Second opinion on the Priv

[anon(5630457)]

After our discussions in this forum yesterday, I decided to give this phone another shot. I'm still within my 14 days, so I didn't return it yet. I have until Wednesday to decide.

Anyways, I set the phone up last night and I used it all day today. I'll have to say I actually liked the experience. Here is what I like about phone:

+ expandable memory with the microSD card slot! I have a 64GB card in it.
+ huge battery
+ amazing screen
+ great front-facing speaker
+ rear camera takes great pictures, although the HDR processing is a little bit slow
+ the curved edges of the screen
+ near stock Android experience
+ Productivity tab
+ security--I like the picture password better than a fingerprint sensor and I like that my data is encrypted
+ physical keyboard--I love that gestures can also be used on the keyboard, such as scrolling, deleting words, and moving the cursor on the screen
+ the look of the phone. It looks different from all the glass and metal phones that came out this year.

Middle of the road:
+/- BlackBerry Hub. I don't know how I feel about this. I like that I can see all my notifications in one place, but I also like to keep everything separate as well. I'm kind of weird like that.
+/- I wish the power button was on the right side of the phone and the volume controls on the left side. Not a big deal, though.

What I don't like:
- weak front-facing camera. This is a pretty minor negative. I don't take selfies, and the ones I do/will take, this camera will be good enough.
- no dedicated gallery to view photos. All the pics go into google photos.

I will definitely be using this phone as my daily driver for the next several months.

 

[Jamie Wooten]

I think the HUB has to grow on you. I used BlackBerry 10 for a while and really liked the Hub. Been using android for the past 6 months and happy to have it back.

 

[DarkJoker33]

Download a new gallery and disable the google one.
Simple as pie....err something like that.
I snagged this Gallery : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.diune.pictures
I thought it to be one of the better Gallery apps with the least amount of permissions with a good looking and polished UI.

I was in the same boat, trying to avoid most Google pre loaded apps.
Short of the Google app, maps, G+ and more recently fit because I got a killer deal on a smartwatch.
There are others i got or music as well.
I posted them in a review thread I made.

You can keep thing separate in the Hub as well kinda....
Just another a swipe from the left and it shows your accounts. From there, select the one you want to view.

 

[Puzzlegal]

I use QuickPic to view my photos. That's the nice thing about Android, you don't have to use the manufacturer's suggested app for most purposes.

 

[DarkJoker33]

I use QuickPic to view my photos. That's the nice thing about Android, you don't have to use the manufacturer's suggested app for most purposes.

Might want to give this a look over:
http://androidforums.com/threads/quickpic-sold-to-cheetah-mobile.938495/#post-7066319

 

[ajwan]

Give this Play Store App a try:

"Customizable Gallery 3D"

It's a lightweight Gallery style App Google replaced with Photos long ago. It's my goto now.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[shabbs]

Might want to give this a look over:
http://androidforums.com/threads/quickpic-sold-to-cheetah-mobile.938495/#post-7066319

Eek. Saw something similar about ES File Explorer... ugh. Trust no one!

 

[Runningwarrior08]

I love the phone too, I wish I could map the center volume button to what I want though... I disabled Hub, did not like it and it did not allow push email for Gmail. My brother on the other hand loves it. We both snagged privs when they came in Stock at Amazon. Very happy I did. The 6p was nice but was too big in my hands. This feel much nicer.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[bbhybridchris]

The hub is something I like because of everything being in one place. If I want to act on the notification I can then go into the app right from the hub. It keeps you from jumping in and out of multiple apps just to check up on stuff you may not care about at all or at least until later on. The one thing I wish was better implemented in Android was the filter system that is in BlackBerry 10. It seems at this point that the hub is more of a beta than a full fledged app. Hopefully in the future they will add some things back in.

Posted via my BlackBerry Priv

 

[christenmartin]

I had the same mindset and experience as you. Try it and return. I am now keeping it and bought my wife one also. I like the BlackBerry influence such as the hub. Android is like reading Chinese to me right now. It will take some time to get this thing setup the way I want it. This is the first phone that has actually got me a little excited about mobile in a while,

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Puzzlegal]

Might want to give this a look over:
http://androidforums.com/threads/quickpic-sold-to-cheetah-mobile.938495/#post-7066319

Ouch, thanks for the heads up. This is when I am happy that I never update apps that work. I will see if I can copy the app as-is to my new phone, and if not, I guess I will have to pick something else.

My current version doesn't even ask for permission to talk to anything but the sd card and Bluetooth. Such a simple, clean app. I'm very sad that it will be no more.

 

[Puzzlegal]

Eek. Saw something similar about ES File Explorer... ugh. Trust no one!

Yikes! I'll have to check, I might have updated that one recently.

 

[Trisk333]

I've never owned an android phone without a stock gallery I don't think, although my memory might not be that great to recall if my first G1 had it. Oh well good to know! My Priv is finally out for delivery to my place today!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Puzzlegal]

The stock gallery always wanted to talk to the cloud. I wanted something lighter and faster than that.

 

[shabbs]

Yikes! I'll have to check, I might have updated that one recently.

If you Google it, you can find some info on the concerns raised with that app communicating back to China servers... I'm not sure what to think... concerning for sure.

https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/security-es-file-explorer-privacy-concerns.305336/

When you have the largest app ecosystem, you're going to get targeted.

 

[Puzzlegal]

Hmm, the version on this phone us from late 2014, but may not be compatible with more recent operating systems.

 

[murphcid]

Good to hear, makes my choice of a new phone more likely to be a Priv. I am, however, waiting for more $$$ in the account to buy one outright, and for Android 6.0 to be added with app permissions.

After our discussions in this forum yesterday, I decided to give this phone another shot. I'm still within my 14 days, so I didn't return it yet. I have until Wednesday to decide.

Anyways, I set the phone up last night and I used it all day today. I'll have to say I actually liked the experience. Here is what I like about phone:

+ expandable memory with the microSD card slot! I have a 64GB card in it.
+ huge battery
+ amazing screen
+ great front-facing speaker
+ rear camera takes great pictures, although the HDR processing is a little bit slow
+ the curved edges of the screen
+ near stock Android experience
+ Productivity tab
+ security--I like the picture password better than a fingerprint sensor and I like that my data is encrypted
+ physical keyboard--I love that gestures can also be used on the keyboard, such as scrolling, deleting words, and moving the cursor on the screen
+ the look of the phone. It looks different from all the glass and metal phones that came out this year.

Middle of the road:
+/- BlackBerry Hub. I don't know how I feel about this. I like that I can see all my notifications in one place, but I also like to keep everything separate as well. I'm kind of weird like that.
+/- I wish the power button was on the right side of the phone and the volume controls on the left side. Not a big deal, though.

What I don't like:
- weak front-facing camera. This is a pretty minor negative. I don't take selfies, and the ones I do/will take, this camera will be good enough.
- no dedicated gallery to view photos. All the pics go into google photos.

I will definitely be using this phone as my daily driver for the next several months.

 

[benjamin19]

After our discussions in this forum yesterday, I decided to give this phone another shot. I'm still within my 14 days, so I didn't return it yet. I have until Wednesday to decide.

Anyways, I set the phone up last night and I used it all day today. I'll have to say I actually liked the experience. Here is what I like about phone:

+ expandable memory with the microSD card slot! I have a 64GB card in it.
+ huge battery
+ amazing screen
+ great front-facing speaker
+ rear camera takes great pictures, although the HDR processing is a little bit slow
+ the curved edges of the screen
+ near stock Android experience
+ Productivity tab
+ security--I like the picture password better than a fingerprint sensor and I like that my data is encrypted
+ physical keyboard--I love that gestures can also be used on the keyboard, such as scrolling, deleting words, and moving the cursor on the screen
+ the look of the phone. It looks different from all the glass and metal phones that came out this year.

Middle of the road:
+/- BlackBerry Hub. I don't know how I feel about this. I like that I can see all my notifications in one place, but I also like to keep everything separate as well. I'm kind of weird like that.
+/- I wish the power button was on the right side of the phone and the volume controls on the left side. Not a big deal, though.

What I don't like:
- weak front-facing camera. This is a pretty minor negative. I don't take selfies, and the ones I do/will take, this camera will be good enough.
- no dedicated gallery to view photos. All the pics go into google photos.

I will definitely be using this phone as my daily driver for the next several months.

Very good and honest opinions. I agree with all of them. The lack of a gallery could be confusing, but I've always used Google's photos over the stock galleries anyways so I don't see it as a problem.

Posted via the Android Central App on the Priv.

 

[Mark Sb]

I was using ES file manager but switched over to ASUS file manager. I can't post links so just search google play store.
google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asus.filemanager&hl=en

 

[RionDunn]

I had the same mindset and experience as you. Try it and return. I am now keeping it and bought my wife one also. I like the BlackBerry influence such as the hub. Android is like reading Chinese to me right now. It will take some time to get this thing setup the way I want it. This is the first phone that has actually got me a little excited about mobile in a while,

Posted via the Android Central App

Even as a long time android user the Priv is pretty confusing. I really like it though. I cannot type on the physical keyboard if my life depended on it. But I do love the sensitive keys so you can use the keyboard to scroll and navigate. This phone is a win.