It seems I do this every few years, especially the more I travel. I get tired of carrying batteries.
Instead of going with a Snapdragon 845 or similar, I just 'downgraded' from my current Snapdragon 835 (Kyro 280 + Adreno 540 GPU) smartphone to a Snapdragon 632 (Kyro 250 + Adreno 506 GPU) and I'm massively impressed. I'll be damned if I can tell the difference in performance. Benchmarks are the only place I can see it. Games are the only place I can see it, although the former 'flagships' usually have high resolution that kills framerate, let alone battery even further, while the latter is often used in lower resolution displays, and work 'good enough.'
At the core, both the Kyro 280 and 250 are quad Cortex A73 power cluster (the big in big.LITTLE) dersigns, the former at 2.4-2.45GHz and the latter at only 1.8GHz, and the former having 2MiB L2 to 1MiB in the latter. But they are still A73s, and much better than an A57, let alone the A53, which is usually the efficient cluster (the LITTLE in big.LITTLE) often around 1.8GHz. This is a far cry from the earlier Snapdragon 630, Kyro 250 and other, A57 or A53 'big' designs, which are only about 60% the performance at the same clock.
The phone? The Motorola G7 Power. Man, I'm absolutely impressed. It's everything I've ever wanted in a phone, especially when I travel 100%.
I thought going from a few of years (since 2016) at 1920-2880 wide and 1080-1320 deep resolution to 1520x720 (19:9 -- figure really 1440x720 for 18:9, taking the 'notch' out of it) would be noticable. Other than in Kindle or some other reading can I really tell a difference. Most of the videos I watch are 720p30 or 60 any way, and if not, then I'm on my Fire HD10.
SIDE NOTE: I've also run those higher resolution phones at a downgraded 720 deep for power efficiency. But it doesn't look as good as an actual, 720 native display when downgraded. So one might as well run as the higher resolution ... or as I have ... gone with a 720 display.
And then there's the battery ... a massive 5000mA. That's larger than the 3900mA I used to have back in my Huawei Ascend Mate 2 circa 2014 (which had a 'reverseable charging cable' and I'd even 'charged up' some 'dead' iPhone users's phones to 30-40% on a plane with it before). I stopped charging it at 11pm last night, and I'm at 83% right now, over 18 hours later. And I've used it heavy for about 6 hours total, 2 for video, 2 for mail/surfing, etc... 2 for music. And my company's IronMobile has been hammering it for 6 hours too ... and likes to suck battery.
On my prior phone I would be dead after 18 hours, let alone if I took it off charge, and used it 6 hours continually, it'd be under 40% by now, if not close to 30%.
Between the low-clock, 1.8GHz quad-A73 power cores in the Kyro 250, the low resolution, the 'adequate enough' for 720p Adreno 506, I'm really impressed. It works. It does the job. I've used cheap Snapdragon 400 and 600 series units before, usually not my own, but my wife's, or a friend's, or a backup, but the 632 really gives the G7 Power spunk with that Kyro 250 which has actual, real A73-based cores. So it's not sluggish at all. And only if I really looked close at the screen would I be able to tell I'm not pushing as many pixels, and many the clock and GPU aren't as beefy as a result.
And it does all the new 700MHz and even 600MHz bands, like T-mobile Band 71 -- as long as you get the US warrantied version (not the international version). And yes, there is an unlocked, but US retail version, you don't need to get it from your carrier, and you don't need to go international (which are often even cheaper). It does almost all the North American LTE bands outside the US, and a number of European bands. All for $249 retail -- from $59-149 if you go for a carrier locked version from that carrier -- if not multiple free (like an entire family) for those who switch.
Sure, the core+radio is going to limited, more 300/150Mbps down/up, whereas some of the latest ASICs are pushing 1Gbps, although many others, especially just recent flagships, are limited to similar speeds under 500Mbps too. In any case, even the 4G LTE Advanced Pro (what AT&T markets as 5G Evolution) is not capable of pushing a single device remotely close to that speed, but well under 300Mbps.
Anyone else in my boat, and tired of carrying an external battery? If so, and you want newer band support, especially on T-mobile, although it supports all the US CDMA and GSM carriers, consider the G7 Power.
About the only 2 negatives are ...
Instead of going with a Snapdragon 845 or similar, I just 'downgraded' from my current Snapdragon 835 (Kyro 280 + Adreno 540 GPU) smartphone to a Snapdragon 632 (Kyro 250 + Adreno 506 GPU) and I'm massively impressed. I'll be damned if I can tell the difference in performance. Benchmarks are the only place I can see it. Games are the only place I can see it, although the former 'flagships' usually have high resolution that kills framerate, let alone battery even further, while the latter is often used in lower resolution displays, and work 'good enough.'
At the core, both the Kyro 280 and 250 are quad Cortex A73 power cluster (the big in big.LITTLE) dersigns, the former at 2.4-2.45GHz and the latter at only 1.8GHz, and the former having 2MiB L2 to 1MiB in the latter. But they are still A73s, and much better than an A57, let alone the A53, which is usually the efficient cluster (the LITTLE in big.LITTLE) often around 1.8GHz. This is a far cry from the earlier Snapdragon 630, Kyro 250 and other, A57 or A53 'big' designs, which are only about 60% the performance at the same clock.
The phone? The Motorola G7 Power. Man, I'm absolutely impressed. It's everything I've ever wanted in a phone, especially when I travel 100%.
I thought going from a few of years (since 2016) at 1920-2880 wide and 1080-1320 deep resolution to 1520x720 (19:9 -- figure really 1440x720 for 18:9, taking the 'notch' out of it) would be noticable. Other than in Kindle or some other reading can I really tell a difference. Most of the videos I watch are 720p30 or 60 any way, and if not, then I'm on my Fire HD10.
SIDE NOTE: I've also run those higher resolution phones at a downgraded 720 deep for power efficiency. But it doesn't look as good as an actual, 720 native display when downgraded. So one might as well run as the higher resolution ... or as I have ... gone with a 720 display.
And then there's the battery ... a massive 5000mA. That's larger than the 3900mA I used to have back in my Huawei Ascend Mate 2 circa 2014 (which had a 'reverseable charging cable' and I'd even 'charged up' some 'dead' iPhone users's phones to 30-40% on a plane with it before). I stopped charging it at 11pm last night, and I'm at 83% right now, over 18 hours later. And I've used it heavy for about 6 hours total, 2 for video, 2 for mail/surfing, etc... 2 for music. And my company's IronMobile has been hammering it for 6 hours too ... and likes to suck battery.
On my prior phone I would be dead after 18 hours, let alone if I took it off charge, and used it 6 hours continually, it'd be under 40% by now, if not close to 30%.
Between the low-clock, 1.8GHz quad-A73 power cores in the Kyro 250, the low resolution, the 'adequate enough' for 720p Adreno 506, I'm really impressed. It works. It does the job. I've used cheap Snapdragon 400 and 600 series units before, usually not my own, but my wife's, or a friend's, or a backup, but the 632 really gives the G7 Power spunk with that Kyro 250 which has actual, real A73-based cores. So it's not sluggish at all. And only if I really looked close at the screen would I be able to tell I'm not pushing as many pixels, and many the clock and GPU aren't as beefy as a result.
And it does all the new 700MHz and even 600MHz bands, like T-mobile Band 71 -- as long as you get the US warrantied version (not the international version). And yes, there is an unlocked, but US retail version, you don't need to get it from your carrier, and you don't need to go international (which are often even cheaper). It does almost all the North American LTE bands outside the US, and a number of European bands. All for $249 retail -- from $59-149 if you go for a carrier locked version from that carrier -- if not multiple free (like an entire family) for those who switch.
Sure, the core+radio is going to limited, more 300/150Mbps down/up, whereas some of the latest ASICs are pushing 1Gbps, although many others, especially just recent flagships, are limited to similar speeds under 500Mbps too. In any case, even the 4G LTE Advanced Pro (what AT&T markets as 5G Evolution) is not capable of pushing a single device remotely close to that speed, but well under 300Mbps.
Anyone else in my boat, and tired of carrying an external battery? If so, and you want newer band support, especially on T-mobile, although it supports all the US CDMA and GSM carriers, consider the G7 Power.
About the only 2 negatives are ...
- The auto-dimming is a bit annoying, but it seems to be 'learning' my 'brightness level' after 18 hours
- The camera setup is behind the times, but Moto has other devices in the G7 line for better options (and the Nokia 7.1, along with Huawei's youth Honor brand, if you're not against Huawei, looks good too) ... the Power is about, well, battery life
- The US retail version has only 3GiB RAM (and 32GiB storage -- MicroSD up to 1TB means not a problem), not 4GiB RAM (and 64GiB storage), fine for Pie, but in another 2 Android versions (about the time 5G hits), it will be a bit of a limit
- https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/...20-motorola-moto-g7-power-review-battery-life
- https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/moto-g7-power
- https://www.androidauthority.com/motorola-moto-g7-moto-g7-power-review-970806/
- https://www.zdnet.com/product/motorola-moto-g7-power/
- https://www.pcmag.com/review/367459/motorola-moto-g7-power
- https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/10/...-play-review-budget-affordable-android-phones
- https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g7_power-review-1889.php
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