Just use any other 3rd party launcher eg Nova if the default UI is unpleasant to you
I had never like all built in UI including even Nexus vanilla and always replace with Nova or Active launcher in all my Androids
You need to go into the permission settings to set what you wish. I had no problems with notifications
Ultra savings mode - never ever bother to try. The default battery is already more than good enough

This post has been edited by benny888: Oct 12 2016, 09:42 AM

I had never even bother to try
I am happy with the smart mode and on average I can get easily 10 hours SOT without any gaming.
The phone estimate I would lose about 1 hour battery life if I switch to performance mode.
As I don't play games I see no need to try out performance mode

That is poor I would say
Mate 8 many users here easily at least 8 to 10 hours
Your wakelocks is out of control
Google to understand more about wakelocks
If I use wifi completely I could get another 1+ hour extra
And don't install any so supposedly will improve battery life, memory management, auto task killer , system booster etc - these are useless n only drain battery
Since Android 6.0 all these app are useless as the OS is good enough. Greenify will only conflict with build in Doze

This post has been edited by benny888: Oct 17 2016, 08:02 AM

Don't understand 'disable backup'? Is it ever enabled?
I don't use any app. I manually look into each app which needed internet access and either disabled or reset refresh time.
If rooted try wakelock detector

You can't see much info in this app

As said I do it manually
I would say Greenify will conflict with built in Doze. I will not recommend installing it. It might be useful if phone is rooted n Infact in most unroot phones won't help much too

This post has been edited by benny888: Oct 17 2016, 04:21 PM

Read my post 2628 again

You need root to use all the features

Download firmware. Extract zip to get dload folder
Copy this folder to either internal memory or ext sdcard
Switch off phone. Press simultaneously both VOL n power buttons. Once you see bootup release power n release both VOL buttons once you see EMUI splash screen
Firmware will be flashed. Your phone will reboot twice
Whole process will take about 2 mins
No need root to do this as you are flashing official firmware through phone stock recovery

Yes n why not??

Just copy to any location in internal memory will do. I would suggest copy to ext sdcard s better option
Why waste the space as after extract takes about 2.5gb
Is good to keep copy in ext sdcard in case of need to flash back in case of any emergency

After unzip you will get to see a folder named dload. Inside it is the update.app firmware file
Just copy over the whole dload folder
I had no issues with battery since b163. I don't see any significant differences upgrading all the versions from b170 till b320 n b321. My SOT has been consistently at 10+ hours

Did you see the 3 options - reboot, factory reset, wipe cache? That is emui stock recovery. You CANNOT install any firmware directly through it. Use the dload method and the emui installer will auto detect n update firmware

As said that is stock recovery already.
Root and install twrp if you wish to have a proper recovery mode. However you must flash back stock recovery before you can install any official firmware

Yes, the photograph shows that is stock recovery . As said you CANNOT install any firmware from stock recovery. You need to use the dload method

My experience with Mate 8 ( both China n local sets) : SOT averages 10-11 hours on mainly internet stuffs with no gaming. Only phones that are better were Mi Max (11-12) n A9pro (13-14)
Similar usage on my ip7+ battery usage recorded is 11-12 hours. Standby time ip7+ is superb with hardly any drain
However SOT doesn't measure when phone is in use , say listening to audio with display off
There is no SOT measure for iPhones
One significant advantage on iPhones is you need not worry about wake locks draining battery as in Android. To have good battery life on Android one must have good controls over wake locks.

This post has been edited by benny888: Nov 8 2016, 10:57 AM

A9 pro n camera is above average

For me, on mainly internet stuffs with no gaming : mate 8 10-11 hours SOT vs 7-8 on S7e
Mate8 operating temperature is cooler too by 2-3 degree C

B321
Check it here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-8/gen...ficial-t3391727

Those are not beta firmware but official ones..I had been using all such in all my HW phones since mate6.1,X1,Mate7 . Those later versions are Euro version which is similar to local version
It is safe to install . The problem is MSIAN side takes a long time to update it. In previous Mate7 I mail HW M'sia about their slowness and few days later they posted a download link which was exactly similar to the Euro version
I downloaded it and compared with my earlier euro version: details of version of firmware, kernel, baseband exactly similar

This post has been edited by benny888: Nov 21 2016, 09:45 AM

If you had downloaded wrong file the firmware will failed to install....chances of hard bricking is zero
Your phone will just restart and nothing is deleted