Wise to Buy Huawei Phone?

[Sir Topham Hatt]

I'm really impressed with the P30 Pro camera and my current OnePlus 3T camera isn't aging well. 

 

The P30 Pro is already out here in the UK, so I guess it wouldn't be affected by any bans? I'd also probably find a custom rom after a few months anyway so I guess that may get round any other problems. 

 

Any other phones I should consider? 

[Tuskd]

I believe it is innocent until proven guilty.
If camera and custom ROM are your priority then the Pixel phones are good alternatives.

[Steven P. Administrators]

The latest reports are that hardware released by Huawei before the ban will continue to be supported by Google for Play services and updates/security patches, so make of that what you will.. 

 

For everything else I suspect there will be some form of support at xda-developers so that the phones continue to work properly with (unofficial) updated ROMs.

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

@Sir Topham HattI was in the market for a new phone and was seriously considering the P30 Pro, but was put off by the uncertainty. Although Huawei have said they will support, I don't know if there;s anything that's actually guaranteed. I also don't think that Android Q will become available officially (if I've understood correctly)

 

In the end, I went with the S10, definitely a worthy upgrade over a 3T (which I also had). You will notice that Oxygen OS had some pretty good features that are missing in other OSs that I took for granted. Let us know what you decide.

[Sir Topham Hatt]

On 6/27/2019 at 9:30 AM, dipsylalapo said:

@Sir Topham Hatt

In the end, I went with the S10, definitely a worthy upgrade over a 3T (which I also had). You will notice that Oxygen OS had some pretty good features that are missing in other OSs that I took for granted. Let us know what you decide.

 

Although I should have said I use Resurrection Remix anyway 😋

 

I'll take a look at the S10 though.

I suspect anything relatively new and I'll notice a large difference!

[Trientr]

If you are in the United States,you'd better not buy huawei, sino-us trade war.

[Sir Topham Hatt]

So... I bought it.

 

After thinking about the whole no rooting thing, it was a tough one. Turns out Huawei won't issue codes to unlock bootloader, meaning no root, meaning no custom roms.

 

I only rooted my OnePlus 3T so I could put a custom rom on it for better support (I don't know if OnePlus support the 3T anymore?).

 

I think I only used Geenify and a file explorer as a root app. 

I did have AdAway but apparently a non root version is coming. However I only used that to stop a banking app calling home because it detected I was rooted. 

 

All in all, all three of those apps I don't need if I'm not rooting as the file explorer app runs without root too.

 

Cheers!

[Gone]

Would you risk having sex with somebody rumored to have AIDS just because you didn't have hard prove they didn't have AIDS?

 

I would say buy a different brand phone. But then again, I'm not ignorant like the majority of Anti-American Huawei can-do-no-wrong posters here.

 

Sorry for the graphic analogy, but it drives a point home. PS you're better off getting an iPhone if you don't want to buy a new phone ever year to have the latest software.

[jnelsoninjax]

14 minutes ago, Sir Topham Hatt said:

So... I bought it.

 

After thinking about the whole no rooting thing, it was a tough one. Turns out Huawei won't issue codes to unlock bootloader, meaning no root, meaning no custom roms.

 

I only rooted my OnePlus 3T so I could put a custom rom on it for better support (I don't know if OnePlus support the 3T anymore?).

 

I think I only used Geenify and a file explorer as a root app. 

I did have AdAway but apparently a non root version is coming. However I only used that to stop a banking app calling home because it detected I was rooted. 

 

All in all, all three of those apps I don't need if I'm not rooting as the file explorer app runs without root too.

 

Cheers!

Greenify works fine on un-rooted phones, I am running it on my Motorola and it works fine. As for an ad block, consider Adguard, it does not need root and it blocks ads in all apps, not just the browser.

[PGHammer]

On 7/4/2019 at 11:51 PM, Trientr said:

If you are in the United States,you'd better not buy huawei, sino-us trade war.

I'm in the US, but dismissed Huawei from consideration over the uncertainty; as a result, I was left with either the Samsung Galaxy series or the Pixel 3a/XL.  I got my 3a (not XL) today, and I've been rocking Q all afternoon.  Despite Q being still in beta (albeit beta 4), it's a solid daily driver - not something I expected to say of a beta version of Android.  The Pixel 3a is what a mainstream/midrange phone should be - a solid utility-infielder that doesn't disappoint. It has one quibble - no included PC data transfer cable or adapter; however, that's it.

[SnoopZ]

5 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

I'm in the US, but dismissed Huawei from consideration over the uncertainty; as a result, I was left with either the Samsung Galaxy series or the Pixel 3a/XL.  I got my 3a (not XL) today, and I've been rocking Q all afternoon.  Despite Q being still in beta (albeit beta 4), it's a solid daily driver - not something I expected to say of a beta version of Android.  The Pixel 3a is what a mainstream/midrange phone should be - a solid utility-infielder that doesn't disappoint. It has one quibble - no included PC data transfer cable or adapter; however, that's it.

Those dated bezels would put me off on the 3a, when I replace my S7 I hope I to reduce them to the minimum with the phone being notchless and pocket friendly.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

On 7/6/2019 at 10:18 AM, Sir Topham Hatt said:

So... I bought it.

 

After thinking about the whole no rooting thing, it was a tough one. Turns out Huawei won't issue codes to unlock bootloader, meaning no root, meaning no custom roms.

 

I only rooted my OnePlus 3T so I could put a custom rom on it for better support (I don't know if OnePlus support the 3T anymore?).

 

I think I only used Geenify and a file explorer as a root app. 

I did have AdAway but apparently a non root version is coming. However I only used that to stop a banking app calling home because it detected I was rooted. 

 

All in all, all three of those apps I don't need if I'm not rooting as the file explorer app runs without root too.

 

Cheers!

there's a tool out there that can generate the unlock codes still; you just have to pay like $5-$10 depending on the device model to generate the code.

 

Huawei just doesn't officially provide it anymore

 

edit: found the tool https://www.dc-unlocker.com/

https://www.dc-unlocker.com/free-huawei-bootloader-unlock-tutorial

 

custom ROM community is still strong on XDA for huawei devices

https://forum.xda-developers.com/huawei-p30-pro

[PGHammer]

15 hours ago, SnoopZ said:

Those dated bezels would put me off on the 3a, when I replace my S7 I hope I to reduce them to the minimum with the phone being notchless and pocket friendly.

Subjective - the bezels are no larger than those of the Snapdragon version of the S7 (which the 3a replaced).  The 3a is, in fact, smaller than the Snapdragon-driven S7.  One thing that the 3a and 3a XL are getting dinged for is no microSD support - I see it as subjective, as I hardly used it.  Like the S7S8/S9/S10, the 3a and 3a XL are notchless; also, like the S10 series, Pie is included from the jump - unlike the S10, Q is an option. (I'm running beta 4 of Q right now.)

[SnoopZ]

1 hour ago, PGHammer said:

Subjective - the bezels are no larger than those of the Snapdragon version of the S7 (which the 3a replaced).  The 3a is, in fact, smaller than the Snapdragon-driven S7.  One thing that the 3a and 3a XL are getting dinged for is no microSD support - I see it as subjective, as I hardly used it.  Like the S7S8/S9/S10, the 3a and 3a XL are notchless; also, like the S10 series, Pie is included from the jump - unlike the S10, Q is an option. (I'm running beta 4 of Q right now.)

I agree it's subjective, but my S7 is a few years old and dated looking although i still like it, my next phone will be modern bezel free and notch free hopefully.

[SnoopZ]

Why did you go for the pixel 3a instead of the S10 out of interest?

 

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Samsung-Galaxy-S10,Google-Pixel-3a/phones/10959,11060

[PGHammer]

6 hours ago, SnoopZ said:

I agree it's subjective, but my S7 is a few years old and dated looking although i still like it, my next phone will be modern bezel free and notch free hopefully.

If you have the Snapdragon version of the S7 (as I do) we are both moving on from the same phone; I was referring to the Pixel 3a being a better fit for pockets and being notchless.  The S8/S9/S10 are all notchless; however, all have large screens (even the S10e), while the Pixel 3a is larger than the Galaxy Nexus (the first Android phone I ever owned), but smaller than the S7 - it is thus a better fit in front pants' pockets than the S7.

[SnoopZ]

18 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

If you have the Snapdragon version of the S7 (as I do) we are both moving on from the same phone; I was referring to the Pixel 3a being a better fit for pockets and being notchless.  The S8/S9/S10 are all notchless; however, all have large screens (even the S10e), while the Pixel 3a is larger than the Galaxy Nexus (the first Android phone I ever owned), but smaller than the S7 - it is thus a better fit in front pants' pockets than the S7.

After using the phone comparing sizing on my previous  post I feel the max I can go up to would be a S10 but phones like the Oneplus pro are just ridiculously too big for a normal front pocket, just checked the above link  and the 3a is around the same size as S10 just smaller screen.

 

I use my mobile mainly for the internet hardly make calls.

[PGHammer]

7 minutes ago, SnoopZ said:

After using the phone comparing sizing on my previous  post I feel the max I can go up to would be a S10 but phones like the Oneplus pro are just ridiculously too big for a normal front pocket, just checked the above link  and the 3a is around the same size as S10 just smaller screen.

 

I use my mobile mainly for the internet hardly make calls.

Any phone bigger than the S7 is darn near a tablet or a phablet - that includes the S8/S9/S10 (even the S10e) - the Notes, in fact, ARE phablets.  The 3a is smaller than the S7 - I tend to mostly wear shirts that lack pockets at all in the summer, and the 3a is a better fit in front pants pockets; when I DO wear dress shirts, the 3a is a better fit there than a Galaxy S as well.

[Marujan]

Huawei will get new OS this winter, with better camera software, so buy the phone now before total ban

[Marujan]

51 minutes ago, Marujan said:

Huawei will get new OS this winter, with better camera software, so buy the phone now before total ban

https://www.gizchina.com/2019/07/09/here-a-few-few-things-to-expect-from-huawei-hongmeng-os/

[SnoopZ]

9 hours ago, PGHammer said:

Any phone bigger than the S7 is darn near a tablet or a phablet - that includes the S8/S9/S10 (even the S10e) - the Notes, in fact, ARE phablets.  The 3a is smaller than the S7 - I tend to mostly wear shirts that lack pockets at all in the summer, and the 3a is a better fit in front pants pockets; when I DO wear dress shirts, the 3a is a better fit there than a Galaxy S as well.

You're probably talking about the S7 Edge while i am talking about  the S7 so that explains it, the S7 edge is pretty much the same size as the S10, infact it is a few mm wider so i agree i wouldn't want to go any bigger than a S7 edge too.

[SnoopZ]

8 hours ago, Marujan said:

Huawei will get new OS this winter, with better camera software, so buy the phone now before total ban

I don't expect them to have to ditch Android from Google.

[PGHammer]

On 7/9/2019 at 12:33 PM, SnoopZ said:

Why did you go for the pixel 3a instead of the S10 out of interest?

 

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Samsung-Galaxy-S10,Google-Pixel-3a/phones/10959,11060

Price, to be honest;  the 3a is cheaper than any version of the S10 - including the S10e.

The 3a has another thing in it's favor (not just compared to the S10e, but compared to ANY Galaxy S phone - even the S7) - it's not so large that "butt dialing" becomes an issue because it can't fit in front pockets.  The Pixel 3a fits in front pockets just fine - which makes "butt dialing" flatly impossible - if you aren't sitting on the phone, butt dialing can't happen.  The "large and in charge" problem is not unique to the Galaxy S - not even close - it's an issue with most smartphones today - even other phones closer in price to the 3a - if not cheaper than the 3a.  (The 3a is close in size to the Galaxy Nexus; however, it's thinner front-to-back AND has a taller resolution than either the GNex OR the S7; you aren't carrying a whale in your pocket.)

The other major factor is the three years worth of updates - the only other phone OEM that goes there is Apple - and they aren't a player in the sane end of pricing.