9/10 - Could have wireless charging, add this and it would be a 10.
SCREEN: So most of the gripes that I have been hearing on the forums and elsewhere is about the screen having a yellow tint, or yellow blotches at the bottom. I personally do not have anything like this. Yes, it is a warmer color that at times could be seen as yellowish, but it is in no way blotchy or leaky at the bottom of the screen. Maybe they fixed the issue, or maybe mine is a lucky one, I really do not know, but overall I am pretty impressed with the screen and actually like it a little better than Samsung and Nexus. The reason for this would probably be BECAUSE of the warmer screen that it has. In the dark it is not as much of a strain on your eyes to look at your phone, and this is a good thing. In the sunlight, I have not had any problems seeing my screen, but I can see where someone might. I personally do not see any problems in this though, pictures and videos both look amazing.
10/10 - I have ZERO issues with my screen
CAMERA: I will have to admit, I am not a big camera person, so this is probably the least of my concerns about the phone, but in the interest of this review, I will do my best. I like the camera interface that comes with the phone. It is a lot like stock android, but offers a couple of extra features, within the settings. This means it isn't overloaded with unnecessary modes, but it does have the ability to customize how you like to take your photos to a certain extent. A good choice over the stock android camera app. Picture quality is pretty nice as well, although it will take me a little longer to test it out as I need to take more pictures. I do have one suggestion though, if you are looking to take pictures at night, make sure you change it to night mode, auto doesn't always do the trick and night mode looks leaps and bounds better. I will work on posting pics in the near future, if you have any request let me know I will do my best to accommodate them.
9/10 - Camera could have better optical stabilization, if it did it would be a 10.
SOUND/CALL QUALITY: I am going to hit on both the external speakers and the call quality all in one section, and first I am going to start with the external speakers; hint, they get pretty loud! Certain ringtones/notifications that I have used I actually turn down because they are so loud. This is definitely not a negative, I love the fact that I know I will hear my phone, as this is a MAJOR gripe with many phones out there. Ringtone/notification volume is DEFINITELY not a problem for this phone. Music also sounds pretty great through the phone speakers. I found they sound best if you put Audio FX equalizer on small speakers. It also sounds amazing through headphones, but that could be my headphones, since I do have some pretty nice audio-technica headphones.
The call quality is something I definitely wanted to hit on, as many have stated a low or muffled call volume. I have to say this, the volume on the in phone speaker for calls, is not the loudest it could be, but its not as bad as I was expecting from all the complaints. It could be hard to hear in a loud environment, but I don't find it much worse than many other phones I have used, including my nexus 5. I personally use a Bluetooth headset a lot, and I did find that hearing through my Bluetooth is clearer and louder, so I would suggest, if your on the phone a lot, to invest in a Bluetooth. It makes life easier, plus you can successfully ignore the person your talking to, and play with your phone instead.
9/10 - Call volume could be a little louder while using in phone speakers
CONNECTION & DATA SPEED: I personally have AT&T and have not had one problem at all getting a connection to my network, whether it be HSPA, HSPA+, or 4G LTE. One issue I did have however was sending MMS. I use Textra and it would not send my MMS messages. There was a fix however, and it was an easy one. For whatever reason, textra did not pick up the correct MMS APN settings, and I went in and changed them manually. Everything is working perfect now. If anyone else has this problem message me and I can try and help you change these to what is correct. My DATA speed is on par with every other phone I have had, 4G LTE, around 15 mbps.
10/10 - Minor MMS issues did not affect my grade as it was more a user problem.
RECAP:
LOOK & FEEL:
9/10 - If the navigation buttons were normal, it would be a 10.
SPEED & INTERFACE:
9.5/10 - The only gripe I have is I cannot completely change the lockscreen and it blurs the lockscreen wallpaper. Makes the option to change that wallpaper kind of pointless.
BATTERY:
9/10 - Could have wireless charging, add this and it would be a 10.
SCREEN:
10/10 - I have ZERO issues with my screen
CAMERA:
9/10 - Camera could have better optical stabilization, if it did it would be a 10.
SOUND/CALL QUALITY:
9/10 - Call volume could be a little louder while using in phone speakers
CONNECTION & DATA SPEED:
10/10 - Minor MMS issues did not affect my grade as it was more a user problem.
OVERALL RATING: 9.3/10
Overall the phone is a GREAT phone, one of the best, if not THE best I have ever had. If it weren't for MINOR little things, like call volume and lack of wireless charging, this phone would be a 10 out of 10 in my book.
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