LineageOS, and even if that isn't your ROM of choice most GSIs works very well.

The notch is the "cut out" for the front facing camera.
I've a glass screen protector on the front, and the fingerprint scanner still works, but I think that is not as good as it was without the protector. I'm not taking it off, mind, as my phones have a hard life.

Wildefalcon said:
The notch is the "cut out" for the front facing camera.
I've a glass screen protector on the front, and the fingerprint scanner still works, but I think that is not as good as it was without the protector. I'm not taking it off, mind, as my phones have a hard life.
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Seems that screen protector is slowing response of scanner a little. However when I had added fingerprints again with protector in place seems fine again. Maybe split-second difference
Sent from my Mi 9 Lite using Tapatalk

I FREAKING LOVE THIS PHONE! period! There is nothing out there for around 200 bucks which can compete!

Battery drain, some bug on MIUI 11

franave said:
Battery drain, some bug on MIUI 11
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Im on MIUI 11 currently and i have no problem getting 3 days uptime and 10h SOT, dont think it's too bad for 4000mAh battery.

The phone arrives today.
I was googleing, trying to find way to root phone without unlocking bootloader. can anyone pplease help, post a link to a thread or anything. I will unlock bootloader but getting approved is a process and i want to root in right out of the box.
If rooted and with unlocked bootloader, can anyone confirm that Revolut works or doesn't work?
Wish you all the best in a New Year.

k3lcior said:
Im on MIUI 11 currently and i have no problem getting 3 days uptime and 10h SOT, dont think it's too bad for 4000mAh battery.
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Good for you. I'm really disappointed about the battery life.

Hi all,
Coming from Samsung S and Note lines, I decided to move because the flagships are now so expensive.
So I looked for a similar device. My main points were :
- Affordable
- Gorilla glass 5 at least
- Amoled
- Metal frame
- Non mediatek chipset
- Good battery life
- Recent
I had not a large choice according to the availability in the country (Madagascar). Official resellers prices are too high so I had to manage with some unofficial business which have not so much stocks.
A lot of Xiaomi available but not enough for me : mediatek chipset, gorilla 3 one side, plastic frame and back... Until I saw a Mi 9 Lite ad, and after having check the specs, that was what I looked for, matching my needs.
So here I am... Bought the 02/06/2020
Good packaging, but it misses headset.
I loooove it so much

Welcome to Xiaomi family!

I bought a Mi 9 Lite earlier this month when my veteran Oneplus X finally vibrated itself off the kitchen counter and its mortal coil after enduring ~4 years of abuse. As someone who doesn't care about all the bells and whistles and just wants a solid phone that won't break the bank, here is my mini review:
1) Design and build quality: Top notch. If I was handed this phone without any prior knowledge and told it costs 700€, I wouldn't question it for a second. Every single other phone I've found in this price range has an ugly chin bezel and plastic frame/back. The phone industry had pretty much abandoned plastic in favor of more premium materials on all but the cheapest phones, but for some reason plastic became acceptable again early last year. Glad to see Xiaomi sticking to aluminium and glass on its midrangers.
2) The screen is just stunning. It's sharp, color accurate and immersive with relatively tiny bezels. I'd pretty much sworn off LCDs after my first AMOLED phone, and I'm glad I didn't compromise this time either. The advantages are too great compared to the shortcomings of the technology.
3) The hardware: 6GB RAM is pretty hard to find on most midrange phones, let alone those that cost less than 250€. I'm not into mobile gaming so I've never really pushed the CPU and GPU to its limits, but for day to day use the Snapdragon 710 is absolutely powerful enough. Everything from web browsing to scrolling through social media or watching videos feels snappy and stutter-free. The battery is massive and I can easily go 2 days without recharging, and when I do need to recharge the battery fills up pretty fast.
4) The camera. I'm not really a shutterbug, so the camera specs aren't a top priority for me when shopping for a smartphone, but the photos seem sharp enough and color representation is fine. Video stabilization leaves a bit to be desired, however.
5) Last but certainly not least, the software. I can't really say I'm a fan of MIUI. Maybe I'm too accustomed to lighter ROMs like Oxygen OS and Lineage OS, but the MIUI interface just feels like it's trying too hard to be IOS. Thankfully the launcher recieved an update recently that brings back the familiar app drawer. Some of the bloatware can be uninstalled, while most of it can't. Also, the ads. Pretty much every preinstalled app serves you ads (fullscreen and banner). I get that ads are fundamental to Xiaomi's business model, and I appreciate that they can be (somewhat) completely removed, but I cringe when I think of all the less tech savvy people using their Xiaomi phones and getting bombarded with ads every time they want to listen to music or watch a video.
All in all, this is a from me. The Mi 9 Lite isn't perfect, but it's better than any other phone at this price point. The only thing holding it slightly back for me is the software, but that's subjective so not something I'm going to knock a star off over. Besides, there's always custom ROMs ?.

Related

General thoughts so far....

For those of you that now have this phone, what are your thoughts? I'm liking this phone more and more but do I need it, well, not really. I'm perfectly happy with my Nexus 4 running PA but there's something about this that has me wanting it. I think part of it is the fact that it's kind of the underdog. It will be exciting to see what the dev's come up with, ROM wise. Anyway, my brain is just spinning as usual, haha.
davela72 said:
For those of you that now have this phone, what are your thoughts? I'm liking this phone more and more but do I need it, well, not really. I'm perfectly happy with my Nexus 4 running PA but there's something about this that has me wanting it. I think part of it is the fact that it's kind of the underdog. It will be exciting to see what the dev's come up with, ROM wise. Anyway, my brain is just spinning as usual, haha.
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I'm coming from a sony X10 but the oppo find 5 is working good, I had no dead pixels everything worked out of the box.
I have some problems with contact syncing and gmail updates. Photographs are beautiful, but HDR is not really good on dark spots. (lots of noise because of ISO value's)
I did not wanted the nexus 4 because of the glass back. But I think I would also be happy with the nexus 4. But it is overpriced in the Netherlands, my oppo is cheaper then the nexus 4.
It is super fast compared to my X10. No idea how fast the nexus 4 is.
I think you can better donate some money to charity instead of buying yet another high-end phone
nice
previous phone: HTC Sensation
+ Display: WOW! youtube trailer in HD and people start peeping their eyes out!
+ Sound: I never heard a phone playing it sounds like this
+ Speed: I changed the default (ugly) launcher to APEX, this give's the phone a better feel
+ Camera: Although my previous phone was already 2 year old hence i cannot compare it to recent in-phone-camera's it looks great
+ Desgin: It is sharp but not too sharp edged, it's light and thin. the phone is big in size but because its slim dimensions you will not notice it in your jeans (unless you wear skinny jeans i guess, but who does that )
- Temperature when under load, i feel the device is getting pretty warm, your hands start being sweatty.
- Stock UI
Display
Simply Amazing. Bright & Crisp.
However, the screen responsiveness to your touch isn't very good. I find myself having to tap many things twice or three times to get it registered.​Battery
Terrible. It seems to be draining even while sleeping.
My usual morning routine, I unplugged the phone from the charger. It's charged to 100% over night. I do a few light tasks like replying to text messages, flipping through Flipboard, see one 30 sec YouTube video, brightness setting at 50%.
After 20 minutes of usage, my battery gotten down from 100% to 78%.​Speaker
Nice and loud. Best, I have ever heard. But, when you lay it on its back, the speaker will be completely muffled.​Camera
Sucks. 13MP only in spirit. Colors are over saturated. And, the balance isn't there. Lots of graininess in images, even in ample light. Also, don't use the LED flash. Your pictures will be almost all blown white. Absolutely no setting like macro, scene mode, white balance, panaroma, etc.. Just point and shoot and hope for the best...and often times, it isn't.
My 8MP Nexus and 5MP iPad Mini can take picture and video much better.​Stock Launcher
The widgets are fugly. Period.​Build Quality
Strong like my unibody Macbook Pro. However, the power and volume rockers shifts around. The micro USB port is weak. I feel like I'm gonna break that port anytime soon.​Software
Random reboots at least twice or three times a day. No idea why. I feel like I'm using Windows 95 all over again. Oh, and Gmail doesn't open up. Yeah, seriously, Gmail DOES NOT work on this phone. I have to use the other mail app instead. Latest firmware & Gmail update.
Software is actually 4.1, not 4.2. Coming from Nexus 4, that was a let down. I miss the swype style keyboard on 4.2.​ROM
Currently, as of late March, no ROMs​Side Note
USB wall charger & headphones look EXACTLY like the ones for iPhones. Apple will be calling them soon, if not already.​
Conclusion
Beauty & the Beast.......okay, maybe just the Beauty and not much else.​
Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. Hopefully a lot of these things can be fixed with future updates. What's the deal with the Gmail not working and is this something that OPPO is aware of?
I really am happy with the phone. Looks great and stands out in the crowd. Screen is fabulous. It's a new kid on the block, so there are a few things that are not quite there yet. But it seems Oppo are really working hard to make a proper go at this. So far weekly updates and regular fixes. I attached a simple benchmark to give you an idea of the spec. I'm sure there are better performers out there, but it seems to hold it's own!
It seems that my take is a lot different than other peoples on the board, or maybe I got really lucky and got the perfect unit, My Droid DNA is in my drawer and my Oppo Find 5 is sitting on my coffee table right now. All I have to say is wow I am really quite surprised with the device, and I have a Droid DNA now, and my previous device was HTC One X International Version. So I have saw some very nice displays lately, and the Oppo Find 5 is right up there with the best of them, it handles its own. The only fault was that I got my Oppo Find 5 with 1 stuck pixel, you don't even notice it only if you look for it when it’s on the black part while its booting up, once the screen comes on you can’t even see it.
+ Display is really NICE! 1 pixel stuck, on par with Droid DNA SLCD3 and just as bright so you don't have to turn it up that far and waste battery.
+ Build Quality I can’t say enough about this, this thing feels like I could Drop it off the roof and it would last.
+ The All black front display looks so good just as nice or better than the One X, and it has that nice curve in the glass that makes it nice to use.
+ I haven't tried the stock ear buds, but with my Sony ear buds, this thing sounds great, no distortion at all, with bass high, all amps sound good.
+ The stock speaker is also a pleasant surprise, it sounds really good at high volume levels also, when set right, no distortion and it gets loud
+ I stuck with the default launcher to give it a try and it is pretty smooth, has a really nice settings layout. I may switch, it reminds me of MIUI
+ The camera is just as good as my HTC DNA, I don't remember which review said it was about like about like an 8MP LG, It shots fine pictures.
+ The white matte finish does not leave any fingerprints and the screen must have that stuff to keep fingerprints off it also, it barley gets fingerprints
+ I have ran plenty of benchmarks and my unit did not get hot at all as someone said, maybe I wasn't holding it where it was getting hot at on their device?
+ The complete design is what really shines on this phone on the outside, it looks so sleek, and I have already caught people glancing and looking at it, and I have only owned it for one day, if that says anything at all?
+ or - Don't know enough about battery life yet but so far mine seems to be holding up better today, now that it is on its second charge, With a full HD Display you have got to know how to manage your battery, turn things off that you are not using at the time, it worked on my One X and that thing was a nightmare. On my One X I also disabled all my apps that I didn't ever use. At least until we get Roms that will take out all the bloat junk. Today my battery is doing really well almost 2 hours screen time and 76% left.
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-- I would have to say that the launcher would have been better stock, but I like trying new things out. I really hope Paranoid Android comes to this phone that will be my rom of choice. I already know CM and MIUI are coming soon.
-- The Ugly widgets, Oppo have so many better widgets on their other phones (Oppo Finder, Oppo Way, Oppo 3?) all those widgets look better IMO. I wish I could replace them somehow by switching APKs; maybe someone knows how and could let me know?
-- Contrast I like the over saturated look we have a developer that is working on a kernel or app to set your display just how you like it, at least I think so anyway?- hopefully we can get this fixed soon I know it’s being worked on by paperweistage and his kernel hopefully he gets it figures out, but if you want to help he is looking for some help in his kernel thread, He is looking for JDI Display white-sheets. So help out if you can
And support our developer, that’s how we eventually get more custom Kernel Roms and Apps. Donate to them a couple dollars for a cold one or a coffee.
-- or + It is a little bit on the heavy side but look how it’s made! Some could call this a negative but I left it neutral because it is well balanced and with a full metal frame inside around it, I don't really mind it weighing 20 extra grams, at least hopefully my phone won’t shatter into a thousand pieces if it falls on the ground.
Add more later after I use it awhile longer.
Stock Find 5 Score
[/IMG]
BELOW MY DROID DNA with a custom kernel, once we get a custom kernel for the Find 5, I think it will do better than the DNA I couldn't get the scores I'm getting with the Find 5 with my DNA when it was stock maybe 18900 or 19500.
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
drvsbsm, awesome review! I was checking the OPPO forums earlier and was really getting mixed thoughts on the phone. I know this phone is new and things are just getting started and I think that is some of what's driving me to it. I remember when the Nokia N9 came out with it's Hartmann/Meego OS, I fell in love with that thing and it was pretty much a dead platform when released. It looks like OPPO is keeping up with bug fixes and putting out updates so that's a good sign. Most of all though, I think the thing is SEXY, a beautiful device.
I'm guessing the vendor on Amazon is the place to get it from, the one located in HK?
Thanks again guys!
Very , very good rewiew !
knite75 said:
Display
Simply Amazing​Battery
Terrible. It seems to be draining even while sleeping​Speaker
Nice and loud.​Camera
Sucks. My 8MP Nexus and 5MP iPad Mini can take picture and video much better. Absolutely no setting like scene mode, white balance, panaroma, etc in stock camera app​Stock Launcher
The widgets are fugly. Period.​Build Quality
Strong like my unibody Macbook Pro. However, the power and volume rockers shifts around. The micro USB port is weak. I feel like I'm gonna break that port anytime soon.​Software
Random reboots at least twice or three times a day. No idea why. I feel like I'm using Windows 95 all over again. Oh, and Gmail doesn't open up. Yeah, seriously, Gmail DOES NOT work on this phone. I have to use the other mail app instead.​ROM
Currently, as of late March, no ROMs​Side Note
USB wall charger & headphones look EXACTLY like the ones for iPhones. Apple will be calling them soon, if not already.​
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Click to collapse
+1...... The good think is that the almost everything can be repaired (soft related )
Video camera isn't that very good.
Video is okay if the subject stands still. However, when subject runs or any fast moments, then video gets blurry or ghosting.
For example, here's a video of my daughter at her Taekwondo practice. Notice how she gets blurry when she starts running?
http://youtu.be/ln_2YvN6f78
knite75 said:
Video camera isn't that very good.
Video is okay if the subject stands still. However, when subject runs or any fast moments, then video gets blurry or ghosting.
For example, here's a video of my daughter at her Taekwondo practice. Notice how she gets blurry when she starts running?
http://youtu.be/ln_2YvN6f78
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Click to collapse
Hopefully this will be addressed as OPPO is releasing an update within a few days for camera related issues.
I have a question about the screen durability. I read somewhere, maybe GSMArena, that the screen rippled very easily and was a bit flexible. That sounds very concerning. I've also heard a few things about poor touchscreen response. This may also be hardware only problem that can't be fixed with any updates.
A lot of these smaller phone makers can just buy off the shelf parts (figuratively) and bulid their own phone. They don't need to develop their own hardware components, just how everything fits together and the overall design. The camera is an Exmor RS from Sony, and the screen is probably a 1080p panel from Sharp. Of course the processor is Qualcomm.
The biggest problem these small relatively no name companies face is the software. It's the brains that makes the smartphone smart, and having a small and inexperienced team, especially while trying to make your own skin, can lead to many shortcomings, from bugs to performance issues to compatibility to poor hardware utilization and battery life. A lot of this stuff even the big boys have trouble with and they have far bigger teams with far more experience. Oppo should go the route that BLU is taking in the future. BLU has a really horrible skin, allegedly, and unstable and buggy phones, but they are supposedly putting stock Android on their new Life series line of phones.
From what I've gathered, the screen is made by JDI?
katamari201 said:
I have a question about the screen durability. I read somewhere, maybe GSMArena, that the screen rippled very easily and was a bit flexible. That sounds very concerning. I've also heard a few things about poor touchscreen response. This may also be hardware only problem that can't be fixed with any updates.
A lot of these smaller phone makers can just buy off the shelf parts (figuratively) and bulid their own phone. They don't need to develop their own hardware components, just how everything fits together and the overall design. The camera is an Exmor RS from Sony, and the screen is probably a 1080p panel from Sharp. Of course the processor is Qualcomm.
The biggest problem these small relatively no name companies face is the software. It's the brains that makes the smartphone smart, and having a small and inexperienced team, especially while trying to make your own skin, can lead to many shortcomings, from bugs to performance issues to compatibility to poor hardware utilization and battery life. A lot of this stuff even the big boys have trouble with and they have far bigger teams with far more experience. Oppo should go the route that BLU is taking in the future. BLU has a really horrible skin, allegedly, and unstable and buggy phones, but they are supposedly putting stock Android on their new Life series line of phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen is from JDI. seems pretty sturdy to me. They seem to be keeping on top of things. But they have a very good reputation in the high end Av community. It's also not their 1st phone. Just their first soiree in the international market.
I have had my Find 5 for more than a week now sans screen protector. Unfortunately, there are lots of micro scratches already. And, I'm very conscious about where I put and use my phone.
Same practice, my Nexus 4 fair much better even after six months of usage.
All in all, have screen protector or don't have too long of finger nails.
katamari201 said:
I have a question about the screen durability. I read somewhere, maybe GSMArena, that the screen rippled very easily and was a bit flexible. That sounds very concerning. I've also heard a few things about poor touchscreen response. This may also be hardware only problem that can't be fixed with any updates.
A lot of these smaller phone makers can just buy off the shelf parts (figuratively) and bulid their own phone. They don't need to develop their own hardware components, just how everything fits together and the overall design. The camera is an Exmor RS from Sony, and the screen is probably a 1080p panel from Sharp. Of course the processor is Qualcomm.
The biggest problem these small relatively no name companies face is the software. It's the brains that makes the smartphone smart, and having a small and inexperienced team, especially while trying to make your own skin, can lead to many shortcomings, from bugs to performance issues to compatibility to poor hardware utilization and battery life. A lot of this stuff even the big boys have trouble with and they have far bigger teams with far more experience. Oppo should go the route that BLU is taking in the future. BLU has a really horrible skin, allegedly, and unstable and buggy phones, but they are supposedly putting stock Android on their new Life series line of phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New firmware 328,it has camera fixes...
No marked improvement or fixes to camera with latest firmware.
Just new feature: panorama.
Oppo should focus on fixing all the basic camera problems, rather than, adding gimmick useless feature.
knite75 said:
No marked improvement or fixes to camera with latest firmware.
Just new feature: panorama.
Oppo should focus on fixing all the basic camera problems, rather than, adding gimmick useless feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow knite please get back to your iphone.
They tweaked a bit around with the iso settings. But not something really spectaculair.
At least they did something. Most companies will be like :"DEAL WITH IT!"
Haas8 said:
Wow knite please get back to your iphone.
They tweaked a bit around with the iso settings. But not something really spectaculair.
At least they did something. Most companies will be like :"DEAL WITH IT!"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most company would release software when it's ready and in decent condition for general public consumption... Not beta....or alpha in this case.
Check the camera... Aside from poor image quality.... Do see any basic features like:
Macro
White Balance
Scene Mode
As a matter of fact, on Oppo forums, lots of threads and discussion on how poor the pictures and video are turning out... Oppo just ignore them...basically, saying "DEAL WITH IT!"
Instead, they spent their finite limited development resources in adding useless Panorama feature. When is the last time you took a panorama picture, aside from just wanting to see how it works?
I took a panorama earlier at dinner actually. I did the update out of the box and didn't know it added that so that's cool lol.
Sent from my X909 using xda premium

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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly never. Scanner has been rock solid for me. What ROM are you on?

Why I'm not selling my U11

Figured I'd start a thread for every one keeping their phone since there's a few about selling them. Share your thoughts.
I love this dang thing!!
I originally bought it even tho my M10 wasn't paid off figuring how much better could it be? Well the 10 is in a drawer.
Lots of storage over my 10. I can now store my flac files on the internal instead of having to get an SD card.
Share your thoughts, keepers of the HTC market share.
Sent from my HTC U11 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
jtommyj said:
Figured I'd start a thread for every one keeping their phone since there's a few about selling them. Share your thoughts.
I love this dang thing!!
I originally bought it even tho my M10 wasn't paid off figuring how much better could it be? Well the 10 is in a drawer.
Lots of storage over my 10. I can now store my flac files on the internal instead of having to get an SD card.
Share your thoughts, keepers of the HTC market share.
Sent from my HTC U11 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same for me, I'm past my first year with the HTC 10 and still have til next May to pay it off lol. Although I still use my HTC 10 for when I am flashing or updating a ROM, I have to have a phone at all times for work. Have you rooted it yet?
This is a good phone but.. There's not much standing for it, good camera but slow in comparison to other phones, speakers are a bit better than on the s8 but they're not that special, display is good but not up there with the best and the minimum brightness is still bright for dark environments, edge sense is a gimmick, the water proofing on this phone isnt that good and ive seen people having problems with their phone due to water damage and basically i wouldn't trust to put this phone in water on purpose and i treat it as a non waterproof phone, the battery is pretty good but not that great for me, The bezels are big, there's no option to lower the brightness in camera app and no option to turn off capacitive key light, htc sense is ok but it has bloatware that you cant install and no useful features.. Nothing special aboit it and i guess the only thing good about it is that its close to stock android and the performance on it is great. Basically this is a good phone but the pixel xl 2 will have better camera, performance, battery, maybe speakers too, design and display, software and more support. Maybe also better waterproofing
adi.97 said:
This is a good phone but.. There's not much standing for it, good camera but slow in comparison to other phones, speakers are a bit better than on the s8 but they're not that special, display is good but not up there with the best and the minimum brightness is still bright for dark environments, edge sense is a gimmick, the water proofing on this phone isnt that good and ive seen people having problems with their phone due to water damage and basically i wouldn't trust to put this phone in water on purpose and i treat it as a non waterproof phone, the battery is pretty good but not that great for me, The bezels are big, there's no option to lower the brightness in camera app and no option to turn off capacitive key light, htc sense is ok but it has bloatware that you cant install and no useful features.. Nothing special aboit it and i guess the only thing good about it is that its close to stock android and the performance on it is great. Basically this is a good phone but the pixel xl 2 will have better camera, performance, battery, maybe speakers too, design and display, software and more support. Maybe also better waterproofing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're the one who started the ufs2.1 thread right?
you're contributing really well to the purpose of the thread....
riggsandroid said:
you're the one who started the ufs2.1 thread right?
you're contributing really well to the purpose of the thread....
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Click to collapse
Lol yeah i am xD
adi.97 said:
This is a good phone but.. There's not much standing for it, good camera but slow in comparison to other phones, speakers are a bit better than on the s8 but they're not that special, display is good but not up there with the best and the minimum brightness is still bright for dark environments, edge sense is a gimmick, the water proofing on this phone isnt that good and ive seen people having problems with their phone due to water damage and basically i wouldn't trust to put this phone in water on purpose and i treat it as a non waterproof phone, the battery is pretty good but not that great for me, The bezels are big, there's no option to lower the brightness in camera app and no option to turn off capacitive key light, htc sense is ok but it has bloatware that you cant install and no useful features.. Nothing special aboit it and i guess the only thing good about it is that its close to stock android and the performance on it is great. Basically this is a good phone but the pixel xl 2 will have better camera, performance, battery, maybe speakers too, design and display, software and more support. Maybe also better waterproofing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you like to hang with other Samsung junkies and parrot everything they say. You all are so worried we might have a better phone that you always have to come here to snoop and see whats going on, taking notes for all the talking points against HTC. My capacitive keys lights are off. What is this bloat you speak of? HTC allows us to disable and hide any bloat if there is any. Bezels are not even noticeable when using this beauty and at least our fingerprint scanner is in the right spot and has been proven to be much more reliable. Edge Sense is by no means a gimmick, I think we are well past that talking point. Any reasonable person knows not to intentionally drown your phone, and if you do you are supposed to dry it first before using. HTC specifically states this. The battery has already shown to beat the competition. The mics beat all of the competition, 3d audio recording. There really isn't much to complain about this phone some people just can't stand that something might be better than their beloved, super almighty Samsung giant. It's like it's their mission to make sure no one wants to experience it. "LOOK AWAY! LOOK AWAY!" LMAO
adi.97 said:
This is a good phone but..
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Click to collapse
LOOK AWAY I'M HIDEOUS!
---------- Post added at 01:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:29 PM ----------
Frank Drebin IS HTC
LibertyMonger said:
[...] My capacitive keys lights are off. [...]
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Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing how you managed to disable capacitive keys lights? Thanks!
Giocarro said:
Would you mind sharing how you managed to disable capacitive keys lights? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's on the Viper ROM in buttons and gestures settings
That's the beauty of HTC, almost anything is possible. Quietly Brilliant!
LibertyMonger said:
It's on the Viper ROM in buttons and gestures settings
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Click to collapse
Well i know that you can disable them but you have to root your u11 first and i don't want to do that
adi.97 said:
Well i know that you can disable them but you have to root your u11 first and i don't want to do that
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Click to collapse
Yeah I didn't want to either with this beast. It really isn't needed but there are a few things that make it worth it and the main thing that always draws me back to HTC, the freedom of having an unlocked bootloader. Just a few minor things I enjoy like all black theme and apps that require root like the new edge sense plus. To say there isn't anything special about the U11 is just not true. There isn't much you can't do with it especially after the next update.
adi.97 said:
This is a good phone but..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did u even read the title of the thread?
Reasons why I'm keeping
1. Solar Red looks AWESOME.
2. Smooth smooth smooth. No stutter unlike my previous s8+ exynos that stutters quite often after 2 weeks of use
3. Edge sense is not a gimmick. It's useful especially after using the edges sense plus app (waiting for the huge official update promised tho)
4. Camera is awesome. Id rather have one lens phone that excels in image quality than a dual camera phone that is only mediocre or even good
5. Battery life is good enough for me. Dual sim, all day mobile data 4g, 6+ screen on time, 20 hours of total standby time. What I did was disable all bloat especially news republic.
6. Did I say solar Red is AWESOME?
7. That speaker.. Really love watching videos on it, good enough for listening music when I don't have my bt speaker around. The included noise canceling earphone is also very very very good. Haven't been using many bundled earphones for previous phones. But this one is a keeper.
8. Never had any problems with waterproofing. Then again I will never believe in waterproofing on a phone since I had incidents with z1 compact, Z3 compact, s5.
9. Fingerprint sensor is EXCELLENT. I have greasy fingers which usually problematic when using fp sensors. Had problems with p10+, s8+, Pixel xl, xzp. 99% of the time it works with this phone.
10. The fact that overall this phone bests everything on the market. I don't have premonitions on phones that comes next. But as things stand this phone is the best bet.
Allesa said:
Did u even read the title of the thread?
Reasons why I'm keeping
1. Solar Red looks AWESOME.
2. Smooth smooth smooth. No stutter unlike my previous s8+ exynos that stutters quite often after 2 weeks of use
3. Edge sense is not a gimmick. It's useful especially after using the edges sense plus app (waiting for the huge official update promised tho)
4. Camera is awesome. Id rather have one lens phone that excels in image quality than a dual camera phone that is only mediocre or even good
5. Battery life is good enough for me. Dual sim, all day mobile data 4g, 6+ screen on time, 20 hours of total standby time. What I did was disable all bloat especially news republic.
6. Did I say solar Red is AWESOME?
7. That speaker.. Really love watching videos on it, good enough for listening music when I don't have my bt speaker around. The included noise canceling earphone is also very very very good. Haven't been using many bundled earphones for previous phones. But this one is a keeper.
8. Never had any problems with waterproofing. Then again I will never believe in waterproofing on a phone since I had incidents with z1 compact, Z3 compact, s5.
9. Fingerprint sensor is EXCELLENT. I have greasy fingers which usually problematic when using fp sensors. Had problems with p10+, s8+, Pixel xl, xzp. 99% of the time it works with this phone.
10. The fact that overall this phone bests everything on the market. I don't have premonitions on phones that comes next. But as things stand this phone is the best bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's a troll lol lol
I'm the captive lights are off on my. Phone not even rooted
Am I crazy to return my note 8 for a u11?
Allesa said:
Did u even read the title of the thread?
Reasons why I'm keeping
1. Solar Red looks AWESOME.
2. Smooth smooth smooth. No stutter unlike my previous s8+ exynos that stutters quite often after 2 weeks of use
3. Edge sense is not a gimmick. It's useful especially after using the edges sense plus app (waiting for the huge official update promised tho)
4. Camera is awesome. Id rather have one lens phone that excels in image quality than a dual camera phone that is only mediocre or even good
5. Battery life is good enough for me. Dual sim, all day mobile data 4g, 6+ screen on time, 20 hours of total standby time. What I did was disable all bloat especially news republic.
6. Did I say solar Red is AWESOME?
7. That speaker.. Really love watching videos on it, good enough for listening music when I don't have my bt speaker around. The included noise canceling earphone is also very very very good. Haven't been using many bundled earphones for previous phones. But this one is a keeper.
8. Never had any problems with waterproofing. Then again I will never believe in waterproofing on a phone since I had incidents with z1 compact, Z3 compact, s5.
9. Fingerprint sensor is EXCELLENT. I have greasy fingers which usually problematic when using fp sensors. Had problems with p10+, s8+, Pixel xl, xzp. 99% of the time it works with this phone.
10. The fact that overall this phone bests everything on the market. I don't have premonitions on phones that comes next. But as things stand this phone is the best bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll sure drink to this list. The phone is a real pleasure to use and fiddle with.
I've been unlocked and rooted the phone, pretty much I'll stick with it for some periods. That's no perfect phone on Earth when you switched to others you'll find some other problems eventually.
What I don't like is the camera noise though the details is great but it got too much really and do need some more denoise. The size is a bit big for 5.5" too.
masri1987 said:
Am I crazy to return my note 8 for a u11?
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Click to collapse
And what answer would you expect in the U11 forums? Of course not!
AarSyl said:
And what answer would you expect in the U11 forums? Of course not!
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Click to collapse
I guess the answer should be yes?
TheEndHK said:
I guess the answer should be yes?
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Click to collapse
That's for you to decide, but here's my honest opinion. If i was supposed to use any Samsung phone, it would be the Note 8, and that's because of the 6gb of RAM, along with the refinements that are included in Samsun's 7.1 rom. The Note is DEFINITELY more fun that the U11, and that's coming from a diehard HTC lover.
However...I still don't feel that Samsung touches HTC when it comes to optimization and performance over time. I highly anticipate that the U11 will be pushing through the bits and bytes much more gracefully than the Note 1yr from now. Samsung ages horribly, and I'm talking from experience. My wife always gets the equivalent Samsung device when I get my new HTC...EVO vs Epic 4g, EVO LTE vs S3, M8 vs S5, S7 and S7 (got it with a BOGO...regrets....), and U11 vs S8. My phone always comes out on top for a longer period of time. So, I'm not simply blowing hot air when I say that HTC has much more consistent performance than Samsung.
Well, Samsungs are consistently inconsistent with performance...so my statement isn't completely accurate.

Should i buy OP5 or S8 ?

Well damn, i never thought that i would make that comparison. But here it is ruining my mind because each phone has its strong and weak points.
Each phone is available to be and i can buy for a disparity of 100 euros (OP5500, S8 600). I am also talking about the exynos model.
Why i consider buying OP5:
Blazingly fast, i know that even facebook wont stutter.
Great battery.
Good camera at daylight and great selfie.( I dont really take much pictures but when i do its mostly on selfie or daylight and the differences arent that noticable in that aspect).
I actually like its design.
Front facing and fast FP.
Why i consider S8;
Waterproof/Dustproof.
Cant beat that design.
One of the best cameras in android.
The only reason holding me back is the battery and laggy touchwiz. I have gotten in my hands s8's and every single one has occasional stutters and lags on daily apps. I dont know if touchwiz can be improved but i have seen it with my own eyes all this time and samsung regarding speed needs to do a lot more work.
So i hope that you can see my points and offer some oppinions on this matter. Thank you all!
Edit; I have seen jelly on videos but i dont think that it will affect me in any way. what i fear is that it might get worse though as time passes.
I would say OP5 simply because it doesn't have touchwiz lol
I'm trying to sell my Pixel XL and then I will be (re)-purchasing the OP5. I buy phones mainly for the software experience and the amount of development available for OP devices is incredible.
Personally, I feel the only thing the S8 has going for it is the screen/design and I suppose camera - but these are all subjective. It's not enough for me to want to choose the S8 over the 5.
Just my two cents
I kind of share your thoughts but still not enough to convince me about it, i mean if i see a op5t in the next few months this phone will loose entirely its net worth.
I have both devices .... go for the op5 unless you really care about having a bigger screen.
100% the Oneplus 5.
Whatever you think you're going to get more of on the s8 you'll miss out on so much more compared to the 1+
I made my choice for de 128gb op5 when I could get the gs8 a bit cheaper.
The waterproofness was my main reason to go for the Samsung, I don't value camera very much.
I might be a bit weird but I prefer the design on the op5, not that many people will have it and a Snapdragon for development is a must
Hi, I was also on the fence, I went for OP5 too, for a few reasons :
-Developpement, really important of the Android fun for me.
- Software, TW may be getting better but it is still really a lot of stuff, and I don't like the doubling of features. Thinking about the assistant in particular, since I don't even use Google's. The dedicated Bixby button really is silly for this case.
- I saw an article where people could vote for how much the like photos, blind. OP5 came ahead of S8 (but after LG G6). So it is at least as good.
- Developpement!
testreaper said:
The only reason holding me back is the battery and laggy touchwiz. I have gotten in my hands s8's and every single one has occasional stutters and lags on daily apps. I dont know if touchwiz can be improved but i have seen it with my own eyes all this time and samsung regarding speed needs to do a lot more work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Right there, that's your answer. lol don't be fooled, people have been saying that about Touch Wiz for years. "Maybe they can work on it more", but every version is the same, buggy and laggy. Don't hold your breath on that going away with some update.
I owned a Galaxy S7 and at first was really satisfied. Before that I always owned Nexus phones.
The S7 had lot of nice features and good camera. S8 also has... BUT after a few months I just hated the device for TouchWiz lags and massive bloat. Overall experience just wasn't great. S7 had over 350 services/apps installed without user apps. A lot of what you probably never need. And if you start disabling things, battery life just gets even worse.
So go for an OP5 and enjoy the smoothness and development possibilities .
xabierd said:
I made my choice for de 128gb op5 when I could get the gs8 a bit cheaper.
The waterproofness was my main reason to go for the Samsung, I don't value camera very much.
I might be a bit weird but I prefer the design on the op5, not that many people will have it and a Snapdragon for development is a must
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do know that the Oneplus has some waterproofing? Not certified of course but it's been seen many times on YouTube being fully submerged for over a minute, no problems at all. Apple did the same thing.
Yeah I didn't realize the OP5 was more or less water resistant. There are a bunch of YouTube videos of people doing water tests though, so it definitely seems to be water resistant! That's was one of my few iffy things about it, but I feel much more assured knowing that a quick dip or spill won't fry it.
They never show the OnePlus a couple of days later after being in the water. To show if it truly holds up. I think if the OnePlus was really water resistant they would say it cause it would be a huge selling part.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
---------- Post added at 11:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 AM ----------
I have both I love the OnePlus cause of dash charging and dual SIM capabilities. I love the S8+ for wireless charging and being truly water resistant.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
ahenderson223 said:
They never show the OnePlus a couple of days later after being in the water. To show if it truly holds up. I think if the OnePlus was really water resistant they would say it cause it would be a huge selling part.
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Three of the videos I found had follow-up videos showing the phone and everything still working. One was after a few days, one was after a couple weeks, and one was just last week (two months after the water test).
dladz said:
You do know that the Oneplus has some waterproofing? Not certified of course but it's been seen many times on YouTube being fully submerged for over a minute, no problems at all. Apple did the same thing.
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I use a Sony Xperia z3c for cycling, which often means rain in the road and mud when I mountainbike. The oneplus is not quite ready to replace de Sony ?
OnePlus 5 for better battery life, performance, smoothness, perceived shell temperature, ram management, oxygen os. Camera is good if there's light.
My last Samsung phones were s6 edge and galaxy s7. Both with ram management issues and on both I could fry eggs (exynos). I can't trust another flagship from Samsung, especially with glass back.. And a short hands-on with s8. The same camera as s7, same amount of ram (=> not that good ram management). For sure i cannot stand that fingerprint position, the glass back and the edges!
testreaper said:
I kind of share your thoughts but still not enough to convince me about it, i mean if i see a op5t in the next few months this phone will loose entirely its net worth.
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I don't think there will be enough upgrades to make a 5T in the same form factor, the 3t had a camera, soc and battery upgrade, the op5 won't be able to get the last one in the same form factor and the first two might but then they'd probably save that for the OP6
I sell Samsung s8 plus for buy oneplus 5 and dont look back, oneplus 5 is better
Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A5000 mediante Tapatalk
I was in the same doubt.
I chosen OP5 for:
no touchwiz
no edge display (cool but unsuitable)
snapdragon
dual sim
top level in all features (or almost top)
After 1 month with OP5 im totally happy
One more thing:
I used an s6 edge for a while and the edge screen was the worst of it's features because of accidental touches and simply no useful additions.
It really drove me crazy
had the s8 dual variant. it was sexy as hell.. after two weeks samsung experience bored me altought it had lots of uselful features. I was into custom roms.. more into AOSP/LOS based that is. so I returned it and got a 128gb op5. never looked back
camera quality on both phones are superb. s8 has a slightly better quality tho. but I love the op5's camera overall.
plus the s8's body is really fragile.

OnePlus 8 discussion, what are you hoping and not hoping for.

I'm surprised I haven't seen any discussion regarding the OnePlus 8. The 7 Pro being my first ever device outside of Samsung universe, I'm extremely impressed and really want to carry on using OnePlus, even though they don't sell in my country ( Australia ) and I have to import it.
I am hoping that the rumoured punch hole display is not real, the screen being completely hole-less is one of the main reasons I change from Samsung over, I am not a fan. Even though I feel like it's true, I'm praying it doesn't have one
What are you most excited for, and not excited for?
Flat screen, but we pretty much know that's not happening for the 8/Pro. 8 Lite is the only one rumored to have a flat screen. Punch hole is annoying, though I don't see it as any more annoying than the notch as long as there's a way to hide it from games, apps, etc like you could on previous models.
Light version means light in hardware. For me all the Lite phones are creap.
Not edge to edge screen is Bleahhhh !
8 pro will have wifi charging and better camera. Issue will be the price!
I would like edge to edge, flat screen. Curved screen is nonsense. 5g works in my network so i don't need wifi (i use it Very rare), bluetooth, nfc, infrared (Never use those). I like a square corners phone. A lighter slim phone.
If the hole punch is on all Oneplus 8 variants then I'm really not interested at all. I'll probably stick with 7pro until another manufacture releases a stockish android experience, with nothing on the screen except screen, and at least 90hz refresh rate, and a decent development community. Oh and under $650 so that counts out pixels to.
My progressive desires: a refined pop-up camera, 90Hz standard refresh rate, anywhere from 8-12GB RAM, latest version of UFS (3.1 I believe), the latest amoled panel from big producers (Samsung especially), continued iterations of OxygenOS, better cameras over time, no 3.5mm jack, a card slot (or 256gb/512gb/1tb storage options that still retain good pricing), Ultrasonic ID fingerprint reader, higher wattage fast charging (like SuperVOOC), no wireless charging (it's a gimmick and unnecessary imho), top-end SD+Adreno chipset, stereo speakers, standard 5G integration (that doesn't spike the price), and a competitive price point.
I know I've just described the OP7Pro with a few alterations but the phone was breakthrough as a flagship and a great base point off of which to build new models going into 2020 and beyond.
Can transform into a drone...
every single leak i've seen has a hole punch which means I'm absolutely not interested. I am absolutely stunned OnePlus would be so stupid to go from a fullscreen phone that is heralded as one of the best ever and move to a hole punch thinking that is an upgrade. so disappointed
mookiexl said:
If the hole punch is on all Oneplus 8 variants then I'm really not interested at all. I'll probably stick with 7pro until another manufacture releases a stockish android experience, with nothing on the screen except screen, and at least 90hz refresh rate, and a decent development community. Oh and under $650 so that counts out pixels to.
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I'm on the same boat.
Punch hole display is deal breaker to me.
As for alternative only Xiaomi MI MIX 4 could bring full screen experience in 2020 without thouse nonsense punch hole,notch etc and despite non stockish Android out of box, but after oneplus xiaomi devices have the second strongest development community and support.
Google Pixel phones is not at my choice Btw.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
paatha13 said:
I'm on the same boat.
Punch hole display is deal breaker to me.
As for alternative only Xiaomi MI MIX 4 could bring full screen experience in 2020 without thouse nonsense punch hole,notch etc and despite non stockish Android out of box, but after oneplus xiaomi devices have the second strongest development community and support.
Google Pixel phones is not at my choice Btw.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
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I check for news on the Mi Mix4 and found that it too looks like the punch hole will be present
I don't want a phone with a punch hole camera, makes me sad OnePlus is going down that road.
punch hole does not break it, but curved screen - yes. that is a dealbreaker.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-8/how-to
Sent from my ali using XDA Labs
Hoping for a persistent notification LED in some form (due to the LED itself being removed in phones these days) - for those times I don't hear my phone go off.
I'm not going to change my habits i.e. pick up the phone every 5 mins to see if I missed an important text, no. I'd rather just quickly glance at the phone without switching it on.
Waiting for OP8 but is it possible to buy it during this quarantine period...? But the reach of Oneplus 8 series will be huge as all of people are sitting home and scrolling news feeds...
aj321123 said:
Waiting for OP8 but is it possible to buy it during this quarantine period...? But the reach of Oneplus 8 series will be huge as all of people are sitting home and scrolling news feeds...
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Yes, you can - I did. Being delivered tomorrow.
Alan

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