Post pictures of your latest purchase
- Thread starter Laura Knotek
- Start date
MSFTisMIA
New member
I think that's the thing I've liked with the sport. For as big as it is, it's quite light and comfortable to wear. I didn't mind the left of the Classic weight Wise, but you can see why people were pissed with what Huawei did by not sticking to the balance they achieved with the first watch.
I keep my straps in a watch straps case and switch out as needed. The only thing I'll dig it for is the charging dock. I use a stand that's a third party option, but I wish they went the Qi route for charging.
libra89
Active member
mc_razza
New member
We have here a 2017 iPad 32GB Gold WiFi+Cellular, a Nokia 6 (silver) and a black slim flip cover for the phone. I didn't take a picture of the devices because it's being used! lol
I'm a total sucker
Monoprice planar magnetic headphones and a balanced XLR cable for the DAC it's going into.
Monolith 1060c
Monoprice planar magnetic headphones and a balanced XLR cable for the DAC it's going into.
Monolith 1060c
libra89
Active member
fatclue_98
Retired Moderator
libra89
Active member
congrats! I'll be looking forward to hearing more about it from you. What color did you get?
fatclue_98
Retired Moderator
Thank you, it's black. A device this large doesn't generally look good in any other color. But that's just me.
nate0
New member
libra89
Active member
nate0
New member
I can feel I will be keeping this one around a while. However a while for me on an Android phone would be longer than 2 weeks, so we'll have to wait and see...
The only thing that is taking forever to like or adjust to is the dang keyboard on Android. It just for some reason seems like someone over thought these v-keyboards on Android. None of them really flow for me yet. G-board is pretty good, but the Samsung v-keyboard seems to hit the keys easier. And the animation style is better during key popout. Meh, anyway. Such a petty thing to worry about anyway....
nate0
New member
fatclue_98
Retired Moderator
Mini review time for the XA2 Ultra. Let's get rid of the elephant in the room first, this thing is big. It's a little taller than the Mate 9 I have laying around and a smidge wider but it's thicker than anything else in recent memory. But for me that's a good thing. Couple that thickness with the curved back and it's actually easier to hold than the Mate or especially the S6 Edge+. As usual, Sony has put together another solidly constructed handset. All the seams are tight, the SIM port cover is flush with the adjacent panels, the buttons have no play whatsoever and marriage of plastic and metal is first rate. Now for the gripes. The camera module is almost flush with the frame so they put an escutcheon ring to play it off. A nice touch and it keeps the lens off any surface when laid flat but they couldn't see fit to do the same for the flash which sits right next to it. Yes, it's flush and there's no gap between the module and the frame but for aesthetic's sake there should be one. I've ordered a case so my next gripe will disappear. The fingerprint scanner suffers from the same lack of detail as the flash. There is no elevation change to let you know where the scanner is. You HAVE to look at it or guess where it is. A simple escutcheon ring would allow users to find the scanner. Personally, I loved Sony's power button placement but that's another story.
Alright, enough of that boring engineering s**t. How does it perform? Extremely good for a SnapDragon 600 series and 4GB of RAM. It's noticeably better than the 625 used on the BB KeyOne and Motion. No hiccups (yet) and no stutter with animations, app loading, etc. The display is a typical 1920x1080 LCD and it's a tad on the cool side which I prefer. I'm not into the oversaturated displays like Samsung or warmer-than-most iPhones. One thing though, this thing is some kind of bright. At full blast you may need a welder's helmet. SwiftKey is the default keyboard and I like it tenfold over GBoard but I still put the BlackBerry keyboard on it. Sony's contacts app is every bit as good as the BB version so I'm using it along with the calendar app. Naturally I'm using the BB Hub for email now that they've fixed the bug that broke pinning separate accounts on your home screen. If I can't have Live Tiles, this is the next best thing. Fact is, these are the only non-stock apps I'm using as the native Sony file manager, music and gallery apps are so good. SMS is stock Android and it does what I need it to do. I'm not sure why people don't just use SMS/MMS instead of all these 3rd party messaging apps that cull your data and invade your privacy.
For typical point-and-shoot use, the default auto setting is good enough. Images are well resolved, colors are surprisingly natural and not much going on in the noise department. White balance is a little tricky and going into manual mode to activate HDR is almost a requirement otherwise bright subjects will blow out the sensor leaving you with a white blob. Manufacturers still have a ways to go in this respect as even a superior camera like my S8+ struggles with this too. Maybe in Seattle or Pittsburgh where it's cloudy all the time this is not an issue but in the Sunshine State it's an issue.
There is only one downward firing speaker and it's loud enough. It's not tinny like some other speakers at full throttle but it's all about that treble, 'bout that treble, no bass. Connect some headphones and there are some features included that can provide some nice sounds. Music over my truck's stereo via bluetooth was decent. Not the greatest range but it was clean. I'm severely old school and I like depth, you won't find it here. It sounds like every instrument is lined up in the same row and using the same mic array. I mean, it's not a bad experience per se but it's not replacing anything anytime soon. Voice calls over bluetooth are definitely a highlight, no complaints.
Speaking of voice calls, I'm not sure this phone has VoLTE for T-Mobile or Wi-Fi calling available as Team Magenta is very snobbish about who they let into their little circle. What I did find is that I have ridiculous reception in areas I normally would be shut off from like anywhere near Miami International. I took a peek in the hidden service menu and I noticed Bands 4, 12 and 66 are active. Band 66 isn't listed in any website but it's there and it certainly explains the incredible reception. Calls drop to H+ so VoLTE is not on the program which will necessitate a phone call to my favorite Magenta Morons.
Well I saved the best for last. If you've made it this far you're a better person than I am. Battery life is sick, nothing else to say.
Alright, enough of that boring engineering s**t. How does it perform? Extremely good for a SnapDragon 600 series and 4GB of RAM. It's noticeably better than the 625 used on the BB KeyOne and Motion. No hiccups (yet) and no stutter with animations, app loading, etc. The display is a typical 1920x1080 LCD and it's a tad on the cool side which I prefer. I'm not into the oversaturated displays like Samsung or warmer-than-most iPhones. One thing though, this thing is some kind of bright. At full blast you may need a welder's helmet. SwiftKey is the default keyboard and I like it tenfold over GBoard but I still put the BlackBerry keyboard on it. Sony's contacts app is every bit as good as the BB version so I'm using it along with the calendar app. Naturally I'm using the BB Hub for email now that they've fixed the bug that broke pinning separate accounts on your home screen. If I can't have Live Tiles, this is the next best thing. Fact is, these are the only non-stock apps I'm using as the native Sony file manager, music and gallery apps are so good. SMS is stock Android and it does what I need it to do. I'm not sure why people don't just use SMS/MMS instead of all these 3rd party messaging apps that cull your data and invade your privacy.
For typical point-and-shoot use, the default auto setting is good enough. Images are well resolved, colors are surprisingly natural and not much going on in the noise department. White balance is a little tricky and going into manual mode to activate HDR is almost a requirement otherwise bright subjects will blow out the sensor leaving you with a white blob. Manufacturers still have a ways to go in this respect as even a superior camera like my S8+ struggles with this too. Maybe in Seattle or Pittsburgh where it's cloudy all the time this is not an issue but in the Sunshine State it's an issue.
There is only one downward firing speaker and it's loud enough. It's not tinny like some other speakers at full throttle but it's all about that treble, 'bout that treble, no bass. Connect some headphones and there are some features included that can provide some nice sounds. Music over my truck's stereo via bluetooth was decent. Not the greatest range but it was clean. I'm severely old school and I like depth, you won't find it here. It sounds like every instrument is lined up in the same row and using the same mic array. I mean, it's not a bad experience per se but it's not replacing anything anytime soon. Voice calls over bluetooth are definitely a highlight, no complaints.
Speaking of voice calls, I'm not sure this phone has VoLTE for T-Mobile or Wi-Fi calling available as Team Magenta is very snobbish about who they let into their little circle. What I did find is that I have ridiculous reception in areas I normally would be shut off from like anywhere near Miami International. I took a peek in the hidden service menu and I noticed Bands 4, 12 and 66 are active. Band 66 isn't listed in any website but it's there and it certainly explains the incredible reception. Calls drop to H+ so VoLTE is not on the program which will necessitate a phone call to my favorite Magenta Morons.
Well I saved the best for last. If you've made it this far you're a better person than I am. Battery life is sick, nothing else to say.
libra89
Active member
This sounds like a solid phone for you possibly. Thanks for the review, it was a good read. Very cool that it uses Band 66!
fatclue_98
Retired Moderator
It's a solid all around phone with no appreciable strengths or weaknesses. In this day and age phones have reached a point where weaknesses are more like nit picking. Except for dismal battery life, they're all pretty good. Some are better than others in some respects but stumble with some basics. I know, it's frustrating.
I'd say that battery life, call quality and display brightness are this phone's main defining features. Audio playback is mediocre at best so that would qualify as a downvote. The BlackBerry Motion is priced the same and it's not nearly as good. I guess I'll have to wait until April to see if the Nokia 6 2018 Edition is enough to warrant another SIM swap. It'll be tough to give up this reception though.
nate0
New member
S9+ -- mini overview from my own use:
The S9+ SD 845 model G965U1 Coral Blue, no case yet. Disabled most google apps/services except play store and photos. Using bk disabler disabled many of samsung bloat software and certain features I do not use, like the Edge panel, Samsung pay, etc.
Battery life is excellent. I have a minimalist AOD always on and SOT is at about 5hrs, 2 Exchange accounts, 3 tapatalk accounts, mms/sms/handful of phone calls, web surfing, youtube usage a bit, and about 10 Groove tracks played more or less. Now with total time off the charger of 19hrs or so and I have 34% left.
The display is as we would expect. Samsung uses a proprietary driver I believe along with their display service(s) and panel, and the brightness and color modes compliment each other well. The Sunlight readability is pretty good. But I have not assesed all the panel configurations to see which is optimal for my use/needs. It has done some buggy things though, like prior to the latest OTA update night mode was funky and super orange. It would kick in a couple seconds after unlocking the phone each time I unlocked it while enabled, meaning it was turned off at unlock and turned on after the screen got settled. Another is that more than twice I have unlocked the phone during the day and Autobrightness crapped out and the display was completely dim and would not adjust to a readable brightness.
The Sound from this thing is top notch. The stereo speaker setup and dolby atmost are just great. I thought the Idol 4s was nice and the most acurate with sound reproduction (without and EQ mind you) but the way Samsung did theirs and combined Harmon speakers just works excellently. And you can crank it loud with little distortion. Off the 3.5mm wire I am still trying to get what I think sounds good to my ear but so far the quality and range are excellent.
Call quality is great and it has used Wifi calling mostly. It is fast and snappy. The UI works for me. I download a dark them called sd-Black by aire design and it reminds me alot of the Windows Phone UI now. The finger print sensor is fast and accurate. Samsung has a ton of goodies baked into the OS that I am not sure I have looked at even half of them thorougly. I kninda like the one handed mode double tapping the home button 3 times, but it is not ideal imo. I can provide more detail on that if anyone needs...
The camera is pretty good. I have not fully used it enough to know how to use it quicky and fluidly. I need a case to be able to hold it appropriately and safely when trying to snap photos. However the few that I have taken are good. In low light it is a good shooter too. I have not really used the camera though to make a complete judgement from y view but it works really well and for my average camera usage it is good. I like that it uses a motion photo feature like living images for photos you take.
The phone is a bit thicker, heavier wider and a bit shorter than the S8+. It feels easy to use and should be even better once I get a case. I ordered a spigen liquid air armor case.
The one thing that is really impressive on it so far is the battery life. I did disable a lot of stuff. But compared to the s8+ with the same battery size this is good. It should be expected from the SD 845 anyway right?. IMO the standby drain is where I think it excels the most and why the stamina is so good when it needs to be in use.
It really is a great device to use for me personally if moving from a Lumia. I just hope Microsoft has an Andromeda-like device lined up soon that can replace this hunk of glass though (sorry just had to say it). Am hoping what they want to do with their new device will be something I and others can use and need for our daily lives to replace devices like this most were forced to move to. I moved off Google entirely except gmail and was happy for several years. Now I have to embrace it a bit more unfortunately. I have not decided what I will do with all my Lumias yet. I will try to provide more about my use with this device as it progresses.
The S9+ SD 845 model G965U1 Coral Blue, no case yet. Disabled most google apps/services except play store and photos. Using bk disabler disabled many of samsung bloat software and certain features I do not use, like the Edge panel, Samsung pay, etc.
Battery life is excellent. I have a minimalist AOD always on and SOT is at about 5hrs, 2 Exchange accounts, 3 tapatalk accounts, mms/sms/handful of phone calls, web surfing, youtube usage a bit, and about 10 Groove tracks played more or less. Now with total time off the charger of 19hrs or so and I have 34% left.
The display is as we would expect. Samsung uses a proprietary driver I believe along with their display service(s) and panel, and the brightness and color modes compliment each other well. The Sunlight readability is pretty good. But I have not assesed all the panel configurations to see which is optimal for my use/needs. It has done some buggy things though, like prior to the latest OTA update night mode was funky and super orange. It would kick in a couple seconds after unlocking the phone each time I unlocked it while enabled, meaning it was turned off at unlock and turned on after the screen got settled. Another is that more than twice I have unlocked the phone during the day and Autobrightness crapped out and the display was completely dim and would not adjust to a readable brightness.
The Sound from this thing is top notch. The stereo speaker setup and dolby atmost are just great. I thought the Idol 4s was nice and the most acurate with sound reproduction (without and EQ mind you) but the way Samsung did theirs and combined Harmon speakers just works excellently. And you can crank it loud with little distortion. Off the 3.5mm wire I am still trying to get what I think sounds good to my ear but so far the quality and range are excellent.
Call quality is great and it has used Wifi calling mostly. It is fast and snappy. The UI works for me. I download a dark them called sd-Black by aire design and it reminds me alot of the Windows Phone UI now. The finger print sensor is fast and accurate. Samsung has a ton of goodies baked into the OS that I am not sure I have looked at even half of them thorougly. I kninda like the one handed mode double tapping the home button 3 times, but it is not ideal imo. I can provide more detail on that if anyone needs...
The camera is pretty good. I have not fully used it enough to know how to use it quicky and fluidly. I need a case to be able to hold it appropriately and safely when trying to snap photos. However the few that I have taken are good. In low light it is a good shooter too. I have not really used the camera though to make a complete judgement from y view but it works really well and for my average camera usage it is good. I like that it uses a motion photo feature like living images for photos you take.
The phone is a bit thicker, heavier wider and a bit shorter than the S8+. It feels easy to use and should be even better once I get a case. I ordered a spigen liquid air armor case.
The one thing that is really impressive on it so far is the battery life. I did disable a lot of stuff. But compared to the s8+ with the same battery size this is good. It should be expected from the SD 845 anyway right?. IMO the standby drain is where I think it excels the most and why the stamina is so good when it needs to be in use.
It really is a great device to use for me personally if moving from a Lumia. I just hope Microsoft has an Andromeda-like device lined up soon that can replace this hunk of glass though (sorry just had to say it). Am hoping what they want to do with their new device will be something I and others can use and need for our daily lives to replace devices like this most were forced to move to. I moved off Google entirely except gmail and was happy for several years. Now I have to embrace it a bit more unfortunately. I have not decided what I will do with all my Lumias yet. I will try to provide more about my use with this device as it progresses.
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