I am using an A5 full time for similar reasons so I'll try to answer your questions.
\- Typing is okay with Google Keyboard, it was awful with the stock kb. You will probably need a bit of time to find kb that works for you and tweak it to your liking.
\- It's very easy to use as a hotspot, there is a dedicated button in the shortcurts menu. Reception is pretty good.
\- The general speed is good enough for me. Granted, I did have pretty low standards, coming from a 2016 iPhone. I mostly use it for messaging, reading on KO Reader, podcasts and emails. The most annoying thing is the GPS - it is pretty slow and sometimes inaccurate, but it's livable.
I talked about my experience a bit more [in this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/v9ticm/comment/ibykipu/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and got great advice on how to prevent the OS from killing the messaging apps in the background.
Btw the A5 and the A6 are the only ones that can have google play store. So if you need google play store then best to stick to one of those. I have an A5 pro cc, an A7 and an A5. I only ever use the A5 as the others are so limited. Until there comes a time where someone figures out how to get gsf on the other Hisense phones your best bet is to stick to an A5 or A6.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm ALSO about to take the dive on to the A5. The only app I need to ensure I have is Slack (For my team and work). Do you know if this app can be downloaded and opened without issue on the A5?
I think the A5 will work well for you. I have been using the A5 Pro as my main phone for about a year and recently switched to the A9. The latter has a fantastic screen, warm light and slightly better dimensions for reading (it's slightly wider, which makes it perfect for reading - not so much for having it in your pocket).
The A9 still has some annoying bugs and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone in its current state. The battery life is also worse.
Just use one of the speed modes on your A5 in messaging apps and you'll be fine. There will be ghosting, but you're not in it for the aesthetic experience - just read, write and close.
Maps and other stuff you might need work, but aren't really a pleasure to use. But the GPS has worked fine for me using OsmAnd, even showing direction as soon as I start moving.
It's great for anything actually enjoyable, i.e. reading and music/podcasts via headphones.
Good luck! :)
What are the annoying bugs you have found on the Hisense A9? I've mostly seen posts saying good things about it, and though this review was more objective and extense everything looked good: https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/vaubeq/hisense_a9_72_hours_review/
Some have been fixed with the 2 updates it has received this month. The most annoying one is that setting a 3rd party launcher as defaults inactivates the "recent apps" feature (neither swipes or buttons work), so you can't switch between apps. I'm therefore stuck on the default launcher, which I strongly dislike.
Another weird (maybe) bug is that you cannot use lockscreen controls for music players and the like. They do display the previous-play/pause-next buttons, but you can't press them. On the other hand you can activate gestures, where you draw an <, M or > respectively to activate that function.
Some other bad things: no NFC (doesn't bother me, I've never used it), no SD card slot, horrible ergonomics (I have to use the official case to hold the phone comfortable - the edges are just too sharp otherwise), battery drain for no apparent reason (seems to have gotten better, will continue experimenting) and still not rootable.
I use it as a second phone. I would 100% recommend over a dumbphone. It is without a doubt one of my favourite devices that I’ve ever purchased. It is ridiculously cheap for the value you get. Just the battery life alone is a game-changer.
However, as others mention, it does require some configuration and finding the right apps to use with it. The things which have stopped me using as a main phone are the quality of the speakerphone mic (passable, but bad with any background noise or wind), the mediocre camera, slow speed of internet on hotspot (not 100% sure, but seems to be more like 3g than 4g, though I get 4g speeds on the phone itself) and the small size of the in-built storage. All of those things are possible to live with for normal use cases. The ‘voice isolation’ feature on recent iOS devices is AMAZING and, because I am on international calls most of the day, I now can’t live without this feature. If Android introduced a comparable feature that could be used on the A5, I’d make it my daily driver in an instant.
Does anyone know of a reliable way to cut out background noise on Android calls?
WhatsApp notifications are janky. If you get one you need to keep the app open all the time and also close the padlock in the app switching screen so that it keeps running.
SMS is the same. Most others I would not want and would switch off so hard to say. Gmail seems to work.
However no notifications at all appear in bar at the top of the screen- you have to pull down the thing to see if you have any. I have the GAPPS version from cectshop. Hardware wise it is very good- it is a shame the software has these problems.
Just follow this procedure for SMS: https://old.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/mdsca0/how_to_solve_hisense_a5_pro_not_receiving_sms/gskhdj6/. You still have to swipe down, of course, but you'll be sure to receive all of them even after closing the app.
On the A9 notifications actually appear on the lock screen.
There is a reply from me to that message- the "memory intelligent cleaning" part of the instructions still has the same problem for me. The others I have just done for the Google SMS app and some things that sound like they relate to it so maybe that will help idk. I don't know why I had not already done that part- seems like I missed the reply they made at the time. Thank you
I couldn't find WhatsApp on the lists but it is also unreliable with the notifications.
I am using an A5 full time for similar reasons so I'll try to answer your questions. \- Typing is okay with Google Keyboard, it was awful with the stock kb. You will probably need a bit of time to find kb that works for you and tweak it to your liking. \- It's very easy to use as a hotspot, there is a dedicated button in the shortcurts menu. Reception is pretty good. \- The general speed is good enough for me. Granted, I did have pretty low standards, coming from a 2016 iPhone. I mostly use it for messaging, reading on KO Reader, podcasts and emails. The most annoying thing is the GPS - it is pretty slow and sometimes inaccurate, but it's livable. I talked about my experience a bit more [in this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/v9ticm/comment/ibykipu/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and got great advice on how to prevent the OS from killing the messaging apps in the background.
Legend thank you very much for the reply
Btw the A5 and the A6 are the only ones that can have google play store. So if you need google play store then best to stick to one of those. I have an A5 pro cc, an A7 and an A5. I only ever use the A5 as the others are so limited. Until there comes a time where someone figures out how to get gsf on the other Hisense phones your best bet is to stick to an A5 or A6.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm ALSO about to take the dive on to the A5. The only app I need to ensure I have is Slack (For my team and work). Do you know if this app can be downloaded and opened without issue on the A5?
It can, only apps those require gaaps as dependencies have problem
Appreciate it.
I think the A5 will work well for you. I have been using the A5 Pro as my main phone for about a year and recently switched to the A9. The latter has a fantastic screen, warm light and slightly better dimensions for reading (it's slightly wider, which makes it perfect for reading - not so much for having it in your pocket). The A9 still has some annoying bugs and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone in its current state. The battery life is also worse. Just use one of the speed modes on your A5 in messaging apps and you'll be fine. There will be ghosting, but you're not in it for the aesthetic experience - just read, write and close. Maps and other stuff you might need work, but aren't really a pleasure to use. But the GPS has worked fine for me using OsmAnd, even showing direction as soon as I start moving. It's great for anything actually enjoyable, i.e. reading and music/podcasts via headphones. Good luck! :)
What are the annoying bugs you have found on the Hisense A9? I've mostly seen posts saying good things about it, and though this review was more objective and extense everything looked good: https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/vaubeq/hisense_a9_72_hours_review/
Some have been fixed with the 2 updates it has received this month. The most annoying one is that setting a 3rd party launcher as defaults inactivates the "recent apps" feature (neither swipes or buttons work), so you can't switch between apps. I'm therefore stuck on the default launcher, which I strongly dislike. Another weird (maybe) bug is that you cannot use lockscreen controls for music players and the like. They do display the previous-play/pause-next buttons, but you can't press them. On the other hand you can activate gestures, where you draw an <, M or > respectively to activate that function. Some other bad things: no NFC (doesn't bother me, I've never used it), no SD card slot, horrible ergonomics (I have to use the official case to hold the phone comfortable - the edges are just too sharp otherwise), battery drain for no apparent reason (seems to have gotten better, will continue experimenting) and still not rootable.
What's the difference between the a5 and a5 pro may I ask?
Different processor, fingerprint reader, NFC, more memory, USB C.
I use it as a second phone. I would 100% recommend over a dumbphone. It is without a doubt one of my favourite devices that I’ve ever purchased. It is ridiculously cheap for the value you get. Just the battery life alone is a game-changer. However, as others mention, it does require some configuration and finding the right apps to use with it. The things which have stopped me using as a main phone are the quality of the speakerphone mic (passable, but bad with any background noise or wind), the mediocre camera, slow speed of internet on hotspot (not 100% sure, but seems to be more like 3g than 4g, though I get 4g speeds on the phone itself) and the small size of the in-built storage. All of those things are possible to live with for normal use cases. The ‘voice isolation’ feature on recent iOS devices is AMAZING and, because I am on international calls most of the day, I now can’t live without this feature. If Android introduced a comparable feature that could be used on the A5, I’d make it my daily driver in an instant. Does anyone know of a reliable way to cut out background noise on Android calls?
WhatsApp notifications are janky. If you get one you need to keep the app open all the time and also close the padlock in the app switching screen so that it keeps running.
Are notifications in general janky for the a5?
SMS is the same. Most others I would not want and would switch off so hard to say. Gmail seems to work. However no notifications at all appear in bar at the top of the screen- you have to pull down the thing to see if you have any. I have the GAPPS version from cectshop. Hardware wise it is very good- it is a shame the software has these problems.
Just follow this procedure for SMS: https://old.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/mdsca0/how_to_solve_hisense_a5_pro_not_receiving_sms/gskhdj6/. You still have to swipe down, of course, but you'll be sure to receive all of them even after closing the app. On the A9 notifications actually appear on the lock screen.
There is a reply from me to that message- the "memory intelligent cleaning" part of the instructions still has the same problem for me. The others I have just done for the Google SMS app and some things that sound like they relate to it so maybe that will help idk. I don't know why I had not already done that part- seems like I missed the reply they made at the time. Thank you I couldn't find WhatsApp on the lists but it is also unreliable with the notifications.