All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

This is what I call a good battery life. Still going. 5h30 screen on time, with at least 1:45h-2h of gaming Angry Birds, Moto MX Mayhem and Trial extreme, and in the rest lots of browsing, facebook app (cpu hungry), some GPS, some NFC/S Beam and a lot of S Note

Some credit goes to HAL, that modem seems to have helped a lot vs XXDLK7!

 

Man I miss the Note II.

Here's a daily routine with the One X+.



Notice the massive battery drop at 4 PM and the present mark. Apparently this thing can blow through ~20% of its battery capacity by handling emails for 15-20 minutes with the screen brightness locked at 60%. Great job HTC.

 

Oh man, that's kind of what my GSII used to pull off :/



Since I posted that picture, I've been with max brightness (unlocked) at paper artist editing some pictures, non stop, and STILL at 5%.

6h 5m screen on time



EDIT : Finally, after 2:30 hours, it turned off. Add 25 mins to that screen time. I find this battery to be quite impressive So happy that I got this phone...

 

Day 3 Report with the One X+:

Scrolling to the left home screen: lag.
Opening application drawer: lag.
Pinch zooming this website in the Browser: lag.
Scrolling through email messages: lag.
Scrolling through word document with preinstalled Polaris Office app: lag.
Scrolling through day event in Calendar: lag.
Scrolling through detail of said event in Calendar: lag.
Scrolling to Play Store in Application Drawer: lag.
Tapping in the search field of Play Store to bring keyboard up: lag.
Scrolling through list of applications in Play Store result: lag.
Scrolling to first page of application drawer to open Facebook: lag.
Scrolling through notifications in Facebook: lag.

Ugh.

 

Sell it and get a N4

 

I've been trying to but the price has been lowered to $425 already and still no interest. I'm going to be taking a loss on this one.

On the brighter side of things, I did manage to snag a Canadian RAZR HD from eBay. It's been a while that I actually feel anticipation to switch to another phone.

 

You should be able to get $500 for it on eBay or Amazon.

I have a Canadian Fido RAZR HD. Awesome phone. My only complaint is the camera; it's not the best.

 

How is it lagging with Tegra 3 and 1 GB RAM? Crappy stock image?

 

Ah, so you're the one that got it. I remember reading somewhere here that someone bought a GSM RAZR HD. I loved my MAXX HD and having the closest thing to it while still being able to use AT&T's LTE seems like a great combo.

I'll let this thing sit on Craigslist until tomorrow night, and then it's off to eBay.

Your answers are in your inquiry. I'll let HAL explain the Tegra 3 part.

 

Well someone so versed in Android, I would hope you would have changed it? Plus CPU can't possibly bottleneck performance....to a point.

Whenever I see HAL explain anything:

 

HTC takes the most draconian approach in keeping their devices out of reach for Android ROM developers. As much as HAL puts down Motorola for encrypting their bootloader, I will have to disagree with him there because in the majority today's HTC devices, there is no method to totally open it up for custom ROMs. So here's the problem. Most Android devices have either encrypted and/or locked bootloaders that keeps people from flashing anything from the get-go, unless:

- It's a Samsung, in which the bootloader could care less if it gets a custom recovery TAR flashed on it via ODIN right out the box, or:
- It's a Nexus device, in which all you have to do is run the command 'fastboot oem unlock' when the phone is booted to its bootloader, and after accepting the warning, the device is blown wide open for anything.

Now in HTC's case, they have their bootloaders locked as well. But unlike other manufacturers, they add an additional security routine 'SECURITY ON', dubbed in the bootloader as S-ON. Very, very few HTC devices are able to disable this natively, and attempts always have been done via extreme software methods such as corrupting the boot partition (HTC Inspire), or shorting out certain physical pins on the back of the phone (HTC Rezound). On XDA-Developers, this method is often referred to as 'Obtaining S-OFF' as a successful disable of this second security system will show up in the bootloader as 'S-OFF'.

So why is S-ON so bad? It blocks any normal flash attempts that would interfere with the kernel or bootloader partition. This means if you attempt to flash a kernel on a device that has S-ON, you must do it separately from the ROM and avoid HBOOT from reverting it if invoked. The biggest annoyance of them all, IMO, is that it also blocks the ability to flash older factory firmwares to the device, in case with an exploit found with a flaw on earlier HBOOT firmwares, such as the case with the original U.S. HTC One X.

For Samsung and Nexus devices, a typical ROM flashing process involves:

1.) Download ROM, put on phone
2.) Boot into custom recovery
3.) Flash ROM, wipe data, cache, and system partition if necessary

Flashing a ROM on a HTC device:
1.) Download ROM
2.) Extract BOOT.IMG from ROM
3.) Rename BOOT.IMG as specific device's short Device name + IMG extension
4.) Put ROM and renamed IMG on phone
5.) Boot into HBOOT
6.) Flash custom recovery
7.) Boot into new recovery
8.) Flash ROM, wipe data, cache, and system partition if necessary
9.) Reboot into FASTBOOT
10.) Flash BOOT.IMG

The fun part is if any of those steps are missed, you can put the phone into Recovery Mode (HTC's infamous Red Triangle). The only way to recover the device at this point is to download the RUU (HTC's proprietary firmware like Samsung's TAR image flashed through ODIN). So here's the stipulation: If your device has S-ON, you MUST flash a firmware that is either the same or newer than the phone's HBOOT firmware. If not, the phone will reject the firmware and the flash process will fail. So if you mess up flashing a custom ROM, you will have to wipe your phone out entirely (Internal storage included) and put it back to its factory state, so yes, you will have to repeat the bootloader unlock process and everything again.

That, IMO, is one of the many parts of why HTC devices are avoided like the plague for ROM developers/flashers, and why their market share in the Android market continues to plummet. Your typical techie phone nerd knows about this, and their friends and families will be told to go elsewhere when they ask their local phone experts about HTC Android phones.

 

^ In regards to last page's report, how is it possible that there's so much lag? It's due to sense 4+, isn't it?

All HTC would need to do really is to have their bootloaders factory-unlocked like Samsung. Even if you flash an outdated ROM or something, the phone won't reject. Plus, it seems to be so damn difficult to flash an HTC, never thought it woupd be that difficult... Have you tried to flash anything yourself?

It's just so easy to flash with Samsung. ODIN is a breeze and is super noob-friendly! I've seen people flashing the wrong firmware, and still being able to revive the phone after a few flashing tricks.

 

Random question time, is anyone aware of any apps that offer Smart Stay functionality that were developed before Samsung released the S3?

 

I think I saw an app that offered the same concept, but I think it was released AFTER the S3. Not sure though.

On a side note, the Note 2's battery life keeps impressing me. 1d 2h, screen time of 6h, loads of browsing, gaming (2D and 3D like GTA 3 and NFS MW), Facebook, youtube, music... And still at 10%. It just refuses to turn off!

This phone can easily last 2 days with moderate usage, which is helpful in long plane trips.

 

Wow won't be buying an HTC phone anytime soon (nor do I plan to).

One thing I love about Samsung, almost impossible to brick a flagship phone with Odin.

 

I sincerely believe the One X+ is a conglomeration of all things that can go wrong with an Android phone -- a slow, obsolete processor and graphics architecture that has overclocked to attempt hiding its shortcomings in exchange for even worse battery life and heat buildup, a bloated user interface overlay whose framework is so tied into the device's RIL that attempting to remove it can render the device unusable, and of course a bootloader so fickle that doing one single thing out of order can cause the device to force itself into a coma-like state in which a factory firmware restoration is the only way to bring it back.

Believe it or not, your Note II and even the Galaxy S II has a locked bootloader. The difference is that it manages its function so passively that you can easily work around it if you want to flash a kernel, radio or even a custom recovery separately.

Although I never really mentioned about them, I actually do have a fairly rich HTC ownership history:
HTC G1
HTC MyTouch 3G
HTC Nexus One
HTC MyTouch Slide
HTC Rezound
HTC One X
HTC One X+

The first four devices on that list were actually pretty easy to flash ROMs with, and HTC's bootloader was not always like this. I believe the bootloader really got locked down around the same time the Snapdragon S3 was introduced, so roughly somewhere in its Sensation/G2 era is when it went south. Everything I have listed, I had some sort of custom ROM such as CyanogenMod or a debloated Kang ROM on them at some point. I've already try CyanogenMod 10 on the One X+, and while it really improved the device's responsiveness and performance, it is too broken to be used as a daily driver at this time.

 

Well, if this had been Gingerbread or any previous Android OS version with minimal GPU acceleration, it would have been workable. But since 4.0+ use GPU acceleration in 2D rendering throughout the entire UI... Tegra 2/3 just can't handle that. They're literally not built for 2D accel. In 3D tests they do fine. Tegra also uses some pretty heavy texture compression for 2D rendering.

CPU wise, Tegra 3 is OK. Not great, but OK. It still can't play a song and browse the web without the song stuttering.

As much as I loathe HTC's way of doing things, Moto's continues to be worse IMHO. There's no side-room like there are on HTC handsets... absolutely no custom anything without a bootstrap/custom 2nd recovery/2nd init. And in combination with what happens to many people when they flash software and completely and totally brick their phone...

Bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth. Tegra 2/3 has none. With the HD screens Tegra 3 devices shipped with, you could almost EXPECT lag. And this is another reason why Exynos is so fluid... Exynos has a crapload of SoC bandwidth. So does OMAP4. Snapdragon S3 was also strangled with a tiny amount of SoC bandwidth, but they've fixed that with S4/Pro.

All Samsung devices have a locked bootloader, per-se. But it's only at first stage. Exynos 3/4/5 have dual bootloaders and the 2nd is the replaceable/upgradable/downgradable one and is the one the user will interface with. 1st stage can only be modified or upgraded by signed code.

 

Heck, even if you flash a completely different PIT onto a Samsung phone, it's still recoverable through a UART flash. Damn... I think one of the main reasons HTC is doing this is due to carrier pressure and all the bloat from them.

I never thought it was locked actually, I knew it had 2 bootloaders (bl.bin and sbl.bin, primary and secondary) and I know that they're closed-source, but locked? Interesting.

I've heard pretty good things about CM10 on the One X, what's wrong with it? What kind of bugs did you experience?

Woah, seriously? I can't find the video, but I remember a reviewer stress testing the Note 2, and it only reached 100% of CPU usage (even though lag-free) with multi-window between youtube app and a browser while having 4 pop-up browsers on a youtube video using flash.

Yup, Exynos' strength is indeed 2D. As hard as I try, I can't make it lag. It's always buttery smooth in all instances. I still have to yet find a flaw with this phone. And still, 3D games run buttery smooth on max like GTA 3 and Dead Trigger.

Download mode is in the primary bootloader correct? That's why all .tar files only have the sbl.bin and not the main bootloader .bin? So if the flash fails on sbl.bin (which is unlikely since it's the first thing to be flashed), download mode is still available to recover it.

 

UART is a long way around, but you're right. It's still recoverable. Tegra is actually a bit similar. Tegra has something called NVIDIA APX mode.

Yep. First stage is locked. Only signed code can interface with it.

Seriously. That's true of the Nexus 7, Transformer Prime, and the Infinity. None of them can multitask worth a damn. Now, you can go into the developer options and limit Android to 4 background tasks and it'll make things 10x better... but even then it's not that great at all.

Exynos 4412 is a pretty beast SoC.

Indeed. Download mode is buried beneath all the other software/firmware so that if something goes wrong, it's always there.

 

You do make a valid point. I do wonder at times though if some of these restrictions are due to carriers? I don't recall facing much issue with the original Atrix and Atrix 2, but the ROM development scene is much more dominant for the non-Verizon RAZRs. Fortunately I've played with Verizon's MAXX HD and perhaps the Canadian RAZR HD can answer these questions.

 

It's still not "immensely" hard if you have the right knowledge. It's right under the SIM tray, and the UART cable is pretty available. Still, there are services for that.

Signed code as in only Samsung themselves can change the main bootloader?

True that. I'm actually surprised with its performance, I thought it'd lag on dead trigger like my Galaxy S2 did on maximum settings, but with an HD resolution with the same GPU, I'm impressed on how Samsung made it pull it off so nicely.

A bit off topic, a random video I did with the note 2. NSFW language. I couldn't scream more because my sister was asleep, because otherwise... ING GALAXY NOTE 2 - YouTube

 

Sony Xperia Z spotted early on CES show floor



Tomorrow should be interesting.

 

Does anyone have any experience in flashing Android phones(S3 or Note II) to Page Plus?

 

Whilst I understand you had a pretty bad experience with the Rezound, and that I have never had the privilege or using Verizon or have to deal with US carriers, I have to disagree with a few points. This could simply be differences across HTC devices, but hey.

- The initial locked (and never unlocked by HTC) bootloader or the GS/DesireZ/DesireHD/Inspire4G was annoying. But once XDA figured it out, unlocking it wasn't that hard. That is even before developers released ready-made tools to do the unlocking. I instructed a fellow NBR member on it without ever seeing the devices, or having used the device (Desire Z) at the time. Of course, you point of HTC's annoying bootloader policy stands. But just to clear things up.

- With the Nexus 7 I certainly had to flashed a custom recovery, but then again, that could just be my own habits causing the action. (Also, why would you have to flash a new recovery everytime? )

- Absolutely have never had to rename the boot.img with my One S, also, you flash the custom recovery in fastboot.

- "So if you mess up flashing a custom ROM, you will have to wipe your phone out entirely (Internal storage included)" Never happened over my last 3 years of owning different HTC devices.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like HTC policies (any of them) more than anyone here and I wish the process was as simple as a Nexus device. But what can I say? I can't stand Samsung's physical hardware (not talking about specs), so what can I do? Buy Motorola? LOL That said, with newer and more viable options available (Sony? LG? ...Huawei!?) who knows what my next phone will be.

 

What's Page Plus?

 

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make with the Nexus 7? Every device will need a custom recovery to flash ROMs with, whether or not it can be flashed to the device's partition or booted temporary.

Look at the Rezound forums on XDA for S-ON ROMs. You need to rename the boot.img file to PH98IMG and push it alongside the ROM to the phone, otherwise it will not pick it up. All this does is prove HTC can't even stick to a standard when it comes to low level software.

That's interesting, because my original One X and One X+ will stay on the Red Triangle until I relock the bootloader to push the factory RUU to it.

I'm glad the One S works out for you, because it is a good phone and offers fair compromise between price and performance. Unfortunately I've used a vast majority of the Android devices on the market since the G1 days, and the last HTC handset I actually was completely satisfied with was the Nexus One.

I'll give you a quick opinion of what I thought of each HTC handset that I've had:
HTC G1 - Overall, a good device. Only issue I had was the keyboard folding mechanicism starting to become loose and the screen assembly wobbles around when folded up.
HTC MyTouch 3G - Can't really complain about this one. Basicallly a G1 without the foldout keyboard, probably one of the longest, if not the longest, device I kept.
HTC Nexus One - Returned first one due to two stuck pixels on screen. Second one had soft coating wearing out on the corners from being in a carrying case for two months.
HTC MyTouch Slide - Really nice keyboard. Had to exchange the first one when keyboard surround starting coming loose on the bottom, under the space bar.
HTC Rezound - Nice screen, scary way to get S-OFF. Hated the Snapdragon S3, but nothing really better at the time.
HTC One X - Those who got the original batch with the older 1.85 HBOOT got root within 3 weeks of the phone being released. Newer devices released afterwards could not be rooted, and XDA finally got root exploit for the new 2.2 HBOOT devices nearly four to five months after.
HTC One X+ - Good incremental upgrade if you have the international One X that has the original Tegra 3, backpedaling if you have the U.S. One X with the Snapdragon S4. Even Jelly Bean can't help the stock firmware. Another phone that XDA developers have to rescue to make it worth considering.

Crying shame on the One X+. Beautiful casing marred by K-Mart Blue Light Special SoC and an overdone user interface. Even with the CyanogenMod ROM in its infancy stage, it already shows marked improvement in performance and battery life on the One X+.

 

It's a prepaid carrier in the US that offers the best coverage.

 

Then what exactly do you want to flash?

 

I messed up abit there. But I was commenting on the comparison you made between flashing rooms for samsung/Nexus devices and HTC devices. Where you mentioned you had to flash custom recovery via HBOOT (in the list of processes you described). But why would you have to do that everytime?

Like I said, don't get me wrong, HTC is making poor decisions left right and square. But I wouldn't plaster the aforementioned HTC problems across all their products. I am starting to feeling I am the only one around NBR who've managed to get a minimal number of defective products...

 

I have no idea. That particular issue was with the Rezound as well, and because of that it had to be strapped to a PC if you want to flash ROMs. It actually reminds me a lot of the RAZR's bootstrap setup, but at least it can be done on the device thanks to an app made specifically to do so.

I know my last few posts look like a straight up blast towards HTC, and admittedly it pretty much is, but I just can't fantom how they keep ruining devices that had a lot of potential by cutting corners at the last minute. The Droid DNA, if equipped with a proper battery, had great potential to be THE Android handset for Verizon. But its 2050 MaH battery is way too small for the device, and ultimately you end up with a really fast device that dies really fast if pushed hard. Similar situation for the One X+; a poor choice in going with the Tegra 3 SoC over the Snapdragon S4 ultimately ruined the device that could have had the same momentum as the original One X when it first came out. My local AT&T store representative admitted their store have only sold three since its release nearly two months ago. They have sold more Optimus G's and they don't even have a store demo for it!

 

Update on my stock battery life.

Spoiler

Very impressed! With the iphone I would get 5hrs usage with maybe 12hrs of standby under the same use.

If the Xperia is announced tomorrow, when would you expect it to be available through carriers? I suppose they'd announce that too?

 

We should get official availability details tomorrow. I would expand it to be available around April or May.

It better be available on either AT&T, Rogers, Bell, or Fido; otherwise I'm going to go rageface.jpg all over this thread.

 

^ I, personally, would much rather have the ZL. Much better looking and smaller to boot.

 

I would agree as well, pending on what the official specs are. I've been seeing blogs about the ZL using the an overclocked 1.7 GHz S4 instead of the Z's S4 Pro, so the ZL may not just be a simple size shrink that we originally thought it was.

 

My fingers are crossed that it's the MSM8960T. Dual core 1.7GHz Krait with Adreno 320. The perfect combination, IMO. S4 Pro should be more tablet oriented.

 

Mean while, from the Tegra 4 Announcement...



Is that Windows RT tablet or Android tablet!?!? It's both? Duh duuuh duuuuuuuuh...

 

Sony Xperia Z / ZL: hands-on with Sony's flagship smartphone for 2013 | The Verge





Nice job Sony, looking forward to the ZL in three months.

 

Anyone know the unlocked price of the Xperia phones?

 

Their premium devices tend to be $600 USD and up, which is where these will very likely be.

 

$655 with a question mark is what I see.

 

Qualcomm outs Snapdragon 800 and 600: up to 2.3GHz quad-core, 4K video, due by mid 2013

Holy smokes, Qualcomm just denied nVidia. I imagine Jen-Hsun Huang is probably freaking out in his hotel right about now.

 

Mischief called it, One X+ is getting shipped tomorrow to its new owner for $500 before shipping. Using a loaner iPhone 4 until the Razr comes in.

Apple should have left the iPhone 4 on iOS 5; iOS 6 is extremely laggy and unresponsive on it.

 

NVIDIA should take note. This is how it's done.

Yes, they should have. iOS 6 on my iPod Touch 4th gen is baaaaaaaaddd. On the 4S on the other hand... butter.

 

There's one other aspect of the new Snapdragons I think deserves attention:

Unfortunately, I don't see myself waiting that long. The Xperia ZL doesn't look half bad but one flaw does make me a bit concerned:

 

Sony Xperia Z price revealed

£440 = $706 USD. Off contract prices in the United States tend to be slightly cheaper than the U.K., so I would expect mid-$600 for either the Z or ZL.

 

I'm pretty certain The Verge's hands-on also picked out the screen as being not quite on a par with other 5" 1080HD panels they'd seen.

 

You can see the screen washing out a bit when he tilts the phone at various angles. I've seen the TL's screen before and if the ZL's screen is no worse for viewing angle, then I'm not bothered by it. This is a TFT screen and not an IPS or AMOLED panel after all, but everyone has their tolerances for screen quality, so check out the current Xperia T/TL and see if it bothers you.

 

Yeah, that seems like the wise thing to do. Hopefully it won't bother me too much.


Mmm... premium glossy surface. >.>

GSM Arena is claiming something interesting about these two phones:

I hope this isn't the case and it really doesn't look that way. After all, Sony is marketing the Xperia Z as the superior device, with its slightly smaller battery, lack of a dedicated camera button, larger footprint and a smudge absorbent, more slippery non-rubberized back. I can't say I care too much about the dust and waterproofing.

Source

 

Samsung's CES event was not quite as captivating as Sony's, but there is at least a Note 10.1 with LTE now for Verizon users.




Apparently Verizon's new thing is advertising that your device has Verizon 4G LTE so broadly that you can see it from half a mile away. U.S. carriers are so annoying.

 

I'm starting to remember why I left the S3. Idle battery drain. 20% in 8 hours. My Note II had similar battery drain.