Develop Bugs

Refund Snapdragon For Exynos?

My carrier (Bell in Canada) has agreed to let me do a refund on my Snapdragon Note 7 because of the recall. I was thinking of then going and buying a Exynos version because I get lag with my Snapdragon version which drives me nuts. I was looking into B&H Photo because they provide a 1 year warranty and say they will be getting new stock of the "f" model around Sept 18 that is safe from the recall. I would end up paying about $500 extra to switch versions and be contract free. Is it worth it? Is rooting and performance that much better?

acheney1990 said:
My carrier (Bell in Canada) has agreed to let me do a refund on my Snapdragon Note 7 because of the recall. I was thinking of then going and buying a Exynos version because I get lag with my Snapdragon version which drives me nuts. I was looking into B&H Photo because they provide a 1 year warranty and say they will be getting new stock of the "f" model around Sept 18 that is safe from the recall. I would end up paying about $500 extra to switch versions and be contract free. Is it worth it? Is rooting and performance that much better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at this before making any decisions...

TEKHD said:
Take a look atthisbefore making any decisions...
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That does seem like a pretty big difference. Does it tend to translate to real life difference?

acheney1990 said:
That does seem like a pretty big difference. Does it tend to translate to real life difference?
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Click to collapse
Yes, the Exynos is much smoother in real life. The SD is a bit of a fail in the Note 7.

acheney1990 said:
My carrier (Bell in Canada) has agreed to let me do a refund on my Snapdragon Note 7 because of the recall. I was thinking of then going and buying a Exynos version because I get lag with my Snapdragon version which drives me nuts. I was looking into B&H Photo because they provide a 1 year warranty and say they will be getting new stock of the "f" model around Sept 18 that is safe from the recall. I would end up paying about $500 extra to switch versions and be contract free. Is it worth it? Is rooting and performance that much better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with Bell as well, how did you get them to agree? The only thing I have seen is this: http://support.bell.ca/mobility/smartphones_and_mobile_internet/samsung_galaxy_note7_update

Batfink33 said:
Yes, the Exynos is much smoother in real life. The SD is a bit of a fail in the Note 7.
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Click to collapse
I agree get the Exynos if you can. The Snapdragon is full of problems and terrible battery life compared to the Exynos version.
Literally the only way I can make my Exynos lag is too open all 120 apps while multi windows + running Antutu (exaggeration obviously) in all seriousness I have never seen my device lag even when gaming order and chaos 2, dead trigger 2, Pokemon Go, clash of clans..etc

stevierayvaughan said:
I'm with Bell as well, how did you get them to agree? The only thing I have seen is this: http://support.bell.ca/mobility/smartphones_and_mobile_internet/samsung_galaxy_note7_update
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Click to collapse
I talked to them today over chat support. I asked about exchange or refund. They seemed reluctant at first but said were gonna put a note in my account for when I went back to the store I got it from... Saying to refund it. No if they actually do so at the store or what trouble they give me is another thing.

So here is my story...
I bought the Note 7 in Hong Kong (SMN-9300). Normally in HK all previous note / galaxy releases have always come with the Exynos chipset. So to my surprise when i picked up my brand new Note 7 on September 2nd, It had the SD 820. After reading hundreds of posts on here and other forums and seeing lots of users claim the Exynos was better I went and bought a Singapore Version SMN-930F which comes with an Exynos CPU. After 2 days of using both I can honestly say there is LITTLE to no difference in real life everyday use.
I had let my obsession get the best of me and shelled out the money to buy a second Note 7 just because everyone was saying "Get the exynos" "Its soooo much better". This is total B.S. Im holding both devices right now and I can promise you there is NO huge noticeable difference. Ive heard reports of lags on both the Exynos and Snapdragon version. But both devices which i have run smooth and fine. The battery life is almost identical, perhaps slightly better on the Exynos. But its hardly noticeable at all. I find that the SD has MUCH better GPU performance and does not run nearly as hot as the Exynos.
After obsessively benchmarking both, I've come to the conclusion that they are almost identical in most cases. The SD version always destroys the Exynos on the Antutu (Which is mostly to test GPU / Graphics). While the Exynos crushes the SD on geek Bench (More CPU geared). As for other tests like Basemark OSII, Vellamo PCMark etc they both score almost identically. To be honest I really don't think these benchmark results mean much and are not very relevant to the everyday user. Because despite the bench mark results, I find that the Exynos handles games / graphic intensive tasks just as well as the SnapDragon 820. And the SD runs as fast, and is just as responsive as the Exynos.
The moral of the story is don't over think things like i did! Save your $500 bucks and stick with the SD version. After using both devices for a few days i can tell you from HONEST experience there is no noticeable difference between the 2. They are both totally capable of runnings apps, web browsing, watching movies, playing games and things that most users need. If there was a HUGE difference between the 2 I would tell you go ahead and spend the $500. But in all honesty you will be disappointed when you shell out the $500 bucks and get the Exynos and notice there is little to no noticeable difference.
In you initial post, you stated that your SD version is laggy, and thats why you want to exchange to the Exynos version. But take a look at some of the SM-930F (Exynos) posts on XDA and you will see users facing the same problems with the Exynos version. From lagged typing / keyboards, Boot Loops, Screen issues to over all lagged performance. Yet as mentioned I have two Note 7's (SD & Exynos) and have not had any of the above mentioned problems on either. I suspect the problem could be related to the early produced models, Battery issues, or software issues. Have you tried to factory reset your note? Make sure it has the latest software update and try it then?
Also keep in mind both devices are still reasonably new. And with the whole exploding battery fiasco, Samsung probably has not had much time to focus on software updates. Im sure after the Battery / recall issues are resolved and the device has been on the market for a few months both versions will get several updates which will make them even better.
Hope this helps!

phame said:
So here is my story...
I bought the Note 7 in Hong Kong (SMN-9300). Normally in HK all previous note / galaxy releases have always come with the Exynos chipset. So to my surprise when i picked up my brand new Note 7 on September 2nd, It had the SD 820. After reading hundreds of posts on here and other forums and seeing lots of users claim the Exynos was better I went and bought a Singapore Version SMN-930F which comes with an Exynos CPU. After 2 days of using both I can honestly say there is LITTLE to no difference in real life everyday use.
I had let my obsession get the best of me and shelled out the money to buy a second Note 7 just because everyone was saying "Get the exynos" "Its soooo much better". This is total B.S. Im holding both devices right now and I can promise you there is NO huge noticeable difference. Ive heard reports of lags on both the Exynos and Snapdragon version. But both devices which i have run smooth and fine. The battery life is almost identical, perhaps slightly better on the Exynos. But its hardly noticeable at all. I find that the SD has MUCH better GPU performance and does not run nearly as hot as the Exynos.
After obsessively benchmarking both, I've come to the conclusion that they are almost identical in most cases. The SD version always destroys the Exynos on the Antutu (Which is mostly to test GPU / Graphics). While the Exynos crushes the SD on geek Bench (More CPU geared). As for other tests like Basemark OSII, Vellamo PCMark etc they both score almost identically. To be honest I really don't think these benchmark results mean much and are not very relevant to the everyday user. Because despite the bench mark results, I find that the Exynos handles games / graphic intensive tasks just as well as the SnapDragon 820. And the SD runs as fast, and is just as responsive as the Exynos.
The moral of the story is don't over think things like i did! Save your $500 bucks and stick with the SD version. After using both devices for a few days i can tell you from HONEST experience there is no noticeable difference between the 2. They are both totally capable of runnings apps, web browsing, watching movies, playing games and things that most users need. If there was a HUGE difference between the 2 I would tell you go ahead and spend the $500. But in all honesty you will be disappointed when you shell out the $500 bucks and get the Exynos and notice there is little to no noticeable difference.
In you initial post, you stated that your SD version is laggy, and thats why you want to exchange to the Exynos version. But take a look at some of the SM-930F (Exynos) posts on XDA and you will see users facing the same problems with the Exynos version. From lagged typing / keyboards, Boot Loops, Screen issues to over all lagged performance. Yet as mentioned I have two Note 7's (SD & Exynos) and have not had any of the above mentioned problems on either. I suspect the problem could be related to the early produced models, Battery issues, or software issues. Have you tried to factory reset your note? Make sure it has the latest software update and try it then?
Also keep in mind both devices are still reasonably new. And with the whole exploding battery fiasco, Samsung probably has not had much time to focus on software updates. Im sure after the Battery / recall issues are resolved and the device has been on the market for a few months both versions will get several updates which will make them even better.
Hope this helps!
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Click to collapse
I think you're missing the biggest advantage of the Exynos variant. A lot of users love it for its superior battery life, and having used yours for little time, you probably wouldnt have had enough time to thoroughly test it. Correct me if im wrong!!
I would happily dish out $500 for a Note 7 that lasts 2 extra hours of the screen on, especially with less lag. I can personally confirm the SD Note 7 is trash.

the only issue I'm having with the exynos is button lag (have to keep pressing the button esp on the phone app before it works) and occasional reboots. It also hung when sending a SMS whilst listening to music, taking 2 restarts to go back to normal.

imatts said:
I think you're missing the biggest advantage of the Exynos variant. A lot of users love it for its superior battery life, and having used yours for little time, you probably wouldnt have had enough time to thoroughly test it. Correct me if im wrong!!
I would happily dish out $500 for a Note 7 that lasts 2 extra hours of the screen on, especially with less lag. I can personally confirm the SD Note 7 is trash.
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Ive been using both phones (Exynos & Snapdragon) for a few days now. Again im using the INTERNATIONAL version of the SD (SM-N9300). This model was only released on September 2nd, so maybe its better than the US snapdragon version released almost a month before. Meaning maybe samsung has made some changes / tweaks to the phone to make it run better.
- Lag : When comparing the 2 I see little to NO lag in either phone. And to be honest when I do see the occasional bit of lag its on the Exynos version! This normally happens when typing . I have yet to experience lag on the SD version.
- Battery life : I Can confirm that there is NO where near a 2 hour advantage. I have left both phones on next to each other for 2-3 hours strait and the difference in battery drop has been max 3-5%( So for example the SD would be at 85% and the Exynos would be at 88%).
And if you are advising him to "happily dish out $500 for 2 hours battery life" That sounds a bit silly. For $500 bucks you could go buy yourself a whole second phone like the OnePlus 3. Which would give you a lot more for your money.
Hell for $500 bucks you could grab a brand new OnePlus 3 + External portable charger + order a pizza!
Also as mentioned I'm almost certain the difference in battery life is no where near 2 hours. More like an extra 15-30 minutes at MOST. I will post more accurate details after testing the phones further in the coming days.
As of now the ONLY advantage I'm seeing with the Exynos is the ability to root it now. And that is presuming that you are willing to VOID the warranty on a brand new $800-900 phone you just bought. Im sure down the line the SD version will be rooted. And with everything available today (App De-enabler, Helium, etc) rooting is not much of a priority for most as it used to be. I would honestly be hesitant to root my Exynos version being that its a expensive devise and still very new. I don't want to risk voiding my warranty just yet.
So in short:
BOTH VERSIONS - Little to no lag, Perform fine.
Exynos - Slightly better battery (3-5% overall is my estimate), ability to root NOW, if you are willing to void your warranty.
SnapDragon (SM-N9300 International version) - Slightly better GPU processing. Does not get as hot when running heavy / graphic intensive games. No lag issues with keyboard. No crashes / boot loops yet.

phame said:
Ive been using both phones (Exynos & Snapdragon) for a few days now. Again im using the INTERNATIONAL version of the SD (SM-N9300). This model was only released on September 2nd, so maybe its better than the US snapdragon version released almost a month before. Meaning maybe samsung has made some changes / tweaks to the phone to make it run better.
- Lag : When comparing the 2 I see little to NO lag in either phone. And to be honest when I do see the occasional bit of lag its on the Exynos version! This normally happens when typing . I have yet to experience lag on the SD version.
- Battery life : I Can confirm that there is NO where near a 2 hour advantage. I have left both phones on next to each other for 2-3 hours strait and the difference in battery drop has been max 3-5%( So for example the SD would be at 85% and the Exynos would be at 88%).
And if you are advising him to "happily dish out $500 for 2 hours battery life" That sounds a bit silly. For $500 bucks you could go buy yourself a whole second phone like the OnePlus 3. Which would give you a lot more for your money.
Hell for $500 bucks you could grab a brand new OnePlus 3 + External portable charger + order a pizza!
Also as mentioned I'm almost certain the difference in battery life is no where near 2 hours. More like an extra 15-30 minutes at MOST. I will post more accurate details after testing the phones further in the coming days.
As of now the ONLY advantage I'm seeing with the Exynos is the ability to root it now. And that is presuming that you are willing to VOID the warranty on a brand new $800-900 phone you just bought. Im sure down the line the SD version will be rooted. And with everything available today (App De-enabler, Helium, etc) rooting is not much of a priority for most as it used to be. I would honestly be hesitant to root my Exynos version being that its a expensive devise and still very new. I don't want to risk voiding my warranty just yet.
So in short:
BOTH VERSIONS - Little to no lag, Perform fine.
Exynos - Slightly better battery (3-5% overall is my estimate), ability to root NOW, if you are willing to void your warranty.
SnapDragon (SM-N9300 International version) - Slightly better GPU processing. Does not get as hot when running heavy / graphic intensive games. No lag issues with keyboard. No crashes / boot loops yet.
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Click to collapse
So you don't experience the issue with the Snapdragon where the phone will be super fast like 90 percent of the time and then just gets super leggy and slow... So that for example if you're typing you have to wait for it to catch up... Typing one letter at a time? That's what happens to mine... 90 percent fast. .. 5 percent slow and 5 percent unbearablly slow. It doesn't seem to have any pattern or reason... Every with very little open it will start to stutter like that.

acheney1990 said:
So you don't experience the issue with the Snapdragon where the phone will be super fast like 90 percent of the time and then just gets super leggy and slow... So that for example if you're typing you have to wait for it to catch up... Typing one letter at a time? That's what happens to mine... 90 percent fast. .. 5 percent slow and 5 percent unbearablly slow. It doesn't seem to have any pattern or reason... Every with very little open it will start to stutter like that.
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Click to collapse
Nope.
I have been using the SM-N9300 (Hong Kong version) of the Note 7 w/ the Snap Dragon 820 for 6 days now. Have not had a single lag issue. No problems whatsoever with the typing. I have installed and used the stock Samsung, Google and Swift Key keyboards and all of them work perfectly fine with no lag whatsoever.
What is funny is that the Exynos version I recently purchased and have had for almost 3 days now, has had that lag with typing. But only once or twice and nothing too extreme. There is actually a whole thread of people using the Exynos version who are experiencing the Key board lag issue here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-7/how-to/galaxy-note-7-singapore-thread-sm-t3444909
and
here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-7/help/note-7-repeated-restart-bootloop-issues-t3444510/page11

Snapdragon = locked bootloader.
Exynos= unlocked.
That's all that needs to be said and should be an easy choice if your here on XDA.
sent from my Note 7 or S6

Might be blasphemy here but after years of custom ROMs on S3 and shortly on S5 (which made the experiences great, no doubt), I can't think of any reason to need root with what I can do on the Note 7 as it is. Even Good Lock takes me back to that nice notification and quick settings I was used to. Of course that's just my requirements of the phone, no doubt plenty want root.

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=EiJrEq4CXfQ

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Samsung Galaxy S8+, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Samsung Galaxy S8+ is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Best phone I've ever owned!

Massive, gorgeous display. Faster than my nemesis' I7. Still need tweaks for battery life, but the trade off in performance and consumer joy is worth it.

The S8+ is the best phone I ever had so far, and the battery life is excellent.
I only have two minor issues with my S8+.
1) The speaker is too easy to mistakenly cover while gaming or watch video.
2) Sometimes on the Camera, there is a slight delay between the time you press the record button and when it starts recording, ONLY when you have it set to 4K UHD recording.
Other than that, everything else is flawless for me.

I had the Verizon Galaxy S8 from the day it was released. I really like that phone. I just purchased a refurbished Unlocked S8+ from Bestbuy for $500 because I wanted to see the difference in size and battery life. I'm so happy I took a shot on the bigger brother of the galaxies.
Battery life is better than expected and the overall size is not that different to hold. However when looking at the screen real estate the S8+ is huge and that's what I love about it. With this version I know the drawback may be reasonably timed updates, but if I decide to leave Verizon with all the T-Mobile changes, I can do it an not have to invest in a phone.
Sent from my SM-G955U1 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

One Of the best mobile ever
I wanna to buy this mobile, Am so interested in this mobile to buy.

Gotta say, coming from mostly Note devices, this has to be the best phone I've ever used and owned. It's only been a couple of weeks but it's already left a big impression on me. Not only that, this is the fist phone that I've used in its stock state. No root (of course our SD doesn't have it yet, anyway) but I'm not really missing it or my S-Pen. Most of the functions my S-Pen were able to perform I can do on this phone which was a pleasant surprise. I still miss interacting with the display with the pen, though. I may move onto the Note 8 at the end of the year but right now I'm very happy with this S8 Plus.

So a quick info on my background. I have owned many Smartphones in the last 5 years, form pretty much all major brands(Samsung, Apple, Sony, Motorola). I also consider myself a Poweruser.
So this is my third Galaxy device and the first I was very happy with the S8+ for the first few weeks but I stumbled upping more and more negatives about the phone.
1. After a few hours of uptime it will start to stutter when typing fast or switching between apps.
2. The over the top animations get annoying, but if you turn them off it feels weed and even slower.
3. Battery life seems good when watching videos that are supported by the hardware decoder but most hdr stuff is not no I could not even watch The Revenant on one charge and during that the device got very warm and I encountered a few dropped frames.
4. Idle battery life is very bad (loosing 30% during the night about 7-8h) but this applies pretty much to all Android phone.
Overall it's still an amazing phone but as everything it has its downsides.

Samsung
I have never used a cell phone with the features which I am using in Samsung S8

marcdegasperi said:
So a quick info on my background. I have owned many Smartphones in the last 5 years, form pretty much all major brands(Samsung, Apple, Sony, Motorola). I also consider myself a Poweruser.
So this is my third Galaxy device and the first I was very happy with the S8+ for the first few weeks but I stumbled upping more and more negatives about the phone.
1. After a few hours of uptime it will start to stutter when typing fast or switching between apps.
2. The over the top animations get annoying, but if you turn them off it feels weed and even slower.
3. Battery life seems good when watching videos that are supported by the hardware decoder but most hdr stuff is not no I could not even watch The Revenant on one charge and during that the device got very warm and I encountered a few dropped frames.
4. Idle battery life is very bad (loosing 30% during the night about 7-8h) but this applies pretty much to all Android phone.
Overall it's still an amazing phone but as everything it has its downsides.
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Click to collapse
Nice , you are right ,

One last quick update.
Been reading through all the posts and replies on the latest root updates for the Snapdragon variants and after about a month now on this completely stock S8+ I can't see any practical reasons to go through the grind that is today's root method. It certainly isn't like it used to be as a long-time Samsung rooting fiend and now it just seems far more trouble than it's worth. This out of the box state is simply outstanding. Obviously, your experiences may vary but based on my user habits, and I run the hell outta my daily driver, it's been performing brilliantly with no issues. BixBye let's me remap that idiotic button without root so I'm good on that end which was the only real reason I was even contemplated rooting when it became available for this version.
I truly believe at this stage in Android and Samsung's combined software and hardware development on the S8+ things have finally matured enough where I'm not feeling that burning desire to root. Sure, there's a couple of apps here and there that I will miss having but I still have that Exynos Note 5 to kick around.
Fantastic phone. I will be considering getting the Note 8 but only because of that S-Pen. This S8+ is an amazing daily driver if and when I do make the switch.

The best phone on the market to date! Not only does the phone have excellent performance, but it's just a beautifully crafted device. I'd say the phone itself is..... art.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

perfect phone for me, i jumped from note 4 to this.

galvaliziman said:
perfect phone for me, i jumped from note 4 to this.
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i'm on the note 4 just and was wondering about screen width,do you lose much on the s8+ compared to note 4?

There are a lot of "best phone I've ever owned" on here. I hate to be that girl, but... I agree. I love the features at the software level such as being able to make all apps full screen. I also love the phone in general from a design perspective. The display and battery are both amazing.

Great buy and experience, even in stock state

The S8+ is the best phone

You must buy the s8+ if yo dont use too much the pencil.
I got to not use it but i miss it

It's an awful phone. Unfortunately. The four things that save the situation are the following.
1. The screen is simply beautiful.
2. The camera is wonderful
3. I didn't pay it
4. The Google pixel 2 XL will be ridiculously expensive here in Greece.
The bad things are:
1. Huge battery drain. I had the last Nexus that was awful and I found it's brother. Some times I have to charge it twice a day. I use Android since 2010 and I don't make experiments. I use the same applications for years so I have a very solid knowledge of what to expect.
2. Lag. I don't know why but I have. I use the unbranded Greek version. I always install the new versions with Odin. With full format. I do the same with the Nexus and and my iPhone. In the latter two everything works so smoothly and I usually don't make the upgrades in time since I am bored for the setup. But now no no no. I have done 3 formats. One the day I bought it to unbrand it, the second in August when the latest version appeard and another one last Monday. The same. Unacceptable lag. Not that it's like a 3 year phone but it shouldn't happen.

Definetly one of the best devices Samsung had made. A true upgrade in all areas from the S7. Improvements in efficiency as well as the addition of Bixby and "infinity" put the S8+ it a clear cut above the V20, G6, and Moto G5.

Question My first pixel

This is my first ever Google phone, has the battery always been this good on pixel/nexus phones?
Although the battery is just amazing for me it does lag whilst playing cod mobile, graphics on lowest and FPS on med, I do think this tensor chip is quite a bit different from exynos due to the great battery while gaming, and it does heat up that much only when I'm using 4g gaming it gets very hot and seriously lags out.
Do you think Google can modify the 4g/5g modem so it works efficiently??
Is it normal to game on 4g and have the battery drain like crazy and over heat so bad the game is unplayable?
No issues via WiFi

As far as the battery, I think the P6P has done much better for me, but the Pixel 1 is the only other Google phone I had before.
I really don't like to speculate too much but yes, I think Google can make the modem work better.
I don't game much, so can't speak to that.

The modem has to be a Google High priority... hopefully!

Yeah well,
This is my last Pixel phone. Google can kiss my @$$ after this let down POS
Waiting for the s22. If that's not exciting; then I'll go to the dark side when pro14 comes out

ilmar72 said:
Yeah well,
This is my last Pixel phone. Google can kiss my @$$ after this let down POS
Waiting for the s22. If that's not exciting; then I'll go to the dark side when pro14 comes out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel basically the same way. Tensor is meh, battery life is meh, 5g modem old, finger print sensor optical is meh. I regret selling my S21 ultra for the P6P. I think I'll be going with the S22 ultra when it comes out early February. Samsung has fast OS updates now. Google always finds a way to mess something up.

I've held out on Nexus/Pixel devices until this year because they've very often had hardware shortcomings. This year is one of the most complete packages Google has delivered - maybe ever. I understand that people purchase their devices for vastly different reasons and my main attraction of the device has predominantly been for the stock android experience which I've longed for since I got into Android devices back in 2012.
And honestly, compared to the likes of the Nexus 5, which had poor battery life and a terrible speaker, the Nexus 6 which was a monstrosity in itself, the Nexus 6P which had the plagued-with-errors Snapdragon 810 etc., this generation of Google devices is the most complete in a long, long time. That's not to say it's perfect, because it isn't. And if you're coming from a Galaxy S-phone or an iPhone, you'll surely feel the decline in quality. But compared to the previous generations of Google devices, these phones are in another league.

Question Extreme lag on Exynos model

Hi. I've had the phone for a bit more than two weeks now, and especially the past week this phone has been unbearably laggy. At times, video playback will lag behind audio (not on bluetooth or anything), app transitions are extremely sluggish, and anything to do with camera cannot even come close to sustaining 60fps. I'm not even playing games or doing anything intensive on this phone, just social media and taking pictures here and there. I haven't used any ADB debloating tool due to the fear that it'll break functionality, but if that helps i'll take a go at it. Has anyone been experiencing similar performance issues with the Exynos model? I am seriously regretting "upgrading" from my broken OnePlus 6T, at 3 years old it was so much more performant than my S22. How would I even go about diagnosing this? Thanks in advance.

During set-up of the phone,did you use Smart Sitch to restore a back-up of any data ?

brouwerchris said:
During set-up of the phone,did you use Smart Sitch to restore a back-up of any data ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I've set up everything from scratch. I've tried increasing RAM+ to 8GB from the default 4, but it hasn't helped.

sgokan03 said:
No, I've set up everything from scratch. I've tried increasing RAM+ to 8GB from the default 4, but it hasn't helped.
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Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure increasing the RAM+ value, which essentially represents the swap memory, your phone slows down because you're using more of your phone's storage for things the RAM memory should take care of. 8GB is plenty enough for daily usage. There's no need for what Samsung did.
Try turning the feature off altogether with "adb shell settings put global ram_expand_size_list 0"

dragos281993 said:
I'm pretty sure increasing the RAM+ value, which essentially represents the swap memory, your phone slows down because you're using more of your phone's storage for things the RAM memory should take care of. 8GB is plenty enough for daily usage. There's no need for what Samsung did.
Try turning the feature off altogether with "adb shell settings put global ram_expand_size_list 0"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read this somewhere else as well (with how much bloat there is in OneUI I thought maybe they put the RAM+ feature there for a reason), I'll try to run it with 0 for a while and report back. Still, could this actually be the cause for this much stuttering?

sgokan03 said:
I've read this somewhere else as well (with how much bloat there is in OneUI I thought maybe they put the RAM+ feature there for a reason), I'll try to run it with 0 for a while and report back. Still, could this actually be the cause for this much stuttering?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry! 0 actually sets it to default, which is 4gb. Set it to 2 from the settings, reboot and see how that goes.
Try reading this thing. It should give you an idea of what Ram+ is. While you're at it, got to the first page and have a look there. It's a very detailed thread on what you need to do to either get rid of the bloatware, tweak your phone and so on, without root.
[DISCONTINUED] Samsung Galaxy One UI - Optimization Guide
THIS IS A SUGGESTED CONFIGURATION FOR SAMSUNG DEVICES OUT OF SUPPORT/CLOSED I - RECOMMENDED SETTINGS To Start With - Factory Reset before starting optimisations - Factory Reset after every Major update (One UI/Android) - Remove SIM before first...
forum.xda-developers.com

dragos281993 said:
Sorry! 0 actually sets it to default, which is 4gb. Set it to 2 from the settings, reboot and see how that goes.
Try reading this thing. It should give you an idea of what Ram+ is. While you're at it, got to the first page and have a look there. It's a very detailed thread on what you need to do to either get rid of the bloatware, tweak your phone and so on, without root.
[DISCONTINUED] Samsung Galaxy One UI - Optimization Guide
THIS IS A SUGGESTED CONFIGURATION FOR SAMSUNG DEVICES OUT OF SUPPORT/CLOSED I - RECOMMENDED SETTINGS To Start With - Factory Reset before starting optimisations - Factory Reset after every Major update (One UI/Android) - Remove SIM before first...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, good to know. I'll go through the thread (the message you sent was also helpful, I assumed it'd do the swapping once the memory is full) and debloat this as much as I could. But I still have to ask, is this the performance that I was supposed to expect from an 800€ phone?

sgokan03 said:
Okay, good to know. I'll go through the thread (the message you sent was also helpful, I assumed it'd do the swapping once the memory is full) and debloat this as much as I could. But I still have to ask, is this the performance that I was supposed to expect from an 800€ phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cancelled my preorder of the Exynos S22 because it took too long. I then ordered it from a store that brings international variants of all sorts of phones. My current S22 is from Hong Kong (TGY). What did I notice while using the phone? The battery life is TERRIBLE. I come from an iPhone 13 Pro which I used for almost 4 months but got rid of because of iOS. That thing was insanely good. I had absolutely no worries about the battery wherever I went and no matter what I was doing on it, because it was that good. Before that I used a Pixel 5, which was also the first phone which changed the way I charged my phone. Based on my usage, a full charge lasted me about 85-90% of what the iPhone lasted, so it was pretty close. This thing, TERRIBLE. I rooted it and cut the frequencies of all 3 core clusters almost in half to get half an hour more and get a little over 4h SOT.
So to answer your question, no it's definitely not worth it. I paid for this piece of rubbish 920€. Based on the experience I had so far, I wouldn't pay more than 600€ on it. I even wanted to return it and was looking to go back to a Pixel 5 which I regret selling in the first place, but after taking it out of the original white bumper case, in which I put it the second I unboxed the damn thing, I noticed small scratches all around the aluminium frame, which is supposed to be able to withstand a nuclear blast, based on Samsung's marketing BS. So the store tagged it as non-returnable because it's not "as new" anymore.
In conclusion, this is a terrible phone just because the battery is too small and the chipset is too inefficient for it, incompatible. And you are even "luckier" with your Exynos variant. FYI, Samsung sold SD variants of the S22 lienup in Koreea this time. Probably they didn't want to dissapoint their own people with their experimental chipset.

sgokan03 said:
Hi. I've had the phone for a bit more than two weeks now, and especially the past week this phone has been unbearably laggy. At times, video playback will lag behind audio (not on bluetooth or anything), app transitions are extremely sluggish, and anything to do with camera cannot even come close to sustaining 60fps. I'm not even playing games or doing anything intensive on this phone, just social media and taking pictures here and there. I haven't used any ADB debloating tool due to the fear that it'll break functionality, but if that helps i'll take a go at it. Has anyone been experiencing similar performance issues with the Exynos model? I am seriously regretting "upgrading" from my broken OnePlus 6T, at 3 years old it was so much more performant than my S22. How would I even go about diagnosing this? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
It's true, there are reports everywhere of this problem. Every media app will stutter the image for a milisecond (twitch, instagram, youtube, etc) and the sound gets out of sync. A reboot works only for a couple of hours. Changing the ram will not solve this.
There are a lot of reports of this issue on the members app and they are aware of it. They say a patch will come but a lot has passed and the phone is almost unsuable for me. If I could, I would have return it.
I suggest you also report this on your members app.

gonsa said:
Hi,
It's true, there are reports everywhere of this problem. Every media app will stutter the image for a milisecond (twitch, instagram, youtube, etc) and the sound gets out of sync. A reboot works only for a couple of hours. Changing the ram will not solve this.
There are a lot of reports of this issue on the members app and they are aware of it. They say a patch will come but a lot has passed and the phone is almost unsuable for me. If I could, I would have return it.
I suggest you also report this on your members app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, I went through a billion reviews before getting this thing, none of them mentioned this. It's been almost a month since I got the phone so I probably can't return it. And even if I could, I really don't have the time to switch phones, with banking apps and backups and crap it takes too much time for me to just constantly jump between ROMs or phones. Was the S21 this bad as well? How is everyone even recommending Samsung phones to people?

There was an update relased today. I installed it and checked the performace right away.
It's still there! every video starts with a micro stutter. What the hell Samsung...

gonsa said:
There was an update relased today. I installed it and checked the performace right away.
It's still there! every video starts with a micro stutter. What the hell Samsung...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got the update as well. I'll try to install it but from your comments doesn't seem hopeful to actually help the issue. Still nice that they're this fast with updates though.
Side question, does video quality suck for you guys? Especially with the ultrawide, I get 2013-quality videos with a ton of artifacts, and its not even 60fps? (shows up at 41fps on file details).

Galaxy S22 has audio-video sync issues that need to be fixed
Samsung's latest Galaxy S22 flagship series is pretty darn good, but it is not perfect. Some lingering performance and stability ...
www.sammobile.com

Being fan and satisfied with Xiaomi for 6 years, I returned to Samsung (S22, exynos) 2 weeks ago to realize the biggest mistake I did! It charges slow, battery drain fast, multitasking gets slow, camera is disappointing at night and sticky in fast hand motions. Generally you can't count on it!
900€ trash 🫣. I can't even sell it .
Never, NEVER again Samsung.

Agree with everything that's been said here. I returned the s22 exynos and got my money back. I'm back to the s10e snapdragon version that works flawlessly with no lag, stable 60fps at games. The s22 is just a beautiful device but it doesn't work well at all, games suck hard playing on it at like 35-40 fps with lots of frame drops, and I dont think the updates are going to make any miracles with all this experimental hardware. A lot of stupid marketing on useless 4nanometres cpu that overheats and suffers from throttling. Are you kidding me?
I'm very happy with this s10e hongkong version, 3 years, updated to 4.0 and soon 4.1. After trying the s22 I found out that's not for what l had Samsung in mind due to my previous good user experience.
By the way: I debloated it as I know what to delete and what to keep not to lose any functionality. Battery wasn't as bad as other users, I was getting about 5-6h sot in 12-15h usage, but the phone lags bad in games and some menus. It has unforgivable issues as the desynchronized sound/video in youtube n other stuff for such a high price. Samsung ain't getting my money this time. Let's wait for pixel7- s22 Fe - Nothing Phone (1)
edit
ps: I believe it's a bad year regarding CPU. The 888 and 8gen1 are known for heating and eating more battery. So far the s21 series are better than the current s22, the pixel 6 series got some issues as well and yet another experimental CPU. One of the best choices is still the oneplus 8T? Come on. Wake up android market, some oldschool users are migrating to apple, which isn't on my plans personally.

Not that it's gonna change anything, but here's an update: the lag's worse than ever, audio playback will cut out randomly, media playback on the notification panel barely works. I still can't believe nobody outside this thread is talking about how despicable this phone is.

After the latest avda update with tons of debloating, the phone is running almost like a midrange phone.
I will keep it due to the size factor and cameras. But this is really unacceptable for the money asked.

xjust said:
After the latest avda update with tons of debloating, the phone is running almost like a midrange phone.
I will keep it due to the size factor and cameras. But this is really unacceptable for the money asked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Way too late to return it, nor do I have the time to go through the whole find a phone set up a phone process anyway. I'm gonna try to keep it as pristine as possible until the S23 and/or the Pixel 7 is out and see if I can trade-in for a reasonable price.

for me, it might be the iphone 14 pro

I'm missing tons of notifications and alarms now. This phone just keeps getting worse.

Question Few questions about the S22

Hi,
I'm thinking of getting an S22, but I would appreciate your help with answering a few questions first: (if you don't want or can't answer these questions, please skip to the end of the post)
1. I understand that the Snapdragon version is much better. Is it also more supported community/ROM wise?
2. How is the battery life, if the phone is usually on idle, with a few phone talks over the day, some music, and lets say about 1 hour of screen time (continuously)? If that is the usage for a day, will it last for two days? (approximately, based on your experience)
3. This One UI, is it good, comfortable to use? Can it be replaced by replacing a launcher, or do you have to flash a new ROM?
4. Speaking of ROMs, I assume flashing ROMs/kernels is still pretty easy? The last Galaxy phone I had is the S1 and a lot of time has passed, but I remember not struggling much, and coursing through ROMs was a breeze.
5. I know you'll probably be biased towards the S22, but I'm debating over it VS the Pixel 7. Considering the fact that I can't use the unique features of the Pixel 7 (Google assistant screening spam calls, making appointments, etc.) since I don't live in the US or a country where these features are supported, and that I prefer smaller screens, which one should I choose?
In general, what do you think of the phone? Are you happy with it? Can you provide examples of pros and cons?
Thank you!

Limited max of 256gb internal storage, max of 8gb of ram, no expandable storage, and a small 3700 mAh for a power hungry Snapdragon.
Rounded display corners and a lousy ~87.4% screen-to-body ratio. blah.
Snapdragon's are notoriously hard or impossible to root. The stock launcher is superior to any 3rd party launcher.
If 5G and a variable refresh rate display (which are known to have multiple issues including less color/gamma accuracy) aren't important to you a N10+ in good condition or new is a better choice and cheaper. It's a solid performer.
Otherwise OP phones seem to have a better track record than the last 2 generations of Samsung's.

Thanks for your answer. Actually I'm perfectly fine with 128GB of storage, the amount of RAM is incredible (I'm not a heavy gamer, not even a gamer on mobile) and the screen size, ratio is fine for me I guess.
I am worried about the Snapdragon version being impossible to root, because the Snapdragon version phone is much faster from what I understand. Also it's very strange, I've had no problems rooting previous phones with Snapdragon.
It will sound funny but I do want a high refresh rate, for me it's important the the phone feels smooth. I'm already hearing about the Pixel 7 having scrolling issues and that concerns me because like I said, I'm also thinking about buying it, if not the S22.

TheeWolf said:
Thanks for your answer. Actually I'm perfectly fine with 128GB of storage, the amount of RAM is incredible (I'm not a heavy gamer, not even a gamer on mobile) and the screen size, ratio is fine for me I guess.
I am worried about the Snapdragon version being impossible to root, because the Snapdragon version phone is much faster from what I understand. Also it's very strange, I've had no problems rooting previous phones with Snapdragon.
It will sound funny but I do want a high refresh rate, for me it's important the the phone feels smooth. I'm already hearing about the Pixel 7 having scrolling issues and that concerns me because like I said, I'm also thinking about buying it, if not the S22.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You lose nothing by waiting. I don't buy a new phone every year or two in part because it's always a crap shoot. Waiting reduces the odds of getting stuck with a dud. 128gb isn't much storage; my minimum is 256 and that's with a 1tb SD card used as a data drive. Basically it's my PC, all my PC's are dual drive, even laptops.
I keep seeing good things about OP, they seem to have less display issues. For a gamer that might be a good choice. My requirements are different from yours, I have one game which runs well
I really like Samsung's UI and the Good Lock family of apps that modify it. The almost endless free icon packs and themes on the Galaxy store. Pixels homescreen's look gaudy and barren by comparison. Not many stock mods either. Samsung's can run very well stock once optimized. They need to be optimized... and that will take time until you're up to speed.
Warning, learning curve ahead. That's another big reason I don't upgrade firmware or devices often if the device is fulfilling its mission. I'm a conservative pragmatist and will use whatever comes in handy. Think it through and get what best suits your requirements and fullfills the mission with minimal maintenance. That's all the counts
Media server in progress; 240gb in mostly .wav files, over 150gb, many are hd movies. All stream seamlessly from the V30 rated card. When watching them from storage my SOT is as low as 6%@hr vs browser streaming at 12%@hr. Writes at about [email protected] from internal storage.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Because color accuracy and calibration directly impact gamma accuracy/calibration the fixed rate refresh rate display of the superb N10+ display is uniquely qualified for this role. My decision wasn't rushed or arbitrary when I went with a second N10+ as a backup. It was purely mission and fun oriented. For my purposes no other device even today is better suited or qualified... which is sort of sad.

TheeWolf said:
Thanks for your answer. Actually I'm perfectly fine with 128GB of storage, the amount of RAM is incredible (I'm not a heavy gamer, not even a gamer on mobile) and the screen size, ratio is fine for me I guess.
I am worried about the Snapdragon version being impossible to root, because the Snapdragon version phone is much faster from what I understand. Also it's very strange, I've had no problems rooting previous phones with Snapdragon.
It will sound funny but I do want a high refresh rate, for me it's important the the phone feels smooth. I'm already hearing about the Pixel 7 having scrolling issues and that concerns me because like I said, I'm also thinking about buying it, if not the S22.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The P7's screen can "only" reach 90Hz while all S22 variants can go up to 120Hz, so it's not comparable.
Rooting Snapdragon models is a problem mostly for carrier devices. The Snapdragon S90xE models are easily rooted and also have twrp if you need it.
My S901E (regular S22) just got updated to android 13 which I obviously rooted too and it's running great.
Pixel 6 and 7 series are only older samsung exynos (oops tensor) devices with vanilla google os ...
If you're worried about S22's battery, just don't compare it with bigger phones, or at least just do some maths to convert its most relative known SOT to correspond to the target compared device's capacity. You'll end up saying "it's great for a 3700mAh battery, really great ..."

DaReDeViL said:
The P7's screen can "only" reach 90Hz while all S22 variants can go up to 120Hz, so it's not comparable.
Rooting Snapdragon models is a problem mostly for carrier devices. The Snapdragon S90xE models are easily rooted and also have twrp if you need it.
My S901E (regular S22) just got updated to android 13 which I obviously rooted too and it's running great.
Pixel 6 and 7 series are only older samsung exynos (oops tensor) devices with vanilla google os ...
If you're worried about S22's battery, just don't compare it with bigger phones, or at least just do some maths to convert its most relative known SOT to correspond to the target compared device's capacity. You'll end up saying "it's great for a 3700mAh battery, really great ..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of SOT are you seeing now on an optimized S22? What's SOT with 5G disabled or if locked to 60hz?

DaReDeViL said:
Rooting Snapdragon models is a problem mostly for carrier devices. The Snapdragon S90xE models are easily rooted and also have twrp if you need it.
My S901E (regular S22) just got updated to android 13 which I obviously rooted too and it's running great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good! The model I can buy locally is SM-S901E/DS, and I don't live in the US, so according to what you're saying, I can root it, right?

blackhawk said:
What kind of SOT are you seeing now on an optimized S22? What's SOT with 5G disabled or if locked to 60hz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was getting easy 5 to 7 hours SOT a day with no special optimization. 120Hz, no gaming, no social networks, just calls, surfing, taking pics, whatsapp messaging, youtube (revanced), ... and some fews other boring apps.
I can even get more if I switch from 4G to 3G and creating a 4G manual routine when needed (because why keep power hungry 4G during the day while I only need its speed occasionally)

TheeWolf said:
Good! The model I can buy locally is SM-S901E/DS, and I don't live in the US, so according to what you're saying, I can root it, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes, you can!

Battery aside rest phone is awesome and compact. In n era of TV sized phones this phone is a beast

DaReDeViL said:
I was getting easy 5 to 7 hours SOT a day with no special optimization. 120Hz, no gaming, no social networks, just calls, surfing, taking pics, whatsapp messaging, youtube (revanced), ... and some fews other boring apps.
I can even get more if I switch from 4G to 3G and creating a 4G manual routine when needed (because why keep power hungry 4G during the day while I only need its speed occasionally)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, what's 3G? No such thing here anymore.
I run 4G with wifi always disabled. Google play Services, and Gmail are at most times disabled and all cloud apps never run. Playstore is rarely enabled. About 80 packages are blocked.
WhatsApp is likely killing more than it's fair share.
My stock N975U1 is getting a lot better SOT even with a derated battery (3400-3700 mAh).
My question is what's eating so much power, is it the display, 5G, the Android version (scooped storage)?
These newer phones have more efficient ram and the SOC should be more efficient as well.
Even now streaming vids I get 12-14%@hr. The battery is near replacement level (20% degraded)... when I get around to it.

blackhawk said:
Lol, what's 3G? No such thing here anymore.
I run 4G with wifi always disabled. Google play Services, and Gmail are at most times disabled and all cloud apps never run. Playstore is rarely enabled. About 80 packages are blocked.
WhatsApp is likely killing more than it's fair share.
My stock N975U1 is getting a lot better SOT even with a derated battery (3400-3700 mAh).
My question is what's eating so much power, is it the display, 5G, the Android version (scooped storage)?
These newer phones have more efficient ram and the SOC should be more efficient as well.
Even now streaming vids I get 12-14%@hr. The battery is near replacement level (20% degraded)... when I get around to it.
View attachment 5742873
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol HSPA+ and even GPRS are still available in my country. Switching to 3G allows me to have slightly more SOT.
Regarding optimization, I learned the hard way that too much tinkering can give inverse results and even kill the "smart" part of the smartphone.

DaReDeViL said:
Lol HSPA+ and even GPRS are still available in my country. Switching to 3G allows me to have slightly more SOT.
Regarding optimization, I learned the hard way that too much tinkering can give inverse results and even kill the "smart" part of the smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No 3G here killed my oldest phone.
Yeah if you go too nuts optimizing it will end up biting you. Beginning with Android 10 Samsung added dozens of small systems apks that mostly to modify the UI. Most shouldn't be touched.
My list of blocked packages is almost the same for the Q loaded N975U1 as used on the Pie loaded N975U though. Took quit a while to work it out the first time... dependencies are a witch.

For me the phone is fine in most regards.
Exynos is plenty fast for daily use and battery life is supposedly better than snap.
I am new to Samsung as well and am not impressed by modding options.
To me it is clear that Samsung is the most Apple like android.
Rooting is no issue, but you will lose DRM verification, so lower quality YouTube Netflix and such.
A PC is always needed to flash an update, which for some of us has been impossible without full wiping by the way.
I can get 2 days with light use similar to what you described.
I do have 5g disabled as 4g is crazy fast already where I live/work.
A bit of debloating, mostly as i am annoyed by all these apps being there.
Oneui is actually quite good, but some mods with good lock and running nova.

bamn said:
For me the phone is fine in most regards.
Exynos is plenty fast for daily use and battery life is supposedly better than snap.
I am new to Samsung as well and am not impressed by modding options.
To me it is clear that Samsung is the most Apple like android.
Rooting is no issue, but you will lose DRM verification, so lower quality YouTube Netflix and such.
A PC is always needed to flash an update, which for some of us has been impossible without full wiping by the way.
I can get 2 days with light use similar to what you described.
I do have 5g disabled as 4g is crazy fast already where I live/work.
A bit of debloating, mostly as i am annoyed by all these apps being there.
Oneui is actually quite good, but some mods with good lock and running nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
A bummer with DRM, I thought this was exclusive to Sony (I currently own Xperia XZ2 compact), didn't think I'd encounter the dilemma whether to root or not because of this DRM again.
A question (for everyone here), how is call quality? Can you hear the other person clearly, can they hear you clearly? Is the speaker loud enough when on speaker?
I know it's a basic question but it's something I thought about because Google started rolling out "Clear calling" in the Pixel 7 and although I'm very much leaning to the S22, this seems like an important advantage of the Pixel (unless somehow the feature will reach Samsung or people with other phones).

Yeah DRM sucks a bit, especially since the screen is worth the quality content.
I found out after rooting only, but I can definitely live with it.
To me rooting is still worth it in the end.
Not much to say regarding call quality, i don't call a lot.
I have never been bothered with the quality or speaker volume so I suppose it's not very bad.

TheeWolf said:
Thanks!
A bummer with DRM, I thought this was exclusive to Sony (I currently own Xperia XZ2 compact), didn't think I'd encounter the dilemma whether to root or not because of this DRM again.
A question (for everyone here), how is call quality? Can you hear the other person clearly, can they hear you clearly? Is the speaker loud enough when on speaker?
I know it's a basic question but it's something I thought about because Google started rolling out "Clear calling" in the Pixel 7 and although I'm very much leaning to the S22, this seems like an important advantage of the Pixel (unless somehow the feature will reach Samsung or people with other phones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DRM can be fixed by magisk modules.
Call quality is great even on loudspeaker.

TheeWolf said:
Hi,
I'm thinking of getting an S22, but I would appreciate your help with answering a few questions first: (if you don't want or can't answer these questions, please skip to the end of the post)
1. I understand that the Snapdragon version is much better. Is it also more supported community/ROM wise?
2. How is the battery life, if the phone is usually on idle, with a few phone talks over the day, some music, and lets say about 1 hour of screen time (continuously)? If that is the usage for a day, will it last for two days? (approximately, based on your experience)
3. This One UI, is it good, comfortable to use? Can it be replaced by replacing a launcher, or do you have to flash a new ROM?
4. Speaking of ROMs, I assume flashing ROMs/kernels is still pretty easy? The last Galaxy phone I had is the S1 and a lot of time has passed, but I remember not struggling much, and coursing through ROMs was a breeze.
5. I know you'll probably be biased towards the S22, but I'm debating over it VS the Pixel 7. Considering the fact that I can't use the unique features of the Pixel 7 (Google assistant screening spam calls, making appointments, etc.) since I don't live in the US or a country where these features are supported, and that I prefer smaller screens, which one should I choose?
In general, what do you think of the phone? Are you happy with it? Can you provide examples of pros and cons?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have SD version. I used to flash Custom ROMs on all my previous phone after those stop receiving updated OS. Also for not missing out new features. Right now, with 4 years of OS guarantee by Samsung, I don't see myself going for custom ROMs on my S22. I use Magisk and a few other modules.
2. Battery life is very subjective and personal. For me, it lasts 24 hours on a single charge with 30% left before I charge it again. I don't play heavy games. I have Sudoko, Alto's Adventure, and Flappy Bird (hahaha).. Just to pass the time when I am waiting for someone or something. That's it. I save the heavy/real gaming for bigger screens and PC (for better experience)
I too had less than ideal battery endurance during the first two weeks. It's been the case for the past Samsung devices I have used. So, I knew it would improve after settling in. I resetted the phone before I manually configured the apps and transferred my old data to S22. (Painfully long process) Usually do with Titanium Backup Pro but I wanted it to be a fresh start.
On a regular day.. Connected on WIFI always. 2 SIM cards (1st 2G/3G/4G and 2nd only 2G). I use Slack with 3 different workspaces. 5 Emails on Gmail ( 3 syncing regularly), 1 Samsung account syncing, 2 more work emails syncing on Samsung Email app. Some Chrome use. FlipBoard, Pocket, and Medium reading at the end of the day. Whatsapp, Whatsapp Business, and Telegram usage. Google Drive and Sheet. A few pics here and there.
10 mins of Social media if neeeded. Sometimes music. No watching videos on a regular day. Some 30-60 mins of calls. Buds Pro and Amazfit T Rex Pro connected always.
I get 4 to 5 hours of Screen on Time with 22 to 24 hours overall usage, still with 30% battery remaining. I don't spend time outdoor during day time, so the screen doesn't have to be fully lit. Auto Brightness manages it. Biggest draw on battery for me is the video call, some 18-20% an hour. Next is the outdoor navigation for 10 mins, lost like 3-4%.
I have removed FB app, MS apps and a few Google apps. Also a few Samsung apps which I found no use for. Though I have Root, I found ADB is much easier than Root for removing/disabling these apps. 120 Hz Adaptive refresh rate on. Adaptive Battery. Add some apps to Deep Sleep. That's it. Greenify didn't seem to make a difference in my usage. So stopped.
Accubattery Stats are like.. Discharge 1% an hour on Standby and 10% an hour on screen usage (Wifi and indoors). (I have installed around 100 third party apps on this phone)
I was waiting on the sidelines for the first few months. Was waiting for Samsung to release some updates and improve the battery endurance (as usual). Online reviews were mostly negative due to their usage patterns. My usage is different from theirs. I am still little upset at Samsung for being a jerk by reducing the battery capacity instead of increasing it, just like any other greedy company. So the negative reviews are necessary to call out their wicked move. Hey, if your usage is something like mine, you can go ahead. It's not bad at all. Better battery than my S8 when it was new and 20% less efficient than my S20 FE 5G or A52.
3. I am on One UI 5.0 Stable/Rooted. So far, So good. Minor but good improvements from One UI 4.1. I am using Nova Launcher Prime.. been like this for the last 5 years. I just don't like the homescreen and app drawer arrangements on One UI. That's all. Everything else is so good. I personally love One UI for its functionality. It has evolved a lot. People complain about bloatware either have not used One UI 3 or later versions on flagship devices. Bloatwares are there in mid and low end devices, that too getting less nowadays (comparing with M12).
4. I too was tempted to try custom Kernel during the first week. But I wanted to wait and see what this device had to offer in terms of battery life. I am happy without custom kernel. Flashing Custom ROMs and kernels are just like any other Samsung phones. But I find it much easier than Moto or Xiaomi phones.
5. I replaced my S8 with S20 FE 5G and I didn't like the size. I replaced it with S22. Compactness, easy to use. Better cameras than S20 FE 5G. Average battery life. Good build. One UI is good. If I had the chance to decide again, I would still choose S22 over Pixel 7 or 7 Pro. Overall experience matters than a few extra features.
I hope this helps!
Edit: One UI 5.0 has come with a feature, Bixby Text Call - similar to Pixel's Call Screening feature. I have no use for it. I haven't tried it. Currently, the translation/transcription only supports Korean language.
Call Quality with and without Wifi Calling/VOLTE enabled, is super clear for both parties. Better than any phone I have used, even their own S8, A52, and S20 FE 5G. Even on loud speaker, I would sit a few feet away from my phone and still it would be clear to both parties without any issues. We also have inbuilt sound quality settings to tweak to our needs. I found this for the first time on One UI 4.0

@Vorion Thank you so much for this very detailed answer!
By the way, about the Bixby text call, from what I understand it's not like the Pixel's call screening feature, it's actually designed to make you communicate with someone in a "text call" - you type messages, the other side hears your messages in a Bixby's automated voice. What the other side says you will read as it will be converted to text.

TheeWolf said:
Hi,
I'm thinking of getting an S22, but I would appreciate your help with answering a few questions first: (if you don't want or can't answer these questions, please skip to the end of the post)
1. I understand that the Snapdragon version is much better. Is it also more supported community/ROM wise?
2. How is the battery life, if the phone is usually on idle, with a few phone talks over the day, some music, and lets say about 1 hour of screen time (continuously)? If that is the usage for a day, will it last for two days? (approximately, based on your experience)
3. This One UI, is it good, comfortable to use? Can it be replaced by replacing a launcher, or do you have to flash a new ROM?
4. Speaking of ROMs, I assume flashing ROMs/kernels is still pretty easy? The last Galaxy phone I had is the S1 and a lot of time has passed, but I remember not struggling much, and coursing through ROMs was a breeze.
5. I know you'll probably be biased towards the S22, but I'm debating over it VS the Pixel 7. Considering the fact that I can't use the unique features of the Pixel 7 (Google assistant screening spam calls, making appointments, etc.) since I don't live in the US or a country where these features are supported, and that I prefer smaller screens, which one should I choose?
In general, what do you think of the phone? Are you happy with it? Can you provide examples of pros and cons?
Thank you!
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I have had my S22 for approximately 2 months and am not happy with it. It is more to do with Samsung than the device because I had a S9+ before and traded it for the S22. The Samsung advertising leaves a lot to be desired. It said I could get a S22 Ultra with my tradein for only a couple hundred. As it turned out the S22 was almost full price. They said the offer was for a S22+ traded in for S22 Ultra would only be a couple hundred. So I settled for the S22. I just should have had my S9+ fixed (The front and back separated from the frame). The S22 doesn't have a micro card slot so you can't add memory(storage). The side buttons are different fromt he S9+ and positioned differently so I continually hit the wrong buttons. I don't know the Pixel 7 so I can't compare that one. I just know I'm not happy with the S22.