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Amnesiac · 04-08-2019, 11:12 AM

I've read this thread and others, and decided for my purposes I'd risk getting an A6 without the Google framework.

It arrived over the weekend - and I thought I'd give my first impressions based on what I bought it for: I'm evaluating it as a replacement for my Yota2, I may still go the Yota3(+) route but plan to see if I can live with the phone without Gapps. Having had an e-ink screen on my phone I don't see how I'd live without one now.

So far it's not too bad. Mine's updated to 8.1. I like having 128GB to use and I've a 128GB card in the second slot which gives plenty of storage options (the one real downside to the Yota2 for me was not having a memory slot - ymmv).

I've removed a lot of the Chinese apps and installed F-Droid and Aurora stores but side loaded the apps I wanted to kick off with on the SD card. Some apps don't work, because the Google framework isn't there, others pop a warning up and carry on just fine. Some don't complain at all.

The built-in apps despite being in English do still show some Chinese (eg contacts have some Chinese information in them, and all the ring tones have Chinese names) but since it's a Chinese phone for the Chinese market that's perfectly natural. I'm just lucky that I'm an English speaker and the other language on the phone is English.

I'm not sure if some of the additions/changes to apps are because it's running a HiSense-d Android implementation or the same things show up in base 8.1 (I have nothing else running 8.1 to compare it with).

The email and messaging apps are integrated into the notifications on the e-ink screen, more-so than the Yota2. So where as I can replace the stock SMS app and the notification on Yota2 and the e-ink respects the default app and launches it... on the A6 it doesn't and launches the built-in app. I'll play more when I've had the phone for more than a few hours and am happy making back-ups etc.

The widgets on the back screen are not as polished as the Yota2 ones but the screen is oh so much better (and bigger) Flipping to run the main interface on the back works great, and the notification panels can directly launch pretty much any app onto the screen.

I put some other fonts onto the device which makes it more readable for me, plus the improved resolution and size makes reading even easier than on my older device. Having the backlight is something I expect I'll make limited use of (I tend to keep a 6" ereader by the bed) but handy to have on trips where all I have to do is take the one phone and have a proper illuminated eink screen, but it works well and offers a range of brightness (white only!).

I've side loaded a registered Nova launcher (I do that because I have devices from different mfgs and I like the launcher working how I am used to when I swap devices) and it updated fine using Aurora; so for now I'm pretty happy with the device day to day.

So far I've just put FBReader on it; my reading needs are simple and I doubt I'll switch as it works fine for my use. I simply launch it from the e-ink screen and it's there. I can use the volume keys to page so I'm happy. One downside is that the phone is physically quite big, I can just about cope with using it one handed, my wife has to use it with two hands. So will see how it goes as a reading device on the tube (a primary use for me if I don't have my e-reader with me).

Other major downside for me is that like most modern Android devices it doesn't play nice with OSX. Macs don't (for some reason known only to Apple) properly support the MTP protocol and so unlike the phone it's replacing it doesn't simply plug-in and get recognised by Calibre. As I use a Mac as my primary machine, sadly I can't us Calibre as easily as I am used to. I'll look into alternatives to plugging my phone in and syncing... I probably ought to go wireless I suppose!

So far I've found replacements to all but one of my day-to-day apps that either don't work on 8.1 or require Google and so I'm certainly keeping the phone as my day-to-day.

If the International ROM arrives (if) I'll probably give that a go, if flashing is possible, which I hope it will be.
I looked at the bootloader, which is in Chinese (so I can't read it) but it has two understandable bits of English "update.zip" and "SD" displayed in the bootloader message, so clearly it's possible to put an update.zip on the SD card and load from there. I also noticed in the Developer Options it's possible to unlock the bootloader, so I'm expecting something to be possible root-wise with this device in the future.

04-08-2019, 11:12 AM	#17
Amnesiac Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Nook glowlight, Boyue T62+D, Kobo aura 1, Yota2, HiSense A6	Got mine... I've read this thread and others, and decided for my purposes I'd risk getting an A6 without the Google framework. It arrived over the weekend - and I thought I'd give my first impressions based on what I bought it for: I'm evaluating it as a replacement for my Yota2, I may still go the Yota3(+) route but plan to see if I can live with the phone without Gapps. Having had an e-ink screen on my phone I don't see how I'd live without one now. So far it's not too bad. Mine's updated to 8.1. I like having 128GB to use and I've a 128GB card in the second slot which gives plenty of storage options (the one real downside to the Yota2 for me was not having a memory slot - ymmv). I've removed a lot of the Chinese apps and installed F-Droid and Aurora stores but side loaded the apps I wanted to kick off with on the SD card. Some apps don't work, because the Google framework isn't there, others pop a warning up and carry on just fine. Some don't complain at all. The built-in apps despite being in English do still show some Chinese (eg contacts have some Chinese information in them, and all the ring tones have Chinese names) but since it's a Chinese phone for the Chinese market that's perfectly natural. I'm just lucky that I'm an English speaker and the other language on the phone is English. I'm not sure if some of the additions/changes to apps are because it's running a HiSense-d Android implementation or the same things show up in base 8.1 (I have nothing else running 8.1 to compare it with). The email and messaging apps are integrated into the notifications on the e-ink screen, more-so than the Yota2. So where as I can replace the stock SMS app and the notification on Yota2 and the e-ink respects the default app and launches it... on the A6 it doesn't and launches the built-in app. I'll play more when I've had the phone for more than a few hours and am happy making back-ups etc. The widgets on the back screen are not as polished as the Yota2 ones but the screen is oh so much better (and bigger) Flipping to run the main interface on the back works great, and the notification panels can directly launch pretty much any app onto the screen. I put some other fonts onto the device which makes it more readable for me, plus the improved resolution and size makes reading even easier than on my older device. Having the backlight is something I expect I'll make limited use of (I tend to keep a 6" ereader by the bed) but handy to have on trips where all I have to do is take the one phone and have a proper illuminated eink screen, but it works well and offers a range of brightness (white only!). I've side loaded a registered Nova launcher (I do that because I have devices from different mfgs and I like the launcher working how I am used to when I swap devices) and it updated fine using Aurora; so for now I'm pretty happy with the device day to day. So far I've just put FBReader on it; my reading needs are simple and I doubt I'll switch as it works fine for my use. I simply launch it from the e-ink screen and it's there. I can use the volume keys to page so I'm happy. One downside is that the phone is physically quite big, I can just about cope with using it one handed, my wife has to use it with two hands. So will see how it goes as a reading device on the tube (a primary use for me if I don't have my e-reader with me). Other major downside for me is that like most modern Android devices it doesn't play nice with OSX. Macs don't (for some reason known only to Apple) properly support the MTP protocol and so unlike the phone it's replacing it doesn't simply plug-in and get recognised by Calibre. As I use a Mac as my primary machine, sadly I can't us Calibre as easily as I am used to. I'll look into alternatives to plugging my phone in and syncing... I probably ought to go wireless I suppose! So far I've found replacements to all but one of my day-to-day apps that either don't work on 8.1 or require Google and so I'm certainly keeping the phone as my day-to-day. If the International ROM arrives (if) I'll probably give that a go, if flashing is possible, which I hope it will be. I looked at the bootloader, which is in Chinese (so I can't read it) but it has two understandable bits of English "update.zip" and "SD" displayed in the bootloader message, so clearly it's possible to put an update.zip on the SD card and load from there. I also noticed in the Developer Options it's possible to unlock the bootloader, so I'm expecting something to be possible root-wise with this device in the future.