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I'm not gonna write a long review for this, because it's hard to explain sound in text. So if you want slightly more in depth, here is my video unboxing + review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAC-e-4jCN8
But here's the short text version:
It's awesome. Why? Well if you care at all about how speakers sound, and have experience in small speakers at around the 1 1/2" size, then you'd know that this thing is a freakin enomaly. It sounds, way, bigger than anything in it's size. Let's compare it to a Sony MBS-100, a couple years old, yes, but it was still a $130 product, and Sony is pretty good at making small speakers sound good. The Modre destroys it in terms of both volume, and sound quality, and up until I got the Modre, I thought the Sony sounded pretty darn good. To kind of explain how it sounds better, it basically sounds like a bigger speaker, providing much higher audible frequency response than any other speaker in this size I've heard. The mid frequencies aren't way overblown like some speakers in this category either, which provides a real pleasurable audio experience. Basically what I'm trying to say, it sounds damn good.
Battery life is good to say the least. It's rated for 7 hours at 50% volume. I gave up testing at 25 hours, at 80% volume, using the 3.5mm audio jack. The testing material was about half and half movies and music. I can't imagine bluetooth being a huge draw compared to the amp powering the pint sized monster, so I'm sure it would last 7 hours with bluetooth on. I haven't tested bluetooth battery life though, so take that as you will.
Sound and battery life are really the main things I care about in a bluetooth speaker, so that's really all I'll cover. Yes, it's small, easy enough to fit in a jacket pocket. Yes, it works fine for bluetooth phone calls. Yes, the range is good enough to walk 20-30 feet away with no issues. But honestly, it's the sound quality that steals the show here.
Here's my final point. It's $25 from Amazon at the time of this writing. Honestly, at that price, I wasn't expecting much, but to my pleasant surprise, I've found the best speaker in this size I've ever heard. Who'd a thunk.
Thanks for reading.
Holy crap, you weren't kidding on this thing. Thanks !
Sounds pretty awesome for a bluetooth speaker that small (judging from the sound coming out of my Dunu DN1000).
I have the HTC One M8 since launch and love it. The looks, the smoothness, Sense UI. Best smartphone I ever had (came from a couple of Samsung, which were dissappointing).
The only thing failing is the battery but I already bought a new one and will be replacing it soon. But I'm debating if I should upgrade to the new HTC 10...I also thought about the Pixel but seems too expensive, only reviews will tell of course.
To anyone who went from the M8:
Is it worth it? Is it definitely faster and with better battery life? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Cheers
i came from an m8 and would definitely recommend it. it's much faster and the battery life is much better. also, given that it's unlocked (i had an att m8), the updates are more frequent.
things i don't really like about it, the headphone jack is on the top instead of the bottom. i also preferred the m8's method of turning the camera on (by double clicking on the volume) instead of the 10's method of swiping down on the screen since i seem to always be turning the camera on by accident.
Badelhas said:
I have the HTC One M8 since launch and love it. The looks, the smoothness, Sense UI. Best smartphone I ever had (came from a couple of Samsung, which were dissappointing).
The only thing failing is the battery but I already bought a new one and will be replacing it soon. But I'm debating if I should upgrade to the new HTC 10...I also thought about the Pixel but seems too expensive, only reviews will tell of course.
To anyone who went from the M8:
Is it worth it? Is it definitely faster and with better battery life? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came from M7 and happy with battery live, fast charging, memory card slot, Android pay, finger print and other small things.
via [email protected]
vksf01 said:
i came from an m8 and would definitely recommend it. it's much faster and the battery life is much better. also, given that it's unlocked (i had an att m8), the updates are more frequent.
things i don't really like about it, the headphone jack is on the top instead of the bottom. i also preferred the m8's method of turning the camera on (by double clicking on the volume) instead of the 10's method of swiping down on the screen since i seem to always be turning the camera on by accident.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you have the M8 since it was launched? Did you get to replace the battery? I've noticed that battery life is not the same has it was at the beginning but to be honest the worst moment was when we got the Android 5 Lollipop update. Other than that it's still blazing fast so I can't really imagine something much faster than this. Is the 10 that much faster?
The Google Pixel is going to be announced tomorrow so I might as well wait for the first reviews. Even though I would love fast software updates from Google (and that will last not 2 but 3 years) I doubt that the sound quality will be has good and it is on the M8 and the 10.
badzi0r said:
I came from M7 and happy with battery live, fast charging, memory card slot, Android pay, finger print and other small things.
via [email protected]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not really what I was looking for since, in my humble opinion, the M8 was already a big step up when compared to the M7. But thanks for your input.
Cheers
Badelhas said:
Did you have the M8 since it was launched? Did you get to replace the battery? I've noticed that battery life is not the same has it was at the beginning but to be honest the worst moment was when we got the Android 5 Lollipop update. Other than that it's still blazing fast so I can't really imagine something much faster than this. Is the 10 that much faster?
The Google Pixel is going to be announced tomorrow so I might as well wait for the first reviews. Even though I would love fast software updates from Google (and that will last not 2 but 3 years) I doubt that the sound quality will be has good and it is on the M8 and the 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I had the M8 since launch although ATT replaced it when they upgraded to lollipop because their update made my GPS go haywire (it couldn't be turned off and so drained my battery like crazy). the replacement m8 has worked fine. Both m8's didn't really have any issue with the battery. I still have my m8 which i'll use as a backup.
I'd also wait for the pixel phone reviews to see what they're like.
I ran M8 from launch day right up until the 10, and is absolutely worth it. The development is wonderful as well.
I do agree, however to see what the Pixel devices are like.
I honestly didn't think the 10 was a huge upgrade over the M8, but in certain key aspects, the 10 is a marked improvement. The battery on the 10 is similar to what I used to get when I first got the M8 on Kitkat, but my M8 was getting pretty worn down by the end. The camera of course is a huge upgrade, even in low light and optical stabilization is a fantastic thing to have. The software is not that much faster in my opinion. I had my M8 running really well and the 10 is similar, though scrolling is noticeably smoother especially in chrome. Game performance is also much better understandably. One thing I find really useful is the fingerprint scanner and side mounted power button, they both make the phone a lot easier to access if you use a lock of any sort. The display is interesting, I have the Tianma version and it had a prominent pink tinge at first, but it definitely has cleared up using my m8 and Nexus 5X as reference. The 10 is better calibrated than the M8 and the vivid mode does add a lot of punch for movies and games, max brightness is similar even if a lot of reviews have measured lower readings. Auto brightness still sucks.
As far as audio quality goes, I'll copy what I wrote earlier on Head-fi:
Owned the M8 since release day, just picked up the 10 about a month ago, currently working on a review, so here are some of my notes:
As far as SQ through the headphone jack goes, the quality is noticeably better with a very low noise floor even with my most sensitive iems, the Shure SE215, Westone UM 50 Pro and Oriveti Primacy, it's barely noticeable if at all. The M8 by comparison had a lot of hiss with those earphones.
Output impedance is definitely lower as it sounds more inline with my Oppo HA-2 than the M8 does with particular earphones.
Volume is pretty similar between both, I don't own anything particularly hard to drive and I'm more of a low level listener so hiss is usually a bigger issue to me.
Overall, I'm really liking the headphone out on the 10, it has HTC's usual quality AMP with plenty of voltage for high impedance gear and also plenty of current for low impedance monitors but this time, the discrete DAC is of much higher quality (Likely the Aqstic DAC), reproducing songs with a lot more dynamic range, everything sounds a lot cleaner.
As for speakers, it's a mixed bag as others have stated. I do think that the full range driver on the bottom/side of the phone is of slightly higher quality than the drivers used on the M8 but the top tweeter is pretty average.
The bottom speaker is mostly dominant with the front speaker complimenting certain sounds. The 10 does have the immediacy of sound that the M8 produces through this setup, where purely bottom/rear firing phones can sound more diffuse, but it lacks the sense of depth produced by the stereo setup.
The 10 has more extension in either direction, treble in particular is much crisper though the lower midrange has less body. Bass notes are punchier through the 10 though the midrange sounds somewhat skewed due to the uneven speaker output. More detail and clarity on the 10's speakers are great for videos and vocals in general.
I think the sound quality of the 10's speakers is ever so slightly better but the placement is of course inferior. The M8 has an extra notch of volume but distorts slightly at the top two notches, the 10 does not, so in that sense, the usable volume range is higher, but overall volume doesn't get quite as loud. You'll notice a lot of internet reviews use the music preset, the movie preset actually produces a lot more volume but soundstage effects can make vocals sound more hollow.
If you use the phone speakers to listen to music, definitely check out this video detailing some eQ settings though Poweramp, it does produce a much nicer sound than stock when used in conjunction with the Dolby music present. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEQsxcoh3Uw)
Be sure to assign this eQ to speakers and the flat eQ preset to headphones so Poweramp will automatically switch between to two when headphones are plugged/un-plugged.
So in my testing, the 10 has small upgrades in most areas and large upgrades in a few. I would say it's like a very refined M8 which I already found to be a fantastic smartphone (I hated using the M9). The 10 has no real disadvantages compared to the M8 except the speakers and it's a little wider in dimension.
ryanjsoo said:
I honestly didn't think the 10 was a huge upgrade over the M8, but in certain key aspects, the 10 is a marked improvement. The battery on the 10 is similar to what I used to get when I first got the M8 on Kitkat, but my M8 was getting pretty worn down by the end. The camera of course is a huge upgrade, even in low light and optical stabilization is a fantastic thing to have. The software is not that much faster in my opinion. I had my M8 running really well and the 10 is similar, though scrolling is noticeably smoother especially in chrome. Game performance is also much better understandably. One thing I find really useful is the fingerprint scanner and side mounted power button, they both make the phone a lot easier to access if you use a lock of any sort. The display is interesting, I have the Tianma version and it had a prominent pink tinge at first, but it definitely has cleared up using my m8 and Nexus 5X as reference. The 10 is better calibrated than the M8 and the vivid mode does add a lot of punch for movies and games, max brightness is similar even if a lot of reviews have measured lower readings. Auto brightness still sucks.
As far as audio quality goes, I'll copy what I wrote earlier on Head-fi:
Owned the M8 since release day, just picked up the 10 about a month ago, currently working on a review, so here are some of my notes:
As far as SQ through the headphone jack goes, the quality is noticeably better with a very low noise floor even with my most sensitive iems, the Shure SE215, Westone UM 50 Pro and Oriveti Primacy, it's barely noticeable if at all. The M8 by comparison had a lot of hiss with those earphones.
Output impedance is definitely lower as it sounds more inline with my Oppo HA-2 than the M8 does with particular earphones.
Volume is pretty similar between both, I don't own anything particularly hard to drive and I'm more of a low level listener so hiss is usually a bigger issue to me.
Overall, I'm really liking the headphone out on the 10, it has HTC's usual quality AMP with plenty of voltage for high impedance gear and also plenty of current for low impedance monitors but this time, the discrete DAC is of much higher quality (Likely the Aqstic DAC), reproducing songs with a lot more dynamic range, everything sounds a lot cleaner.
As for speakers, it's a mixed bag as others have stated. I do think that the full range driver on the bottom/side of the phone is of slightly higher quality than the drivers used on the M8 but the top tweeter is pretty average.
The bottom speaker is mostly dominant with the front speaker complimenting certain sounds. The 10 does have the immediacy of sound that the M8 produces through this setup, where purely bottom/rear firing phones can sound more diffuse, but it lacks the sense of depth produced by the stereo setup.
The 10 has more extension in either direction, treble in particular is much crisper though the lower midrange has less body. Bass notes are punchier through the 10 though the midrange sounds somewhat skewed due to the uneven speaker output. More detail and clarity on the 10's speakers are great for videos and vocals in general.
I think the sound quality of the 10's speakers is ever so slightly better but the placement is of course inferior. The M8 has an extra notch of volume but distorts slightly at the top two notches, the 10 does not, so in that sense, the usable volume range is higher, but overall volume doesn't get quite as loud. You'll notice a lot of internet reviews use the music preset, the movie preset actually produces a lot more volume but soundstage effects can make vocals sound more hollow.
If you use the phone speakers to listen to music, definitely check out this video detailing some eQ settings though Poweramp, it does produce a much nicer sound than stock when used in conjunction with the Dolby music present. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEQsxcoh3Uw)
Be sure to assign this eQ to speakers and the flat eQ preset to headphones so Poweramp will automatically switch between to two when headphones are plugged/un-plugged.
So in my testing, the 10 has small upgrades in most areas and large upgrades in a few. I would say it's like a very refined M8 which I already found to be a fantastic smartphone (I hated using the M9). The 10 has no real disadvantages compared to the M8 except the speakers and it's a little wider in dimension.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I had already read your answer on Head-fi and you've been very helpful once again. I am actually very glad to know that speed and smoothness is not that different between the M8 and the 10 since I love this phone and was hoping to keep it a while longer, not letting the "upgrade bug" bite me
Indeed battery life on the M8 got worse after they updated it to Lollipop because before that I always got to bed with 30% at least, which stopped happening afterwards. Of course 2 years of heavy use also had its toll and I am hoping that replacing the battery with a new original one will help regaining some of the battery life I used to have but I dont really know if it will help. I actually love my M8 camera but I didn't try the HTC 10 so probably it´s because I haven't tried anything better. I also love the sound that come from the speakers (the guy that replaced my once faulty micro usb port cleaned the speakers grills and sound is once again very nice, just like it was when I bought it). I particularly love the sound when using headphones. I came from the Galaxy S3 and S4 and there's not even a comparison.
I believe I have very nice hearing but I only use the Xiaomi Piston 3 headphones, if you participate in the Head-Fi forums you surely know they have nice and balanced sound quality for the price (20 bucks) but I wanted to ask you another question, if you dont mind: would you recommend me a better in ear headphones, ones that cost less than, lets say, 60 bucks or so? Will I see significant better sound quality than my Xiaomi Piston 3?
Thanks again for your input
Cheers
Badelhas said:
Thanks, I had already read your answer on Head-fi and you've been very helpful once again. I am actually very glad to know that speed and smoothness is not that different between the M8 and the 10 since I love this phone and was hoping to keep it a while longer, not letting the "upgrade bug" bite me
Indeed battery life on the M8 got worse after they updated it to Lollipop because before that I always got to bed with 30% at least, which stopped happening afterwards. Of course 2 years of heavy use also had its toll and I am hoping that replacing the battery with a new original one will help regaining some of the battery life I used to have but I dont really know if it will help. I actually love my M8 camera but I didn't try the HTC 10 so probably it´s because I haven't tried anything better. I also love the sound that come from the speakers (the guy that replaced my once faulty micro usb port cleaned the speakers grills and sound is once again very nice, just like it was when I bought it). I particularly love the sound when using headphones. I came from the Galaxy S3 and S4 and there's not even a comparison.
I believe I have very nice hearing but I only use the Xiaomi Piston 3 headphones, if you participate in the Head-Fi forums you surely know they have nice and balanced sound quality for the price (20 bucks) but I wanted to ask you another question, if you dont mind: would you recommend me a better in ear headphones, ones that cost less than, lets say, 60 bucks or so? Will I see significant better sound quality than my Xiaomi Piston 3?
Thanks again for your input
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought that username looked familiar! I had the Pistons 3's for a while and they're very good for the price. They're warmer and bassier than neutral so I would look at the Shozy Zero for $60 on the dot. They have a similar warm sound, they're a really nice step up but you'll perhaps miss the remote. I found them to sound better than my Klipsch X10's which cost me over $100 and they're also lot better than the Shure SE215 in the sound department. There's heaps of reviews on the net, it's definitely a model to consider.
ryanjsoo said:
Thought that username looked familiar! I had the Pistons 3's for a while and they're very good for the price. They're warmer and bassier than neutral so I would look at the Shozy Zero for $60 on the dot. They have a similar warm sound, they're a really nice step up but you'll perhaps miss the remote. I found them to sound better than my Klipsch X10's which cost me over $100 and they're also lot better than the Shure SE215 in the sound department. There's heaps of reviews on the net, it's definitely a model to consider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will read some reviews about them. Cheers
Ryan's review is spot on.
I came from the M8. In short, I upgraded because of the upgrade bug mainly. After a couple of months of usage, I can say that I could have stayed with the M8 longer. The major differences are (1) improved build quality (e.g. no dust under the lenses; no scratches), (2) much better camera, (3) finger-print scanner, (4) punchier audio jack output.
As you can see, the only two things that really make a difference are the camera and the fingerprint scanner. Otherwise, I generally feel I haven't gotten a new phone, if not for the visually different front side.
In the end, if you take lots of photos, it's probably justifiable to upgrade. If you don't take too many photos, then the upgrade bug is the only real reason to upgrade.
Cheers.
PS: I love the 10. It's easily the greatest phone I've ever held/seen. It's just that the M8 was so amazing in its own right that it's a small upgrade to the 10.
samisax said:
Ryan's review is spot on.
I came from the M8. In short, I upgraded because of the upgrade bug mainly. After a couple of months of usage, I can say that I could have stayed with the M8 longer. The major differences are (1) improved build quality (e.g. no dust under the lenses; no scratches), (2) much better camera, (3) finger-print scanner, (4) punchier audio jack output.
As you can see, the only two things that really make a difference are the camera and the fingerprint scanner. Otherwise, I generally feel I haven't gotten a new phone, if not for the visually different front side.
In the end, if you take lots of photos, it's probably justifiable to upgrade. If you don't take too many photos, then the upgrade bug is the only real reason to upgrade.
Cheers.
PS: I love the 10. It's easily the greatest phone I've ever held/seen. It's just that the M8 was so amazing in its own right that it's a small upgrade to the 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for another great input, very helpful to sustain my decision to keep this great smartphone
Cheers
I came from the M7, so I know I'm answering slightly out of place, but I did have a few M8 Dev phones I used and played with, but didn't use as a daily driver.
I paid full US Unlocked retail cash money, so it was a substantial investment upfront to get the M10, not just a monthly finance charge.
My honest opinion, it was totally worth it. I considered the nexus or one of the CM or blu type devices because of instant OS updates and unlocking. I'm SOOO glad I went with the HTC 10.
It offers me HTC Sense, and unlocking it thanks to sunshine (it's actually S off, not unlocking, but for ease of use we will call it unlocking) was easier than some of my nexus devices, literally.
Hardware and build quality is amazing, and the sense software and rom selections are too notch.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
I went through 2 M8s and loved them. Definitely one of the best devices I've ever used. The only reason I ended up upgrading to the 10 was because my second M8 got wet and the screen died. To me, it was worth upgrading rather than trying to repair it. There are some definite benefits of upgrading.
The phone is more comfortable to hold.
The all-glass front looks incredible and has resisted fingerprints and smudges much better than my M8 did.
The cameras are much better (although the "laser autofocus" does mess up from time to time, especially looking through a window)
The screen is larger and even more crisp. Colors are brighter.
Battery life is MUCH improved.
Quick-Charge 3.0 is like magic. It's seriously impressive how quickly this phone charges.
USB-C is "future proof" and a better connector. Not more finding the right orientation or loose connections with old cables.
I thought I'd hate the power button on the side, but I actually love it. It's a solid button and it makes taking screenshots (pwr+vol dn) easy with 1 hand.
The fingerprint scanner is a HUGE plus. I still keep a lockscreen password as a backup, but 99% of the time, it unlocks with a single finger press.
I don't know if you still have your M8 stock (if you're on XDA, I hope not ), but I had a big issue with my M8 when I first got it, with the "wipe after 10 failed unlock attempts" that was built into the OS. It ended up trying in my pocket and when I took my phone out, it was wiped. Installing a custom ROM fixed that for me. On the HTC 10, they changed it very wisely. After 5 failed finger print attempts it will lock you out for 30 seconds. To unlock in this window, you need to use your passcode/PIN. If you try and fail on the passcode, it will give you 3 more tries until locking you out from that too for 30 seconds. After 5th failed unlock attempt, it will then ask you to trace a pattern on the screen, before it will let you try again. If you don't follow the pattern pretty closely, it won't let you try again. This makes it virtually impossible to accidentally wipe your device, while still preserving the security feature. I'm not sure if this is a MM feature or an HTC feature but it's great and has saved me a few times already.
There are some cons about switching from the M8 to the 10 though....
No more IR blaster.
No more Barometer.
Headphone jack is moved to top of the phone.
Rear camera sticks out.
Speed / performance increase is not very noticable. The M8 is still a competitive phone.
Neutral is the boomsound speakers. The M8's front stereo speakers were definitely louder, but not significantly so. The front/down combo on the 10 works fine.
A negative of both the M8 and the 10 is the IP rating. IP53 just doesn't cut it. I learned first hand how intolerant to water the M8 is, and the 10 is no better. HTC needs to get next year's flagship up to IP68 or they're going to really struggle.
CharliesTheMan said:
I came from the M7, so I know I'm answering slightly out of place, but I did have a few M8 Dev phones I used and played with, but didn't use as a daily driver.
I paid full US Unlocked retail cash money, so it was a substantial investment upfront to get the M10, not just a monthly finance charge.
My honest opinion, it was totally worth it. I considered the nexus or one of the CM or blu type devices because of instant OS updates and unlocking. I'm SOOO glad I went with the HTC 10.
It offers me HTC Sense, and unlocking it thanks to sunshine (it's actually S off, not unlocking, but for ease of use we will call it unlocking) was easier than some of my nexus devices, literally.
Hardware and build quality is amazing, and the sense software and rom selections are too notch.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using stock rom, tried several Google based and sense based and didn't like them, I actually think that the stock one is better, especially since Marshmallow.
drumz0rz said:
I went through 2 M8s and loved them. Definitely one of the best devices I've ever used. The only reason I ended up upgrading to the 10 was because my second M8 got wet and the screen died. To me, it was worth upgrading rather than trying to repair it. There are some definite benefits of upgrading.
The phone is more comfortable to hold.
The all-glass front looks incredible and has resisted fingerprints and smudges much better than my M8 did.
The cameras are much better (although the "laser autofocus" does mess up from time to time, especially looking through a window)
The screen is larger and even more crisp. Colors are brighter.
Battery life is MUCH improved.
Quick-Charge 3.0 is like magic. It's seriously impressive how quickly this phone charges.
USB-C is "future proof" and a better connector. Not more finding the right orientation or loose connections with old cables.
I thought I'd hate the power button on the side, but I actually love it. It's a solid button and it makes taking screenshots (pwr+vol dn) easy with 1 hand.
The fingerprint scanner is a HUGE plus. I still keep a lockscreen password as a backup, but 99% of the time, it unlocks with a single finger press.
I don't know if you still have your M8 stock (if you're on XDA, I hope not [emoji14] ), but I had a big issue with my M8 when I first got it, with the "wipe after 10 failed unlock attempts" that was built into the OS. It ended up trying in my pocket and when I took my phone out, it was wiped. Installing a custom ROM fixed that for me. On the HTC 10, they changed it very wisely. After 5 failed finger print attempts it will lock you out for 30 seconds. To unlock in this window, you need to use your passcode/PIN. If you try and fail on the passcode, it will give you 3 more tries until locking you out from that too for 30 seconds. After 5th failed unlock attempt, it will then ask you to trace a pattern on the screen, before it will let you try again. If you don't follow the pattern pretty closely, it won't let you try again. This makes it virtually impossible to accidentally wipe your device, while still preserving the security feature. I'm not sure if this is a MM feature or an HTC feature but it's great and has saved me a few times already.
There are some cons about switching from the M8 to the 10 though....
No more IR blaster.
No more Barometer.
Headphone jack is moved to top of the phone.
Rear camera sticks out.
Speed / performance increase is not very noticable. The M8 is still a competitive phone.
Neutral is the boomsound speakers. The M8's front stereo speakers were definitely louder, but not significantly so. The front/down combo on the 10 works fine.
A negative of both the M8 and the 10 is the IP rating. IP53 just doesn't cut it. I learned first hand how intolerant to water the M8 is, and the 10 is no better. HTC needs to get next year's flagship up to IP68 or they're going to really struggle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the time you took mentioning the advantages and disadvantages of making the upgrade. My only gripe currently is battery life, that's why I ordered a battery and will be replacing it. 2 years of heavy use takes its toll. Let's see how that goes.
I won a blackberry DTEK50 (it's the Alcatel idol 4 hardware rebranded with blackberry software on top of Android) and a UMi Max Smartphones on 2 Internet giveaways (in the same day, talk about luck, right?) , they haven't arrived yet but I believe none of them would be a proper upgrade over my M8 so I think I'm selling the DTEK50 and giving the UMi Max to my niece. Do you guys agree that the DTEK50 is more of a sidegrade as well?
Cheers
I wasnt planning on upgrading to the 10 but broke my m8 a couple weeks ago. Things i like right away; better camera (faster focus/snapping and quality) battery seems to last longer/charges faster, phone is quicker in general and audio from headphones is better (more on this last one below.) The USB C is nice (other than having to buy a few extra cables to keep around the house/car,) nice not having to align the direction when plugging in. Transferring data to/from computer is quicker.
One of the main reason i was interested in the 10 if for its audio, i use Sennheiser Momentum 2, over ears. Noticeable improvement of the M8 in back to back listening of the same songs. Momentum 2's are lower impedance (compared to most headphones in that price range) and the 10 get louder than i can comfortably listen to but even fully cranked, sound is clean. I'd be curious to see how well it could power a higher impedance headphone without a standalone amp. Also, noticed an improvement with my old M8 Harmon Kardon ear buds (new 10 doesnt come with any, which i didnt plan on using but found odd)
ROM support seems pretty good, still waiting for a daily driver AOSP style rom but VIPER has been issue free.
Down sides, the phone feels larger in the hands, not so much heavier/dimensionally but maybe weight is in different place? I know, that sounds odd but just how it feels holding it one handed. The power button on the side was easier to get used to, no longer phantom touching the top of the phone. I liked having the headphone jack next to the charging port on the bottom, made it easier to use both at the same time. No more IR blaster, which i didnt use often but still used on occasion.
Speaker audio seems quieter, not really liking the ear and bottom firing speaker vs dual fronts of the m8. If holding the phone in landscape and watching videos, your hand can easily muffle the sound depending on how its held. Dual front speakers seemed to direct the sound towards your head better. The sound range seems to come mostly from the bottom speaker, depending on how you holding the phone can change that.
Overall, pretty happy with the device. Waiting to see if I can get a second one on sale/contract for the wife. Scored my Sprint version from Bestbuy.com for $100 but havent had luck finding a second in stock at that price.
I came from the m8 too. The HTC10 is a brilliant phone with a few flaws.
The camera (or at the very least, the software) can be a little temperamental. The sound does not match up to the M8's boomsound at all. With that in mind, however, its better than pretty much every other phone without a similar set up.
You would also be moving from USB Micro to USB-C. A much needed improvment, but maybe stock up on cables, and make sure they support quick charge
As for things that I prefer over the m8, the black navigation bar at the bottom of the screen is gone, and replaced by hardware navigation. This is much better to me, as I always felt the onscreen navigation just wasted screen space really.
The finger print scanner is one of the best I have used on any phone, and using that to wake up and unlock the phone makes getting used to the moved power button a non-issue.
I did have issues with the headphone jack being on the top, but im just used to it now.
I have installed custom roms (you dont need to S-OFF to do this whatsoever, just unlock the bootloader using HTCDev) and this improves much. In a default stock condition though, its a pretty damn good phone. Certainly happy to be using it for the next two years.
I came from the M8, but am returning to it once I get it unlocked for use with my current carrier. Cameras (I never take pictures) were a non-issue for me, I could care less about them. For me, it is a software issue. I like Sense and the way it is/was implemented. With each iteration of HTC phones, Sense seems to be in a state of retreat, abdicating to standard Android apps. Many things that have been removed are the very items I liked. Vanilla Android is not for me. Soooooo, for me it's back to the M8 and a dilemma over what my next phone will be. Certainly not an HTC unless miracles occur.
silegeek said:
I came from the m8 too. The HTC10 is a brilliant phone with a few flaws.
The camera (or at the very least, the software) can be a little temperamental. The sound does not match up to the M8's boomsound at all. With that in mind, however, its better than pretty much every other phone without a similar set up.
You would also be moving from USB Micro to USB-C. A much needed improvment, but maybe stock up on cables, and make sure they support quick charge
As for things that I prefer over the m8, the black navigation bar at the bottom of the screen is gone, and replaced by hardware navigation. This is much better to me, as I always felt the onscreen navigation just wasted screen space really.
The finger print scanner is one of the best I have used on any phone, and using that to wake up and unlock the phone makes getting used to the moved power button a non-issue.
I did have issues with the headphone jack being on the top, but im just used to it now.
I have installed custom roms (you dont need to S-OFF to do this whatsoever, just unlock the bootloader using HTCDev) and this improves much. In a default stock condition though, its a pretty damn good phone. Certainly happy to be using it for the next two years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KC013 said:
I came from the M8, but am returning to it once I get it unlocked for use with my current carrier. Cameras (I never take pictures) were a non-issue for me, I could care less about them. For me, it is a software issue. I like Sense and the way it is/was implemented. With each iteration of HTC phones, Sense seems to be in a state of retreat, abdicating to standard Android apps. Many things that have been removed are the very items I liked. Vanilla Android is not for me. Soooooo, for me it's back to the M8 and a dilemma over what my next phone will be. Certainly not an HTC unless miracles occur.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you both for your answers I am more and more inclined to keep my M8, replacing the battery, of course.
Cheers!
I still have my M8 and to me, the 10 makes the M8 look generic. The screen is much better and much more beautiful, it is much faster and smoother and although the sound doesn't seem louder from the speakers, it is mainly because it is much clearer and sounds much better. Especially certain ringtones just sound much better. This lie I keep hearing that the M8 boomsound speakers are much better is aggravating lol. I mostly hear it in the same post where they are talking about the S7. The 10 is an absolutely perfect phone and the development is amazing. Viper 10 is the most perfect ROM I have ever experienced. I always thought I would hate hardware buttons but after going back to my M8 when flashing ROM's, the onscreen buttons are annoying. I liked my M8 and M9, was disappointed with the M9 luckily I was able to trade it in for the 10, but I absolutely love my 10. There is no doubt it is a worthy upgrade. Having it now, I would hate to have not ever experienced it. You would have to be very picky to have anything bad to say about it.
The title says it all. Please share your empirical input, please.
Cheers
Badelhas said:
The title says it all. Please share your empirical input, please.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both the M8 and the 10 and I use them daily. The 10 is a little bit faster than my M8, but the battery life of my M8 is still better, even after two years. Also the sound is better on the M8. Camera is about the same. It's too bad it's not getting the upgrade to Android 7 and doesn't have a fingerprint reader, else I wouldn't have upgraded.
ex260 said:
I have both the M8 and the 10 and I use them daily. The 10 is a little bit faster than my M8, but the battery life of my M8 is still better, even after two years. Also the sound is better on the M8. Camera is about the same. It's too bad it's not getting the upgrade to Android 7 and doesn't have a fingerprint reader, else I wouldn't have upgraded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input.
Are you saying that the headphone sound quality is not better, the camera is not much better and is not that much faster or smoother?! That's a surprise, to be honest.
Cheers
Badelhas said:
Thanks for your input.
Are you saying that the headphone sound quality is not better, the camera is not much better and is not that much faster or smoother?! That's a surprise, to be honest.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Headphone quality is probably the same, the external speakers of the M8 are better, in my opinion. I'm also experiencing the smudge/blur problem with the camera that I had on the M8, so that's not much better on the 10. After I received the 10 I gave the M8 a full reset to use it as a work phone, and I was surprised how smooth it was again. I do think the screen of the 10 is better, sharper.
ex260 said:
Headphone quality is probably the same, the external speakers of the M8 are better, in my opinion. I'm also experiencing the smudge/blur problem with the camera that I had on the M8, so that's not much better on the 10. After I received the 10 I gave the M8 a full reset to use it as a work phone, and I was surprised how smooth it was again. I do think the screen of the 10 is better, sharper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never had the smudge problem you refer on my m8. And on head-fi.org forums the audio experts guarantee that the headphone sound quality is much better but you have to use good headphones or you won't notice the difference. I'm using the best budget headphones out there, from what I know, the Xiaomi Piston 3. Which ones do you use?
Do you think battery life is better on the M8? Because I've replaced mine but still can't get to the end of the day. I use LTE only, though, since I don't have wifi at work.
Badelhas said:
Never had the smudge problem you refer on my m8. And on head-fi.org forums the audio experts guarantee that the headphone sound quality is much better but you have to use good headphones or you won't notice the difference. I'm using the best budget headphones out there, from what I know, the Xiaomi Piston 3. Which ones do you use?
Do you think battery life is better on the M8? Because I've replaced mine but still can't get to the end of the day. I use LTE only, though, since I don't have wifi at work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Sennheiser CX 300-II as headphones, but not very often. I can't compare at the moment unfortunately. But the quality won't be less than the M8.
I am just really satisfied with the battery life of my M8. Maybe I was lucky with the M8 and less lucky with the 10
By the sound of it I think the 10 would be a nice upgrade for you
ex260 said:
I'm using Sennheiser CX 300-II as headphones, but not very often. I can't compare at the moment unfortunately. But the quality won't be less than the M8.
I am just really satisfied with the battery life of my M8. Maybe I was lucky with the M8 and less lucky with the 10
By the sound of it I think the 10 would be a nice upgrade for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my point. I don't really think it will.
Badelhas said:
That's my point. I don't really think it will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what's important for you. Maybe you can get your hands on a 10 somewhere?
I have both too. My 2 cents:
Screen is much better on the 10, and no on-screen buttons
I personally don't care for the fingerprint reader, but here it is.
Audio quality on the 10 is much better, particularly on good headphones. On speakers, the M8 is louder, but IMHO, spatialization (video audio mode) and tone accuracy are better on the 10.
The 10 is snappier and smoother, even after resetting the M8.
Battery life globally is about the same, no problems to reach the end of the day, but I'm getting 1 hour longer SOT on the 10, and it charges sooo fast.
Camera is very good on the 10, it was mediocre on the M8. No clue what the blur problem is...
So if you ask me, yes, it's a pretty worthy upgrade.
pomponazzo said:
I have both too. My 2 cents:
Screen is much better on the 10, and no on-screen buttons
I personally don't care for the fingerprint reader, but here it is.
Audio quality on the 10 is much better, particularly on good headphones. On speakers, the M8 is louder, but IMHO, spatialization (video audio mode) and tone accuracy are better on the 10.
The 10 is snappier and smoother, even after resetting the M8.
Battery life globally is about the same, no problems to reach the end of the day, but I'm getting 1 hour longer SOT on the 10, and it charges sooo fast.
Camera is very good on the 10, it was mediocre on the M8. No clue what the blur problem is...
So if you ask me, yes, it's a pretty worthy upgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your detailed opinion.
But now I'm again divided on what to do
Cheers
I don't regret my Upgrade to the 10
I upgraded, because I often spend time away from charging sources and can't wait for my phone to charge. Kept my M8 around to listen to Pandora at work on WiFi. I couldn't go a whole day just listening to Pandora (I leave the screen on all the time so I can change songs without unlocking.) on the M8. The 10 can go all day & still have about 45% battery. Game-wise the 10 is way faster. Audio Quality is better on the 10 over headphones and I have about the same quality over the external speakers on both phones. The camera on the 10 is faster and has much better controls than the M8. Also even when charging the 10 is a lot cooler than the M8 was during heavy use while charging or otherwise. Also it may just be my case choice, but the 10 feels a lot lighter than the M8 or even the M9. I also get better wireless service on the 10. So here's how I rate the phone:
Screen quality: The 10 is noticeably better.
Audio Quality: With headphones the 10 is much better, without headphones (external speakers) about the same maybe a bit better on the M8
Speed Overall: The 10 blows the M8 out of the water.
Camera Quality: 10 takes better pictures faster, and has better controls for the camera.
LTE Quality: 10 is much better. I get service in areas the M8 barely works.
Build Quality: the M8 feels heavier, both phones feel sturdy and both have survived falls in cases onto concrete with no cracked screens.
Charging: The 10 can go from 0 to 50% if off and on a Quickcharge 3.0 compatible charger in about 30-35 minutes.
I don't regret the purchase of the 10. I am often away from my dekstop PC, which is my primary gaming rig, the 10 does a nice job of playing mobile games with decent graphics and decent battery run times. I would say it's enitrely up to how you feel about upgrading. I paid $600 for mine, but they have a $200 discount sale on the 10 now. $500 for a flagship phone is good. CPU, RAM & Micro SD slot are all comparable to the other major flagship phones, USB-C is kind of a pain to switch everything over to, but it's nice having a reversible port, plus the data transfer speeds mean copying videos or photos or large quantities of music to or from your phone is stupid fast. Unlike the Galaxy Note 7 which had USB-C this phone doesn't explode.
If you can swing the money, upgrade, otherwise I don't see a reason to wait.
Capt'n Mal said:
I upgraded, because I often spend time away from charging sources and can't wait for my phone to charge. Kept my M8 around to listen to Pandora at work on WiFi. I couldn't go a whole day just listening to Pandora (I leave the screen on all the time so I can change songs without unlocking.) on the M8. The 10 can go all day & still have about 45% battery. Game-wise the 10 is way faster. Audio Quality is better on the 10 over headphones and I have about the same quality over the external speakers on both phones. The camera on the 10 is faster and has much better controls than the M8. Also even when charging the 10 is a lot cooler than the M8 was during heavy use while charging or otherwise. Also it may just be my case choice, but the 10 feels a lot lighter than the M8 or even the M9. I also get better wireless service on the 10. So here's how I rate the phone:
Screen quality: The 10 is noticeably better.
Audio Quality: With headphones the 10 is much better, without headphones (external speakers) about the same maybe a bit better on the M8
Speed Overall: The 10 blows the M8 out of the water.
Camera Quality: 10 takes better pictures faster, and has better controls for the camera.
LTE Quality: 10 is much better. I get service in areas the M8 barely works.
Build Quality: the M8 feels heavier, both phones feel sturdy and both have survived falls in cases onto concrete with no cracked screens.
Charging: The 10 can go from 0 to 50% if off and on a Quickcharge 3.0 compatible charger in about 30-35 minutes.
I don't regret the purchase of the 10. I am often away from my dekstop PC, which is my primary gaming rig, the 10 does a nice job of playing mobile games with decent graphics and decent battery run times. I would say it's enitrely up to how you feel about upgrading. I paid $600 for mine, but they have a $200 discount sale on the 10 now. $500 for a flagship phone is good. CPU, RAM & Micro SD slot are all comparable to the other major flagship phones, USB-C is kind of a pain to switch everything over to, but it's nice having a reversible port, plus the data transfer speeds mean copying videos or photos or large quantities of music to or from your phone is stupid fast. Unlike the Galaxy Note 7 which had USB-C this phone doesn't explode.
If you can swing the money, upgrade, otherwise I don't see a reason to wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your thoughtful response.
Honestly, the cameras are not even comparable, the 10 is a much better shooter. Dynamic range, detail and even image processing are all vastly improved. I've attached photos below to highlight this, the M8 is on the left, the 10 is on the right with crops on the bottom. Both were in auto, tap to focus when necessary, I cleaned the lenses on both beforehand. The M8 likes to overexpose shots, it's always been like that for me, I tried toothpaste on the lens, it worked for my One X but had no effect on my M8 unfortunately but whatever coating was on the lens from factory is gone. The 10 also produces a much more exaggerated bokeh due to the lower aperture lens and larger sensor, it gives macro and portrait photos a lot more artistic value which is especially impressive among smartphones though it's still a far cry from what my F1.8 A6000 can achieve of course.
Detail and Processing -
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Dynamic Range -
Bokeh -
Also, coming back to audio quality from the headphone jack, I guess I didn't notice a huge difference switching from the M8 to the 10 but rather picked up on the improvements when switching from the 10 back to the M8, such is the nature of audio upgrades, especially sources which are much more comparable than different headphones. In audio, especially with sources, quality is judged more in terms of what is wrong than what is right, and the 10 is less "wrong" than the M8. For instance, the level of background hiss is improved, it was prevalent on the M8 and silent on the 10, end to end extension is better and the 10 is noticeably more transparent and resolving in general, it has a less coloured sound. For reference, I am an audio reviewer and a photographer, I run a website and have listened to hundreds of headphones and dozens of phones/sources/DACs, many costing thousands of dollars, some costing just a handful; I know a good source when I hear one and am at adept at discerning the performance differences between devices.
You also don't need a $1000 headphone to notice the difference, hell, I can tell with my $5 VE Monk+ and $15 Toneking TP16. You will get a bigger improvement with better earphones of course, but as with many things, price does not define performance, and great earphones can be found for less than $60 online. The RE-400 and Shozy Zero for example, are both very, very good for a modest price whilst that same $60 won't get you nearly the same performance in a consumer retail store. If you want really good sound, just spend $300 and buy a fantastic earphone like the Oriveti Primacy, the headphone/earphone will always make a much larger difference than a better phone/player/source. Why spend $700 on a smartphone for a 5% performance increase when you can spend $60 and get an earphone that sounds about twice as good if not more so than your Pistons 3 or $300 for an earphone that you will likely never need to upgrade?
ryanjsoo said:
Honestly, the cameras are not even comparable, the 10 is a much better shooter. Dynamic range, detail and even image processing are all castly improved. I've attached photos below to highlight this, the M8 is on the left, the 10 is on the right with crops on the bottom. Both were in auto, tap to focus when necessary, I cleaned the lenses on both beforehand. The M8 likes to overexpose shots, it's always been like that for me, I tried toothpaste on the lens, it worked for my One X but had no effect on my M8 unfortunately. The 10 also produces a much more exaggerated bokeh due to the lower aperture lens and larger sensor, it gives macro and portrait photos a lot more artistic value which is especially impressive among smartphones though it's still a far cry from what my F1.8 A6000 can achieve of course.
Detail and Processing -
Dynamic Range -
Bokeh -
Also, coming back to audio quality from the headphone jack, I guess I didn't notice a huge difference switching from the M8 to the 10 but rather picked up on the improvements when switching from the 10 back to the M8, such is the nature of audio upgrades, especially sources which are much more comparable than different headphones. In audio, especially with sources, quality is judged more in terms of what is wrong than what is right, and the 10 is less "wrong" than the M8. For instance, the level of background hiss is improved, it was prevalent on the M8 and silent on the 10, end to end extension is better and the 10 is noticeably more transparent and resolving in general, it has a less coloured sound. For reference, I am an audio reviewer and a photographer, I run a website and have listened to hundreds of headphones and dozens of phones/sources/DACs, many costing thousands of dollars, some costing just a handful; I know a good source when I hear one and am at adept at discerning the performance differences between devices.
You also don't need a $1000 headphone to notice the difference, hell, I can tell with my $5 VE Monk+ and $15 Toneking TP16. You will get a bigger improvement with better earphones of course, but as with many things, price does not define performance, and great earphones can be found for less than $60 online. The RE-400 and Shozy Zero for example, are both very, very good for a modest price whilst that same $60 won't get you nearly the same performance in a consumer retail store. If you want really good sound, just spend $300 and buy a fantastic earphone like the Oriveti Primacy, the headphone/earphone will always make a much larger difference than a better phone/player/source. Why spend $700 on a smartphone for a 5% performance increase when you can spend $60 and get an earphone that sounds about twice as good if not more so than your Pistons 3 or $300 for an earphone that you will likely never need to upgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your thoughtful opinion. So you think that apart from the camera (which I don't use or value that much but actually like because of the great night shots it can take) getting the 10 is not that much of an upgrade except if I buy the Primacy 300 headphones?
Cheers
Badelhas said:
Thanks for your thoughtful opinion. So you think that apart from the camera (which I don't use or value that much but actually like because of the great night shots it can take) getting the 10 is not that much of an upgrade except if I buy the Primacy 300 headphones?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, rather if you care about sound quality then you should spend money on your earphones/headphones rather than a new phone as it will make a bigger difference. I'm trying to say that you can tell the difference between the 10 and M8 on any earphone, even a $5 one.
ryanjsoo said:
No, rather if you care about sound quality then you should spend money on your earphones/headphones rather than a new phone as it will make a bigger difference. I'm trying to say that you can tell the difference between the 10 and M8 on any earphone, even a $5 one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it. You did not compared them in terms of smoothness and so but I guess that´s not the most important part to you, based on what you sayd Is it much better on the 10?
So, in your opinion, if I decide to keep my trusty M8 (I am inclined to do that at the moment), if I buy a HiFiMAN RE-400 or a ZERO AUDIO Carbo Tenore ZH-DX200-CT, I should already notice a significant sound quality upgrade?
Cheers
Badelhas said:
Got it. You did not compared them in terms of smoothness and so but I guess that´s not the most important part to you, based on what you sayd Is it much better on the 10?
So, in your opinion, if I decide to keep my trusty M8 (I am inclined to do that at the moment), if I buy a HiFiMAN RE-400 or a ZERO AUDIO Carbo Tenore ZH-DX200-CT, I should already notice a significant sound quality upgrade?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most definitely, I used to use a set of Sennheiser ie800's with my M8, of course they sounded much better than my earpods... But both the ie800s and earpods sound better from my 10, just the ie800 benefits more. I don't think it's logical at all if you think that upgrading from the M8 to the 10 will make a bigger difference to sound quality than upgrading from Pistons 3s to the ie800's for example (which cost almost as much as the 10).
As an experiment you can spend maybe $50 on a decent set of earphones and $100 on a Fiio Q1 to see what I'm talking about, the $50 earphones will make a bigger difference than the $100 dedicated DAC/AMP.
The 10 is the best phone HTC has put out so far, hands down. There's no contest at all between a 10 and an 8, and I loved the M8. The only area where it beats the 10 is in speaker volume. In every other way the 10 is a superior phone. The display is amazing, the build is sexy, the camera is finally competitive (not better, but competitive) with Apple and Samsung tech, and as someone else pointed out, fast charging significantly improves quality of life. It sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into not upgrading, and that's totally your call. But don't not do it because you think the M8's a better phone. It's not.
thedodus said:
The 10 is the best phone HTC has put out so far, hands down. There's no contest at all between a 10 and an 8, and I loved the M8. The only area where it beats the 10 is in speaker volume. In every other way the 10 is a superior phone. The display is amazing, the build is sexy, the camera is finally competitive (not better, but competitive) with Apple and Samsung tech, and as someone else pointed out, fast charging significantly improves quality of life. It sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into not upgrading, and that's totally your call. But don't not do it because you think the M8's a better phone. It's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never said it's better, did I?!
I'm just saying it's still a great smartphone: pretty, fast, nice screen, sound quality and, for my kind of use at least, has a great camara. It's the only smartphone till now I don't really feel the need to upgrade, even after 2 and a half years after getting it. That did not happen when I had the Samsung Galaxy S3, Note 2 and S4. I'm a tech geek and the "upgrade bug" is trying to bite me but 500 euros is a lot of money since I earn twice of that a month. What I'm really questioning is if I will really notice it's something vastly superior that will not make me regret spending that money instead of waiting a little more. I mean, I would like to have Nougat on my smartphone and I know I will never get it, officially at least.
Maybe I have to try one personality on a store to make up my mind since I don't know anyone who owns one.
Cheers
ryanjsoo said:
Most definitely, I used to use a set of Sennheiser ie800's with my M8, of course they sounded much better than my earpods... But both the ie800s and earpods sound better from my 10, just the ie800 benefits more. I don't think it's logical at all if you think that upgrading from the M8 to the 10 will make a bigger difference to sound quality than upgrading from Pistons 3s to the ie800's for example (which cost almost as much as the 10).
As an experiment you can spend maybe $50 on a decent set of earphones and $100 on a Fiio Q1 to see what I'm talking about, the $50 earphones will make a bigger difference than the $100 dedicated DAC/AMP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
If you had to buy a 50 bucks on a new set of in ear headphones, which one do you recommend?
Cheers
I have a chance to get a brand new Nextbit Robin (never opened) for $40 and I'm really leaning towards getting it, it's the black model (my preference) - no it's not a sale online someplace, it's one-shot purchase from a friend that won it in a contest and never even bothered to open it.
My question is: can anyone comment on the sound quality as well as the actual volume from the speakers on the Robin? I mean, I just recently owned a Moto X Pure and that had some damned nice sounding dual front speakers, similar to the Nexus 6 (not the Huawei 6p, I mean the older Motorola Nexus 6) and so while I'm guessing they're not anything like the Moto X Pure in terms of loudness (they were quite loud, surprisingly), I'd still like to hear from anyone that can offer their opinion on those two aspects.
99.999% chance I'm gonna grab the Robin because at this price it'll be a cool thing to own - I wanted to get one when they first came out and as it so often happens I decide at some point to pass on devices when they first come out because of pricing then pick 'em up at a later time used more often than not.
In this instance, it's a never before used still in the shrink wrapped box for $40 and that's a tough deal to pass up even considering that the cloud-based storage features are now long dead. It would have been neat if someone had discovered a method to go into the stock firmware/ROM and found a way to alter the server information so we could literally host our own cloud storage solution.
I have to wonder if such a thing would be possible, that could work out pretty great to be able to use your own home storage setup as your own "personal cloud" with that device and keep the stock ROM.
I see there is a healthy community at work with even Oreo support nowadays, so I'm excited to have a new toy to play with for sure. But even so, if someone could offer some idea of the sound quality and volume compared to some other devices - like the Moto X Pure - I'd appreciate it.
I've seen a bunch of videos doing minor simplistic reviews of the Robin but nobody focused on the actual sound quality or volume, they just say it has dual front speakers and then they move on from it.
Anyway, thanks for any responses, and have fun, always..
Quite the steal, definitely worth at that price.
I can comfortably listen to YouTube in an environment with some noise. Quality is decent enough.
As long as you know how to flash custom ROMs and the like you'll have fun with this phone. My only real complaint is the battery life which is unfortunately not very good.
Sound quality out of the speakers is very good, good enough to play music while im working outside and don't have a speaker. The audio quality out of the headphone jack is superb. I previously had an LG G2, which has a Wolfson DAC. The Robin is just as good as the g2, with a bit more loudness.
Do you use OnePlus Buds wireless?
How they sound in music & Call ?
Do they worth the money? I ask because the price is obscene !
Thank you.
I bought the new pro's. They ARE overpriced and the touch controls are finicky however the audio sounds better than the Samsung buds+ and some Anker ones I had. The call quality is much better on the buds pro than others I've tried as well. The ANC works pretty well but I feel that the "transparency" mode isn't as strong as Samsung's "ambient" mode which I use at work a lot. It's nice that the software for them are built into OOS' BT area also. 1+ recently had them on sale for $119 ($30 off) already.
Hopefully they push out a new firmware soon to address some of the issues. Mainly the touch controls on the stems are "touch and go" (pun intended) and there are occasional issues with the buds not thinking they're fully inserted in your (or maybe just mine) ears so they turn ANC off. I'm also hoping Comply will make tips for them soon. I have some of their all purpose tips and then don't get the "insert your earbuds" for ANC error however the all purpose Comply tips don't fully fit in the case and eventually the lid tears them since they're a tad too big.
My left Samsung ear bud's volume had been decreasing to the point that it was almost dead so I needed a pair and decided to give 1+ a shot. They're good but not $150 good IMO. At that price point they have too much competition.
I got mine free with the purchase of my phone and I love them. I use them for music and watching video on my phone all the time, and they sound better than the others I used before. My mom liked them so much she bought a pair for herself (she has OP9). If you're a true audiophile I'm sure there are better choices, but for the average person who likes to enjoy music and movies, I can't complain at all. They also fit great for me (after switching tips) and stay in even when doing stuff outdoors or if I fall asleep with them.
Not sure about call quality because I don't really use my phone for talking. I only used them for a call once that I remember and it sounded fine on my end, but I didn't ask how I sounded to the other person.