I have had my Xperia Z1 Compact for a few weeks now and for the most part I am very happy with it. The thing that lets the phone down for me is the camera.
1st issue is the photos themselves. The quality of the photos seems very poor and noisy which was extremly disappointing for me as one of the main reasons I chose this phone was for the 20 Mega pixel camera. I have heard that this problem is due to the ISO being ramped up when using auto and can be solved with 3rd party camera apps (an example given was "Perfectly Clear") that clean up the images nicely. I haven't tested this myself but if anyone can recommend any app or tips to getting cleaner images I would be most greatful.
2nd issue is how the camera saves pictures. I have the camera setting set to "burst with long press" which mean every time I take a couple of snaps it creates a new folder for that "burst" which more often than not is a single photo or two. This is annoying enough without the fact that with each new folder it starts repetitively naming the photos "DSC_000001" onward meaning I have 10 separate folders all with about 1-2 pictures in each and most of those pictures are named "DSC_000001" so when it comes to moving these pictures in to a folder on my P.C. I have to rename them manually to keep them in order. What I would like is to have all of my photos saved to one folder with a filename that resembles the date that I took them. For example if I took 3 photos today they would be named "02.05.14-00001" "02.05.14-00002" "02.05.14-00003" respectively. Not only would this make creating albums a lot easier it would help us keep track of when the photos were actually taken.
Please tell me there is a way of doing this! It is so simple. (Also side note on why the multi folder burst thing is terrible. I delete the photos from that burst - empty folder remains.)
3rd issue. This has happened to me a few times now and it is the most frustrating. When I press the 2 stage camera button in sleep mode to bring up the camera and an error comes up saying something along the lines of "Camera could not be found"... The only way I have found to fix this issue is to power down the phone and restart. When the main reason for this function is to get a quick shot off like when your best mate is crossing the finish line of a big race, this error is the last thing you want to see. Trust me I know. (Sorry Ryan I really did try to get a photo of it.)
Any who, if any of you lovely people have a fix or work around for these issues it would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Lawro.Woods said:
I have had my Xperia Z1 Compact for a few weeks now and for the most part I am very happy with it. The thing that lets the phone down for me is the camera.
1st issue is the photos themselves. The quality of the photos seems very poor and noisy which was extremly disappointing for me as one of the main reasons I chose this phone was for the 20 Mega pixel camera. I have heard that this problem is due to the ISO being ramped up when using auto and can be solved with 3rd party camera apps (an example given was "Perfectly Clear") that clean up the images nicely. I haven't tested this myself but if anyone can recommend any app or tips to getting cleaner images I would be most greatful.
2nd issue is how the camera saves pictures. I have the camera setting set to "burst with long press" which mean every time I take a couple of snaps it creates a new folder for that "burst" which more often than not is a single photo or two. This is annoying enough without the fact that with each new folder it starts repetitively naming the photos "DSC_000001" onward meaning I have 10 separate folders all with about 1-2 pictures in each and most of those pictures are named "DSC_000001" so when it comes to moving these pictures in to a folder on my P.C. I have to rename them manually to keep them in order. What I would like is to have all of my photos saved to one folder with a filename that resembles the date that I took them. For example if I took 3 photos today they would be named "02.05.14-00001" "02.05.14-00002" "02.05.14-00003" respectively. Not only would this make creating albums a lot easier it would help us keep track of when the photos were actually taken.
Please tell me there is a way of doing this! It is so simple. (Also side note on why the multi folder burst thing is terrible. I delete the photos from that burst - empty folder remains.)
3rd issue. This has happened to me a few times now and it is the most frustrating. When I press the 2 stage camera button in sleep mode to bring up the camera and an error comes up saying something along the lines of "Camera could not be found"... The only way I have found to fix this issue is to power down the phone and restart. When the main reason for this function is to get a quick shot off like when your best mate is crossing the finish line of a big race, this error is the last thing you want to see. Trust me I know. (Sorry Ryan I really did try to get a photo of it.)
Any who, if any of you lovely people have a fix or work around for these issues it would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate, I'll tackle issue 1 as not sure about the others. Forgive me if I at any point sound patronising/condescending but obviously I don't know how well-versed you are in photography or not, so don't want to suggest something insulting if you actually know your stuff!!
Yeah, the auto modes (esp. superior auto) aren't great. Especially in low light. But as far as I am concerned, you don't get a phone with a camera this good (f2.0 aperture, 20meg/8meg downsampling) to use the auto modes. Unlike an iPhone, which is designed specifically to be a one-button job, these android phones (the best ones) have decent manual modes as every photographer knows that's how you get the very best results.
I always use manual as you have to for best results (ESPECIALLY in low light). You're correct, the auto mode does ramp up the iso too much. Actually quite a lot of phones do this too much....iphones indoors are a good example.
Tip 1: Stay with the stock camera. It will be purpose built for the sensor and will get you the best results
Tip 2: Always shoot manual
Tip 3: With every shot you take, you want the lowest ISO you can get away with. So practice a bit with different environments and you will soon get a sixth sense about roughly what you'll need. If you're in a restaurant or indoors for example, do a quick experimentation with changing the iso's and see what the scene looks like in real-time (make sure you're phone brightness is high). That's usually a good indicator of how the photo will come out.
Tip 4: Tap to focus on what you want focused, THEN hit capture. Don't just hit capture alone.
Tip 5: Phone camera flashes are TERRIBLE. It's the thermonuclear option when you HAVE to capture whatever is in front of you. Never use one unless you absolutely have to. If I have to use the flash....I don't take the picture. I also don't take any pictures higher than iso 800 as the noise is awful (for all phones). For indoor/lowlight you want 200/400 or worst case scenario 800 if you absolutely have to get that shot.
Tip 6: In manual, you will actually get superior photos if you shoot in the 8megapixel mode. Only ever choose 20megapixel if you are going to be doing some extreme cropping with the photo or are going to be blowing it up to huge sizes somewhere.
Hope that helps?
Thank you for the tips. They are useful and when I have time to mess with manual settings to take a photo I will certainly use them. But the things that originally attracted me to this phone were the quick launch 2 stage button and the burst mode. I wanted to use this phone as a quick point and click camera for capturing fleeting moments. Unfortunately the quick launch immediately opens in auto mode (with that ****ing annoying sound effect I might add) and by the time I've switched to manual and messed around with the settings (which could use a better layout) that fleeting moment might have passed me by.
Good news is I have come up with a backward way of getting the photos to save by date. Dropbox automatically backs up my pictures with a file name done via date and time. Although this isn't a true fix since I still have to delete the burst folders from my phone every now and then this will do for now.
Thanks again for the tips paddy. Hopefully I will work something out.
Lawro.Woods said:
Thank you for the tips. They are useful and when I have time to mess with manual settings to take a photo I will certainly use them. But the things that originally attracted me to this phone were the quick launch 2 stage button and the burst mode. I wanted to use this phone as a quick point and click camera for capturing fleeting moments. Unfortunately the quick launch immediately opens in auto mode (with that ****ing annoying sound effect I might add) and by the time I've switched to manual and messed around with the settings (which could use a better layout) that fleeting moment might have passed me by.
Good news is I have come up with a backward way of getting the photos to save by date. Dropbox automatically backs up my pictures with a file name done via date and time. Although this isn't a true fix since I still have to delete the burst folders from my phone every now and then this will do for now.
Thanks again for the tips paddy. Hopefully I will work something out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries.
Yeah admittedly if you take a lot of sudden/spontaneous shots that you don't have time to adjust for, the results might be less than ideal. To be honest on my xperia and my gs4 before that, after a while you become so quick at changing the manual options it becomes second nature and you can do it fast enough to catch spontaneous moments with the ideal settings.
Phone cameras are much simpler than normal cameras as the aperture (which is EXCELLENT for low light on the xperia - f2.0) is fixed, so really when it comes to mobile photography it's all about ISO, ISO and more ISO. Therefore when I say 'use manual mode' you can get away with JUST altering the iso to your needs and leaving all the other manual settings on auto. Like white balance for example, which the computer is MUCH better at detecting correctly.
Unless you're shooting outdoors on a sunny day, you must learn to assume that 99 times out of 100, your xperia in auto will select an ISO that is far higher than what you can actually get away with using. So it's good practice not to trust it.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to keep your screen to stay on, while reading for example, without changing your display settings? Or while showing someone else something on your phone without having to tap your screen every 15 to 30 second (depending on your settings) just to "keep it alive".
This thread is nothing more than a discussion of an idea of mine. Feel free to add your honest opinion and maybe even ideas of realization as I'm not well educated in the art of app development and maybe someone who likes this idea could put it into practise .
Let's begin:
The fingerprint reader is one of the most innovative features in the history of mobile devices. On most devices it work with nearly no delay and with Google's newest feature one can even swap down the notifications and the quick tiles.
How hard is it to implement the scanner into an app and assign different actions like "register as tap" or if it registers a double tap "switch to last app" ? (Not criticizing, it's really a question )
Those features would make my life much easier and would open up new possibilities.
I would like to see if it's possible to scroll pages with it too. I believe there is lots of room to grow with this.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Or be able to go mimic the back button by swiped left to right or right to left.
I always thought it would be nice if you could use the fingerprint reader to answer a incoming phone call. Hopefully with this new actions we have in reader some of these things will be possible.
I think it would be nice to be able to scroll through your notifications and to be able to open the app that you select with the sensor. The stay on feature would be amazing as well.
If I could pull out the edge tray hamburger from a side swipe I'd be happy.
Sent from my Pixel XL using XDA-Developers mobile app
Most of the features don't sound too hard to realize, some of them may even appear in some future devices by Samsung or Huawei, but if Google could add native Android support, even lower priced models could feature some of those.... Hopefully this thread will be seen :angel:
I was also thinking it would be cool to have those features. I find myself tapping the fingerprint reader when reading and the page starts to go dark. Of course it doesn't do anything but wish it did. Don't know how the scrolling would work but that would be awesome too.
I'm surprised you can't even take a selfie with it. I thought this was an accepted use of the reader.
I would like to see the fingerprint lock the screen as well.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-fingerprint-scanner-gestures-725490/
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
I find it odd that although you can pull down the notification shade with the fingerprint scanner it will not brighten the screen like touching it will.
Give it a go, wait for the screen to dim just before it turns off and use the fingerprint reader to pull the shade down, it stays dim...
Rahhfue said:
Most of the features don't sound too hard to realize, some of them may even appear in some future devices by Samsung or Huawei, but if Google could add native Android support, even lower priced models could feature some of those.... Hopefully this thread will be seen :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe Google will add more gestures along with many featurea in future updates. I bet they make them Pixel exclusive though. Since samsung is seriously considering Tizen as an Android replacement Google is also going to make features exclusive to their phones. No OEM has ever utilized all the built in features of Android so what's the point in writing features no OEM is going to use. I hope Google takes complete control of Android so people can see what Android was meant to be. Not just a base for OEM's to mess up and layer their own crappy alternative software over the top. Since samsung likes to replace everything with their bloat they would probably see performance increases going the same route and designing the hardware and software. Too bad Tizen is horrid looking though. I think the era of one version of Android fits all is coming to an end. The new Google formula will be what OEM's also adopt, or they will be forced to just become "for hire" manufacturers like HTC. Remember when foxconn made hardware before becoming an exclusive iPhone manufacturer. Googles vision was that every device ran the same version but no OEM wanted to cooperate with them. So they are taking control of Android. Because of this I think we will see much more features and development for Pixel phones. Resulting in a better Android experience for the Android user. Flame me if you want, but this change is inevitable. And I'm on board!
As probably many already saw:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-fingerprint-to-unlock-t3466549/page24
I hope this new app will allow all features I asked for and will make its way into stock Android!
Any further ideas or discussions can be mentioned in the apps thread, this thread can now be closed, thanks for taking part :fingers-crossed:
Aside from installing Vanced youtube...I am not sure I need root anymore. Weird to say that as I was big into custom ROMs, root, overclocking my phones back in the day
Anyway, mostly using this to replace my aging original Tab S 10.5 which is now been used inside my PC to display CPU speeds, temps, etc.
It was lagging with EMBY and other things even with custom ROMs but I am glad I was able to find a new home for it to be useful.
Thanks for any feedback!
Same boat, I was really into root and other tweaks, now I'll get frustrated if I have to spend much time getting the experience I supposedly paid for. I actually just browse this forums in hopes of an update on next oneUI versions since they seem to have fixed some of the small caveats I find with the current version; sadly we are probably never going to get it though.
Anyway, the tab is beautiful and fast, and it will do most of the things you are expecting without losing a beat. To get the most out of it I would recommend getting the "good lock" apps to further personalize your experience (I wish someone told me about these before since I used the device for a month before finding them). The one hand operation(together with navigating gestures), the task changer(smaller more manageable app changer menu and initializing apps in floating mode from there), and the multistar(some nice tweaks to the floating mode like swiping from a to corner to start floating an that is already on screen) are the most useful in my perspective. I also downloaded an app called edge gestures to personalize my gesture experience even further, and an app called no keyboard because sometimes you just need to select/move/copy/paste text without the keyboard(even floating) to take any space on your screen.
Other nice apps I would recommend would be concepts(though still in development it is a nice vector based, layer-supporting drawing app), write 3.0 for general note taking(snappier stroke experience you'll get on android, and also vector based), and I cannot believe how much I have gotten into 3d sculpting and modeling with an app called nomad(is just so much fun even without knowing what you are doing).
I hope you have a great time with your tablet!
Pazzu510 said:
Same boat, I was really into root and other tweaks, now I'll get frustrated if I have to spend much time getting the experience I supposedly paid for. I actually just browse this forums in hopes of an update on next oneUI versions since they seem to have fixed some of the small caveats I find with the current version; sadly we are probably never going to get it though.
Anyway, the tab is beautiful and fast, and it will do most of the things you are expecting without losing a beat. To get the most out of it I would recommend getting the "good lock" apps to further personalize your experience (I wish someone told me about these before since I used the device for a month before finding them). The one hand operation(together with navigating gestures), the task changer(smaller more manageable app changer menu and initializing apps in floating mode from there), and the multistar(some nice tweaks to the floating mode like swiping from a to corner to start floating an that is already on screen) are the most useful in my perspective. I also downloaded an app called edge gestures to personalize my gesture experience even further, and an app called no keyboard because sometimes you just need to select/move/copy/paste text without the keyboard(even floating) to take any space on your screen.
Other nice apps I would recommend would be concepts(though still in development it is a nice vector based, layer-supporting drawing app), write 3.0 for general note taking(snappier stroke experience you'll get on android, and also vector based), and I cannot believe how much I have gotten into 3d sculpting and modeling with an app called nomad(is just so much fun even without knowing what you are doing).
I hope you have a great time with your tablet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Than you so much for the information! Mine arrives tomorrow. I will research all the apps you mentioned.
I totally agree with Pazzu510. I use my tablet a looooooot, I use it for work and for media. I'm going to recommed you to give it a try the default samunsg apps that comes with the tablet. I LOVE the file explorer, you can syncronize one note and its just perfect. The browser is awesome too, it has a lot of configurations. I use samsung notes for my college notes, but I already tried noteshelf (very good app too, but samsung works better with the spen in my opinion. Try both and use whatever you like more) Xodo, to annotate on pdf or just open them its just a must have. It has a very good integration with the spen, onenote, etc, and you can have mutiple pdfs open.
I recommend you to set the battery limitation to 85% to protect it. And take a time and configure the energy app administration settings to bring you the best experience.
I'm very very happy with my tablet and I hope you the same!!
InsertCoin_Pls said:
I totally agree with Pazzu510. I use my tablet a looooooot, I use it for work and for media. I'm going to recommed you to give it a try the default samunsg apps that comes with the tablet. I LOVE the file explorer, you can syncronize one note and its just perfect. The browser is awesome too, it has a lot of configurations. I use samsung notes for my college notes, but I already tried noteshelf (very good app too, but samsung works better with the spen in my opinion. Try both and use whatever you like more) Xodo, to annotate on pdf or just open them its just a must have. It has a very good integration with the spen, onenote, etc, and you can have mutiple pdfs open.
I recommend you to set the battery limitation to 85% to protect it. And take a time and configure the energy app administration settings to bring you the best experience.
I'm very very happy with my tablet and I hope you the same!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. It is on the UPS delivery truck and should be here in the next 3 hours or so. Really pumped to finally upgrade from the old S 10.5
Thanks for the tips!
The tablet is fantastic so far. Just trying to figure out which case style I prefer now. Probably will end up with like 4 cases at least.
The one disappointment was the sound...with the 4 speakers "tuned by akg" I was expecting more. My Mate 20x actually sounds better (which I know is highly regarded for sound but still). Luckily speaker usage is not crucial for me.
shaolin95 said:
The tablet is fantastic so far. Just trying to figure out which case style I prefer now. Probably will end up with like 4 cases at least.
The one disappointment was the sound...with the 4 speakers "tuned by akg" I was expecting more. My Mate 20x actually sounds better (which I know is highly regarded for sound but still). Luckily speaker usage is not crucial for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes,I agree it is very good Tablet
_ I have T830 andoid 10, without root ... I'm using only Vanced Tube, I have removed enough bloatware, and I'm using " Nicelock downloader companion" & some modules for my device.These, I think are enough for this device...
( Nicelock downloader companion thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...p-v2-16-manual-download-links-thread.3923844/
_ (there is also a module for "audio - sound utility" ) : https://sites.google.com/view/nicelockdownloader/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...2020-launcher-w-update-notifications.3908648/ )
_ How to Remove bloatware without Root, for free : https://beebom.com/how-remove-bloatware-android-without-root/
daitalos said:
Yes,I agree it is very good Tablet
_ I have T830 andoid 10, without root ... I'm using only Vanced Tube, I have removed enough bloatware, and I'm using " Nicelock downloader companion" & some modules for my device.These, I think are enough for this device...
( Nicelock downloader companion thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...p-v2-16-manual-download-links-thread.3923844/
_ (there is also a module for "audio - sound utility" ) : https://sites.google.com/view/nicelockdownloader/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...2020-launcher-w-update-notifications.3908648/ )
_ How to Remove bloatware without Root, for free : https://beebom.com/how-remove-bloatware-android-without-root/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information and the link, really appreciated it!!
shaolin95 said:
Aside from installing Vanced youtube...I am not sure I need root anymore. Weird to say that as I was big into custom ROMs, root, overclocking my phones back in the day
Anyway, mostly using this to replace my aging original Tab S 10.5 which is now been used inside my PC to display CPU speeds, temps, etc.
It was lagging with EMBY and other things even with custom ROMs but I am glad I was able to find a new home for it to be useful.
Thanks for any feedback!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the same thing. Almost a year later and still no android 11 with the sm-t837T. So that's pretty much my reason for wanting root. Lineage os! I've yet to root this tablet. Wonder is dex is gone it you flash a custom rom
Last week EMUI 12 made its debut on my phone with some cosmetic improvements. The following are my thoughts on it as a 2 year user of huawei products. This should help users evaluate the attributes EMUI 12 offers to help them decide whether or not its worth to upgrade....
Control Center, Notification Area & Media Player
While my initial impressions of the control center were good they later turned poor with its function relative to the notification area from which it is split. Admittingly, it is a stunning feature visually no one can deny. But while both notification area and control center do not occupy the same space, many users are unimpressed and agape in frustration. To paraphrase a user regarding it, "its something we got to get used to."
At first I was disappointed by this split personality. But after a week playing with it, I'm still trying to get used to it. Although its somewhat convenient to swipe left to right at the top to switch between the two spheres, the smartest thing huawei should have done was extend this back and forth swiping to the bottom where its most frequently needed and far more accommodating. Had huawei added this functionality a lot of users would not be complaining about it especially since this is a tall phone with a big real estate display and one shouldn't have to suffer to reach all the way up with both hands. Just one swipe down for the control panel and another swipe across at the bottom to alternate between it and the notifications area on which your fingers rest naturally would have done the trick!
Regarding the controversial media player widget, the aim of its placement in the control panel is to add accessibility to MP3. Although admittingly it is wise to situate it there for easy access for media, the problem emerges when you must use huawei's own proprietary media player in order to play songs. Your favorite third party music players like Spotify and PlayerPro are not supported, sadly. Removal of the widget from view is not possible so it lingers in the corner like a dead satellite in orbit uselessly taking up unnecessary space.
Very disappointing that huawei failed to see this given their vested time in making the EMUI 12 project solid for its users. Perhaps this is a feature huawei may add in future updates.
Visuals
Noticeably, the screen is brighter under manual brightness setting which is a good plus. Images are evidently sharper than what they were under EMUI 11. However, auto brightness is still enabled by default at bootup which is another annoyance.
Concerning the font style huawei has imposed, unfortunately, there's no way to change that since it is etched in by corporate de facto decree. Yet another hindrance. Also, the feature to change the font size globally failed to impress since there was really no problem with the font size before.
Battery
On average, I charge my Mate 20 X every 5 - 7 days. After about a week's use of EMUI 12, I did notice slight battery improvement. It's not exactly earth shattering gain in juice but its nonetheless a slight enhancement since this is a phone whose battery life many have complained about for the past 4 years ever since it was first introduced to the public.
Sound
Sound quality is the same as in previous version iterations. It is much louder which is a tad ok despite the fact that it has always been loud. However, making a loud phone louder is barely considered an improvement.
'Double Tap to Wake' Feature
Huawei yet again omits the 'double tap to wake' feature about which folks have grumbled the phone lacks and needs. It would be enjoyable to possess it since the grand majority of the smartphones in the world have this feature already baked in from jump. Yet again, huawei continues to stick to their script of ignoring users' complaints and suggestions of improving this phone.
Other Issues
We all love notifications as a heads-up system that we can't do without. For comfort's sake, they must strike a delicate balance between short and informative without being overbearing. However, the frequent annoyance of 'network location' notifications that pokes at folks ad nauseum plagues their experience. Add to that, the sticky 'display over other apps' notification adds pain to injury especially when you cannot swipe these types of notifications away. Instead, you either grin and bear it or install from the playstore an app that removes them. The only issue with that is, the app will not be permitted to remove these notifications at boot up due to security restrictions introduced to Android versions 8 or 9 - the same security restrictions that by the way force these notifications in the first place. In such a case at boot up, you monotonously open up the app at each and every power cycle to zap them. This can prove to be a headache with automatic scheduled power management set on a daily basis but it's the only fix available given the system impediment.
Wishful thinking would have one fantasize about using powerful ADB commands to possibly cure the situation at the source. Unfortunately, not even it can help. The ideal way to resolve it without use of pesky 3rd party apps is by rooting the system. Regrettably again, huawei shamelessly decided to lock the bootloader of this 4-year old Mate 20 X with the advent of EMUI 10 preventing full benefits of rooting that otherwise extend the phone's hidden features, including bypassing the aforementioned annoying system-imposed security measure.
As for the multi-window dock that pops out from the side on EMUI 11, suggested apps never got pinned to the top as they unfortunately do now by default on EMUI 12. This adds unnecessary clutter to an already slim dock which might drive people to install 3rd party dock alternatives.
Personal Thoughts on Huawei
Unfortunately, in their eternal holy quest to emulate the iPhone o/s, huawei continues to repeat the crucial mistake of not adopting what huawei customers truly want to see on their huawei phones; instead, it prefers to prioritize its needs ahead of those of its loyal base. A real killjoy. Unlike samsung, they keep ignoring customers at the expense of their annoyances and stick them with whatever they think they want, even offering cheap incentives as compensation: the old stick and carrot trick. Huawei should keep it Android, not iPhone.
This is surely not the first time huawei shakes its finger at huawei customers after begging its software team to introduce long sought after features in future upgrades. It's actually a historical, ongoing internal problem the company is too stubborn to understand let alone address. Huawei, not Trump, was and is the reason behind the company's market share decline, fed up customers are switching to other competitive phones and struggles to keep up with major industry peers. To suggest that huawei is not a champion of the consumer is by far a gross understatement.
As one may have already observed, the word "annoyance" never ceases to spread its tentacles throughout this review. If you can deal with the drawbacks inherent in EMUI 12 then go for it, upgrade. If not, stay with EMUI 11 as it's still a "relatively" good version that makes people thankful they didn't upgrade.
Personally, I can tolerate EMUI 12's shortcomings to a certain point. Continued lack of much needed and missing features makes me doubt its keep and gives me reason to switch to either the Note 20 Ultra or S22 Ultra eventually. As always, blame huawei for it!
stick to EMUI11.
What exactly is a "sticky 'display over other apps' notification"?
zlaer said:
Last week EMUI 12 made its debut on my phone with some cosmetic improvements. The following are my thoughts on it as a 2 year user of huawei products. This should help users evaluate the attributes EMUI 12 offers to help them decide whether or not its worth to upgrade....
Control Center & Notifications Area
While my initial impressions of the control center were good they later turned poor with its function relative to the notification area from which it is split. Admittingly, it is a stunning feature visually no one can deny. But while both notification area and control center do not occupy the same space, many users are unimpressed and agape in frustration. To paraphrase a user regarding it, "its something we got to get used to."
At first I was disappointed by this split personality. But after a week playing with it, I'm still trying to get used to it. Although its somewhat convenient to swipe left to right at the top to switch between the two spheres, the smartest thing huawei should have done was extend this back and forth swiping to the bottom where its most needed and far more convenient. Had huawei added this functionality a lot of users would not be complaining about it especially since this is a tall phone with a big real estate display and one shouldn't have to suffer to reach all the way up with both hands. Just one swipe down for the control panel and another swipe across at the bottom to alternate between it and the notifications area on which your fingers rest naturally would have done the trick!
Very disappointing that huawei failed to see this given their vested time in making the EMUI 12 project solid for its users. Perhaps this is a feature huawei may add in future updates.
Visuals
Noticeably, the screen is brighter under manual brightness setting which is a good plus. Images are evidently sharper than what they were under EMUI 11. However, auto brightness is still enabled by default at bootup which is another annoyance.
Concerning the font style huawei has imposed, unfortunately, there's no way to change that. Sadly, it's etched in by corporate decree. Yet another annoyance. Also, the feature to change the font size globally didn't impress since there was really no problem with the font size before.
Battery
On average, I charge my Mate 20 X every 5 - 7 days. After about a week's use of EMUI 12, I did notice slight battery improvement. It's not exactly earth shattering gain in juice but its nonetheless a slight enhancement since this is a phone whose battery life many have complained about for the past 4 years ever since it was first introduced to the public.
Sound
Sound quality is the same as in previous version iterations. It is much louder which is a tad ok despite the fact that it has always been loud. However, making a loud phone louder is barely considered an improvement.
'Double Tap to Wake' Feature
Huawei yet again omits the 'double tap to wake' feature folks about which have grumbled the phone lacks and needs. It would be enjoyable to possess it since the grand majority of the smartphones in the world have this feature already baked in from jump. Yet again, huawei continues to stick to their script of ignoring users' complaints and suggestions of improving this phone.
Other Issues
We all love notifications as a heads up-system we can't do without. For comfort's sake, they must strike a delicate balance between short and informative without being overbearing. However, the frequent annoyance of 'network location' notifications that pokes at folks ad nauseum plagues their experience. Add to that, the sticky 'display over other apps' notification adds pain to injury especially when you cannot swipe these types of notifications away. Instead, you either grin and bear it or install from the playstore an app that removes them. The only issue with that is, the app will not be permitted to remove these notifications at boot up due to security restrictions introduced to Android versions 8 or 9 - the same security restrictions that by the way force these notifications in the first place. In such a case at boot up, you have to monotonously open up the app at each and every power cycle to zap them. This can prove to be a headache with automatic scheduled power management set on a daily basis but it's the only fix given the system impediment.
Wishful thinking would have one fantasize about using powerful ADB commands to possibly cure the situation at the source. Unfortunately, not even it can help. The ideal way to resolve it without use of pesky 3rd party apps is by rooting the system. Regrettably again, huawei shamelessly decided to lock the bootloader of this 4-year old Mate 20 X with the advent of EMUI 10 preventing full benefits of rooting that otherwise extend the phone's hidden features, including bypassing the aforementioned system-imposed security measure.
As for the multi-window dock that pops out from the side on EMUI 11, suggested apps never got pinned to the top by default as they unfortunately do now on EMUI 12. This adds unnecessary clutter to an already slim dock which might drive people to install 3rd party alternative docks.
Personal Thoughts on Huawei
Unfortunately, in their eternal holy quest to emulate the iphone o/s, huawei continues to repeat the crucial mistake of not adopting what huawei customers truly want to see on their huawei phones; instead, it prefers to prioritize its needs ahead of those of its loyal base. A real killjoy. Unlike samsung, they keep ignoring customers at the expense of their annoyances and stick them with whatever they think they want, even offering cheap incentives as compensation: the old stick and carrot trick.
This is surely not the first time huawei shakes its finger at huawei customers after begging its software team to introduce sought after features in future upgrades. It's actually a historical, ongoing internal problem the company is too stubborn to understand let alone address. Huawei, not Trump, was and is the reason behind the company's market share decline, fed up customers switching to other competitive phones and its struggles to keep up with major industry peers. To suggest that huawei is not a champion of the consumer is by far a gross understatement.
As one may have already observed, the word "annoyance" never ceases to spread its tentacles throughout this review. If you can deal with the drawbacks inherent in EMUI 12 then go for it, upgrade. If not, stay with EMUI 11 as it's still a "relatively" good version that makes people thankful they didn't upgrade.
Personally, I can tolerate EMUI 12's shortcomings to a certain point. Continued lack of much needed and missing features makes me doubt its keep and gives me reason to switch to either the Note 20 Ultra or S22 Ultra eventually. As always, blame huawei for it!
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I have been searching for reviews on EMUI 12 and I'm so happy I found this one. I'm using a Mate 20 Pro. I think EMUI 12's Control Panel is rubbish. I can't stand the fact that there is a music player "widget" there that doesn't even link to my default player, and when my bluetooth is on, the icon is too big so the "h" at the end of the word "Bluetooth" goes onto the next line which (as a designer) I think looks horrific. Then, to touch on the split betwen the notifications and the ctrl panel... As someone with small hands, this is impossible to navigate with one hand. I really hope that Huawei listens to the rants I have been posting all over and reverts some of these annoyances back to their perfectly functional predecessors... So other than these complaints, the UI is fine... It looks pretty but it needs inprovement.
ming64 said:
stick to EMUI11.
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Sounds good!
RemoWilliams said:
What exactly is a "sticky 'display over other apps' notification"?
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'Display over other apps' notification is one that "warns" you of a 3rd party app that displays its elements as an overlay over other apps.
Miss Gray said:
I have been searching for reviews on EMUI 12 and I'm so happy I found this one. I'm using a Mate 20 Pro. I think EMUI 12's Control Panel is rubbish. I can't stand the fact that there is a music player "widget" there that doesn't even link to my default player, and when my bluetooth is on, the icon is too big so the "h" at the end of the word "Bluetooth" goes onto the next line which (as a designer) I think looks horrific. Then, to touch on the split betwen the notifications and the ctrl panel... As someone with small hands, this is impossible to navigate with one hand. I really hope that Huawei listens to the rants I have been posting all over and reverts some of these annoyances back to their perfectly functional predecessors... So other than these complaints, the UI is fine... It looks pretty but it needs improvement.
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Appreciate your praise of my review. Aiming to please and educate folks out here.
Honestly, the control panel isn't entirely a horrible idea had huawei made it an effort to invest the proper time and research needed to make it function seamlessly with other apps and ergonomically finger-wise. Regrettably, its become a novelty to some, a little shop of horror for others - at this point it is more the latter.
Dolefully, huawei is not known for analyzing minute nuances of detail - which in many cases outstrips major ones - needed to make a great product function the way it should to the satisfaction of users. It doesnt understand how to get the drop on tech in step with other phone companies. They dont know how to ride the wave. Personally, I wish the company dissolves into utter extinction never to resurface its ugly head again as a text book example for teaching companies how not to run a company!
Installed the damn thing cos it kept bugging me to do so. And boy, yes, did they mess up the swipe down panel. Control panel looks like **** (at least give us an option to remove that music player crap!). And I'm right handed, so everytime I want to swipe down to see the notifications, I need to move my hand to the left of the screen. Utter crap. The swipe down panel was perfectly fine as it was, no need to mess it up like this. Other things I don't like: desktop icons are bigger. Would like to set it back to their previous size, but I haven't been able to find out how to do it, or if it's even possible. Furthermore, I fail so see the added value of the new "enlarge folder" thing. I didn't have any problems with the way it was before. All in all, totally unnecessary update for me. Only good thing is that it bumped the security patch from June 2021 to Feb 2022.
Just noticed: when setting an alarm, hour no longer changing when you're setting the minutes and crossing the 60 minute mark. Good to keep in mind, to avoid unpleasant surprises. They should have put effort instead to allow for setting default ringtone for new alarms, and also for the option to have vibration off by default.
RemoWilliams said:
Just noticed: when setting an alarm, hour no longer changing when you're setting the minutes and crossing the 60 minute mark. Good to keep in mind, to avoid unpleasant surprises. They should have put effort instead to allow for setting default ringtone for new alarms, and also for the option to have vibration off by default.
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Actually, thats a handy upgrade in EMUI 12. Under EMUI 11, I made mistakes setting the time which caused embarrassment with missed scheduled meetings because changing the minutes "beyond 60" also changed the hour without my awareness.
RemoWilliams said:
Installed the damn thing cos it kept bugging me to do so. And boy, yes, did they mess up the swipe down panel. Control panel looks like **** (at least give us an option to remove that music player crap!). And I'm right handed, so everytime I want to swipe down to see the notifications, I need to move my hand to the left of the screen. Utter crap. The swipe down panel was perfectly fine as it was, no need to mess it up like this. Other things I don't like: desktop icons are bigger. Would like to set it back to their previous size, but I haven't been able to find out how to do it, or if it's even possible. Furthermore, I fail so see the added value of the new "enlarge folder" thing. I didn't have any problems with the way it was before. All in all, totally unnecessary update for me. Only good thing is that it bumped the security patch from June 2021 to Feb 2022.
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The EMUI 12 upgrade is an iphone clone with minute internal tweaks.
Concerning your complaint about the control center, currently I'm testing all the system's APKs using ADB and have so far isolated about 60 of them for the purpose of upping battery juice. If I do come across an APK that's responsible for the control center I will alert you so you can remove that package. But honestly, I dont think it helps to remove it since the control center is a mutually exclusive feature from the notif area which cannot function either on its own or if it can it would lack the necessary panel upon which all the widgets of the present control panel are shown (i.e., wifi, bt, data, etc). Stay tuned.. will let you know.
zlaer said:
Actually, thats a handy upgrade in EMUI 12. Under EMUI 11, I made mistakes setting the time which caused embarrassment with missed scheduled meetings because changing the minutes "beyond 60" also changed the hour without my awareness.
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Yes, true, that's handy. But not if you've been used to the old behavior for years
zlaer said:
The EMUI 12 upgrade is an iphone clone with minute internal tweaks.
Concerning your complaint about the control center, currently I'm testing all the system's APKs using ADB and have so far isolated about 60 of them for the purpose of upping battery juice. If I do come across an APK that's responsible for the control center I will alert you so you can remove that package. But honestly, I dont think it helps to remove it since the control center is a mutually exclusive feature from the notif area which cannot function either on its own or if it can it would lack the necessary panel upon which all the widgets of the present control panel are shown (i.e., wifi, bt, data, etc). Stay tuned.. will let you know.
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Being able to swap notification panel and control panel would suffice for me. I need the notification panel on the right hand side!
RemoWilliams said:
Installed the damn thing cos it kept bugging me to do so. And boy, yes, did they mess up the swipe down panel. Control panel looks like **** (at least give us an option to remove that music player crap!). And I'm right handed, so everytime I want to swipe down to see the notifications, I need to move my hand to the left of the screen. Utter crap. The swipe down panel was perfectly fine as it was, no need to mess it up like this. Other things I don't like: desktop icons are bigger. Would like to set it back to their previous size, but I haven't been able to find out how to do it, or if it's even possible. Furthermore, I fail so see the added value of the new "enlarge folder" thing. I didn't have any problems with the way it was before. All in all, totally unnecessary update for me. Only good thing is that it bumped the security patch from June 2021 to Feb 2022.
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Ah, icon size can be adjusted: Settings > Home Screen & Wallpaper > Home Screen settings > Icon size.
RemoWilliams said:
Ah, icon size can be adjusted: Settings > Home Screen & Wallpaper > Home Screen settings > Icon size.
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Very good. Thinking about selling my 20 X and buying a note 20 ultra. It's about time
Sounds like an unmitigated disaster
MSK1 said:
Sounds like an unmitigated disaster
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If you're referring to EMUI 12, I kind of agree.
zlaer said:
If you're referring to EMUI 12, I kind of agree.
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Yep.
It's a shame... Was looking forward to that update
MSK1 said:
Yep.
It's a shame... Was looking forward to that update
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We all were.. Youre not the only one.
MSK1 said:
Sounds like an unmitigated disaster
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"Disaster" is a bit harsh IMO. After having used EMUI 12 for 10+ days now, for me, it has one positive aspect (updated security patch), and one negative aspect (split notification/control panel, with the notification panel being on the left side instead of the right). All other changes either don't bother me, or I don't really notice in my daily use.