• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

This phone sounds awesome!

Phases

Phases

NO LONGER ADMIN
This phone sounds great, I'm watching the live stream. I wish I'd been taking notes! Stay tuned for the stream of news I'm sure is to follow.

battery.. 2 full days of uninterrupted use
16mp camera, fast focus
dual 4g sim
fingerprint reader
fingerprint selfies
plenty more..

Very exciting device, seriously.
 
2016-01-05 12_38_57-CES 2016 Huawei Press Conference LIVESTREAM - YouTube.png
2016-01-05 12_39_06-CES 2016 Huawei Press Conference LIVESTREAM 2 - YouTube.png
 
I get that it's a new phone but nothing is making me want it. In my mind, the cons would be price, screen resolution, lack of USB-C,Huawei's EMUI, processor (most notably, the architecture).
Pros would be the actual size of the display in regards to the device's size, very large battery.

The specs I dont list as a pro or con would be the inability to shoot 4k video, fingerprint sensor, nfc, lots of radios, design.

If this was available in the US, I wouldn't see it performing very well with what would most likely be a small marketing budget in relation to the other competitors in this price range.
 
I believe @codesplice has one to play with right now. Hopefully he will offer up some insight into it's workings. I do know it has NFC and that is something that I have sorely missed in all the Huawei devices.
 
I just took a chance and purchased one from an Alibaba seller that had good reviews. Will be paying extra for DHL shipping. From a XDA thread, of people that had purchased already, just a few quirks to deal with on the original Chinese version, but it'll be worth it since I really preferred the 128gb.

I'm not on T-Mobile (yet), but plan on using the Mate 8 to test out the Network at my house, which is one of the bigger stumbling blocks for me making a switch for all of my phones. From everything I've read, all the LTE radios for T-mobile are there and work fine. One of the things that is not recommended to use is VOLTE, but I don't know for sure if that will be a deal breaker for me.

When I do get the phone, I plan on trying out the pre-paid T-mobile plans. I was wondering if anybody knows for sure, that the pre-paid T-mobile plans work with the LTE range boosting device that they have? Reason I ask is I plan on giving that a try as well. If all works out the way I anticipate, I might even switch once the Priv T-mobile version is available. At that point, I can have a phone dedicated for work and another dedicated for personal, while still having my other family lines connected.
 
Android Police is the first review that's been somewhat ho-hum about the Mate 8, but I understand some of the critiques:


The notification situation is a little annoying. Good thing is, this won't be my daily driver until I have a little time with it and I can thoroughly test T-Mobile, so I can set all of the notifications I need, ahead of time.
 
Posted this in one of the Note 5 discussion threads, asking what phone (if not the Note 5) and I'm glad I took the plunge on purchasing through aliexpress. For those interested, I can let you know which seller I purchased through for the 128gb version! I wouldn't suggest it for those that don't want to go through the hassle of initially side-loading the play store and dealing with chinese characters on some of the menus (until after full setup/customization is complete), but for those that really wanted the 128gb version (including MicroSD support), I highly recommend it! Best thing is, I paid the same amount that I would've paid for the 64gb International version, had I waited for that. Oh, and the camera does just fine for my needs. I've never been a "photograph" hound and is comparable to my Note 3, which is perfectly fine in my estimation.

Here's my post in the other thread.
So if not Note 5. What phone?
 
i use this phone for a week so far, i can say that it's the fastest phone i ve ever used. the only thing that i dont like about it that how the settings look like, anything else is amazing.
 
Boddah68 said:
i use this phone for a week so far, i can say that it's the fastest phone i ve ever used. the only thing that i dont like about it that how the settings look like, anything else is amazing.
Click to expand...

Right there with you. The UI doesn't even really bother me because of Nova Launcher. There are some other minor quirks, because of the battery saving components, that I can't quite seem to troubleshoot, but not enough to not love this phone experience.

Oh, and for those that have been on the fence, I just randomly found this site https://www.frequencycheck.com/, which helps determine if a phone will work on your provider. According to that site, everything is compatible with T-Mobile, which adds up to the experience I've had since making the switch.

I hadn't shared in this thread, but my average screen on time is 1.5 days (according to GSM Battery app), from full charge. It's almost 2 days for overall battery life. I've seriously never experienced anything like this phone, as far as speed and battery life. It's always been a tradeoff of one or the other (e.g. speed vs. power saving). No compromises necessary with the Mate 8.
 
Hi, just a few words about the Mate 8:

If you're more interested by an excellent camera or gaming, you might be more interested by some other brand.

If you need excellent battery life + excellent (!!) network connectivity + many email accounts + your mobile hotspot in your pocket, then the Mate 8 is definitely worth a try. I have found it to be an excellent business tool - nearly undisconnectable from the outer world. And it's quite stylish - never mind...

I've had two Mate 7 (one single SIM and one Dual SIM) and loved them - they are just powerhouses. 2 full days on the road with dual SIM / heavy data / mobile hotspot use (incl. 200 mph trains), without charging, is no longer a dream.

I got the Mate 8 now, and the same scheme just goes on. The Mate 7 was a great device and, from what I can say so far (after 2 weeks), the Mate 8 is a kind of polished version of the M7, with a slightly smaller battery (M7: 4100 mAh vs. M8: 4000 mAh), but with better Power Management. If you like the Swype keyboard, I'd recommend getting yourself a Swiftkey keyboard, because their native one is not overly accurate in that mode.

Enjoy !
 
Frequent_Traveller said:
Hi, just a few words about the Mate 8:

If you're more interested by an excellent camera or gaming, you might be more interested by some other brand.

If you need excellent battery life + excellent (!!) network connectivity + many email accounts + your mobile hotspot in your pocket, then the Mate 8 is definitely worth a try. I have found it to be an excellent business tool - nearly undisconnectable from the outer world. And it's quite stylish - never mind...

I've had two Mate 7 (one single SIM and one Dual SIM) and loved them - they are just powerhouses. 2 full days on the road with dual SIM / heavy data / mobile hotspot use (incl. 200 mph trains), without charging, is no longer a dream.

I got the Mate 8 now, and the same scheme just goes on. The Mate 7 was a great device and, from what I can say so far (after 2 weeks), the Mate 8 is a kind of polished version of the M7, with a slightly smaller battery (M7: 4100 mAh vs. M8: 4000 mAh), but with better Power Management. If you like the Swype keyboard, I'd recommend getting yourself a Swiftkey keyboard, because their native one is not overly accurate in that mode.

Enjoy !
Click to expand...

I'd say if you're looking for a camera that is the "latest and greatest", then Mate 8 is not the choice...but, it's not to say that the camera is as bad as the reviews have given. The optical image stabilization is definitely on par with the video review that was posted comparing the Note 5. For those that have phones that are 2 years old (or older), the Mate 8 will be a definite contender and an upgrade from cameras on phones 2 years ago. I think that's why the camera doesn't bother me as much as the reviews because I came from the Note 3, which was said to be one of the best phone cameras (when it was released), but the Mate 8 camera is definitely a step up from that. For gaming, I can't really comment on that much, since I don't really play games all that much on my smartphones. I prefer console gaming.

Now, as for the battery life and performance...I'm still going very strong. With my every day usage, which I've tried to duplicate exactly as I used my Note 3, I'm still getting close to 1.5-2 days of battery life. Screen on time has decreased to around 17 hours, but still...that's 17 hours of screen on time! And that's without crazy battery tweaks or turning off sync on some things. My average was maybe 1/3 of that, when it came to screen on time on the Note 3.

And I agree regarding the keyboard. Swiftkey has always been my "go to keyboard" and it works like a champ on the Mate 8. What's great on the Mate 8, due to the 6 inch screen, I can actually increase the size of the one handed mode, without compromising too much screen real estate!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom