+Title: Elephone P9000
+Tags: en, elephone, p9000, android, phone, review
+
+I usually don't do reviews for anything, but I want to write a few points about
+this phone, in part for folks out there to know, but also as some sort of
+internal reminder of the things I've been finding.
+
+I should say before anything else that I'm basically comparing this phone
+against my previous one, a Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9505) using `CyanogenMod
+<http://www.cyanogenmod.org/>`_.
+
+The `Elephone P900
+<http://www.elephone.hk/elephone-p9000-specs-features-purchase>`_ is a super
+tempting device. Here are the main reasons why I chosen this phone (in **bold**
+my hard requirements, in *italics* things I didn't really care about but it was
+a good opportunity to try out):
+
+* It has **4GB of RAM and fast CPU** (octacore)
+* It supports **memory expansion** (micro SD up to 256GB 8-)
+* It has a very **high screen to body ratio** (about 83%, for comparison the Nexus
+ 5 has 71% and the iPhone 5s has 61%). I was looking for a 5 inch phone, so to
+ go for a 5.5 inch one, the overall size of the phone had to be as small as
+ possible.
+* It has **USB Type-C** (I thought if I'm getting a new phone, better to have
+ the new shiny no-non-sense connector)
+* It comes with **Android 6** (I want either that or to be supported by CM)
+* Decent battery (3000mAh, which I expected to last for a full day of intensive
+ use)
+* It has at least one "navigation button" (I don't want to lose part of my
+ screen with software buttons)
+* It has a Sony camera sensor with f/2.0 and laser focus, which is supposed to
+ be of decent quality really fast to do focus. That said, I read some reviews
+ not speaking well about the camera
+* It has a rouged back (my S4 was a bit slippery)
+* It costs less than €250 (here in Germany)
+* It has *wireless charging and quick charging*
+* It has a *fingerprint reader*
+* It has a quite *high-res frontal camera* (8 megapixel)
+* It supports *dual-SIM* although the second SIM shares the slot with the memory
+ expansion, so is not something I'll be able to use anyway
+
+So, after using it for about a couple of days, these are my findings:
+
+The good:
+
+* **The build quality is very nice**, it really looks like a high end phone.
+ More than my old S4 (which is made of plastic, while the P9000 is metallic).
+* **Is very light**, even when it's a few grams extra compared to the S4, you
+ can't really feel it. For offering 0.5 extra inches of screen is quite
+ impressive.
+* **It is fast**. I wasn't expecting to notice a difference with the S4 really,
+ basically because I don't feel the S4 is slow. But you can tell the
+ difference. The P9000 is snappier.
+* **It looks beautiful** (at least for my minimalistic taste). I never care much
+ about looks, but I really like this phone (much more than the S4).
+* Despite the big screen and feeling a bit too big at first, **the size seems
+ manageable and the extra screen space is useful**.
+* Now having a **fingerprint reader** will probably be a requirement for my next
+ phone. I encrypt my phone and use a longish password to unlock it. Being able
+ to unlock it securely with just one touch is a huge gain.
+* **It can be rooted**. It took me a while to find the right flasher for Linux
+ (you need the latest version of it), but I could do it, and even TWRP is
+ available for it already, which gives me some hope about better ROMs, and
+ maybe even CM, appearing in the future.
+
+The Bad:
+
+* **The fingerprint reader sucks**. I've seen a video review complaining about
+ it, and even for this guy complaining it worked much better than for me.
+ I would say in my case it succeeds reading my fingerprint about less than 20%
+ of the time. I even registered my fingerprint like five 5 times, using
+ different finger positions and it still fails most of the time, and after 3 or
+ 5 failures you have to wait 30 seconds before being able to retry.
+* **The screen is not bright enough for a sunny day**. You can still see the
+ screen, but it's not as bright as the one in my old S4.
+* **The camera pretty much sucks too**. The f/2.0 I don't know where is it,
+ pictures are always quite noisy. The auto-focus is not faster than my old S4.
+ The sensor is supposed to be good, so I guess they just screwed it with the
+ lenses. Or maybe is a firmware thing? But I doubt it.
+* **The sound really SUCKS**. I never thought about it before. Even when
+ I listen to music **a lot**, I never had a good year and never could pick up
+ on bad quality recordings for example. Is a blessing. But with this phone
+ I noticed. It sounds like **crap** (and I'm not talking about the speaker,
+ which is understandable, I'm talking about plugging earphones). When I noticed
+ I thought it might be the album. I tried another one, and another one, and
+ finally I compared the same files in my old S4 and... Oh boy. This new phone's
+ audio just **SUCKS SO BAD**. It's the phone. I would say this was the final
+ deal breaker for me.
+* **The battery can't take an intense full day of usage**. It's basically the
+ same as my old S4 (and I want an improvement on this area). If I use it just
+ for a few messages and most of the time inside with WiFi, it can last 2 full
+ days. If I take it outside using mobile data, and listen to music during
+ a hold day, it barely last for a day. If I add to that using maps and the GPS
+ having the screen on more time, like when I'm traveling, it can barely last
+ more than half a day.
+* **The Android version is missing some features** that I thought it was pure
+ Android (not CM), like the Ambient Display (shows notifications in a dimmed
+ screen), the LiveDisplay (adjust the screen color temperature according to the
+ time of the day) and the Do Not Disturb mode(s). The keyboard doesn't support
+ swiping (major drawback for me).
+* **The touchscreen is not very sensitive**. I can tell the difference with the
+ S4. Maybe the one in the S4 is too sensitive, sometimes it reacts without even
+ contacting the glass, but in the P9000 sometimes I feel I have to press the
+ glass too much to get it reacting. Some gestures are harder to do because of
+ this (like swipe-up to unlock).
+* **Only one navigation button**. Even when is better than nothing, I found much
+ more convenient having 3 navigation buttons like the S4 provides.
+* **No multicolor notification light**. The navigation button on the bottom also
+ serves as a notification light, but it has only one color and the frequency
+ can't be configured either (AFAIK). The S4 has a multi-color led, which let
+ you know what kind of notification is there before you even look at the
+ screen.
+* **USB Type-C is not popular enough yet**. Even when this is not the phone's
+ fault, I realized we are not there yet. Micro USB cables are everywhere out
+ there. You'll never miss one. With Type-C you better carry your cable
+ everywhere or buy a bunch, because you are all alone now.
+
+So, even when the external quality is amazing and, even when I never cared about
+looks, it looks extremely nice too, it looks like the low price tag has to come
+from somewhere, and that somewhere is the internal components, which seems like
+they are not the best.
+
+Still the quality-price ratio is quite impressive IMHO, on paper you have the
+same specs as an iPhone 6, or Samsung S7, at less than half the price. But
+I think I prefer to spend an extra few bucks to get higher internal components
+qualities (specially with the sound), so I will probably return this phone and
+continue looking for one. Also I miss my CM too much. I think I will have to
+settle for an older phone that's is supported by CM.
+
+
+TODO:
+
+* Fingerprint unlock and screen gestures makes the phone never enter deep sleep,
+ nice features but until it's fixed it might be better to disable them, at
+ least when you know you'll need some juice.
+
+* Fingerprint starts working better after some use (only 2 or 3 attempts are
+ needed)
+
+* WiFi consumes more battery than mobile data (WTF!?)
+
+* RoDrIgUeZsTyLe™ MODPACK V1.1
+
+ - Sound is saved (probably is not amazing, but I don't notice the obvious
+ creepiness anymore). Praise the Lord!
+
+ - Touchscreen is more sensitive, not as the S4 but definitely an appreciable
+ improvement.
+
+ - Battery life improved a lot. One day of moderate activity (for me) and still
+ about 65% battery left. I used the phone for 12 hours after fully charged,
+ and my usage pattern was: about 6 hours outside (using mobile data), about
+ 40 minutes of music playing + GPS working in high accuracy mode. The rest
+ inside using WiFi. I also did some messaging and internet use, but nothing
+ too intensive. BetterBatteryStats reports: 66% (~8h) deep sleep (which is
+ still low, I wonder what this phone could last if it were more aggressive
+ about going to deep sleep), 8% (~1h) screen on. Wifi running 100% of the
+ time (~12h). Battery consumption average was 3%/h. My guess is that with
+ a similar usage, the S4 I would probably ended the day with not more than
+ 30% or 40% battery.
+
+* Ways to improve the battery life and fix other stuff: Xposed framework, but
+ not supported yet. For example with "Amplify Battery Extender" I could disable
+ the wakelock for the fingerprint or NlpWakelock. Wakelock Terminator might
+ also help (also needs Xposed)
+
+* For now using DisableService to disable NlpService from MTK NLP Service, the
+ location seems to keep working fine. Another option is to put the GPS in
+ device-only mode to avoid the NPL service from running.
+
+* Install Xposed using Eragon 2.0 ROM:
+
+ 1. Install Xposed Material installer (3.0 alpha4)
+ http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/material-design-xposed-installer-t3137758
+ 2. Edit /etc/init.d/07permissive and comment out the ``sleep 60``
+ 3. Install Xposed framework v82 (not a newer one otherwise settings will force
+ close)
+
+* Battery life saved via update from 2016-05-31. Fingerprint reader and WiFi
+ don't keep the phone awake anymore (5~10% awake when screen is off with both
+ enabled).
+
+.. vim: set et sw=3 sts=3 tw=80 fo+=lt1n:
projects / personal / website.git / commitdiff