As background, I've owned a number of Android phones in the past but most recently have been on an iPhone 6 Plus. Also, I'm on Verizon so my comments might not apply to other carriers. With that, here are my early thoughts after about 3 days ownership:
That's it for now. The biggest issue is the network performance in fringe areas, not sure which direction I'm going to go but I have a few weeks to decide whether to keep the phone, go back to the iPhone or do something else entirely.
Hope this helps anyone who's thinking of a V10.
- I like the ergonomics of the phone very much. It fits my hand well and the surface on the back gives it a nice grip so I don't feel like I'm in any danger of dropping it.
- Because of that, I'll likely run the phone without a case. I did order (and return) a Spigen thin case but it was so slick (despite their claim that "Soft-feel matte coating adds grip")
- The display resolution is very nice though some difficulty reading in bright sunlight. To be fair, this is true of most phones.
- Performance is very good, haven't noticed any lags. Apps start quickly and keeping multiple applications going and switching between them doesn't produce any noticeable delays.
- The camera is quite good though I have to confess I haven't taken anything other than some simple landscapes to this point. So far, it does compare very well to the iPhone and is quite possibly better.
- The performance as a phone (making and receiving calls) is very good. No dropped calls, pops, static, etc.
- Data performance is poor. I live in a fringe area. With the iPhone I'd be either a relatively strong 3G or weak LTE depending on where I was in the house. The V10 is 3G only and fairly weak (2 bars, at most). This might prove to be a deal breaker for me, I'm not sure yet. The reality is when I'm at home I rarely use my phone to surf the web, I've got lots of other devices to do that with but it is handy when I get an email with a link to be able to look at it immediately on my phone and the performance isn't very good.
- Battery life seems OK, not great but not awful either. Compares reasonably well with the iPhone and lasts about a day and a half with normal use.
- I have it paired with a Huawei watch and it seems to work pretty well. I previously had an Apple watch and Huawei (and Android wear) has some work to do if it wants to surpass Apple but basic functionality (sending/receiving text messages, weather forecast, etc) and notifications work pretty well. It did seem like I was able to do more on the watch itself with Apple e.g., many web pages would display on the watch but google Now is far superior to Siri (may she burn in digital hell).
That's it for now. The biggest issue is the network performance in fringe areas, not sure which direction I'm going to go but I have a few weeks to decide whether to keep the phone, go back to the iPhone or do something else entirely.
Hope this helps anyone who's thinking of a V10.
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