2014-02-25, 00:39
I posted this in the XDA forum last week but figure someone here might find it more useful. This thread isn't about flashing roms or anything technical. Just real world use.
I wasn't able to find an in depth user review online so if anyone can add their comments and insights I would be very interested in other experiences and tips. Thanks.
I've been using the phone for about 48 hours now and just wanted to share my observations, likes and dislikes. First thing is the phone is exactly as advertised in terms of build quality and performance. My previous phone (still using it) was a galaxy quattro and comparing the two in terms of size was very revealing. Both screens are 4.5 inches BUT the Samsung is much bigger simply because it's a wider rectangle. My point here is not all manufacturer measurements are the same. The Jiayu is a narrower 4.5 screen. That's the downside of buying a phone online, not being able to handle it physically.
[Snip] apart from the delay due to the Chinese holidays everything went smoothly. It came rooted with english, google play, superuser and various other apps installed. Plus most chinese apps removed. I bought the 3000mah battery kit with wall charger, oversized stainless back cover and custom case for the larger battery cover. All top quality. That brings me to the battery life. So far, with quite heavy use I'm getting the same performance as with the quattro BUT I understand that the G5 battery software doesn't give accurate figures for the bigger battery because it's optimized for the 2000mah battery (check the spellmall.com forum). I can live with that since I'll learn over time what the battery numbers really mean plus I now have two batteries for it anyway.
My dislikes are minor but basically have to do with the user options. Firstly there is no way to have separate ringtones for each line like the Samsung. Secondly the narrower screen makes the keyboard much more cramped than on my quattro using Swiftkey on both. Other than those two dislikes the rest are minor quirks that an unfamiliar phone will always bring.
I have many likes and here are a few. Out the box it scored the advertised 16443 on Antutu then I loaded it with my favorite apps all of which ran it down to 4700! After tweaking a bit I managed to only get it to about 7600 so I uninstalled the battery saver and task manager crap whilst retaining Wakelock Detector and installed Greenify. Bingo! Performance jumped back to 16000+. So there's a lesson for all of us there. It's performing quick and smooth. The screen is very good, it's nice to have indicator lights again too. Right now my battery is at 64% (indicated) after 8.5 hours of quite heavy use. I haven't used it in the the last hour and it hasn't moved at all thanks to Greenify hibernating apps.
I'll continue this later but feel free to ask questions and I would love to hear from other users.
One more thing, it doesn't have 3G here in the States but I don’t miss it because neither did my quattro and I'm on wifi 80% of the time. If it ever becomes an issue I'll just get a dongle with some of the $200+ I've saved by not buying a big name brand and add it to my free data plan on T-Mobile.
Edit: I had to reboot the phone a few hours ago after using My Backup Pro to freeze the stock email app (I use the gmail app) and my battery % jumped up to 70% from 56%. So I can only conclude that the false battery indicator issue is valid and the new reading is probably the correct one. Intriguing/puzzling.
Update: It's 2:30pm here and battery on 30% from when I took it off the charger at 7am yesterday. 31.5 hours of moderate to heavy use. I'm loving this.
I wasn't able to find an in depth user review online so if anyone can add their comments and insights I would be very interested in other experiences and tips. Thanks.
I've been using the phone for about 48 hours now and just wanted to share my observations, likes and dislikes. First thing is the phone is exactly as advertised in terms of build quality and performance. My previous phone (still using it) was a galaxy quattro and comparing the two in terms of size was very revealing. Both screens are 4.5 inches BUT the Samsung is much bigger simply because it's a wider rectangle. My point here is not all manufacturer measurements are the same. The Jiayu is a narrower 4.5 screen. That's the downside of buying a phone online, not being able to handle it physically.
[Snip] apart from the delay due to the Chinese holidays everything went smoothly. It came rooted with english, google play, superuser and various other apps installed. Plus most chinese apps removed. I bought the 3000mah battery kit with wall charger, oversized stainless back cover and custom case for the larger battery cover. All top quality. That brings me to the battery life. So far, with quite heavy use I'm getting the same performance as with the quattro BUT I understand that the G5 battery software doesn't give accurate figures for the bigger battery because it's optimized for the 2000mah battery (check the spellmall.com forum). I can live with that since I'll learn over time what the battery numbers really mean plus I now have two batteries for it anyway.
My dislikes are minor but basically have to do with the user options. Firstly there is no way to have separate ringtones for each line like the Samsung. Secondly the narrower screen makes the keyboard much more cramped than on my quattro using Swiftkey on both. Other than those two dislikes the rest are minor quirks that an unfamiliar phone will always bring.
I have many likes and here are a few. Out the box it scored the advertised 16443 on Antutu then I loaded it with my favorite apps all of which ran it down to 4700! After tweaking a bit I managed to only get it to about 7600 so I uninstalled the battery saver and task manager crap whilst retaining Wakelock Detector and installed Greenify. Bingo! Performance jumped back to 16000+. So there's a lesson for all of us there. It's performing quick and smooth. The screen is very good, it's nice to have indicator lights again too. Right now my battery is at 64% (indicated) after 8.5 hours of quite heavy use. I haven't used it in the the last hour and it hasn't moved at all thanks to Greenify hibernating apps.
I'll continue this later but feel free to ask questions and I would love to hear from other users.
One more thing, it doesn't have 3G here in the States but I don’t miss it because neither did my quattro and I'm on wifi 80% of the time. If it ever becomes an issue I'll just get a dongle with some of the $200+ I've saved by not buying a big name brand and add it to my free data plan on T-Mobile.
Edit: I had to reboot the phone a few hours ago after using My Backup Pro to freeze the stock email app (I use the gmail app) and my battery % jumped up to 70% from 56%. So I can only conclude that the false battery indicator issue is valid and the new reading is probably the correct one. Intriguing/puzzling.
Update: It's 2:30pm here and battery on 30% from when I took it off the charger at 7am yesterday. 31.5 hours of moderate to heavy use. I'm loving this.