V20 owners, would you upgrade to Xiaomi?

[wordsm1th]

With normal usage, could even last 2 days, am yet to debloat or apply any mods, that would only take the SOT further

6 hours of SOT is great. I guess it last all day.

 

[flyingkytez]

Well, you and I were independently thinking the same thing. My V20 has been dogging it a bit lately, and the camera app has been a real pain in the a$$ and slow to start up. And, despite positive reviews, I've never been to happy with auto mode of the camera.

Anyway, it probably jut needs a factory resent, but I keep waiting for Oreo to drop on the US996 model..... I've been eyeing the new phones out (like the S9, etc) but I sure don't want to pay those prices.

The Poco phone sure looks intriguing. Great reviews so far, and I can't help but love the idea of a 4,000 m amp battery on Oreo, and then Pie. But what really did it for me.... the screws on the bottom. Xiaomi recently dropped a Youtube video showing disassembly of the phone. I used to replace batteries all the time in phones that weren't considered "user-replaceable", but were pretty darn easy to replace if you have some basic skills (i.e., Lumia 920 and others). The video really did it for me. I love the idea of replacing that 4000 battery in a year. And, a replacement digitizer has already popped up on Amazon. In short, this looks to me like an enthusiast's phone.

Couldn't help myself. I ordered one off eBay a couple of days ago. Should get it late next week (assuming the sale goes through). Let me know if you're interested - I'll be happy to follow-up with my thoughts/comments re a comparison with the V20.

YES, please do a follow up here. I'm interested in the phone as well, that's awesome you can easily change the battery by simply unscrewing it (just like the iPhone 4, the back glass slides up and off).

 

[flyingkytez]

Not quite, depends on one's definition of cheap too, my context will be cheap is filmsy, loose parts, gaps etc, just by the virtue of polycarbonate back this doesn't feel cheap. The buttons have hood tactile feel, screen looks good. I use phones with covers so not too worried about the back anyway.

So it's a plastic phone? Or just the back of it?

 

[flyingkytez]

From what I was just seeing. It has a headphone jack. If that's the case, it has a DAC. It may not be as good as the V20, but it will have one by necessity. Remember, DAC = Digital to Analog Converter and is used in any digital media device when connecting to an analog output like a headphone jack.

It probably has a single DAC. The V20 has 4x DAC (Quad). I'm sure the audio is fine however.

 

[flyingkytez]

Wrong. Mobile Services Manager is just DT Ignite renamed. Spammy bloatware, yes. Spyware, no. Plus, spyware wouldn't be so easily found and disabled.

Spyware can be defined in many ways. The LG Smart World app is definitely spyware, it even says it in the disclaimer; they will collect your data to help improve its services and you agree to it when you click yes. Spying? Yes, but they tell you in the fine print. Your carrier probably has it built in (AT&T data monitoring app, Verizon account app). Even social media apps too... nobody reads the fine print OR very advanced vocabulary is used so it's hard to understand what they mean in the disclaimer. You may be talking about unofficial spyware, which means they're not transparent about it. The V20 is guilty of it. BTW on my V20 it says Mobile Services Manager which was already built in and is on by default. It automatically installs app without asking for permission... Kinda annoying and upsetting LG allowed it to be in here. I have a carrier-free US unlocked version so there's no excuses for it being on here. Since I'm pretty tech savvy I know how to remove the app, however the average person doesn't have a clue and are being spied on.




I think the problem here is Chinese spyware and since China is being run by a dictator with no presidential term limits and the fact that Huawei and ZTE used to be owned by ex-military officers plus OnePlus and Lenovo (currently Motorola) were caught having spyware, people are paranoid and concerned China is trying to spy on people.

 

[Mooncatt]

Spyware can be defined in many ways.

You have way too broad of a definition of spyware.


Key word: Covert. Enough with the conspiracy theories and scare mongering.

 

[kbagrows]

So, I've had the Pocophone F1 since 9/6. Charged it up while running updates on 9/6, and didn't need to charge it again until yesterday, 9/9. Now, I am NOT a power user, I don't game, I'm not on Facebook..... but I do use the phone quite a bit throughout the day. Biggest issue I had with the V20 was battery. I had huge battery drain. I'd charge it overnight, then took it off the charger around 6:00 a.m., and had to charge again at work to make it through the day. I was uninstalling a lot of apps, ran Accubattery, and bought a new battery..... never figured out the issue. Regardless, the battery life on the F1 is absolutely phenomenal. Can't say enough about how great it is. I don't know if it's just Oreo, or a combo of Oreo and Xiaomi's MIUI tweaks, but it's great.

I love the phone's feel. Yes, it's plastic. And, I'm from the era of plastic phones. I've never understood why you'd cover a phone in glass, a material prone to drops and slippery. And like 90% of people, I put a case on it anyway. But I digress, phone feels great.

The snapdragon 845 is a beast. No lag at all, on anything. I hadn't used anything more modern than a V20, so I can't compare to anything else, but it is quick.

One drawback - no LTE. I'm on TMo in Chicago, and it get HSPA+ speeds. Speedtest routinely returns about 10 Mbps down for me, compared to 20+ on TMo LTE with the V20. In application.... I don't see a difference. Phone calls sound the same. Texts roll in the same. And Spotify streams much better, simply due to the processor. I was concerned about the lack of LTE at first, but am now starting to think it really doesn't matter. Gonna keep assessing this for the next few weeks.

So, the headphone jack. In short, I think the F1 sounds great. At first, I thought it a bit "tinny" compared to the V20. But, there is an equalizer that, once tweaked, puts out some really nice sound. Maybe my headphones aren't the best, and maybe my ears are a bit old, but I was surprised at how nice the sound was through my headphones. One advantage over the V20 seems to be with my BT 5.0 earbuds - they seem to sound better on the F1, as it also uses BT 5.0, rather than 4.2. Maybe its my imagination, but I think they're a bit better.

Overall, really enjoying this phone so far. Any specific questions or comparisons you'd like to the V20, just let me know. We'll see what happens, but I bet I list my US996 on Swappa in the next week or two. I just grew tired on the promised updates and horrible battery life.

 

[christianttt]

So, I've had the Pocophone F1 since 9/6. Charged it up while running updates on 9/6, and didn't need to charge it again until yesterday, 9/9. Now, I am NOT a power user, I don't game, I'm not on Facebook..... but I do use the phone quite a bit throughout the day. Biggest issue I had with the V20 was battery. I had huge battery drain. I'd charge it overnight, then took it off the charger around 6:00 a.m., and had to charge again at work to make it through the day. I was uninstalling a lot of apps, ran Accubattery, and bought a new battery..... never figured out the issue. Regardless, the battery life on the F1 is absolutely phenomenal. Can't say enough about how great it is. I don't know if it's just Oreo, or a combo of Oreo and Xiaomi's MIUI tweaks, but it's great.

I love the phone's feel. Yes, it's plastic. And, I'm from the era of plastic phones. I've never understood why you'd cover a phone in glass, a material prone to drops and slippery. And like 90% of people, I put a case on it anyway. But I digress, phone feels great.

The snapdragon 845 is a beast. No lag at all, on anything. I hadn't used anything more modern than a V20, so I can't compare to anything else, but it is quick.

One drawback - no LTE. I'm on TMo in Chicago, and it get HSPA+ speeds. Speedtest routinely returns about 10 Mbps down for me, compared to 20+ on TMo LTE with the V20. In application.... I don't see a difference. Phone calls sound the same. Texts roll in the same. And Spotify streams much better, simply due to the processor. I was concerned about the lack of LTE at first, but am now starting to think it really doesn't matter. Gonna keep assessing this for the next few weeks.

So, the headphone jack. In short, I think the F1 sounds great. At first, I thought it a bit "tinny" compared to the V20. But, there is an equalizer that, once tweaked, puts out some really nice sound. Maybe my headphones aren't the best, and maybe my ears are a bit old, but I was surprised at how nice the sound was through my headphones. One advantage over the V20 seems to be with my BT 5.0 earbuds - they seem to sound better on the F1, as it also uses BT 5.0, rather than 4.2. Maybe its my imagination, but I think they're a bit better.

Overall, really enjoying this phone so far. Any specific questions or comparisons you'd like to the V20, just let me know. We'll see what happens, but I bet I list my US996 on Swappa in the next week or two. I just grew tired on the promised updates and horrible battery life.

Since I'm considering getting it:
How is the camera and the screen compared against LG V20?
Do you think the notification bar is a problem? They are only showed in the left side of the screen.
Thank you for your answers.

 

[kbagrows]

I think the camera and screen are great. Screen seems about the same to as the V20, which I also liked a lot. And I've been getting some really good shots with the camera. I usually use auto mode (and did the same on my V20, didn't tinker too much with settings). I will say that the camera launches and processes pics a lot faster than the V20 - no lag at all.

I haven't had any problem with the notification bar, but I typically don't like notifications and don't like to bother too much. If you depend heavily on the notification bar, then you may not like it - not much, if anything shows up in the status bar. You need to swipe down to see your notifications.

Hope that helps.

 

[christianttt]

I think the camera and screen are great. Screen seems about the same to as the V20, which I also liked a lot. And I've been getting some really good shots with the camera. I usually use auto mode (and did the same on my V20, didn't tinker too much with settings). I will say that the camera launches and processes pics a lot faster than the V20 - no lag at all.

I haven't had any problem with the notification bar, but I typically don't like notifications and don't like to bother too much. If you depend heavily on the notification bar, then you may not like it - not much, if anything shows up in the status bar. You need to swipe down to see your notifications.

Hope that helps.

That's great. Does it have screen off notifications? Like Samsung or Motorola?

 

[kbagrows]

Yes, it does. Also allows you to select whether the notification that comes through will display all, or limited information.

 

[recDNA]

It's what the Chinese DO with the info stolen that worries me. They could crash our economic system if they wanted to and our government could provoke that