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So I was interested in this phone from the moment that it was announced. I've been waiting for a phone of reasonable size, but that also has high-end specs, for quite some time now, and the Razr M finally fit the bill. In the past year or so I've owned the following: 1) HTC One X (returned due to all sorts of bugs, including delays in receiving push email, not to mention that it was huge); 2) Galaxy Nexus (this was actually an AWESOME phone... just way too big for my taste. My wife owns it now.); 3) HTC One S (decent size, although still much larger than the M. Riddled with bugs though... funky wifi, delayed push notifications, etc.).I was not on Verizon prior to yesterday, but I did have various other incentives to switch from AT&T, so I waited a week to see what people's initial impressions of Razr M were before I finally pulled the trigger yesterday. Here are my first impressions after ~24 hours of use.
Build quality and form factor are awesome. This thing is just a perfect size. Roughly the same size, or even smaller, than last year's phones with 4" screens. I've been waiting over a year for a high-end phone that's not huge, and this thing does not disappointment. The little flap that has to be pulled up to put in the SIM and SD cards feels a little old school, but it seems solid enough. Overall, if you've been waiting for a smaller phone, I think you won't be disappointed.
The M is fast and smooth. I've owned a number of high end phones in the last few months and the M is as fast as and as smooth as any of them. Benchmarks prove it (read reviews; I'm not going to post any numbers here.). If you are obsessed with specs and benchmarks, the M will not disappoint. If all you care about is a smooth user experience, the M will certainly not disappoint.
Blur / Motorola android overlay. I don't really like it. It's MUCH better than old versions of blur, and some of you will probably think my complaints are nitpicky, but I just prefer the stock experience (so I use Nova Launcher). First of all, I don't like that the "4g" symbol stays in the notification bar even when connected to wifi. It's the only Android phone I've ever used that leaves the cellular network symbol ("4g" or "3g" or "H+" or whatever your network happens to have) in the notification bar when connected to wifi. It's just a waste of space, and it makes you wonder if the mobile network is somehow sucking down battery life even when it shouldn't be.
Second, I don't like the fact that the dock icons have labels beneath them. WTF? Again, I don't think I've ever seen a launcher that puts labels in the dock. I get rid of all icon labels anyways using Nova, but labels in the dock is just too much for me.
Third, I don't like the persistent google search bar. Even if removed, you just have a row of dead space at the top of the screen. All of these things led me to ditch the stock launcher and go with Nova. I think Motorola's attempt at a quick settings area (scroll all the way to the left) was a pretty good effort, but I think it should have just stuck with the tried and true quick settings in the notification pulldown. This way, you wouldn't lose it when you change launchers. Overall, this version of blur is probably the best yet, but it still doesn't compare to AOSP, nor does it compare to Nova Launcher, in my opinion.
Bloatware on this phone is bad. All sorts of garbage. Thankfully, 95% of it can be disabled. Even so, what a waste of space. I really hope the carriers are making a ton of money off of bloatware, otherwise they are just idiots for continuing to include it despite a very clear message from users that we don't want bloatware.
The screen on the phone is good. I won't go into pentile, but it doesn't bother me. The one comment I have is that compared to my HTC One S (which also has a 4.3" amoled pentile display) the whites on the M are more of a dull yellow. You only notice it if you hold the M up next to a phone that has superior whites, but if you do, you will see that whites on the M are pretty bad. No big deal to me though, but I just thought I'd mention it.
Signal strength has been a concern for me with this phone. There were some reports of weak 4g LTE signal compared to other Motorola phones on Verizon. Honestly, I haven't really been able to nail this down. I can say that both the 1x and 3g EV-DO signals on this phone seem to be just as good as they are on blackberries, iPhone, and other Motorola phones, so I don't think there's a 1x or 3g signal problem. Unfortunately I haven't been able to directly compare it to other LTE phones on Verizon. If I can, I'll report back. Suffice it to say that in the metro-DC area, I hold a steady and decently strong 4g LTE signal, so if it weren't for the reports, I would have no reason to believe there are any signal issues.
Battery life is awesome. When I picked the phone up yesterday and turned it on, it had 42% battery life. By the time it died this morning, it had been on charge for about 16 hours, and it had 3 hours 20 minutes of screen on time. That extrapolates to about 35 hours off charger and 7 hours screen on, if starting from a full battery. Given, this was mostly on wifi, but that's still pretty good. And the battery hasn't even been conditioned yet, so I suspect it might get even better. Also, this was with no battery saving mechanisms in place. I'm not using smart actions or juice defender or anything else. I've got a gmail account, gtalk, and a couple other things syncing in the background. Overall, compares favorably with every phone I've ever used so far. Hopefully the first day was representative!
The notification LED. This thing is effing awesome. I LOVE notification LEDs, and for some reason most phones have really crappy ones, if they have them at all. The Galaxy Nexus (and now the S3) have great ones. But HTC devices have horrible LEDs the size of pin heads, that are recessed into speaker grills so you can barely even see them. The M's notification LED is bright, large, and easy to see from a distance and from an angle. LOVE it. It also works with Light Flow out of the box. So far I'm using Green, Magenta, Orange, Yellow, and Red, and they all work. Haven't tested blue, pink, or purple, but no reason to think they wouldn't work, too.
Call quality. Who makes phone calls anymore these days, anyways? =P (haven't tested call quality yet. sorry).
Camera. Haven't really taken many shots, but initial impression is--as most of the reviews said--mediocre. Not terrible by any means, and sufficient for my needs (taking the occasional photo of my dog). But clearly does not hold a candle to the amazing camera on the One S or One X.
Wifi / GPS / Bluetooth. Haven't tested GPS or bluetooth yet, but the wifi antenna appears to be awesome. I get a much better signal (and speeds) on the M than I get on the One S or on my wife's Gnex. Thumbs up on wifi.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. I have too much time on my hands. But my initial impression of the phone is extremely positive. If anybody is on the fence, I'd say go for it. Fingers crossed that a few devs pick this thing up and that we at least get root. But because I love the size of this phone so much, and since I haven't really located any annoying bugs thus far, I think it's a phone I'd be content to own for a year or two even without root.
9/24 5:30pm EDT update:
Call quality is fine. Honestly, I'm not a call quality audiophile. Everything is loud and clear, just like it has been on pretty much every cell phone I've owned in the past few years. Nothing unusual to report.
GPS is really solid. It locks MUCH more quickly than either the Galaxy Nexus or the HTC One S. GPS Status also shows that it both sees and uses a few more satellites than the One S does. For instance, I was sitting near a window in my living room, and the M was using 10/19 satellites, while the One S was using 7/17. GPS gets a thumbs up.
And this is probably something I'll create a separate thread on, but I'm getting some wakelocks on the M that I do not get on the One S. I have the M and the One S setup identically. When the One S's screen is off, the phone is in deep sleep. The battery settings show that the phone is almost never awake unless the screen is on. The M, by contrast, is frequently awake for very short periods of time even when the screen is off. It does not seem to be causing much battery drain, as I'm still losing well less than 1% per hour on wifi (when the screen is off), but it is nevertheless worth noting because presumably it should not be happening. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what is causing the wakelocks, but haven't figured it out yet. I somehow suspect it has something to do with "phone idle" taking up a much higher percentage of battery consumption than I've seen on other phones. In any event, I'll start a separate thread on this when I gather a bit more info, but just something to be aware of.
Very thorough description phositadc, thanks!
"Second, I don't like the fact that the dock icons have labels beneath them."
Just a note that you can remove the labels in the dock.
Thanks for the review.
Pretty much mirrors my experience with this device. Except, I use Apex launcher rather than Nova. Also, coming from a Droid X2, this phone has a tendency to slip out of my hand sometimes (gives me a heart attack).
Not_A_Dev said:
Pretty much mirrors my experience with this device. Except, I use Apex launcher rather than Nova. Also, coming from a Droid X2, this phone has a tendency to slip out of my hand sometimes (gives me a heart attack).
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Click to collapse
Yeah none of the reviews mention it but I agree it's worth noting that the phone is pretty slippery (due to its size, materials, or both). I was planning to go without a case but if cruzerlite or diztronic makes one I'll probably get one.
-Sent from my Razr M.-
jmctitan said:
"Second, I don't like the fact that the dock icons have labels beneath them."
Just a note that you can remove the labels in the dock.
Thanks for the review.
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Click to collapse
Really? Without a custom launcher? I must've missed that setting; could you please tell me where it is?
-Sent from my Razr M.-
I'd have to agree with your mini-review phositadc. I just popped the sim in and started setting this phone up. I have a rooted VZW GS3 and this DE razr is much more suited to me. The samsung is going up on craigs!
phositadc said:
Really? Without a custom launcher? I must've missed that setting; could you please tell me where it is?
-Sent from my Razr M.-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also use custom icons with the stock launcher.
Ugh, sorry. I was mistaken. My apologies for getting your hopes up.
phositadc said:
Really? Without a custom launcher? I must've missed that setting; could you please tell me where it is?
-Sent from my Razr M.-
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jmctitan said:
Ugh, sorry. I was mistaken. My apologies for getting your hopes up.
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Just replace the stock UI icons with custom icons and it solves your issue.
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How do you replace the stock icons? Thanks in advance.
lsxmma said:
Just replace the stock UI icons with custom icons and it solves your issue.
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Click to collapse
I downloaded desktop vizualizer to make an icon. Than removed the stock icon I wanted to replace it with. Then you just drag the new icon in its place.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
lsxmma said:
I downloaded desktop vizualizer to make an icon. Than removed the stock icon I wanted to replace it with. Then you just drag the new icon in its place.
Hope this helps.
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Click to collapse
muffled audio.
I got a Razor M for my wife & she's been complaining about voice quality, says it sounds very muffled. So it's going back to Amazon for replacement, we'll see if the 2nd one will be any better.
Update
I'll post this at the end of my OP, but just to add a little more:
Call quality is fine. Honestly, I'm not a call quality audiophile. Everything is loud and clear, just like it has been on pretty much every cell phone I've owned in the past few years. Nothing unusual to report.
GPS is really solid. It locks MUCH more quickly than either the Galaxy Nexus or the HTC One S. GPS Status also shows that it both sees and uses a few more satellites than the One S does. For instance, I was sitting near a window in my living room, and the M was using 10/19 satellites, while the One S was using 7/17. GPS gets a thumbs up.
And this is probably something I'll create a separate thread on, but I'm getting some wakelocks on the M that I do not get on the One S. I have the M and the One S setup identically. When the One S's screen is off, the phone is in deep sleep. The battery settings show that the phone is almost never awake unless the screen is on. The M, by contrast, is frequently awake for very short periods of time even when the screen is off. It does not seem to be causing much battery drain, as I'm still losing well less than 1% per hour on wifi (when the screen is off), but it is nevertheless worth noting because presumably it should not be happening. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what is causing the wakelocks, but haven't figured it out yet. I somehow suspect it has something to do with "phone idle" taking up a much higher percentage of battery consumption than I've seen on other phones. In any event, I'll start a separate thread on this when I gather a bit more info, but just something to be aware of.
Nice review!!! Love the edge to edge display. It doesn't hit the shelves in my country yet. Hope we got it with intel Atom cpu coz I heard Razr M with Atom cpu in UK.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
I use the phone a lot, about 3000 peak minutes a month. I find the phone sounds better than just about any cell phone I've used. The best part is the phone is nice and loud. My use is in NYC where the streets are noisy, and, I work on construction sites. This phone is far better with notifications, earpiece and rear speaker than any other phone I've used.
Battery life for me is a mixed bag. I can get down to 1.5%/hour so sitting on my desk I easily get a day, probably two in standby. So far, in use, it hasn't been that good. After about eight hours, the battery is down to 15%. The battery charges pretty fast though so it takes the sting out of being off charger with heavy use during the day.
Screen for me is as good as anything else I've used. I rather have the D3 screen which could be better viewed in daylight. I don't use my phone for movies, games or serious photos so the screen doesn't need to be retina.
Thanks for the info guys. The wife is CRAZY about the circle widgets and for that reason alone she's probably going get this phone but the mediocre camera could be the reason she goes with an S3. You never know what she's going to like or why. Example, her favorite rifle of mine is my FAL. Why? Because it has a carrying handle and "it's just handy." She bought her Toyota Matrix because it had a wiper on the back window and really liked that feature. lol
Thanks for a great review. I played with the phone at a Verizon store and it did not strike me as particularly snappy. However, that was probably due to the blur launcher and an abused display specimen.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2
cowisland said:
Thanks for a great review. I played with the phone at a Verizon store and it did not strike me as particularly snappy. However, that was probably due to the blur launcher and an abused display specimen.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2
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Yeah I think that is true... the one I used at the store was mediocre as are many store devices... but the one I bought is as fast and smooth as any android device I've used.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Seven months ago I was standing in the Best Buy, with Note 2 in one hand and S3 in the other hand, comparing both phones. After about 5-10 minutes - decision was easy, and I walked away without a single doubt in my mind that I will go with Note 2. Called Verizon the same day and had it shipped to my door right away. Fast forward to today. I was given an opportunity to review newly introduced VZW S4 and wanted to share some of the details of this new flagship model from Samsung. So here I am, with Note 2 in one hand and S4 in the other hand, and let me tell you - the decision is no longer an easy one. Let me go into more details why.
First of all it's a natural evolution of technology where the latest phone model will have better spec of its predecessor (S3) and will match or even surpass other models (Note 2). Since I'm referring to Verizon version of S4, the spec might differ from other versions, but not significantly (with an exception of models with a different processor). S4 stepped up to the latest Android 4.2.2 with a refreshed TouchWiz UI from Samsung. Featuring 5" Super AMOLED display with next gen Gorilla Glass 3 and full HD (1080p) the display is breathtaking. Along with 1.9GHz quad-core processor, 2600 mAh battery, 13MP rear and 2MP front cameras, 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal memory, and expandability with microSD up to 64GB - we are talking about powerhouse hidden inside of a slim 130g (4.6oz) package. I'm sure you all familiar with this dry technical info. For benefit of those who are still deciding or just got your new S4 - let me go into more exciting part of what I found special about this phone as a current user of Note 2.
Unboxing of the new phone is always fun, and with it's new "natural wood" theme the packaging is very eye appealing. Beside the phone, the box also included Samsung wall charger (2A) with a removable usb/micro-usb cord. The charger and the cable are golden. Keep that in mind this is a true 2A charger with a quality thick usb cable designed to carry 2A of current in order to take full advantage of fast charging of your battery. It also comes with headphones, a wired in-ear with in-line remote that will allow you to change the volume up/down and control music/video with multi-function play-pause button that also picks up and hangs up calls. Don't expect any heavy bass from these, but the sound was very clear, no distortion at high volumes. It came with extra ear tips, and also this new version of headphones has noodle shaped wires.
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Just for you to get an idea of "visual" when comparing S4 to N2, I think it worth while to take a closer look at these side-by-side. Basically, depending how you look at it, its a scaled up or scaled down version of one versus the other.
Keeping it's layout consistent with other Samsung phones, you can see all around pictures of S4 and location of its buttons and ports. I have to mention that built quality is very solid. Probably not the same premium material as the latest iPhone or HTC One, but it doesn't feel cheap at all. Since I'm on a subject of hardware, I do want to mention a few points. People always bring up visibility of display outside under direct sunlight. Its typical for any phone with a quality glass screen - bring it up to full brightness, and there is no issue. It's definitely better than my Note 2 under the same settings. Also I found 4G LTE speed/signal to be on par with my Note 2, really no difference holding them side-by-side. Call quality was excellent, something to expect from Verizon. And last but not least, I was also happy with a volume level of the built-in speaker. Again, it's not HTC One with it's Beats technology, but it's for sure above average. If you want to turn your phone into boombox, that's what bt speakers are for
Once you remove the battery cover, you are faced with a removable battery (2600 mAh), micro-SD slot for expansion, and removable SIM card slot. NFC is built into the battery, so you will not see any external visible antenna. Now, here is a BIG surprise for Verizon customers: wireless charging connectors are BACK and accessible!!! For those who are familiar with N2, those were not accessible before in Verizon version of N2. That is a great news! Now you have an option of getting an alternative battery cover with a built-in charging coil and metal contacts for the back of the phone. You will also need to get a charging pad for that. I think it's a great option since you can either stay with a slim version of the battery cover or upgrade to wireless charging which does add a little bit of bulk. Here is how it looks under the hood:
And since I'm on a battery subject, here are the stats after my first full charge. I do have to admit, it was a light use with some web browsing, testing various apps, making a few phone calls, and all the services running by default in the background. This 2600 mAh got me through 2 days and 6 hours with 16% still remaining!!!
Also, just FYI, the capture of phone info so you can see model number, Android versions, hw version, etc.
Of course, the fun really begins when you start using this phone and dive into all the new features introduced with Android 4.2.2 and TouchWiz UI, supported by new hardware. First thing you will notice right away is a partitioning of functions when you go into Settings. This makes it easier to navigate being split into Connections, My Device, Accounts, and More.
In addition to listing all the new features, I wanted to capture it in actual setting menu so you can get a better idea. Here we have Motions and Gestures that include Air Gesture, Motion, Palm Motion, and Motion Calibration with g-scope
Smart screen with it's Smart Stay, Smart Rotation, Smart pause, and Smart Scroll
Air View with Info Preview, Progress Preview, Speed Dial Preview, and Webpage Magnifier
A more detailed Voice Control for Incoming Calls, Alarm, Camera, and Music
Obviously these are just descriptions to wet your appetite. To show how these look in action, I tried to capture it in the following series of shots. Keep in mind, those are all air gestures where I do not touch the screen. I just hover my finger over it to take advantage of the new gesture sensor located at the top to the right of the front speaker.
Webpage Magnifier
Txt message Magnifier (my first junk txt msg addressed to someone I have no idea who)
Picture preview with air-view (remember, I'm not touching the screen)
Video preview/scroll air-view (amazing where you can scroll frame-by-frame to get to the exact position in timeline)
With a new 13MP/2MP rear/front cameras, you get some new cool features as well.
Camera - effects you can preview in real time with different filters
Dual camera photos - back camera and embedded front camera image where you can change the frame of embedded image
Camera - different modes, amazing idea of animated mode with multiple shots in one or erasing an unwanted subject from the background
Camera - voice commands for taking pictures and recording videos
While browsing different new apps, S-Translator really caught my eye. You can type and translate between 9 common worldwide language, and actually have an option of phone saying out loud the translation.
Multi-window view is not new for Note 2 users, but now it can be enjoyed on S4 as well. With 5" screen you have plenty of real estate to have two screens side by side, and a lot of apps already come pre-configured for that use.
Something I found absolutely amazing is when you touch any app/widget icon it shows you a new target screen without a need to drag it across multiple screens. Even better, you can wave your hand above air view sensor and the screen will move from one to the other until you stop at a new target screen where you want to drop your app/widget.
Further, Notification Panel selection was improved where you can use 1-finger to pull it down to reveal a scrolling selection or 2-finger pull down to reveal matrix selection where each icon is visible
Of course, I saved the best for last - IR Blaster to blast you right through the control of your tv and cablebox!!! All I had to do is to tell it a brand of my tv and cable box, and it paired up within seconds. Just amazing, I was using my phone as a remote control
I'm sure there are more new features but I decided to highlight those above as the top worth mentioning. Keep in mind, this is a review of Verizon version of S4. Even so the gap between different providers has been closing, there are still some differences. Like for example, you will get more bloatware with VZW S4 version. Luckily, you can go in App manager and Disable a lot of the unwanted apps. It will not permanently remove it from the phone (you still will have an option to enable it later), but rather will prevent these apps from loading into your memory and checking for updates. There is also a question why WiFi toggle was removed and Blocking Mode toggle is not available. But in my opinion these are very minor details. For me the most important detail is the Network where I know I can get my maximum number of signal bars and clear calls that don't get dropped. Being on East Coast in tri-state area - Verizon is the ONLY reliable choice for me.
In Conclusion, this is one Amazing phone!!! When I got Note 2, beside big screen everybody was carrying on about s-pen. It's nice and makes a great conversation piece, but I personally found not much use for it. Just my personal opinion. With all these new features introduced in S4 - I actually can see myself using a lot of it, and don't consider them as just a gimmick. For the last few days, beside doing my own testing, I have been demoing S4 to a lot of my friends and co-workers, and everyone's reaction is the same - outstanding! I wasn't able to capture this in pictures, but you can actually scroll through the webpage up/down just by using your eye movement. Something that was only seen in si-fi movies, now available in the palm of your hands!!! And again, backed up by VZW 4G LTE you can really enjoy this new technology to full potential!!!
Thanks for taking the time to review. It's nice to hear it from a regular user. How do you feel about it only being 16gb? That's the only thing holding me back and keeping me on my gnex.
Mayajw said:
Thanks for taking the time to review. It's nice to hear it from a regular user. How do you feel about it only being 16gb? That's the only thing holding me back and keeping me on my gnex.
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Click to collapse
It would have been an issue if you don't have microSD card option. You can add 64GB without a problem. Plus, if you are rooted, you can clean up some bloatware to free up more space. Honestly, its NOT a show stopper!!!
and don't forget DropBox and other services to store your extra data files.
vectron said:
It would have been an issue if you don't have microSD card option. You can add 64GB without a problem. Plus, if you are rooted, you can clean up some bloatware to free up more space. Honestly, its NOT a show stopper!!!
and don't forget DropBox and other services to store your extra data files.
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Click to collapse
How much space did getting rid of the bloat free up?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Mayajw said:
How much space did getting rid of the bloat free up?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
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Could easily be over a gig. But I'm not rooting the phone since it was provided to me for a review, and I have to return it back. My Note 2 came with 16GB and I'm not rooted. I yet to fill up the space. Also, have 32GB microSD where I store my picture and music. I think space is not an issue. On the other hand, when I bought Nexus 7, I choose the highest built in storage because I can't upgrade that. Again, just my personal opinion, 16GB is not a deal breaker with some many options to expand your storage.
Thanks for the review, I did a much smaller comparison/review myself a week ago from my Note2 to the S4..
I made myself a deal that if I couldn't sell off my N2 to someone within my 14 day return period on my S4 I would have taken the S4 back and just kept the N2. I just sold my N2 last night with about 5 days left in my 14 day return period.
Honestly I feel that the Note2 is a every part last-gen Android device today and I actually just encourage people to keep their N2s and skip the S4, it's not a major change.. mostly in size.. The screen difference is nice but it shouldn't be a deal breaker on the N2. . 720p looks great even at 5.5".
16GB is a little tight
vectron said:
Could easily be over a gig. But I'm not rooting the phone since it was provided to me for a review, and I have to return it back. My Note 2 came with 16GB and I'm not rooted. I yet to fill up the space. Also, have 32GB microSD where I store my picture and music. I think space is not an issue. On the other hand, when I bought Nexus 7, I choose the highest built in storage because I can't upgrade that. Again, just my personal opinion, 16GB is not a deal breaker with some many options to expand your storage.
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Click to collapse
I've rooted and tried freeing up space and even tried a couple early ROMs (AOKP & CM). My estimate of bloatware savings is it's less than a gig, but there might be ways to get it up in that ballpark. Also, adding the microSD storage does not provide seamless additional storage for apps. Even a rooted phone (at least right now) still requires some third party apps and mulitstep work to move apps and (app) data to the external storage. I'm not saying it can't be done, but even if you root, I'm not sure it will ever be simple to move apps and data to microSD.
Why do you need applications on the SD card? Just put pictures and music and miscellaneous files there, which should be the largest files anyway.
Your prayers have been ANSWERED!!! http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/06/galaxy-s-4-software-update/ - New S4 software update will allow moving of apps to SD card seamlessly without any need for 3rd party apps or rooting!!!
Some apps are big (a gig or so). I have not run into a capacity issue yet, but I only have about 5gb left for internal storage. Also Google services for Music and Video only allow content to be downloaded to internal memory. I just wanted to make sure it's made clear that adding an SD doesn't solve everything.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
Great review, how do you get rid of the 4G Symbol while Wifi is on?
Why are they both at the top of the screen?
Also, how can you tell how strong the Wifi signal is, I dont see my bars moving like my Galaxy Nexus did
gt5oh said:
Great review, how do you get rid of the 4G Symbol while Wifi is on?
Why are they both at the top of the screen?
Also, how can you tell how strong the Wifi signal is, I dont see my bars moving like my Galaxy Nexus did
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4G signal stays on when wi-fi is off; you can see number of bars as well. Once you turn wifi on, 4G signal disappears on my phone and replaced by wifi signal with its own bar meter in there. That other symbol you refer to is not wifi. I think its GPS, although I'm not sure yet what those side-bars in there mean.
jamosjamos said:
Some apps are big (a gig or so). I have not run into a capacity issue yet, but I only have about 5gb left for internal storage. Also Google services for Music and Video only allow content to be downloaded to internal memory. I just wanted to make sure it's made clear that adding an SD doesn't solve everything.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you can move apps to SD, so that should solve a problem? Unless in some cases you can only move an app but not the data, and the data could take 10x as much space as the actual app. Either way, I think it's always a good idea to store your pictures and music on SD card (and have that backed up periodically) and either keep apps locally or on SD card. So even if data stays locally - you are still freeing up a lot of space. Of course, rooting is another great way to get rid of all the stock bloatware which you will not be able to move or uninstall
I bought this phone about a week ago coming from an iPhone 6 (I jump often between android/iOS) and I really regret it at the moment. First of all, battery life is HORRIBLE! I'm waking up with a full charge every morning, and after only waking the phone up a few times over 8 hours, I get back home with about 65% battery life when the phone hasn't even been stressed at all!
Touchscreen not functioning if you tap directly on one of the edges, so if you have a button or a link or something else to click on and this click-button is out on the edge it often wont register the tap, but if you however slide your finger out to the edge, the sensor will pick it up all the way.
I know this probably is so that you don't accidentally touch the screen while holding the phone, but I paid 8000 SEK (852 EUR) for this phone, I'm expecting things like this to not downgrade the touchscreen-functionality.
I've had random freezes after waking up the device to lock screen, making me wait about a minute before it "releases" or until i restart the phone.
I could go on with a few more things but I'm not here to bore you, and please don't get me wrong. It's a beast phone with a beautiful screen and design, which is why I bought it. It's just that the issues in this phone is to compare with android phones a few years ago.
Please tell me what you think if you read all this
Dont regret it in the slightest
100% agree with you mate. I have the same battery life issues and find the screen to be it responsive, especially when using Swiftkey or fleksy.
I am considering switching to the 6P or even just the 6.
I have to admit though that the camera is outstanding!
The sleeping freeze bug is known and seems to be resolved in the upcoming OTA update that is now making its way to the various countries.. For the rest I can only say that you either have a defective device (swap it for a new one) or a rogue app (do a hard reset en reinstall until you find the culprit app). Oh, and go through your settings and fine-tune battery usage by switching off functions that are not key to your way of using the phone...
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk
I have no issues what so ever. I easily get 6-7h SoT regularly and I don't even do anything to save battery - I just disabled some apps using the stock app manager.
Idle drain could be a bit better, I lose about 5-7% over night (8-10 hours), but you can charge it back in like 10 mins, so I don't really mind.
While the Edge+ is the sexiest phone I have ever had, I do regret getting it.
--Battery life is below average
--Fingerprint scanner is hit or miss. TouchID is a billion times better
--Not much app/utilities to take advantage of the edges
--Not much ROM development
--Poor quality (my charging port died first month)
--The glare on the edges
--Super slippery without cases
--Not much available cases
--Not much available quality tempered glass screen protector
--No Samsung Pay if Knox is tripped/rooted
--Fast Charging/Quick Charger 2.0 sometimes work and don't
--Daily lags/stutters
--Speaker not very loud
--Proximity sensor hit or miss
--To use the edge cool notification, phone needs to be faced down. Who puts their phone face down? WTF Samsung
--Wireless charging is slow, and make the phone really hot.
--Camera: (1) in low light, it sucks (2) have hard time focus on moving objects
--Screen not as touch sensitive
--Screen not as bright out door
--Phone depreciates in value so fast.
I say it all the time it's not the phone it's the apps. The programmers are not optimizing the apps correctly. I also blame user error. Also the lack of knowledge about how to properly turn off unnecessary syncing. I have none of the problems said here except slow charge and that is due to the wireless charger not being the fast charge version.
I've had none of the bugs/problems some people describe I came from the iPhone 6 plus and I don't regret it at all! Only initial disappointment was the battery life. But a couple of weeks ago I remembered that I had got a 1 years McAffee subscription when I bought the phone so I though since its free I'll download and try it. Since I engaged the battery optimizer setting in the app I've been getting stellar battery life. On for 8 to 9 hours SOT some days. And that's with location, sync etc still on. As far as I can see its controlling of how often the sync can occur seems to be making the difference. So I would recommend this or a similar app. I don't know if using McAfee free app without the subscription will have battery optimizer available though.
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk
I've had the phone a week. A few days into it, my feeling was the same - highly frustrated.
I had to re-initialise twice to get rid of the reboot issues.
The keyboard is affected by the curved screen.
I have the Note4 and the first few days I was constantly reaching for it.
It's changed completely. The phone has settled down. Using the keyboard is still hit or miss however;
The screen is beautiful
The phone is beautiful - after a while, every other phone feels cheap.
The battery life is actually - very good! I charge once a day, and then again if I'm up after 10pm.
It's fast, boy.
The phone is built for swiping - so swishy! Very fluid.
It charges quick.
I love the night clock!
The screen, the screen, the screen.
It's a beautiful, sexy phone. Very. It's how it makes me feel while I'm using it.
And the camera. Enough said.
Fingerprint works for me 99% without any problems really. Never have the hit or miss in that.
Battery lasts good after the new AOJ5 update.
Didn't have the freeze of lag other people had before the update and it became even better after it.
I use SwiftKey and don't have any problems with keys on the edge or swiping at the edge.
For being a phone the speaker is OK but you don't buy a phone for the speaker sound.
Camera is great and ok in low light.
Charges really fast with wireless. Just make sure it says fast charging in notifications.
One bad thing is that there isn't really any apps that support the edge feature.
Laying the phone with display down is outright stupid and notification should work with it turned up.
Sent from an secret device from my hideout.
I don't regret. it's the best phone I ever had.
Batterly life is correct (48h) and I've not done the AOJ5 update yet!
Pictures quality is amating.
Screen is really great, compared face to face with the Iphone 6+ of a friend, the S6 screen is better.
The only bug I have so far is the freeze, sometimes (once a week), when unlocking with finger prints.
Excellent phone With 6-7sot ..excellent caméra. ..fast. .my only regret is the infrared missing
Envoyé de mon SM-G928F
My only regret is the brightness bug... Everything else i love this phone
Excellent phone but with root access and knowledge about simple modding. So keep in mind I'm not taking about stock.
-Battery life is even better than Z3. On wifi i can easily go above 7h SOT (my record is 8h) even with gaming. Fast charging is great also (wireless too!)
-Screen is beautiful, infinite blacks super resolution and great visibility outdoors
-Speed and multitasking best I've ever seen
-excellent build quality and premium feel (and look)
-very responsive touchscreen, maybe too responsive as it can easily react even to metal objects
-very loud speaker (not stereo but at least i can hear it, on Sony stereo speakers were very quiet and sometimes harsh on max volume)
-one of the best cameras, the best auto mode, pro mode with lots of features
-signal on both wifi and gsm is strong and stable
-not getting warm when being used
-great development (not quantity but quality is the key!)
Cons:
-might be uncomfortable to hold and use, accidental touches might be registered when using one handed
-glass build so you should be careful
-heart rate monitor/led glass is prone to scratches (not gorilla glass for sure)
-don't really like the audio port placement
Wysłane z mojego SM-G928F przy użyciu Tapatalka
Love it. No issues here. Battery life is great. The display and camera are amazing. No lag or wake issues either.
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Envoyé de mon SM-G928F
No reget, I love this phone so far
- Love the beautiful the design, unique, it amazing
- Good build quality
- Best camera, Pro mode is a plus
- Best screen, new experience on curved screen
- Battery was very extremely good, 1-2% overnight (if no LED notification, disabled apps, Lux, Greenify, Disabled services)
- Have no issues about heating, fast charging, wireless charging
(doing Fast charging when battery low it does warm up a little - 40C, when it reach about 60% it become more and more cooler)
Hid3rs said:
I have no issues what so ever. I easily get 6-7h SoT regularly and I don't even do anything to save battery - I just disabled some apps using the stock app manager.
Idle drain could be a bit better, I lose about 5-7% over night (8-10 hours), but you can charge it back in like 10 mins, so I don't really mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same
Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk
richierich118 said:
I say it all the time it's not the phone it's the apps. The programmers are not optimizing the apps correctly. I also blame user error. Also the lack of knowledge about how to properly turn off unnecessary syncing. I have none of the problems said here except slow charge and that is due to the wireless charger not being the fast charge version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned before, for most of us, 852 EUR for a phone is pretty expensive, and this is only for the 32GB model. I'm not accepting the fact that I paid that much for a phone that wasn't going to be at least 95% perfect out of the box. We're living in 2015, we SHOULD'NT HAVE THE NEED to turn off sync, turn off gps, etc. in order to get our phones last a day, and we definitely shouldn't have the need to remove things or to root the phone and install customizations in order to make it work properly.
It should JUST WORK as Apple-fans say, and I really can't blame them as the iPhone 6 I had "just worked" with it's teeny-weeny 1800mAh battery lasting me until afternoon the next day with standard usage of the phone.
This is purely a Samsung/S6 Edge+ fault and not android itself as my work-phone which is a Z3 can last a full workday of GPS:ing and spotifying and I'll still come home with about 60-70% battery. And if I leave it turned on on a Friday with 50-60% battery, I will have about 30-35% battery on the Monday (of course in stand-by the whole weekend but still).
Now I know I talk much about the battery life in this post. But it's just one of the many issues that I can compare with other phones and with the Z3 I also have.
Marmelka said:
... We're living in 2015, we SHOULD'NT HAVE THE NEED to turn off sync, turn off gps, etc. in order to get our phones last a day, and we definitely shouldn't have the need to remove things or to root the phone and install customizations in order to make it work properly...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life seems to be so different from a person to another.
I have wifi always on, sync always on, screen brightness on automatic, ... well all is on except:
Bluetooth is off, NFC is off, I use the "Manage app" under the RAM tool to close most of the app automatically and I turn-off the smart network option under Wifi.
I have WIfi at home and at work, it probably helps too.
See screenshot attached, ok it's a scenario where I have not played game a lot during these days.
This is coming from an IPhone 6s plus
The phone feels amazing on the hands, the speakers sound lound and clear, fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate, the camera is amazing especially the wide angle.
The battery life is average speaking on a first cycle basis and with everything on, Bluetooth,nfc,gps, brightness 100%,always on display, occasional music and video streaming. The screen brightness could be a little higher but overall happy with this phone, it went from 5%-40% during a 17minute charge time so the quick charge 3.0 is amazing plus that extra battery being shipped fixes any concern with the battery life.
No weird issue with backlight bleed, dead pixel or phone getting to hot.
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Awesome mine comes tomorrow can't wait to get it did u enable the app drawer or no
My G5 is getting hot doing the most basic of tasks. Like posting this. Feels like I've been running an intense game but I've done nothing of the sort.
ward24 said:
Awesome mine comes tomorrow can't wait to get it did u enable the app drawer or no
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't find the option only if I enable the easy home so I stopped messing with it
Stocklone said:
My G5 is getting hot doing the most basic of tasks. Like posting this. Feels like I've been running an intense game but I've done nothing of the sort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let it settle and load all your apps it will stop getting hot, I thought the same the first hour of setting it up
Stock image no editing
ward24 said:
Awesome mine comes tomorrow can't wait to get it did u enable the app drawer or no
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HtcOnekid said:
Didn't find the option only if I enable the easy home so I stopped messing with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't got the phone (yet),but,from several video reviews I've seen,easy mode is the only access you have to the (stock) app drawer.
I upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy S5 yesterday.
Pros: fast phone, good battery life, premium build and feel, excellent camera both front and rear, loud and robust built in speaker, hi is clean and customizable. Vibrations while typing and unlocking feel solid and premium. IR blaster is powerful and effective. Not a whole lot of bloat pre-installed on it
Cons: Visual voicemail is T-Mobile bloatware instead of being built into the phone app like it should be on Marshmallow. The back lock/unlock/power button will take some getting used to. Since this is my first device with USB-C I only have one cable in the house at the moment.
greysonofusa said:
I upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy S5 yesterday.
Pros: fast phone, good battery life, premium build and feel, excellent camera both front and rear, loud and robust built in speaker, hi is clean and customizable. Vibrations while typing and unlocking feel solid and premium. IR blaster is powerful and effective. Not a whole lot of bloat pre-installed on it
Cons: Visual voicemail is T-Mobile bloatware instead of being built into the phone app like it should be on Marshmallow. The back lock/unlock/power button will take some getting used to. Since this is my first device with USB-C I only have one cable in the house at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI you can also turn on the screen by double tapping on it.
I love it except I've already been through 2 of them due to light bleed in the bottom right corner of the screen. I want to keep it because I really enjoy the phone but the light bleed bothers me knowing it is there.
Came from the LG v10 and G4 b4 that I thought the smaller screen would bother me but it's so fast and clear I love it I've been killin benchmark apps like I never seen before. Also the camera is nice the pop up option makes nice pics.
Easy Home is Crap, I couldnt find any other way of enabling the app drawer through the stock launcher so I installed Nova Launcher and everything looks right now. I switched from the V10, the only regret that I have is stepping down to 32gb internal storage from 64gb in the V10. But I still have my 200gb SD card from my v10. My local T-Mobile Store only had the gold color, but it is not an obnoxious gold color. I love the G5 it is soo much snappier than the v10, although no local stores had any cases for this device so I turned to Amazon. I have a TPU clear case, glass screen protector, and an additional USB-C cable so I dont have to move the one from the house to my car charger.
awesome
i got my g5 2 days ago. first i want to say the build quality is sweet. i like the mixture of the plastic and metal on the back. i love the weight of this phone. i take a lot of pics and the more weight the phone has the steadier you can keep your hand. the finger print is very fast. it's almost instantaneous. it doesnt work at first boot though. you have to use your pin/password first then after that you can use your fingerprint. why they decided to do that i dont know. the camera on this thing is amazing. the ois is very good and the focusing is much faster than any lg phone i've had. the first day i had this phone the phone got hot. i dont know if it was the initial break in time or what. i did have to install a bunch of apps and i was playing with it for a long time. it killed my battery life. when i got the phone it had 50% life. i took it down to 15% then charged it back to full. the next cycle is when my phone was pretty warm. the next battery cycle only lasted about 12 hours total. at around 12% i recharged it again to full overnight. when i woke up i restarted the phone with a full battery. it's been 6 hours since then and the phone has not gotten warm once. at 95% i had 45min of SOT. i had to plug my phone in to pc to do some things so it went back to 100% battery. i will see today how much SOT i get from a full drain. if that 5% use was any indication i think it's going to be around 6 hours SOT. that's what i got on my note 5. i didnt like how lg got rid of the app drawer so i installed google now launcher to get it back. i hope we get root on this thing. there are some other tweaks i want to do for even better battery life. not having twrp i can live without. so far i am happy with my pruchase of this g5. i'm looking forward to seeing if my happiness keeps up for the next couple months. i'm hoping this holds me over til the next nexus phone comes out.
freebee269 said:
i got my g5 2 days ago. first i want to say the build quality is sweet. i like the mixture of the plastic and metal on the back. i love the weight of this phone. i take a lot of pics and the more weight the phone has the steadier you can keep your hand. the finger print is very fast. it's almost instantaneous. it doesnt work at first boot though. you have to use your pin/password first then after that you can use your fingerprint. why they decided to do that i dont know. the camera on this thing is amazing. the ois is very good and the focusing is much faster than any lg phone i've had. the first day i had this phone the phone got hot. i dont know if it was the initial break in time or what. i did have to install a bunch of apps and i was playing with it for a long time. it killed my battery life. when i got the phone it had 50% life. i took it down to 15% then charged it back to full. the next cycle is when my phone was pretty warm. the next battery cycle only lasted about 12 hours total. at around 12% i recharged it again to full overnight. when i woke up i restarted the phone with a full battery. it's been 6 hours since then and the phone has not gotten warm once. at 95% i had 45min of SOT. i had to plug my phone in to pc to do some things so it went back to 100% battery. i will see today how much SOT i get from a full drain. if that 5% use was any indication i think it's going to be around 6 hours SOT. that's what i got on my note 5. i didnt like how lg got rid of the app drawer so i installed google now launcher to get it back. i hope we get root on this thing. there are some other tweaks i want to do for even better battery life. not having twrp i can live without. so far i am happy with my pruchase of this g5. i'm looking forward to seeing if my happiness keeps up for the next couple months. i'm hoping this holds me over til the next nexus phone comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like Smart Settings too. I have it turning off wifi as soon as I leave my house and plan on setting it up to launch google play music too. it automatically changes from ringer on to vibrate... I know there's programs that do this for you on other phones but having it built in is cool. This is a useful add-in unlike Slowsungs TouchJiz stuff that is not useful... do I need Gear VR draining resources even though I may never use it... no, then why is it there, Same with Samsung Pay (which I use but others don't) and about 20 other things. LG got it right this time. The G6 or the V11 will just improve on this platform. :good: :laugh:
dillmanr3 said:
Easy Home is Crap, I couldnt find any other way of enabling the app drawer through the stock launcher so I installed Nova Launcher and everything looks right now.charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's how you get the "normal" launcher back:
http://androidforums.com/threads/no-app-drawer-option-on-lg-g5-solved.1015945/#post-7263187
The G5 in the two days I've owned I've owned it is easily in contention for the worst phone I've ever had. Granted LG has some awesome software concepts but that's about where any praise I can give this phone ends. This phone gets hot far to fast even during normal use. Not including it gets ridiciously hot just sitting on the charger untouched. If I load The Walking Dead Road to Survival the battery vanishes. Even as I type this my phone is on my car charger and its using almost as much power and the charger is giving it. If I try and play Pandora while driving it actually loses battery even while charging. Also if I try and play ANY video after having the TWD game open it stutters like I'm watching it on a potatoe until I close all programs through the task manager. For as many problems as I was having with my Note 5 I wish I wouldnt have used my jump for this garbage "flagship" phone. I can't wait for the month to be over so I can burn another jump to go back to a Samsung. I highly doubt I'll ever buy an LG again.
dmonger11b said:
The G5 in the two days I've owned I've owned it is easily in contention for the worst phone I've ever had. Granted LG has some awesome software concepts but that's about where any praise I can give this phone ends. This phone gets hot far to fast even during normal use. Not including it gets ridiciously hot just sitting on the charger untouched. If I load The Walking Dead Road to Survival the battery vanishes. Even as I type this my phone is on my car charger and its using almost as much power and the charger is giving it. If I try and play Pandora while driving it actually loses battery even while charging. Also if I try and play ANY video after having the TWD game open it stutters like I'm watching it on a potatoe until I close all programs through the task manager. For as many problems as I was having with my Note 5 I wish I wouldnt have used my jump for this garbage "flagship" phone. I can't wait for the month to be over so I can burn another jump to go back to a Samsung. I highly doubt I'll ever buy an LG again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You either have a hardware issue (they happen unfortunately) or you have a rogue app eating up your CPU cycles. Time to troubleshoot. That's definitely not normal and it's most definitely atypical.
I'd start with a factory reset. Don't install anything else. Don't do a thing. See if it still happens. If it does I'd return it for a replacement. If it doesn't happen then I'd start updating apps and installing apps one by one.
MechaMorph said:
You either have a hardware issue (they happen unfortunately) or you have a rogue app eating up your CPU cycles. Time to troubleshoot. That's definitely not normal and it's most definitely atypical.
I'd start with a factory reset. Don't install anything else. Don't do a thing. See if it still happens. If it does I'd return it for a replacement. If it doesn't happen then I'd start updating apps and installing apps one by one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my LG-H830 using XDA Free mobile app
The phone was already factory reset on Saturday when I attempted to return the phone and grab an S7 Edge. All the apps were previously installed on my Note 5 without issue. And unfortunately if it is a hardware issue how would I actually prove that to try and have T-Mobile switch it out?
And there's my Gsam showing that my WiFi has been a drain on my battery even though its been turned off the entire time
Sent from my LG-H830 using XDA Free mobile app
dmonger11b said:
Sent from my LG-H830 using XDA Free mobile app
The phone was already factory reset on Saturday when I attempted to return the phone and grab an S7 Edge. All the apps were previously installed on my Note 5 without issue. And unfortunately if it is a hardware issue how would I actually prove that to try and have T-Mobile switch it out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dmonger11b said:
And there's my Gsam showing that my WiFi has been a drain on my battery even though its been turned off the entire time
Sent from my LG-H830 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Gsam and the heat from the device should be enough for them to swap it out. They generally don't ask many questions. I recently had upgraded my wife to a Galaxy S6. It had an issue with sending receiving group texts. Got another one by simply showing them the texts.
I'll have to stop by after work and talk to them. I'm just really put off by how bad my particular phone is. I do hope it's just a hardware issue and not a systemic problem with LG I love concepts behind this phone
Sent from my LG-H830 using XDA Free mobile app
I have now had my FNF Ifive Mini 4s, that i ordered from China, since March 7th (Shipping took only 14 days) so i think it is time for a review
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Key features
Android 6.0
7.85" 2048*1536 display
RK3288 Quad Core CPU at 1.8Ghz
Mail-T764 GPU
2 GB DDR3 RAM
32 GB Internal storage
4800mAh Li-Po battery
SD-Card slot
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4Ghz+5Ghz WIFI
Bluetooth 4.0
Disadvantages
Batterylife is only around 2 hours of screen on time with maximum brightness.
Bottom speakers instead of front-facing.
Design and build quality
I really like the bezels on this device. They are nice and small on the sides and a little bigger on the top and bottom. This makes using the tablet for media consumption really comfortable, since there is just enough space for your thumbs on each side of the tablet when it is tilted to the side.
The front of the tablet is all glass. The frame is made of metal and the back has glass in the top and bottom and plastic inbetween. This combined makes an overall sturdy tablet. The tablet has no flex at all when trying to bend it or press down on different spots, so this makes me confident it wont break on normal use.
The buttons are much better than on other tablets at this price point. They dont wobble too much and I am confident they wont fall out or get stuck. The MicroSD-slot works nicely and so does the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The dimentions are 230 x 169 x 7 mm.
Display and screen
The display on this tablet was what made me buy it in the first place. A 2048*1536 display on a 150 USD tablet seemed crazy, so i bought it to see for myself. The display is truly great and very enjoyable to look at, even for long periods of time. In the time I have had it, I have seen severeal movies on it and even read an e-book. Since the screen is 7.85" it has a pixel density of 326.11 PPI
Android 6.0.1
The tablet comes with stock Android 6.0.1. It comes with no bloatware at all which I appreciate alot and it is updated regularly. In the time I have had it, I have gotten 3 updates, which fixed the small amounts of problems it had when I first recieved it. The ROM runs smoothly with no stutters at all thanks to the RK3288 CPU and Mail-T764 GPU.
Camera
The camera is not that good, only 8MP in the rear and 2MP in thefront. I can not really see a use for a camera in a tablet anyway, since I think it is too big for that, so this does not matter to me.
Benchmarks
Antutu
Basemark OS II
Battery Life
When the brightness is set to max and the tablet is used normally I get around 2 hours of screen on time. When the screen is set to the minimum brightness I get around 5-6 hours of screen on time. The battery life is okay, but I think they should have made the device a little thicker and added a little more battery. With my use I have to charge it either every night or every other night.
Conclusion
I think the FNF Ifive Mini 4s definently is worth its price. It is a great tablet for watching movies and Youtube videos, browsing the internet and playing games (but dont expect a high framerate on titles like Grand Theft Auto). I would definently recommend buying this tablet. It is simply an amazing tablet concidering its price of only approximately 150 USD.
I rate it 8.5 out of 10
If you appreciated my review feel free to press the "Thanks" button
EDIT: I just updated to 1.0.8-W, which should work on all devices, new as old, and this seems to boost perfomance nicely. To update, use this tutorial, but use this tool and img instead of the ones mentioned inside the tutorial Thanks to RVA84 for letting me know this in the comments.
Thanks for the review. Shame it has such poor battery life, but a battery pack should make that not so much of a problem. What is battery life like when it is sitting idle? Does it support automatic power off? Nothing more annoying than a tablet with a flat battery
Also, what do you use to protect it and stand it up? There doesn't seem to be much in the way of accessories for this tablet.
stephendt0 said:
Thanks for the review. Shame it has such poor battery life, but a battery pack should make that not so much of a problem. What is battery life like when it is sitting idle? Does it support automatic power off? Nothing more annoying than a tablet with a flat battery
Also, what do you use to protect it and stand it up? There doesn't seem to be much in the way of accessories for this tablet.
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It loses around 2-4% battery per day in idle. What do you mean by automatic power off? I do not have anything to protect it or stand it up. I usually sit with it in my hands in bed
UnknownDK said:
It loses around 2-4% battery per day in idle. What do you mean by automatic power off? I do not have anything to protect it or stand it up. I usually sit with it in my hands in bed
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Thanks. On MTK tablets and devices, there is a feature to power off the device automatically. It's usually in the settings. If it's not there, it doesn't support it.
stephendt0 said:
Thanks. On MTK tablets and devices, there is a feature to power off the device automatically. It's usually in the settings. If it's not there, it doesn't support it.
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Well, I can not find it.
UnknownDK said:
Well, I can not find it.
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Not too surprising considering it uses a rockchip SOC. Either way not a big deal, I usually use tasker to put it on flight mode at night
I just got this, and I found that when gaming on it (like the new Office Space idle game) the battery was getting destroyed in a huge way. We're not talking 2 hours of life at that point, it dropped almost 20% in about 10 minutes, crazy high usage.
I enabled dev mode and saw that the 'force gpu rendering for 2d' option was enabled, I disabled it and battery life has gone way up even when using games. I'm going to run some tests to determine the overall difference, but other than the battery life I agree this is a pretty great tablet.
I honestly still have my Nexus 7 2013 and still use it daily, but I can see myself switching to this pretty quickly.
Let me ask a follow up question to other owners:
My battery life is simply horrific, as in if I'm in a game with brightness halfway, I lose several percentage per minute in some cases, and the back gets noticeably warm to the touch. I have a few screenshots of the battery usage showing it drop from 60% to under 30% like nothing, but everything shows up as "miscellaneous", and it doesn't seem like there's any actual power consumption tracking going on. I installed a few different battery tracking apps, all of them claim to not be able to connect to whatever the Android stock service is that's necessary to calculate per app battery consumption, is that just how the 4s works or is there something actually broken on mine?
It's bad to the point that I can sit for 20 minutes using it continuously, bouncing between Clash of Clans and CATS and then have to consider plugging it in for a charge. My Nexus 7 or phone (Axon 7) go for hours with the same type of usage no problem :\
Sphexi said:
Let me ask a follow up question to other owners:
My battery life is simply horrific, as in if I'm in a game with brightness halfway, I lose several percentage per minute in some cases, and the back gets noticeably warm to the touch. I have a few screenshots of the battery usage showing it drop from 60% to under 30% like nothing, but everything shows up as "miscellaneous", and it doesn't seem like there's any actual power consumption tracking going on. I installed a few different battery tracking apps, all of them claim to not be able to connect to whatever the Android stock service is that's necessary to calculate per app battery consumption, is that just how the 4s works or is there something actually broken on mine?
It's bad to the point that I can sit for 20 minutes using it continuously, bouncing between Clash of Clans and CATS and then have to consider plugging it in for a charge. My Nexus 7 or phone (Axon 7) go for hours with the same type of usage no problem :\
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I'm having the same problem with mine. Trying to figure out what the issue is. Just ticked off Force GPU rendering as per Sphexi's recommendation. We'll see if that helps.
I just bought a iFIve Mini 4s. When it goes idle it basically dies. I have to push the Start button for several seconds and it reboots. Is that normal? It cannot be! Is there a setting or something I'm overlooking?
Courtaud said:
I just bought a iFIve Mini 4s. When it goes idle it basically dies. I have to push the Start button for several seconds and it reboots. Is that normal? It cannot be! Is there a setting or something I'm overlooking?
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I think you should contact your seller and tell them your problem. I think your device is malfunctioning.
stephendt0 said:
Thanks for the review. Shame it has such poor battery life, but a battery pack should make that not so much of a problem. What is battery life like when it is sitting idle?
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For you and anyone else complaining about the poor battery life/battery drain:
1. First - The battery is 6700mAh and not 4800mAh as declared everywhere on web so that's should be enough for everyday usage (currently I got 4-5 SOT for web browsing and lite gaming)
2. Upgrade to the latest firmware version 1.06.
3. After upgrade wipe the system cache.
4. Disable ''Keep Wi-Fi during sleep''.
5. Turn on Android's developer mode and disable animations:
-Go to Settings > About, then tap on Build number several times to enable Android developer mode
-Go to Settings > Developer options, and scroll down to Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale.
-Tap on each of the animation options and turn them off.
6. For more speed, install a lightweight launcher (for this tablet I prefer Nova Launcher)
Hope this helps.
Hi.
Anyone can suggest a case for this tablet?
One that doesn't cover any button.
Thanks a lot!
julioforo said:
Hi.
Anyone can suggest a case for this tablet?
One that doesn't cover any button.
Thanks a lot!
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looking for this tok hope someone can help
i saw some bouetooth keyboard case on i think amazon search for fnf ifive keyboard case i think it is dedicated case for this device
I just got mine. Currently about $100 from gearbest and I'm sure other Chinese e-commerce sites.
I also own the Amazon Fire 8 HD tablet for those curious about a comparison. Software wise its so much better to just have vanilla Android vs the whole Fire skin and effort required to get a regular Android launcher setup. The Fire Tablet does fit seemlessly into the whole Amazon ecosystem though which can be quite nice if you use many or most of the Amazon services like Kindle, video, music and shopping. But hardware wise is where the real difference lie. Night and day. I also own the last model Amazon Fire 7 HDX. I mention that because I was shocked when I received my new Fire 8 HD. It was light, plastic-y and had an unforgettable display with much less resolution than the HDX. The buttons were loose and wiggled. Everything just screamed dirt cheap to me. Of course it was dirt cheap price wise compared to the HDX. The ifive Mini 4S is almost the complete opposite. Great screen, solid feel and a fast processor. All for just a few bucks more than the Fire 8 HD. I'd recommend it over the Amazon offering for practically anyone who wants an actual Android tablet. If you're looking for a media device then I'd say that you'll have to choose quality versus ease of integration with Amazon products and services.
Just posted the following over at TechTablets. I found that the latest version of the Google Camera app works with the front camera.
Just a quick comment. I just received my tablet today. I remembered from your YouTube review that the front camera hung the tablet if you took a picture. I agree, generally a tablet isn't a device for pictures but thought I'd see if it still was an issue. It still hangs the tablet but...
I've always preferred the Google Camera app simply because it was consistent across devices. Ever since I used it for the panorama photo feature on my Galaxy S5 phone I've been using it on everything. It takes decent photos on this tablet. Better than with the default app at least. But more importantly it doesn't hang the tablet if you use the front camera. I went to apk mirror to find the most recent arm (not arm64) architecture version that works on Android 6 since I knew the current version was just for Nougat (Android 7+) and I found the following. Name as it appears on apk mirror then link because I'm not sure if links here will work.
Google Camera 3.2.045 (2821762-30) (arm) (Android 6.0+)
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google...mera-3-2-045-2821762-30-android-apk-download/
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Suggestions about case, protection and custom rom for FNF Ifive Mini 4S?
UnknownDK said:
I just bought a iFIve Mini 4s. When it goes idle it basically dies. I have to push the Start button for several seconds and it reboots. Is that normal? It cannot be! Is there a setting or something I'm overlooking? I think you should contact your seller and tell them your problem. I think your device is malfunctioning.
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SADLY I am having the same issue. I bought this tablet for my wife and I thought she was being silly and overly dramatic since we know the battery life is not great. However I was using it and it was just on my chest resting for a few minutes with 61% charge and then I picked it up again to continue reading and the power button would not turn it back on. Generally speaking HOLDING the tablet power button for 5+ secs resets the device and it reboots back to 61% charge. This is really sad as I generally like the tablet compared to anything else in its price range, but this is wholly frustrating and hope that this is not indicative of the BRAND or overall build quality.
UnknownDK said:
I think you should contact your seller and tell them your problem. I think your device is malfunctioning.
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nickel911 said:
SADLY I am having the same issue. I bought this tablet for my wife and I thought she was being silly and overly dramatic since we know the battery life is not great. However I was using it and it was just on my chest resting for a few minutes with 61% charge and then I picked it up again to continue reading and the power button would not turn it back on. Generally speaking HOLDING the tablet power button for 5+ secs resets the device and it reboots back to 61% charge. This is really sad as I generally like the tablet compared to anything else in its price range, but this is wholly frustrating and hope that this is not indicative of the BRAND or overall build quality.
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I HAVE THIS issue as well. When the issue happens, I have tried messing with the power button.... clicking several times and I have been able to recover it a few times but not always. I don't think it is a battery issue. Maybe a hardware problem with the power switch itself? I bought mine from GEARBEST. I am going to reach out to them and see if they will do anything. Another issue I have is clicking the HOME button seems to produce a SPEAKER based clicking sound. I wonder if it is related to the HEADPHONE static issue we all are experiencing.
Was about to buy this tablet, instead of Xiaomi MiPad which is much more expensive. But the battery issues which are reported by multiple users is deal breaker
Wondering if it is more like software issues which can be fixed by some updates or more about the battery itself.
salocin411 said:
I HAVE THIS issue as well. When the issue happens, I have tried messing with the power button.... clicking several times and I have been able to recover it a few times but not always. I don't think it is a battery issue. Maybe a hardware problem with the power switch itself? I bought mine from GEARBEST. I am going to reach out to them and see if they will do anything. Another issue I have is clicking the HOME button seems to produce a SPEAKER based clicking sound. I wonder if it is related to the HEADPHONE static issue we all are experiencing.
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Mine have the same problem. This is ridículos. The tablet shut down and still losing battery. Did anyone figure out how to solve this issue? I also bought mine from Gearbest, did anyone receive an answer from them? I just got mine tablet yesterday and already notice this problem.