New Mobile Phone

[Garacesh]

I would also never risk voiding my £550 phone warranty!!!!

FYI, Rooting your phone does not void your warranty under EU directive.

 

So, we finally come to the question of rooting, flashing and changing the software. Unless the seller can prove that modifying the software, rooting your device or flashing it with some other OS or firmware was the cause for the defect, you are still covered for defects during those 2 years. A good test to see if it is the software’s fault is to flash it back with stock firmware/OS and see if the problem persists. If it does, it is not a software-caused problem. If it is not possible to revert it stock software any more, it is also not a software-caused defect.

Basically, they can't just assume you bricked it. They have to prove that you're using a bad flash (and thus is a fault with your software, not their hardware) or that you overvolted your CPU, bypassed speaker limitations, etc (which is a hardware fault, but you caused it by circumventing build-in hardware safety controls).

 

Many manufacturers of consumer devices write into their warranties a paragraph that by changing the software or “rooting” your device, you void the warranty. You have to understand that in EU we have a “statutory warranty”, which is compulsory that the seller must offer by law (Directive 1999/44/CE, §7.1) and a “voluntary warranty” which the seller or manufacturer can, but does not need to, offer as an additional service to the consumer. Usually the “voluntary warranty” covers a longer period of time or additional accidents not covered by law6. If though the seller, the manufacturer or anyone else offers a “voluntary warranty”, he is bound to it as well!

 

So, even if, by any chance your “voluntary warranty” got voided, by European law, you should still have the 2 year “compulsory warranty” as it is described in the Directive and which is the topic of this article.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Garacesh

[Joanne]

Still I don't want to mess it up and then have to send it off when the software it ships with works fine for my needs... also time. I barely have time to sleep let alone spend 5 hours unbricking a phone!!!!

[DGardiner]

@abillybob How are you getting on with the Nexus?

@ConnorByrne Are you even remotely considering anything else or is it definitely HTC M9 for you?

 

The way I'm feeling now, there is going to have to be a major design flaw (much like iPhone 4 and the antenna issue) that would put me off getting it. I'm not sure I believe this stuff about the temperature. They'd never release a smart phone with a metal case that gets so dangerously hot. Would be shocking quality control if they did!

 

The s6 looks nice, but I prefer the skin on the HTC, and the overall look of the phone. I'm looking forward to getting one in my hands and having a proper play.

 

 

there was a reddit thread earlier saying the m9s battery is DIRE M9 Battery Life figures : Android if this is true :welp:

 

HTC One M9 test shows 131 degree surface temp while running GFXBench | 9to5Google incase anyone hasn't seen the heating issue

[Gardinho]

So @ConnorByrne, are you happy to guinea pig the M9 and report back here for me??

 

That article on Tweakers was written about pre-release hardware and early software. Will be interesting to see if it's resolved on the final release.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Gardinho

[Gardinho]

http://m.androidcentral.com/htc-will-live-stream-its-big-uh-oh-announcement-march-18

[Gardinho]

I like to see this kind of thing from a manufacturer. Shows that they're confident in their product.

 

replace broken phone

[Arthur]

As Samsung phones is yes very nice but when I had the s3 it was full of unnecessary features and this made the phone slow down so much it was unbearable, and with the massive touchwiz OS it was slow

I'm not a huge fan of TouchWiz, but Samsung have massively cut down on the bloat with the S6. Lollipop also helps it feel fast too (as you can see in the video below).

 

Edited March 18, 2015 by Arthur

[Gardinho]

Is there any mileage in getting the OnePlus and seeing how I get on with Android? Or am I better off just going straight for HTC One or S6?

 

Opinions???

[ConnorByrne]

Is there any mileage in getting the OnePlus and seeing how I get on with Android? Or am I better off just going straight for HTC One or S6?

 

Opinions???

 

No messing about get straight to the point, HTC

Don't waste no time

[ConnorByrne]

@Gardinho And yes I'd be quite happy to guinea pig the M9 and report back but you will have to wait till April, but I'll report back here once I'd made a decision!

[ConnorByrne]

Oh and I totally agree with @Joanne,

I do not find the need to root my HTC.

Sorry for my roll of comments making up lost time!

[ConnorByrne]

I'm not a huge fan of TouchWiz, but Samsung have massively cut down on the bloat with the S6. Lollipop also helps it feel fast too (as you can see in the video below).

 

 

You can see it slightly but I thought that with the s3 but after a short amount of time it slowed down a lot, only had it a year and had enough of it, over not noticed that with the HTC at all! Pure brilliance.

[rickjames]

Worth noting this with the OnePlus One https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/android-lollipop-update-official-release-dates.282330/

[Gardinho]

[ATTACH]29695[/ATTACH]

 

Two years old and well...

Look at how good looking this is!

 

@ConnorByrne Could you also post a picture of the rear of your M8?

 

I'm starting to think silver is the way to go, providing it's fairly scratch resistant.

[Arthur]

You can see it slightly but I thought that with the s3 but after a short amount of time it slowed down a lot, only had it a year and had enough of it, over not noticed that with the HTC at all! Pure brilliance.

Could the slowness be due to the speed of the phones internal memory and the lack of fstrim support (which was only introduced in Android 4.3)? The 2012 Nexus 7 had a similar issue where it gradually slowed down over time.

 

The random read/write speeds of the S6s internal memory is very impressive.

 

http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-storage-performance-test

 

http://a.pomf.se/lrhrta.png

[ConnorByrne]

@ConnorByrne Could you also post a picture of the rear of your M8?

 

I'm starting to think silver is the way to go, providing it's fairly scratch resistant.

 

Silver is the way to go! And yes I'll get you a picture of it, the m8 isn't mine it's my Mrs'

I got us both on HTC [emoji108]

 

And @Arthur it could be due to that but even still the touchwiz does use a lot of bloat ware and it lags so much. I've taken preference over HTC and its a shame really cause Samsung have made brilliant phones since.

[abillybob]

And @Arthur it could be due to that but even still the touchwiz does use a lot of bloat ware and it lags so much. I've taken preference over HTC and its a shame really cause Samsung have made brilliant phones since.

 

Flash it with Cyanogen? Or another custom ROM? No more touchwiz

[ConnorByrne]

That's what I ended up doing at one point, but I've never had to do it with HTC. Like a say it's a shame really cause they do make good phones just that experience put me off slightly. So I may as well go for the better looking and the quicker one.

[Gardinho]

The HTC skin looks like the nicest of all Android phones in my limited experience.

[abillybob]

That's what I ended up doing at one point, but I've never had to do it with HTC. Like a say it's a shame really cause they do make good phones just that experience put me off slightly. So I may as well go for the better looking and the quicker one.

 

I suppose it's personal opinion, but I really don't like the look and feel of the HTC if someone put the S6 and HTC next to each other and said which one do you want it would probably most likely be the S6 in blue

[ConnorByrne]

The HTC skin looks like the nicest of all Android phones in my limited experience.

 

It is, nothing to complicated, but still has the style and the customising factors in android.

[ConnorByrne]

I suppose it's personal opinion, but I really don't like the look and feel of the HTC if someone put the S6 and HTC next to each other and said which one do you want it would probably most likely be the S6 in blue

 

I know I had the tough decision of deciding and I do really like the S6 but for me that bad experience put me off a bit. Right now it's HTC, and it might, but I doubt it will change my mind.

[sonofsanta]

Thinking again about the One M8 for me - it can be gotten for £28 a month, is about as good as it gets for top-end phones on Android now, what happened to it being the cheaper option - and I know you can replace Blinkfeed with the Google Now Launcher for a default homescreen, but is there any way of getting a phone to use the default Android notifications pull down?

 

I am still thinking about the Lumia 930. I'd miss Android, but that's a flagship device for only £23 a month, and it is a lovely piece of kit...

[ConnorByrne]

I would recommend getting the M8 as it is still a top class phone, and for that price go for it. And I'm lost with the notification thing? HTC have its own version of Android (sense) and they are all different.

 

And with the lumia, I think they have taken the same approach as apple and are very limited to what you can do. ( not for certain) but From a quick experience that's the feeling I get.

23 a month ain't bad though. Neither is 28 for the HTC though?

[sonofsanta]

I would recommend getting the M8 as it is still a top class phone, and for that price go for it. And I'm lost with the notification thing? HTC have its own version of Android (sense) and they are all different.

 

And with the lumia, I think they have taken the same approach as apple and are very limited to what you can do. ( not for certain) but From a quick experience that's the feeling I get.

23 a month ain't bad though. Neither is 28 for the HTC though?

 

By notifications, I mean that on my Nexus 4 on Lollipop, I swipe down once to see notifications, swipe down again to see settings, and I like it very much - it's a good layout:

 

If, for example, I got an LG G3 (I won't), that space is filled up with all sorts of rubbish:

 

You can change your homescreen app, but can you change your notifications to not be 'orrible based on what HTC/Samsung/LG have done in the name of "differentiation"?

 

Lumia: my wife has the 930, which is how I know it's so bloody lovely in the hand, and I do think Windows Phone is a good OS that deserves to be doing better than it is (it's the best choice for the 80% of people who aren't comfortable with computers), but I'm a geek, and I like to tinker, and Android lets me do that... :/

 

My Nexus 4 was only £16 a month when I got it as well, so £28 a month sounds a lot compared to that. Plus, y'know, it just is a lot of money, taken out of the context of phones and into the context of what I could spend that money on instead though I suppose I'm already £12 of the way there on the 30-day SIM-only contract I'm on right now.