EntropySink

Technical & Scientific => Hardware => Topic started by: Jake on October 30, 2018, 01:06:12 AM

Title: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on October 30, 2018, 01:06:12 AM
After many years of owning motorola phones, I finally switched. I dropped my Z2 Force the other day and the camera lens broke :/ Before the Z2 I owned probably 8-10 other motorola models - essentially after the blackberry pearl all i've had was motorola and I would get the latest model every year to 18 months. After this one broke, I was ready to get the new Z3 - but reviews were pretty horrible so I started looking into it. The main reason that I picked motorola over anything else was the battery life - the Z2 was outfitted with a smaller battery than before, but I still got 24-30 hours of use time. The Z3 battery got even smaller! on top of it, no more shatter proof glass - WTF?

I started looking at other phones. I even considered the new iPhone - but the battery life doesn't even come close. How do you iPhone people do it? the XS has only 12 hours of usage time!! I could not do it.

My wife had a samsung before, and I hated it.

So I really didn't know what to do. A friend sudgested LG - I did some research and both V30 and G7 had some wonderful reviews. So I took the plunge and got the G7 ThinQ. Setup was pretty painless. I hope I will like it as much as I did motorola - I like to stay loyal to brands that serve me well. the G7 is said to have up to 37 hours of usage time!

If anyone will be interested, I will update this review in a few weeks.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Perspective on October 30, 2018, 09:57:38 AM
I have an LG G6 and i love it. The wide angle lens makes for some really great cell phone photography.

I installed the google now launcher to replace the LG one, the LG one is too iPhone IMHO. There's many options on the play store worth checking out.

Also, battery life was easily two days of normal use when the phone was new. Now I get to the end of one day with around 15 - 20% which is ok (not quite two years old). My wife has an iPhone 7 and hates it, battery never lasts a full day of use.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: micah on October 30, 2018, 05:00:26 PM
I have the LG-V30 that I got last fall (I had had G4 and was going to get the G6 when it came out but then held out and went with the v-30)

I really like it... except the camera lens broke. I bought a repair kit on amazon and fixed it and it was fine and then cracked again.  So I'm pretty frustrated with it right now since all my pictures are blurry; but other than that its a spiffy phone, great battery and snappy performance.

Looking forward to your review on the G7
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on October 31, 2018, 10:30:32 AM
I have the iPhoneX and my battery typically lasts all day and that's with GPS usage, some gaming and reasonable usage otherwise.  I normally only charge at night.  And my wife has an iPhone 8S and the battery life is even better on it. 

I suppose it comes down to how you use it and what your goals are. 
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: micah on October 31, 2018, 01:25:41 PM
thinking more about battery life, I *say* my V30 is great, but honestly, I plug it in when I'm in my car to and from work and everynight when I go to bed so - even with heavy use - it rarely gets low.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Perspective on October 31, 2018, 02:36:43 PM
Depends a lot on the age of the device too. iPhone X and 8S are both pretty new phones. My wife's 7 is two years old.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on October 31, 2018, 04:36:37 PM
Yeah, before the X I had a 6 and it maybe lasted a half day but that phone was starting to crap out in other ways too.  It wasn't bad for being almost 4 years old though?
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: hans on November 02, 2018, 04:51:58 PM
OnePlus gets good reviews from fellow tech folks. I'm going to needs a new phone soon and it's on my list of contenders. I've tried my best to stick with Google phones but the prices are getting a bit silly.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: JaWiB on November 02, 2018, 08:04:14 PM
I have a Galaxy S8 Active. Best phone ever
I have the S7 version. Not too shabby either
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Rob on November 09, 2018, 08:16:16 AM
My wife had a samsung before, and I hated it.

Genuine question: What did you hate about it? I can get disliking it, but hate is such a strong term...

Oh, and S8 here. 70% battery left at the end of most days. :p
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on November 09, 2018, 08:36:03 AM
Question for you android folks... not that I plan to switch necessarily, but part of what I like about the apple ecosystem is the parental controls.  Our kids have to ask for approval for new apps and we can control when they can use the devices.  Does Android have similar controls?

Also, the general sharing and global editing of things like notes is really good between apple devices.  I assume Google has something similar?
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Perspective on November 09, 2018, 09:27:05 AM
Question for you android folks... not that I plan to switch necessarily, but part of what I like about the apple ecosystem is the parental controls.  Our kids have to ask for approval for new apps and we can control when they can use the devices.  Does Android have similar controls?

Also, the general sharing and global editing of things like notes is really good between apple devices.  I assume Google has something similar?

All samsung devices have a kids mode (you install it from the samsung app store). It's EXCELLENT, at least for young kids... You can control which apps and media they have access to. It's awesome because they don't have access to the play store, which means whenever they accidentally click an ad in a game they just get a little pop-up that says the app store is unable to launch and then they're back in the game.

Kids mode is great for my 5 year old, but it may be a little too kiddy for older kids though.


For the second question, yes, google keep/calendar/photos is excellent for synching and sharing across devices.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Perspective on November 09, 2018, 09:33:40 AM
This thing I really hate about iOS is that you can't configure which apps are the default handlers of different types of content like you can for Android. If you tell Siri to play a song, it opens iTunes. Google can be configured to use any music app. If you click on a URL in iOS, it opens Safari.. on Android, choose any browser. Want to open a photo? Apple Photos... on android, choose your favorite photo library or editing app. Click on an address or GPS coordinate? That has to be Apple Maps on iOS.. but again on Android you can choose. calendar entry/iCal? opens in Apple Calendar, on android, your choice!  It's a real pain if you're already set up with Google services and try to use an iPhone.

I also like Androids sorted "app drawer" that allows me to have fewer icons on my desktops. I know iOS lets you have folders but it's not quite the same.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on November 09, 2018, 10:42:22 AM
My wife had a samsung before, and I hated it.

Genuine question: What did you hate about it? I can get disliking it, but hate is such a strong term...

Oh, and S8 here. 70% battery left at the end of most days. :p

Hello Rob! how are you?

I hate devices that should be simple but [at least to me] are not intuitive at all. Even though it is an android device I had a halluva time navigating around it. second part was battery life, it was pretty horrible. I don't remember which model she had, but it was about two years ago. Pure hate, I tell you!

Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on November 09, 2018, 11:07:32 AM
I've had the G7 for a week and a half, here is my review:

Pros:
-screen is super nice; brilliant colors, crisp display
-size is ideal - it is just a hair thinner than my moto but just enough that with one hand my thumb reaches everywhere
-great audio - both on speaker and head phones - at least compared to my moto which was pretty quiet, especially on the speaker. This one is so loud that I don't even have to have it on the max level.
- head phone jack!
- unlike what I mention in the previous post, this GUI is very intuitive and I had no issues navigating it from the start

Cons
- battery life is just OK - I understand I was spoiled with the moto, but I was hoping this would be similar. I barely get 24 hours of usage and find myself plugging it in each night. I hope that there are still things I will learn to disable on this phone to extend the battery life just like I did on the moto
- battery charging speed - even with the turbo charger it still takes a little over 2 hours to get a full charge from less than 5%. Moto was much faster - full charge in about 45 minutes
- google assist physical button - there is a button located below the volume buttons that brings up the google assistant, I never use this feature, and find myslef hitting the button by accident often. I wonder if I could reprogram it to something else


still testing:
- finger print reader is on the rear of the phone - I'm still not sure if that is a good spot or not
- camera: there are features that I love, like the portrait settings and the wide lens is super cool but jury is still out on the quality of the pictures themselves.

wish I had:
- moto motions - I think that is what it was called. Where I could turn on the flashlight by shaking the phone twice. Or silence an incoming call by waving over the phone. Those features were awesome
- moto display: when phone was in the "sleep" mode - that was one of the slickest things moto had - you could chose which notification came to you and displayed on the dark screen. This made it very convenient to look into emails or texts when in meetings and such https://youtu.be/3TMycL9mzpg
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Rob on November 09, 2018, 11:21:41 AM
Hello Rob! how are you?


Good thanks! Life is just crazy busy right now.

You still at the same place?
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Rob on November 09, 2018, 11:25:04 AM
This thing I really hate about iOS is that you can't configure which apps are the default handlers of different types of content like you can for Android.

Agreed. I got turned off Apple when I had an Ipod touch for like 6 months, and went to download an app from the app store only to be told it was no longer supported. WTF?
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on November 09, 2018, 11:38:06 AM
Hello Rob! how are you?


Good thanks! Life is just crazy busy right now.

You still at the same place?

indeed I am. Gotta love NCR :)
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on November 09, 2018, 11:02:49 PM
I should mention, that over all I really like this phone!
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on November 10, 2018, 03:21:16 PM
This thing I really hate about iOS is that you can't configure which apps are the default handlers of different types of content like you can for Android. If you tell Siri to play a song, it opens iTunes. Google can be configured to use any music app. If you click on a URL in iOS, it opens Safari.. on Android, choose any browser. Want to open a photo? Apple Photos... on android, choose your favorite photo library or editing app. Click on an address or GPS coordinate? That has to be Apple Maps on iOS.. but again on Android you can choose. calendar entry/iCal? opens in Apple Calendar, on android, your choice!  It's a real pain if you're already set up with Google services and try to use an iPhone.

I also like Androids sorted "app drawer" that allows me to have fewer icons on my desktops. I know iOS lets you have folders but it's not quite the same.
If there is one thing I hate about iOS, it is this.  Truly truly wish they would let you set default apps.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on November 10, 2018, 03:24:26 PM
This thing I really hate about iOS is that you can't configure which apps are the default handlers of different types of content like you can for Android.

Agreed. I got turned off Apple when I had an Ipod touch for like 6 months, and went to download an app from the app store only to be told it was no longer supported. WTF?
The only time I had that happen is if the app is super old and hasn't been updated, but I never got one from the store like that.  It was always an app that I had for a long time but stopped using.  I get why they'd prevent usage if the OS no longer supports it but they should block you from downloading them.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: charlie on November 11, 2018, 09:38:09 PM
I'd probably prefer Android but everybody and my mom is on iOS so it's just easier to use that. My daughter has a deactivated phone but I can easily message her just like I'm texting since we both use Apple. I can also easily manage her screen time. My whole family can see photos easily on photo streams. Etc etc.

Sure there are apps that can go across devices, but the ease of use of having built-in stuff outweighs any preference I'd have for an Android.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: micah on November 12, 2018, 09:02:06 AM
I'd probably prefer Android but everybody and my mom is on iOS so it's just easier to use that. My daughter has a deactivated phone but I can easily message her just like I'm texting since we both use Apple. My whole family can see photos easily on photo streams.

for what its worth my wife has an iPhone, I have an Android and my kids use android tablets and my old deactivated Android phones and we use the google exosphere to do the same.  Google hangouts (or whatever its called now) lets my wife text the kids and all of the (thousands) of photos my 8-year-old takes on her tablet end up in our shared googled photos library.  All that is built into the Android phones, but I'm sure my wife had to download apps on her iPhone. 

There have been a couple times recently I've thought it might be better to have an iPhone - mostly because new tech/apps get developed for them first.  Like I really like the idea of this "smart" insulin pen https://www.companionmedical.com/InPen/ but their app is only for iOS.  But in the end, I'm still happy with the perceived flexibility I get on the Android platform.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on June 04, 2020, 04:59:26 PM
soooooo, back with motorola! was very tempted to get the razor a couple months ago, but I was too chicken shit and thought I would regret it. Glad I waited. Just took delivery of the edge plus and so far so good. Everything transferd from my old phone except a few contacts. Will post a lengthier review after I get to use it for a while.

Woohoo for moto flashlight and moto display!!!!
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on June 05, 2020, 12:11:34 AM
What's so special about the flashlight and display?
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on June 05, 2020, 02:53:34 AM
What's so special about the flashlight and display?

It's the way you turn on the flash light that is special. You "shake" the phone twice and pop! It turns on. Two more shakes and it turns off. Very very handy.

Moto display displays notifications on the screen discreetly while the screen is locked and black...also an awesome feature I missed when I switched to LG
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on June 05, 2020, 09:56:10 AM
All I have to do is touch my iPhone screen when it's locked and the flashlight button is right there on the screen.  Doesn't seem any more complicated.  I guess the shake might be slightly more convenient.

What do you mean by 'discreetly'?  My iPhone only shows headers for notifications until the face recognition unlocks the screen.  Is that what you mean?
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Mike on June 05, 2020, 10:49:26 AM
I generally found the the shake and squeeze features just don't work well enough.  So many false positives that over time I turn them off and just go back to the screen pull down menu.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on June 15, 2020, 03:58:16 PM
I generally found the the shake and squeeze features just don't work well enough.  So many false positives that over time I turn them off and just go back to the screen pull down menu.

I think that throughout all the years I've owned a moto phone I never had a false positive with the features I had turned on.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Mike on June 15, 2020, 04:55:55 PM
On my old phone I had the squeeze function set to maximum squeeze needed and triggered it so often just pulling it out of my pocket.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on June 15, 2020, 05:09:56 PM
Week into it with the new phone, here are my impressions

the good:
1. OMG battery life - one of the main reasons I loved my previous moto phones, the excellent battery life. And this phone is the same! I am getting 20-24 hours of battery without issue. Sure, I was on vacation, so I wasn't using as much as I will do now, but that is still impressive.
2. Camera - picture details are amazing; color quality is average; what sets it apart is low light sensor. Pictures taken at dusk come out crisp and vibrant, and that is even without using night mode. I am blown away. I'll try to post a sample this week.
3. phone jack - yup - probably last time I will see that
4. Screen - compared to the LG, the screen is fantastic. Don't get me wrong, LGs was nice as well, but it had a huge downside - it was difficult to see in sunlight even in the brightest setting - I never could figure out why that is. Moto looks good in sun light and in shade.
5. Moto motions and moto display - as described in an earlier post, these are wonderful features that make the phone easy to use without extra touches.

the bad:
1. The edge - I don't get the purpose. It looks cool but I don't see the real benefit of it yet. On some apps it actually hinders the display - good thing that they make edge display easy to turn off for each app. Perhaps there are features I didn't explore yet that make the edges useful.
2. No back button - I don't know if this is an OS option or phone specific. But all my previous phones had a back soft key that would show on the bottom of the screen. This one doesn't. You have to "swipe right" to go back to previous screen - and unlike the moto motions, this does produce false positives and doesn't always work

the ugly:
1. This has to be the worst onscreen fingerprint reader ever. I mean, holy shit, compared to the split second recognition of the LG, this is complete garbage. Most of the time you need to do it 2 or 3 times before it is recognized, and when it does it takes 2-4 seconds. I type in my pin quicker than that!


So yeah, that is the review so far. The good outweighs the bad and ugly for me. But I did expect more from a 1000 dollar phone.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: micah on June 15, 2020, 09:02:04 PM
the ugly:
1. This has to be the worst onscreen fingerprint reader ever. I mean, holy shit, compared to the split second recognition of the LG, this is complete garbage. Most of the time you need to do it 2 or 3 times before it is recognized, and when it does it takes 2-4 seconds. I type in my pin quicker than that!

OMG YES!
I had an LG V30 for two years with a finger print reader on the back, built into the but on that back to wake it up, put it to sleep, etc.  It was my first finger printer reader on a device and I loved it.
Then I got this Samsung Note 10+ for like a billion dollars... like you said, half the time it doesn't recognize my finger and when it does, it can take well over a second or two. I know that seems minor, but when swipe motions and pins are faster, it kinda looses its appeal. Especially coming from that LG which was near-instantaneous
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on June 15, 2020, 10:18:46 PM
Uhh... who is still using finger print readers?  I've had my iPhone X for 2 years with facial recognition and you couldn't pay me to use a phone that required my fingerprint anymore.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Mike on June 15, 2020, 11:08:48 PM
I turned my phone's facial recognition off after less than a day.  "oh you are looking at me, let me unlock everything".  No, I was just looking at the time.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: ober on June 16, 2020, 12:32:30 AM
To each their own, I suppose.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: micah on June 16, 2020, 04:37:14 AM
i have facial recognition on to unlock my phone, but more often than not, I'd like my phone to be unlocked by the time I look at it.  I like being able to pick it up and in the same gesture have it open... which is what I miss so much about my old LG fingerprint reader.  Now I have to pick up my phone, look at it, and wait like 500ms or more.  And if I'm in my car (like at a stop light) and I want to quickly pick it up to see what notification I just got, its not a smooth motion to unlock it with my handsome face.
Also, for apps inside my phone in which I care about the security of, I prefer the psychological comfort of a finger print.  Banking, work e-mail, that "private folder of images ;) " etc etc...i would prefer they don't unlock on their own by just my very presence.
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on June 16, 2020, 09:05:34 AM
Perhaps I was using my phone longer on vacation :p or yesterday was just a light day. But I'm at 54% with 24 hours since charge

Also, loving the ability to take a screen shots by pressing screen with 3 fingers
Title: Re: a sad, sad day
Post by: Jake on June 16, 2020, 11:06:45 PM
That's some good batter life...plugging it in now