Ive had the Motorola razr for a couple of days and after frequenting these forums I wanted to sort of write a review, from my perspective.
I was split between the resound and razr, it was the rezounds glitchy feel, htc sense and tiny battery and odd exterior that pushed me to get the razr. I got it at best buy, this way I had a month to swap it for the nexus as soon as it was released.
When I layed eyes on its packaging I was floored. I know it sounds kinda dumb. But damn it, the packaging was sweet! Nice low profile, menacing flat black, it was gorgeaous. I was immediately disappointed that it lacked an hdmi cable and earphones. Seriously, it was 300 $. My atrix came with a bloody hdmi cable atleast.
First time I held it I couldn’t believe how light n slim it was. Although shes packing Kevlar and a gorilla glass display, its so thin it makes u feel as if she were fragile. Not a bad thing, I enjoy slim. The side port can be a beyatch to manipulate, getting my 4g sim in there was a hassle. But thats because I bite my nails, if u don’t share this bad habit u wont have a problem at all. As soon as I fired her up the first time I wanted to shut it down immediately just so I can see the boot animation again! Very very cool. I was also glad to see that it doesn’t use motorolas blur services. And although it isn’t vanilla android, I feel motorolas touches were very welcomed. People here have complained about the camera, and yes it isn’t as great as my nokia n8. But its way better then my nexus s. I discovered, the secret to taking a great shot on this phone, is patience. Phone takes longer then it should to focus. Video recording at 720p is outstanding. 1080p is fine, but it has an odd stutter. It just doesn’t feel as fluid as 720p. many have complained about the pentile screen. And before booting the phone I expected an atrix/bionic like experience. Lemme tell u something. I have perfect vision and I am but a youngin. I don’t see jagged edges, artifacts during scrolling or the pin dots unless the phone is 3 inches from my face!!!!! The screen is beautiful, it over saturates the right colors and provides deep blacks. But it’s not as good as sammys super amoled plus. Either way its an outstanding screen. Motorola added a few things into this rom that I love. The ability to resize a widget. Smart actions. And the way qhd was used to fit more of an email on screen, makes zooming in and out of web pages ALMOST a thing of the past too. I have had zero ghasty reboots, she is very stable. The screen is very responsive, as good as it gets really. Battery life on 3g is super, but on 4g its not so hot. Luckily I can go from 50% battery to about 90% with just an hours charge. Im glad the volume buttons and power button are on the same side. I can imagine how it would suck for leftys though.
Calls were crystal clear, typical Motorola. My bathroom is a dead zone. Sprint tmo att Verizon whatever. U go in there u will lose service. The second I walk in my bathroom I was surprised to see that I was still on 4g. I speedtested and pulled in 3mp DL. Impressive considering my bathroom is a bermuda triangle. Texts come in quick and go out as fast too. So does mms. Indoors I fluctuate between 16mb and 20mb DL. Outside im killing at a steady 22mb. I have yet to drop a 4g signal. My friend with a droid charge cant say the same.
I hate the stock pic gallery and music app. I use quickpic and the google music app. Sounds through my cheapo skull candys (the one that costs more then 15 less then 20$) sound great. I do wish we had more equalizer control, but no biggie.
In conclusion, this phones got me spoiled. I really do like it. I hate the fact that I almost didn’t buy it cuz of people on this forum that over exaggerated the pentile screen. Im glad the rezound sucked hard enough to convince me to get the razr. And to tell u the truth, I doubt I will swap it for the nexus. I like it that much.
If ur on the fence feel free to ask a question on the thread, hijacking is welcomed.
Happy thanksgiving all!
Just remember:
Much more people will come on here to ***** and nitpick over something than the ones who are satisfied. The screen is just fine, some people just have way too much time on their hands.
sheek360 said:
I was immediately disappointed that it lacked an hdmi cable and earphones.
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What? really? This sucks, I am in Canada and we do have an HDMI Cable and earphones with it... Maybe you should double-check if it is included or not, was maybe a mistake somehow.. Especially since here, with a 3-year contract, we get it @ 149$... Besides very nice review, I think like you, she is such a hot girl haha
robstunner said:
Just remember:
Much more people will come on here to ***** and nitpick over something than the ones who are satisfied. The screen is just fine, some people just have way too much time on their hands.
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Click to collapse
Should add that those people who're lurkin in our forums and moaning about the razr, doesn't even own the phone.
Nice review btw.
Thanks for the review Sheek. I just switched from t-mobile to verizon, taking advantage of the 1 cent RAZR deal on amazon as well as the "double data" packages on Verizon. You just made me even more excited to receive my new phone!
brianbrain said:
Thanks for the review Sheek. I just switched from t-mobile to verizon, taking advantage of the 1 cent RAZR deal on amazon as well as the "double data" packages on Verizon. You just made me even more excited to receive my new phone!
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I was too impatient for the one cent sale. I promise u, ur gonna fall in love!
Btw I called big v. No HDMI cable or earphones for Americans.
Dang this sucks for you guys
dgiaffe said:
Dang this sucks for you guys
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Yeah..we seem to be getting the short end of the stick these days..thankfully I already have a mini-hdmi cable from my G2X days and some JLab earbuds I doubt I'd replace anyway...still annoying though - earbuds and a cable can't cost more than $10 - that and it's on a device that Verizon is selling for $799 off contract..sheesh.
Don't forget that us poor British get no hdmi and no 16GB microsd!
But we do get some crap looking headphones for our £450
I rate it quite highly a well. I have used many of the motorola phones
Sent from my XT910 using XDA App
brianbrain said:
Thanks for the review Sheek. I just switched from t-mobile to verizon, taking advantage of the 1 cent RAZR deal on amazon as well as the "double data" packages on Verizon. You just made me even more excited to receive my new phone!
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Click to collapse
That is exactly what I did...from TMO to Verizon with the penny deal. My Razr is on the UPS truck for delivery tonight. So anxiously waiting....
Yes IMO Pentile is extremely overblown, on the RAZR anyway.
Over saturated colors are overblown. Seeing the 2 screen technologies side by side, I might actually prefer Amoled now, and I used to love LCD's last year.
All the screens have pros n cons. Anyone who complains about the RAZR screen and claim the screen on whatever phone they or want have is perfect or better...is biased. It may be better to them, but its not better overall. None are.
The perfect screen has yet to be invented.
What type of earphones you guys get in UK or Europe? Here in Asia we got the Rokr brand. No hdmi and sdcard though
Great real world review! I've been reading reviews like a mad man but since you said you have had an N8 and an Atrix...and as I'm currently using an Atrix now and had an N8 before that it only seems logical you would be best the best person to ask a few few questions lol. You touched on my main concerns a little but I'm still hesitant for two reasons. 1.Build quality and 2.Battery life. The N8 to atrix jump left me loathing plastic phones and wishing someone out there was smart enough to shoehorn android onto an N8! My bigger concern is battery. 1930 mah + CM7 + faux's enhanced stock kernel = 30 plus hours of light to moderate use. Now I'm not expecting that but comparatively...What can I expect with say 200 or so texts sent and received, a few 5-10 minute calls, about an hour and a half of music and 15-20 minutes web browsing? I will be using the phone on AT&T so no LTE for me. As long as I can go AT LEAST 12 hours with that kind of usage on a stock rom Expansys has my $624.99. I'm not sure but I believe the unlocked model ships with an unlocked bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong) so it's only a matter of time before the roms start pouring down from the devs and this phone gets even better. Thanks again for posting your review. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
filthyfnj24 said:
Great real world review! I've been reading reviews like a mad man but since you said you have had an N8 and an Atrix...and as I'm currently using an Atrix now and had an N8 before that it only seems logical you would be best the best person to ask a few few questions lol. You touched on my main concerns a little but I'm still hesitant for two reasons. 1.Build quality and 2.Battery life. The N8 to atrix jump left me loathing plastic phones and wishing someone out there was smart enough to shoehorn android onto an N8! My bigger concern is battery. 1930 mah + CM7 + faux's enhanced stock kernel = 30 plus hours of light to moderate use. Now I'm not expecting that but comparatively...What can I expect with say 200 or so texts sent and received, a few 5-10 minute calls, about an hour and a half of music and 15-20 minutes web browsing? I will be using the phone on AT&T so no LTE for me. As long as I can go AT LEAST 12 hours with that kind of usage on a stock rom Expansys has my $624.99. I'm not sure but I believe the unlocked model ships with an unlocked bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong) so it's only a matter of time before the roms start pouring down from the devs and this phone gets even better. Thanks again for posting your review. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
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Click to collapse
Battery should give you nice results, especially if you set up "Smart Actions." I usually turn off mobile data (3G/4G) when I'm not using it, because you can still send/receive texts, as well as calls. This makes your battery last a lot longer, so just put a widget somewhere so it's an easy toggle. It's almost a 1,800mAH battery, which is way better than what you'd get on a Rezound (1,600mAH). Build quality is great, so don't be fooled by it's thin profile and think it's a cheap phone. They also sealed the battery for a reason... there are a lot of people complaining about this, but they sealed it to protect against water splashes, as well as the internals. Overall it's a great phone, just sucks that when I received mine it didn't come with the micro SIM card, so now I need to go back to Verizon.
filthyfnj24 said:
Great real world review! I've been reading reviews like a mad man but since you said you have had an N8 and an Atrix...and as I'm currently using an Atrix now and had an N8 before that it only seems logical you would be best the best person to ask a few few questions lol. You touched on my main concerns a little but I'm still hesitant for two reasons. 1.Build quality and 2.Battery life. The N8 to atrix jump left me loathing plastic phones and wishing someone out there was smart enough to shoehorn android onto an N8! My bigger concern is battery. 1930 mah + CM7 + faux's enhanced stock kernel = 30 plus hours of light to moderate use. Now I'm not expecting that but comparatively...What can I expect with say 200 or so texts sent and received, a few 5-10 minute calls, about an hour and a half of music and 15-20 minutes web browsing? I will be using the phone on AT&T so no LTE for me. As long as I can go AT LEAST 12 hours with that kind of usage on a stock rom Expansys has my $624.99. I'm not sure but I believe the unlocked model ships with an unlocked bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong) so it's only a matter of time before the roms start pouring down from the devs and this phone gets even better. Thanks again for posting your review. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
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Click to collapse
Don't worry about the build quality. Although its a bit on the light side she feels premium as hell and well balanced.
If the GSM version is identical to the let version I can imagine that your battery life will be better then mine. Hspa battery life is typically better then lte battery life.
how's the battery life? considering is a non-removable battery
jl1030 said:
how's the battery life? considering is a non-removable battery
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If 4g is disabled its outstanding! When on wifi I set my smart action to disable 3g n 4g it yields great results. Sadly, 4g will run this bad boy down.
sheek360 said:
Ive had the Motorola razr for a couple of days and after frequenting these forums I wanted to sort of write a review, from my perspective.
I was split between the resound and razr, it was the rezounds glitchy feel, htc sense and tiny battery and odd exterior that pushed me to get the razr. I got it at best buy, this way I had a month to swap it for the nexus as soon as it was released.
When I layed eyes on its packaging I was floored. I know it sounds kinda dumb. But damn it, the packaging was sweet! Nice low profile, menacing flat black, it was gorgeaous. I was immediately disappointed that it lacked an hdmi cable and earphones. Seriously, it was 300 $. My atrix came with a bloody hdmi cable atleast.
First time I held it I couldn’t believe how light n slim it was. Although shes packing Kevlar and a gorilla glass display, its so thin it makes u feel as if she were fragile. Not a bad thing, I enjoy slim. The side port can be a beyatch to manipulate, getting my 4g sim in there was a hassle. But thats because I bite my nails, if u don’t share this bad habit u wont have a problem at all. As soon as I fired her up the first time I wanted to shut it down immediately just so I can see the boot animation again! Very very cool. I was also glad to see that it doesn’t use motorolas blur services. And although it isn’t vanilla android, I feel motorolas touches were very welcomed. People here have complained about the camera, and yes it isn’t as great as my nokia n8. But its way better then my nexus s. I discovered, the secret to taking a great shot on this phone, is patience. Phone takes longer then it should to focus. Video recording at 720p is outstanding. 1080p is fine, but it has an odd stutter. It just doesn’t feel as fluid as 720p. many have complained about the pentile screen. And before booting the phone I expected an atrix/bionic like experience. Lemme tell u something. I have perfect vision and I am but a youngin. I don’t see jagged edges, artifacts during scrolling or the pin dots unless the phone is 3 inches from my face!!!!! The screen is beautiful, it over saturates the right colors and provides deep blacks. But it’s not as good as sammys super amoled plus. Either way its an outstanding screen. Motorola added a few things into this rom that I love. The ability to resize a widget. Smart actions. And the way qhd was used to fit more of an email on screen, makes zooming in and out of web pages ALMOST a thing of the past too. I have had zero ghasty reboots, she is very stable. The screen is very responsive, as good as it gets really. Battery life on 3g is super, but on 4g its not so hot. Luckily I can go from 50% battery to about 90% with just an hours charge. Im glad the volume buttons and power button are on the same side. I can imagine how it would suck for leftys though.
Calls were crystal clear, typical Motorola. My bathroom is a dead zone. Sprint tmo att Verizon whatever. U go in there u will lose service. The second I walk in my bathroom I was surprised to see that I was still on 4g. I speedtested and pulled in 3mp DL. Impressive considering my bathroom is a bermuda triangle. Texts come in quick and go out as fast too. So does mms. Indoors I fluctuate between 16mb and 20mb DL. Outside im killing at a steady 22mb. I have yet to drop a 4g signal. My friend with a droid charge cant say the same.
I hate the stock pic gallery and music app. I use quickpic and the google music app. Sounds through my cheapo skull candys (the one that costs more then 15 less then 20$) sound great. I do wish we had more equalizer control, but no biggie.
In conclusion, this phones got me spoiled. I really do like it. I hate the fact that I almost didn’t buy it cuz of people on this forum that over exaggerated the pentile screen. Im glad the rezound sucked hard enough to convince me to get the razr. And to tell u the truth, I doubt I will swap it for the nexus. I like it that much.
If ur on the fence feel free to ask a question on the thread, hijacking is welcomed.
Happy thanksgiving all!
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Click to collapse
Great job, I am a very happy Thunderbolt owner, S-Off, rooted and running a custom rom of course. Your break down was very good but you left out the most complained about thing on the forums, battery time. I am seriously thinking about picking up this phone but the locked down battery is my only concern. How has it been throughout the day? I am not very happy with the new Nexus hardware, no sd card and coming with only 16 mb of interior memory just isn't going to cut it for me. I think the new Razr with ICS on it would be one hell of a phone.
Thanks,
Go Patriots.
vinnyjr said:
Great job, I am a very happy Thunderbolt owner, S-Off, rooted and running a custom rom of course. Your break down was very good but you left out the most complained about thing on the forums, battery time. I am seriously thinking about picking up this phone but the locked down battery is my only concern. How has it been throughout the day? I am not very happy with the new Nexus hardware, no sd card and coming with only 16 mb of interior memory just isn't going to cut it for me. I think the new Razr with ICS on it would be one hell of a phone.
Thanks,
Go Patriots.
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Click to collapse
I consider myself a very heavy user. My day consists of 20 - 30 minutes wasted on calls. Maybe 15 minutes worth of xxx browsing (lol). Refreshing Google reader every 3 hours and reading my feeds like a fiend. I fb n tweet like crazy. I video chat about 5 minutes a day too. I send maybe 10 mms n a trillion texts. I also IM too much. And I occasionally take the opportunity to Google something.
Oh I have a smurf ville and angry birds obsession.
My wifi is on at all times. But my 4g is off. I remove the phone from the charger at 6am. By lunch I'm already sitting on 80%. My battery hits about 30% or 40% by 8pm.
Because of the screen the battery dips quickly. I refuse to set brightness to 0% dammit!
When I leave the house I turn off wifi n turn on 4g. The phone sips battery very lightly no matter if your on wifi on 4g, it idles very generously.
But once u stomp on it, u can burn 10% battery on 4g in a matter of 30 - 45 minutes.
PS I YouTube a lot too. Maybe 20 minutes a day.
Related
How is everyone liking their new phone? Is it everything its cracked up to be? Also how is the 3d function? I'm very curious. I get mine from best buy Friday and I can't wait....I'm jealous of all you early birds
the 3d Photo Feature is actually quite decent, much better than the Nintendo 3ds by far.
4g connects extremely fast.
Mind you the screen isn't wider but it is slightly loner than the EVO, the phone fits in the palm of your hand with ease.
camera button and 2d/3d switch is a great feature.
Very solid build, the battery door covers the entire rear of the phone.
Music beta on 4g connects and streams very nicely, haven't tried 3g yet because im still uploading my music to it's servers.
Overall im very impressed SO far
kingakuma said:
the 3d Photo Feature is actually quite decent, much better than the Nintendo 3ds by far.
4g connects extremely fast.
Mind you the screen isn't wider but it is slightly loner than the EVO, the phone fits in the palm of your hand with ease.
camera button and 2d/3d switch is a great feature.
Very solid build, the battery door covers the entire rear of the phone.
Music beta on 4g connects and streams very nicely, haven't tried 3g yet because im still uploading my music to it's servers.
Overall im very impressed SO far
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Click to collapse
i assume this is all while pluged in? i know this is to soon to ask but battery?
actually battery life from what i have seen is actually really good, i turned it on at about 40-50% i didnt check how much it was charged it is charging now, my friends at sprin has been off the charger for like 6hrs and he is at 70%.
but as we all know each user experience is different
i love sense 3.0...its AMAZING. i feel in control of EVERYTHING!
*Cries*
How did so many people get it early! gahhhh
...friday can't come soon enough!
UPS here delivers like at 8:30 at night so while delivery is today for me, it's pretty much tomorrow anyway....lol fail.
I wish I could tell you how it is!
I decided to stick with my local and trusted Sprint store figuring a day or 2 won't hurt...it hurts...
I'm glad to see its going well for those of you who got the jump on us though. Keep us posted on early impressions...
You wanna know how sad I really am lol? Since I have to wait until Friday to get my phone, I went to bb to buy an evo 3d case to feel closer, but they wouldn't sell me 1 lol
I came from a launch date EVO 4G. I now have the younger, hotter faster sister.
3D is way better than I expected. Make sure you compose so foreground, subject and background elements are in the frame. My eyes have no problem adjusting, but of course, YMMV.
Fast, fast fast. Even sense. Which I will still dump for ADW launcher ex. Just because it fits my workflow.
Annoying that the charge port is on the side now instead of the bottom. Looks like it was a design compromise to get a larger battery on the bottom half of the phone.
Any evaluation of battery life can only be taken after at least a week of use.
Battery cover seems harder to remove because of the camera shutter button. Someone has already mentioned it.
Sprint just made me stay with them until Verizon gets an equivalent.
mrjaydee82 said:
You wanna know how sad I really am lol? Since I have to wait until Friday to get my phone, I went to bb to buy an evo 3d case to feel closer, but they wouldn't sell me 1 lol
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Sadly, I had the same experience. I should have ordered from Sprint but thought: HEY, I will have a couple of days to decide if I really want this phone. I should know better.
+1 Sweet little phone here
Ordered yesterday (Tues) a.m., Sprint free shipping next day and got it this morning.
Been playing non-stop for the past 4 hours. I honestly say I like the E3D "in general" better than my E4G.
In terms of physical attributes, the narrower frame has a better grip on hand, even it's a bit longer than the 4G. Voice quality is at least on par with the 4G (As I have custom ROM on the 4G, it is louder anyhow). Connection for BT, Wifi and 4G are faster to established.
The QhD screen takes a bit to get use to (Even in 2D mode). I had the same concern as the Nexus 4G came out as they seem a bit yellowish tint than the regular LCD screen. However browsing the net, watching movies and games it is more crisp on the eye.
The only gripe I have is the Micro usb port being on the right side, instead of the bottom. And of course, I have to re-train my hand to hold the phone as everytime the camera lens get smudge with finger prints...
Overall, I'll give it 9.5/10 rating. JMHO.
Well this is the thread I was looking for..so far so good then..ill take a 9.5 out of 10th..I think the charger on the side sucks as well especially if your using the kickstand case and viewing something..thanks for.the input guys
3D is better than I thought, after all the bad reviews. When installing Google earth, a 3D buildings layer is now available, but it isn't real 3D, just rendered like the PC version.
xo96 said:
Ordered yesterday (Tues) a.m., Sprint free shipping next day and got it this morning.
Been playing non-stop for the past 4 hours. I honestly say I like the E3D "in general" better than my E4G.
In terms of physical attributes, the narrower frame has a better grip on hand, even it's a bit longer than the 4G. Voice quality is at least on par with the 4G (As I have custom ROM on the 4G, it is louder anyhow). Connection for BT, Wifi and 4G are faster to established.
The QhD screen takes a bit to get use to (Even in 2D mode). I had the same concern as the Nexus 4G came out as they seem a bit yellowish tint than the regular LCD screen. However browsing the net, watching movies and games it is more crisp on the eye.
The only gripe I have is the Micro usb port being on the right side, instead of the bottom. And of course, I have to re-train my hand to hold the phone as everytime the camera lens get smudge with finger prints...
Overall, I'll give it 9.5/10 rating. JMHO.
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Click to collapse
9.5!?!?!?! 9.5?!?!?!! From all the backlash of the people in the Evo 3D section on the negative reviews, I would think this phone would be a 10!!! FAILBOAT ACTIVATE!!!
Man I have a tough decision, I got this ns4g in my hand and I got the evo 3d in preorder.... I don't know if I should pull the trigger. The only thing that is keeping me from going to 3d heaven is the bootloader issue lol.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
izzzz good! Thumbs [email protected]@
Come on now you know a hack is coming. If guys can make my Nook Color run like unstoppable beast I can imagine what they can do with this beast. It got ranked as number 1 dual core in gpu and CPU category tegra 2 being the worst out of the 4 chips.
When I first witness the 3D, DAMN! FOR A MIN MY RIGHT EYE WAS HURTING ME! But I got use to it...
CuzinBucksBx said:
When I first witness the 3D, DAMN! FOR A MIN MY RIGHT EYE WAS HURTING ME! But I got use to it...
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yeah im still adjusting my eyes but when i do. im completely blown away especially with some of the youtube 3d videos. as far as liking it? I LOVE it.
Even coming from a Evo, I can still tell a difference. So far the battery life is perfect for the way I use it. like everyone else, im frustrated with the port on the side I keep wanting to plug it into the bottom. in short Im happy with my purchase and will be saying bye bye to the evo today.
I currently own the Droid Charge and owned the DX before it. The DX was the best device I've ever owned and sold it for the Charge right before Verizon switched over to tiered data plans, so I could lock in the unlimited data.
Anyway, while I like the Charge I don't love it like I did the DX, for a number of reasons. The AMOLED screen is nice but is too fake, the colors are too vivid. I liked the more "natural" screen on the DX. The build quality of the Charge is a disappointment, feels too cheap, while both the X and X2 feel very solid and well built. The call quality on the Charge is ok... nowhere near as clear as the DX. The power button on the side is very strange, I'm used to it being on the top of the phone like the X and the Incredible before that. The usable RAM on the Charge is only 327 MB, and I've hit this mark several times, whereas I've only hit the maximum RAM allowance on the DX once and it was while testing the ApeX ROM.
Now, the only advantage the Charge has over the X2, yes I know, is LTE. But here's the thing... While 4G is fast and enjoyable, it is only so if you have 4G data signal. I live in Fairfax, VA, outside of DC and it's considered a 4G area, but my 4G connections aren't always that great. Heck, even if I set it to 3G only it still drops out to 1X or nothing at all, just voice only. The 4G-3G handoff is slow as well. I still think Verizon's LTE network is too new at this point and needs to be further enhanced, and better LTE radios installed before it will be very close to 100% reliable. Not only that, but if I'm at home using my phone I can just connect it to wifi, otherwise I have slight to moderate normal data use when I'm out and about, so the speed isn't a deciding factor for me.
I've heard good and bad things about the screen on the X2, and I can vouch for some of them as well. The first time I handled the X2 I was very disappointed at the pixelation of the screen, but for some reason the model I handled this past weekend wasn't as pixelated, and seemed to be ok for me. The colors aren't too cartoonish like the AMOLED screens, but they are rich enough, not washed out like other LCD screens. The only thing that I'm disappointed with is the removal of the camera button... WTF is with that?
So, I'm trying to decide on what to do. I'm still within the 90 return period from Costco so I can take the phone back and do the difference between price. Of course I could always wait for the Bionic to come out, but by that time, there will be another phone with a much better LTE radio and many more upgrades will be on the market.
Anyone a former Charge owner that defected to the X2? Anyone have any opinions or suggestions?
I took the warranty replacement of the Fascinate when it was offered last month. So while I didn't come from the charge, the Fascinate has the Amoled screen and really isn't all that different from the charge. Which is why I ended up on the X2. Samsung just left a rotten taste in my mouth with their software and build quality. I just hated the idea of getting another Samsung right now. I also could have gotten the Incredible 2 but it just felt to small and I didn't like the screen.
As for the screen on the DX2, I have zero issues with it coming from an amoled to this. sure, its not as vibrant. So what, its a phone. If it was a TV I would have been extremely picky but I don't think there's anything wrong with the screen at all. So with that and the fact that everyone I ever talked to or heard of loved the OG DX I took the plunge.
That said the build and call quality of the DX2 is phenominal in my opinion. Yes Blur kinda sucks but until more roms come out its nothing your favorite launcher can't fix. GB runs pretty good even stock but you can easily install the pre-rooted GB that is out and remove what you don't want with no issue. Honestly I love my DX2, and I'm picky as hell.
Orange Terror said:
I took the warranty replacement of the Fascinate when it was offered last month. So while I didn't come from the charge, the Fascinate has the Amoled screen and really isn't all that different from the charge. Which is why I ended up on the X2. Samsung just left a rotten taste in my mouth with their software and build quality. I just hated the idea of getting another Samsung right now. I also could have gotten the Incredible 2 but it just felt to small and I didn't like the screen.
As for the screen on the DX2, I have zero issues with it coming from an amoled to this. sure, its not as vibrant. So what, its a phone. If it was a TV I would have been extremely picky but I don't think there's anything wrong with the screen at all. So with that and the fact that everyone I ever talked to or heard of loved the OG DX I took the plunge.
That said the build and call quality of the DX2 is phenominal in my opinion. Yes Blur kinda sucks but until more roms come out its nothing your favorite launcher can't fix. GB runs pretty good even stock but you can easily install the pre-rooted GB that is out and remove what you don't want with no issue. Honestly I love my DX2, and I'm picky as hell.
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Click to collapse
My girlfriend has the Fascinate and you can definitely see the pixelation of the older SAMOLED technology, but the Charge has the SAMOLED Plus which doesn't look as bad. But a lot of GS2 owners are complaining about burn-in and other screen related issues, and I went through two replacement Charges with those exact issues.
I honestly should have gotten the TBolt instead of the Charge, especially with a lot of the kinks worked out in it, but I still want something reliable, that's the most important part. My DX was damn reliable, only had one major issue with it and that was the first time I SBF'ed 2.2 back onto it. As I said, 4G is not a deal breaker for me. When the LTE network is better on both the phones and the network then I'll fork out the money and buy one at retail as long as it's worth it. But until then I want something solid, reliable, clear and fast.
Can X2 owners attest to those main points?
You won't be disappointed with the call quality, speed and reliability. The speed requires rooting and a bit of time in the development section, but I'm happy now. Coming from a DX it feels like home.
Check your PM's triton if your interested let me know
The X2 is kind of lack luster out of the box, but rooted and tweaked it becomes a serious little power house. It just depends on your preference. I love modding my phone so the out of the box performance means nothing to me. The potential is defiantly there, it just needs a good bloat cleaning and a few other tweaks.
Sent from OH MY GOD IS THAT A SQUIRREL!
Thanks folks.
Is it true that even though it has 512 MB of RAM like the X did, it uses DDR memory instead for faster speeds? How's the graphics processing on the X2? I remember getting in the high 20 FPS range with Neocore with the X.
Having come from HTC devices, both Android and, I kno... WinMo 6.1 I have come to love the DX2. Yes there is a lack of development at the moment, but that will change... The graphics on the DX2 are pretty amazing. I get high 40's to 50's in Quadrant on the 2D and 3D video tests. I had never owned a Motorola device before but the phone is solid. I have never held a phone that feels as solid as this one. As stated by others rooting and debloating the phone will make a major difference in speed, stability, reliability, and the overall feel of the phone functionality. I have no problem waiting on development because when it does come there is a load of potential packed away in the deep dark of this phone...
EDIT:: 54.6 on Neocore, 60FPS max in Quadrant, and 52.47FPS in Antutu while on maximum battery saver BTW....
Not bad at all.
Any other X2 owners that came from the Charge?
I've played with the Charge, the Incredible 2, and now the Droid X2. Personally, I think the Droid X2 is awesome. Technically is superior to the Charge except for 4G, because it obviously doesn't have it. The only thing outside of 4G that people question is the screen, and to be perfectly honest, I think it's really nice. I don't even miss SAMOLED. The Droid X2 screen is just so sharp and crisp.
What you need is a comparison, and PDADB is perfect for that. Here is a link to technology comparison between the Droid Charge and the Droid X2. How can you say no to dual-core Cortex A9 processors and a GeForce GPU in your phone? You really can't. Don't be discouraged by the dev community, because it is just getting started. When the Droid X2 gets more and more dev support, it will be awesome. That's why I'm here, to help with that
What exactly is this "3Gturbo" tweak I keep reading about?
How many people said to themselves "Don't do it" when they saw this thread? :0)
Sorry if this is a dumb question. I keep seeing people talk about tiered data plans. Verizon does not have those. I've been checking and I actually would love to switch to save money but there is no such option. What are you all talking about? ??
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk
See the middle of this page:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/plans/?page=single
So... I went down to the local Costco where I bought my Charge and they have a live X2 to play around with. After a fresh reboot, I tested it out and the screen really isn't as bad as I thought. Everything (except Blur of course) was very quick and smooth, voice calls sounded clear. I did a SpeedTest run, only one of those tests resulted in less than 1 mb/sec download, and the last one jumped up to 2.4 mb/sec download with 750k upload speed, pretty damn good for a 3G phone. I put the Charge in 3G only and it couldn't come close.
So needless to say, the Charge will be going back sometime this week and exchanged for the X2. The guy at the Wireless kiosk gave me a weird look when I said I was going to come back and get the X2 instead. I told him "I have my reasons" and smiled.
triton302 said:
So... I went down to the local Costco where I bought my Charge and they have a live X2 to play around with. After a fresh reboot, I tested it out and the screen really isn't as bad as I thought. Everything (except Blur of course) was very quick and smooth, voice calls sounded clear. I did a SpeedTest run, only one of those tests resulted in less than 1 mb/sec download, and the last one jumped up to 2.4 mb/sec download with 750k upload speed, pretty damn good for a 3G phone. I put the Charge in 3G only and it couldn't come close.
So needless to say, the Charge will be going back sometime this week and exchanged for the X2. The guy at the Wireless kiosk gave me a weird look when I said I was going to come back and get the X2 instead. I told him "I have my reasons" and smiled.
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Awesome, welcome aboard. The more brains the merrier.
nitwit said:
See the middle of this page:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/plans/?page=single
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Click to collapse
Odd when I log into my account those data plans are not available. Anyway what a rip off, $30 for 2gig a month. At&t data plans are more reasonable.
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk
Made it official today... returned the Charge and picked up my new Droid X2, with $100 back in my pocket as I was refunded the difference in price. So far so good, screen takes some getting used to but I'm glad to be back to a screen with more natural colors rather than the cartoonish AMOLED colors. Very well built just like the original X I had, miss the camera button though. Updated to Gingerbread and it's running just fine, call quality is much better than the Charge.
Can't wait to get cracking on the modding!
I currently have a Droid X2 and have enjoyed learning about rooting, custom roms, etc. My upgrade is approaching and I am thinking about getting the Rezound. I've briefly read through the posts here and it seems to be a good phone for development with multiple roms/scripts/mods.
I just wanted to see what you all thought of the phone. Pros & Cons. Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Hope you all have a blessed evening!
Started with the Inc1 at launch and debated between the Inc2 and Tbolt when they both came out. Went with the Inc2 because we didn't have 4G yet and the Inc2 is the perfect size for a phone. After half year I love the Inc 2 but wanted 4G and love to upgrade.
Anyway, love the Rezound. HTC always has problems with their soft keys but overall this is the best built HTC I've ever had. The Inc3 is coming in a few months. If it's 4G, 4" screen, and dual core I'm trading in my Rez.
You won't regret upgrading, I came from an Incredible 2 and I don't miss it at all.
Pros:
* 4G LTE - Crazy fast with great signal
* HD screen - Best display out there
* Tons of ROM's - There are a lot so far and development is just getting started
* Amazing camera - Best camera on any phone I have ever used
* 16GB of internal storage
* 1.5GHz dual core - Fastest dual core out there
* Made by HTC - build quality is incredible and the phone feels solid in your hand
Not so great stuff:
* Screen brightness - the screen isn't all that bright even at full brightness, but its still okay.
* Battery life - Its not great, but it will last an entire day if you use it wisely
Cons:
* External speaker - When playing music its quiet and sounds terrible
* Battery cover - Not really a super big deal, but it creaks a little bit and drives me crazy... yeah, I have mild OCD...
I would say its a good 9/10 phone. Its going to be a good upgrade from a Droid X2 if you decide to get it.
All valid points. Stock with LTE on and auto screen brightness I got 1 day 6 hours on one charge. I was pretty amazed. Regular usage I get maybe 10 hours and that time was light to medium use. Auto brightness keeps my screen pretty dark but at full brightness its insanely bright. Hurts the eyeballs
TB13 said:
* Battery cover - Not really a super big deal, but it creaks a little bit and drives me crazy... yeah, I have mild OCD...
.
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I took some small strips of electricians friction tape and put them under the battery cover in the spots my extended cover creaked. Fixed it right up.
Really the only thing that bothers me is the auto white balance in the camera isn't very good. I didn't notice it at first but in certain lighting conditions the pics come out with either a blue or orange tint. Selecting another setting will make them better but not always completely accurate. This is especially true for night time indoors where your light is from lamps. Hopefully an update will help this.
Battery life could be better but I expected as much. People are getting great battery life with custom ROMS and kernels now though. I have yet to get mine to be great but I suspect that the second hand of the clock widget I'm using is eating it up. Going to test that out soon.
I have to disagree with the negative comments on the following:
-screen brightness. Plenty bright for me. In fact, I keep mine at about 30% brightness.
-external speaker. considering what it is I find it to be fine. And honestly, for music you should use ear buds or plug it into the stereo! I do listen to podcasts/talk sometimes while I fall asleep and it's totally fine for that. I also use it whenever I talk on the phone as I won't hold it to my ear or use a bluetooth earpiece.
-creaking. I really don't notice any. People have put paper under the cover to get rid of it.
As far as what I love about it... everything! It's my first smartphone though so that might not mean much. But I did research for almost a year before buying it, constantly deciding to wait for the next phone that was coming out and I really think I made the right choice. No second guessing or regrets.
Oh yeah, and I put a 64gb card in and it works fine so another bonus! And yes, the screen is GORGEOUS. I'm amazed at the image quality on this thing.
And... it doesn't look like anyone mentioned that you can do voice and data at the same time! I was talking to a friend who told me about an app and a few minutes later I had it downloaded and installed while I was still talking on the phone!
p.s. Apparently it's also a global phone. There's still a few kinks being worked out but I believe that at this point voice and data are working, but possibly not texts. There's a thread about it though if you want to check up on it.
06stang said:
Started with the Inc1 at launch and debated between the Inc2 and Tbolt when they both came out. Went with the Inc2 because we didn't have 4G yet and the Inc2 is the perfect size for a phone. After half year I love the Inc 2 but wanted 4G and love to upgrade.
Anyway, love the Rezound. HTC always has problems with their soft keys but overall this is the best built HTC I've ever had. The Inc3 is coming in a few months. If it's 4G, 4" screen, and dual core I'm trading in my Rez.
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Same here man, Eris, Inc1, and got Inc2 cos I thought the Tbolt was too big, and I got Inc2 loved it, and now Rezound is awesome, but Inc3 you say?? I would be all over that if it is 4g as well. I have an upgrade waiting for me in april
today is my first day with the Rezound, I just came from Sprint with the Evo 4G, and I'm really happy with it, though I'd be happy with almost anything on Verizion's 4G vs Sprint's 3G lol. Only complaint I'd have so far is the speaker isn't as good as u'd expect, but the sound with headphones is crazy. I think ull be happy with it
Yeah VZW had a meeting recently talking about upcoming phones. Inc3 was mentioned for similar release date as the last two. 4" screen, LTE, and global is all I know. Sounds like a winner to me. Rezound will be short lived for me if this is true.
Yeah depending on the source, I have to turn music down to about 50% volume when using the speaker, it is plenty loud. But I've heard one if the kernels messes with it so that might be the one users problem.
Sent from my Rezound using Tapatalk
Things I did not like about the GNex:
Crazy batter drain: 25 percent per hour during moderate usage. (maybe due to new battery)
No visual voice mail
Missed a lot of key presses – the screen is just not that sensitive (very annoying having re repress keys!)
Speaker quality is miserable. It’s all scratchy and distorted at higher volumes. And it’s not nearly as loud as the Photon.
It’s is not as responsive as the Photon: Photon seems faster with almost any task.
Screen is low contrast and looks muddy in white areas
Screen is unevenly illuminated
Photon camera is hands down better in terms of detail
Right side of images are soft (something wrong with the lens?)
The case is slippery – and it’s already so large that I do not want to add a case.
Lack of capacitive buttons is a real pain. For example, while the phone is importing contact from Google, you can not simply press the home button and do something else in the foreground. There is no button to press, so you are stuck there waiting needlessly.
Things I like about it:
High resolution screen can look fantastic & type looks extra clear
the screen has rich, awesome blacks
The camera is always focusing and shoot as soon as you press the button
It seems to charge very fast
Radios seem good: Speedtest yielded similar results to the Photon on both 3G and wifi.
--------------
As the GNEx is overall less responsive than the Photon, spkr phone is terrible, and battery life is poor, I am going to sell it and keep to Photon.
So yeah, I will be upgrading my other like to the Evo LTE in June and see how that goes…
And hopefully the next Motorola will keep the physical buttons, as the Evo LTE does.
Best,
ron
I moved on to a gnex. My screen has been responsive except when the browser is loading.
Battery life seems good once you train the battery. Have gotten about 2 hours of calls AND 4 hours (together) of surf time on wifi.
It is slippery sometimes. Back feels like it has traction sometimes. Does need feel as good in hand as photon, but is lighter and more bottom weighted.
For the speed of the device its mixed. Has same stock launcher hiccup as photon...but only with a LWP. Everything else is smooth for the most part.
Speakerphone is decent if you hold it right. Seems more naturally tuned than voice heavy. Not as loud though.
Another important feature for me is awesome blacks. Photon had black crush and made the xda start up page look orange. Back to a more normal contrast scale on the gnex. The photon was still easier to read in sunlight and both have that blue tinted screen which is either the glare reduction or oleo phobic quality. Mind you the 2nd gnex I am on has the purple tint issue.
Radios seem on par and this thevgnex stays connected to my wife's car it seems. Photon does support more profiles though.
NFC....have you seen what you can do with tags??????
One more thing I love about Sammy devices is their haptic feedback.
Things I miss are the alarm features, stopwatch, web top, HDMI support with no adapter, the kickstand, fb integration, and the rounded edges.
Over all though the gnex is still a great phone as is the photon. I kept mine because of it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
just as a quick fyi, photon doesnt have physical buttons it has capacitive buttons, the gnexus has onscreen buttons
For what its worth..... I went to sprint and played with a gnex....... it was OK but the external speaker wasn't very loud and it wasn't any faster than my photon. For me it isn't enough of a difference for me to upgrade from my photon with cm9. I really do want a phone with nfc chip and a baro sensor tho.
Sent from my CM9'd Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
OK - just tried the HTC One X. It is indeed impressive - much more so than the Gnex.
The screen is pretty fantastic, it feels smaller and more sturdy than the Gnex too.
A much better phone IMO.
ronnienyc said:
OK - just tried the HTC One X. It is indeed impressive - much more so than the Gnex.
The screen is pretty fantastic, it feels smaller and more sturdy than the Gnex too.
A much better phone IMO.
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But can't use a extended battery.... that's a deal breaker for me.
Sent from my CM9'd Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
It is said that the battery life is very good.
ronnienyc said:
It is said that the battery life is very good.
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it would have to be out of this world fantastic for me to even consider it.
i spend my free time riding a dualsport motorcycle at times way farther into the Everglades than i should be and have to turn on GPS for hours at a time. i use a 3500ma battery daily and carry the stocker as a backup. a replaceable battery is a must for me.
to be honest as well i'm tired of having half ass broken phones. unlocked bootloader but no 4g etc. as soon as my area gets LTE i'm getting what ever Nexus phone is available at that time. hopefully it's a motorola made one but if not it's no big deal.
DualSportDad said:
it would have to be out of this world fantastic for me to even consider it.
i spend my free time riding a dualsport motorcycle at times way farther into the Everglades than i should be and have to turn on GPS for hours at a time. i use a 3500ma battery daily and carry the stocker as a backup. a replaceable battery is a must for me.
to be honest as well i'm tired of having half ass broken phones. unlocked bootloader but no 4g etc. as soon as my area gets LTE i'm getting what ever Nexus phone is available at that time. hopefully it's a motorola made one but if not it's no big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Only thing worse than getting a boner in public places is not having a memory expansion slot on my smartphone as I like to keep my media in excess. So that was the deal breaker for me.
Sent not from your device!
The battery as mediocre with my gnex when I first got it too. After two weeks the battery has improved greatly. When using only stock I prefer the gnex.
If you own the photon skip the gnex, but if its between both and all else is equal then go with the gnex. Price wise, the photon can't be beat though. Wish I still had it, I would have spent my money on a tablet instead!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
HTC would have to show me something very exclusive for me to buy another phone from them Samsung needs to step they radio game up
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Or Google could just have Motorola build the next nexus phone. We'd get the best hardware, vanilla android and a unlocked boot loader.
Sent from my CM9'd Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
snoopy1e11 said:
HTC would have to show me something very exclusive for me to buy another phone from them Samsung needs to step they radio game up
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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The HTC one isn't enough? I like your standards!!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
was tempted to pick up gnex but i might wait now, thanks for perspective
I sold GN, to a man, that sold it to me, after he tried HTC OneX, he wants GN back and gave OneX away. I am staying with Photon for now. ;-)
Not relevant
Ok people. Doing reviews on devices other than the Photon 4g, should be kept in respective device forums. Unless I'm missing something, I didn't see the MP4G mentioned once.
I put a sticky up just for posts like these. "What Phone should I buy"
Also, for "some", try and keep the sexual innuendo's to a minimum... "boner", and don't let it progress farther.
I'm mostly excited about the screen. Hoping for the best with the battery.
On a side note: I'm tired of fake bidders on ebay bidding my S5 up to silly high prices.
J3ff said:
I'm mostly excited about the screen. Hoping for the best with the battery.
On a side note: I'm tired of fake bidders on ebay bidding my S5 up to silly high prices.
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Well the section seems pretty nice so far. Not a lot of posts though. I hope it gets better over time.
It will. Especially since only a handful of people have the device. When everyone gets it this place will blow up
Sent from my VS985 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
jreed2560 said:
It will. Especially since only a handful of people have the device. When everyone gets it this place will blow up
Sent from my VS985 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
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Just thinking about tomorrow...
Mine just delivered to my company!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
mediumraresteak said:
Mine just delivered to my company!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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Nice - be sure and come back and tell us about it!
J3ff said:
I'm mostly excited about the screen. Hoping for the best with the battery.
On a side note: I'm tired of fake bidders on ebay bidding my S5 up to silly high prices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually find the display on the S5 a lot better. More contrast and brightness with less battery use compared to the G3. G3 display looks dim unless cranked above 80% brightness. S5 only needs 40% to look the same and this is due to the power need of Qhd.
One big trump though is the G3 has twice the app storage. If "forced" to pick, the storage has the edge for me on the G3, but I do not find the Qhd display as a positive reason to buy. Would have preferred a great 1080p display for better contrast, brightness and more battery life.
Spent three hours with the G3 and besides the design, the biggest thing for me is the full screen mode and how it manages the display nav bar. MUCH better than any previous device besides the similar UI design of the G2. LG did a GREAT job mitigating Google's stupid display nav bar from taking space.
rushless said:
I actually find the display on the S5 a lot better. More contrast and brightness with less battery use compared to the G3. G3 display looks dim unless cranked above 80% brightness. S5 only needs 40% to look the same and this is due to the power need of Qhd.
One big trump though is the G3 has twice the app storage. If "forced" to pick, the storage has the edge for me on the G3, but I do not find the Qhd display as a positive reason to buy. Would have preferred a great 1080p display for better contrast, brightness and more battery life.
Spent three hours with the G3 and besides the design, the biggest thing for me is the full screen mode and how it manages the display nav bar. MUCH better than any previous device besides the similar UI design of the G2. LG did a GREAT job mitigating Google's stupid display nav bar from taking space.
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Meh, I run mine at 100% all the time.. as long as it charges wireless we'll be all good.
So far really liking it :good:
Very light, screen brightness is not an issue indoors next to a large sliding glass door, haven't tried direct sunlight yet. Battery drained pretty quickly from from 50% to 10% but I was on the phone for about an hour and installing a bunch of apps over wi-fi, hopefully that improves with a few battery cycles.
phone is much nicer and smoother then I thought it would be. these forums made me very nervous to get it but i am glad i made the jump. I love the bigger screen compared to my m8. i can even see the screen outside. lol
How would you say the sound compares shawnten to your M8? Good to know you can see outside, alot of reviews had me nervous about getting.
tia
So I've been playing with the phone for a good 4 hours or so. Let me tell you this screen will spoil your eyes (in a good way). I'm upgrading from a GS3 so I don't know if it is as big a jump for those of you with a 1080p screen, but I just happened to turn on my old phone and man what a difference!
For those of you who have been playing with your G3's for a while, go back and take a look at your old phone really quick. it will really make you appreciate this screen.
I remember getting the same feeling with my retina macbook pro. yeah it looks pretty nice when you start using it, not a huge deal. But after using it for a week and getting used to it, if you go back to 1440x900 laptop it hurts to look at something so low res.
I preordered this phone and then began regretting it after reading people's issues with the screen, battery life, hissing noises through headphones, and auxiliary problems.
I'm glad I didn't back out. I've been constantly playing with this thing and I'm over 8 hours from a full charge and am at 35%. Coming from a pitiful gnex battery life, I'm thrilled.
The screen is gorgeous. No halo effect like others have said. Brightness is not an issue at all.
The sound through my headphones is really good. I wish it had a better built in equalizer, but I can deal with that. Absolutely no hissing sound in the left channel as others noted. I used the Bluetooth through a vehicle with no hitch and tried and aux cable I had without any problems either.
This is only day 1, but I'm seriously impressed by how simple this thing works.
Wife went into the Verizon store while I was at work, and picked up two LG G3s to replace our Galaxy S 3's.
Just finished rooting with IO Root, installing Titanium, and giving this thing a whirl.
So far, I'm really loving the screen and the feel and size of the phone. No heat issues here. I've seen a little UI lag here and there, but that's only because I'm LOOKING for it. Intend to throw on Nova Launcher anyway, so that doesn't bother me.
Looking forward to spending the rest of the evening, getting this bugger set up. No regrets so far!
I ordered mine Monday. Got an email Tuesday afternoon saying they were shipped (1 each for the wife & I). Verizon shipped them earlier than the 7/17 date they had advertised AND upgraded everyone to next day, instead of 2 day shipping(supposedly). Got it at 6pm yesterday(Wednesday). Worked night shift last night so I was tinkering with it all night and all I can say is WOW! Amazing phone. Haven't experienced any lag or the other issues that have been reported. Screen is brilliant. I watched this week's episode of Last Ship and it's night and day compared to my former Note 2. Crisp resolution, brilliant colors. Just perfect.
The camera's pictures come out as if you were looking at the actual scene with your own eyes.
Love the form factor. It's screen is as big as the Note 2 yet it's nearly a 1/4" smaller on all 4 sides. Can't wait to get it in a case though. I'm babying it like it were a crystal vase. When you work in a plant environment, double layer protection is a necessity.
Lastly... Verizon's network is STRONG! Never had speeds like this on Sprint 4G (Sprint let us out of our contract because the new house I moved to 6 months ago is in what Sprint calls a "fringe zone" between two towers and I couldn't get reliable service at all) . First thing I did was run some speed tests in my house. Got anywhere from 36-48mbps in 5 tests in a 10 minutes window. My charter Internet wifi was averaging 15-22mbps in that same time. The last tests I ran on my Sprint service yesterday was . 09mbps. Unreal!
Very happy with my choice of the G3.
First Impressions...
Due to the larger size, it feels immensely lighter than the S4 I am coming from. However, I thought the same thing when I moved from my Bionic to the S4, so no big deal. As someone stated earlier, after playing with it for a few hours, a quick glance back to my S4 is amusing. The difference in size, especially in terms of text, is painfully obvious. While the screen is not as bright as my old device, I appreciate the relatively natural color representation as opposed to Samsung's general explosion of color. Dropped all the animations down to .5x and switched over to ART. So far I'm only noticing a little lag here and there, but nothing different from the S4 I am leaving behind before I slapped Hyperdrive on it.
Speaker sounds pretty good for a mobile device (thankfully I've not had the chance to be spoiled by the HTC One), though I need to test both my headphones and my aux jack before I know for sure. I'm already in love with having the headphone jack on the bottom of the device. Reminds me of my old Zune HD. As Kellex over on Droid-Life is so fond of saying, I really don't see why all manufacturers haven't adopted this yet. It makes so much sense.
The camera appears to be much more responsive than I've become used to. As far as how the pictures come out, I'll have to take a few side by side shots with my S4 and load them on to my laptop to get a better idea of accurate color reproduction. Something tells me the G3 will win out all day long.
One odd thing that is bugging me: The WiFi connection seems to be slower than my S4 when it comes to downloading/updating apps. Hopefully this is just a quirk with it being a new, never used device that will settle down in a day or two.
Call quality/Cell Reception cannot be tested for another 12 hours or so unfortunately. That's when I'll head to Verizon and have them move the device to my line. I'm hopeful though, given the rather abysmal signal I seemed to have with my S4 at times. Granted, I was rocking a Motorola before the Samsung, and I still swear by their radios above all other manufacturers.
Also, as someone else mentioned on the general forum: Leo's Fortune looks absolutely amazing on this device.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS (M8 user)
I picked mine up last night after trading in my M8(Edge). First thing I noticed was the build quality and weight of the G3. It doesn't have that premium heft I've grown accustomed to, but it doe have a very nice fit and finish despite having a faux aluminum backplate. Its light weight is a nice plus when compared to the M8 though.
One thing I will miss are the front facing speakers of the M8. Those puppies are LOUD and they made quite a difference when playing games or watching something on YouTube. Not a deal breaker by any means, but you'll definitely notice it. The G3 speaker isn't bad by any stretch and unless you're coming from a One, it'll sound clear and crisp.
The screen is PHENOMENAL to say the least. While there isn't much in the way of 2k content yet, the resolution is definitely appealing. Words, pictures, videos, everything is SHARP and vibrant. The colors have a more natural tone and aren't as warm as the M8; neither a good nor bad thing unless you prefer slightly saturated tones.
The camera is another area where the differences become more apparent! The G3 camera is better in EVERY possible way you can imagine. I didn't know what I was missing out on until this morning when I took my first few snaps. Seriously, not even a close race here. I know some of the review sites will say that isn't true and the UltraPixel camera is fine, but believe me when I say that it's WEAK. Pictures on the M8, come out nicely outside or in well lit areas, but those 4mp just don't do it justice. The G3 autofocus is insanely quick, probably the fastest I've seen to date. Being able to tap anywhere on the screen to take a picture is also a nice touch as well.
One problem I've noticed it that there is a little lag with animations. Not sure why that is, but it doesn't feel as fluid as the M8(stock or GPE). Slides, the keyboard, animations, just feels slightly off. Could just be my imagination, but it does seem that way.
All in all you WON'T be disappointed in the phone! It's a great device and improves on the G2 in every single way.
Sent from my VS985 4G using XDA Free mobile app
Ok so here goes. Most recently using M8, S5(which up for sale).
Build:
Device has a pretty decent build and falls somewhere in between the M8 and S5. Not as heavy and premium feeling as the M8, but is more balanced in the hand.
Screen:
Looks great--not as bright as M8 or S5, but I don't think it needs to burn my retina with brightness. Looks crisp and sharp and is completely visible this morning in the bright direct sun of Colorado(very bright and close). I'll pay close attention to this later when I'm outside.
Performance:
This is where it's letting me down so far. Jittery, stuttery and not fluid. I see it in the apps, menus and homescreens. To me this is even worse than the S5 was out of the box and isn't even in the league of the smoothness of the m8 or iPhone 5s. I've disabled a lot of bloat already and it looks like it'll need to be rooted much like the s5 to reach potential unless it's purely due to pushing the extra pixels. I enabled ART and that was even worse so I'm back to Dalvik runtime.
Camera:
Only taken a handful of photos, but they look pretty great and should be on par with the better camera phones. Not sure if it'll top the s5, but maybe it will.
Speakers:
Loud and clear--easily hear alerts/ringtones.
Hopefully some of the fluidity issues can be addressed via dev or by LG because clearly this device has a lot of potential.
cdd543 said:
Ok so here goes. Most recently using M8, S5(which up for sale).
Build:
Device has a pretty decent build and falls somewhere in between the M8 and S5. Not as heavy and premium feeling as the M8, but is more balanced in the hand.
Screen:
Looks great--not as bright as M8 or S5, but I don't think it needs to burn my retina with brightness. Looks crisp and sharp and is completely visible this morning in the bright direct sun of Colorado(very bright and close). I'll pay close attention to this later when I'm outside.
Performance:
This is where it's letting me down so far. Jittery, stuttery and not fluid. I see it in the apps, menus and homescreens. To me this is even worse than the S5 was out of the box and isn't even in the league of the smoothness of the m8 or iPhone 5s. I've disabled a lot of bloat already and it looks like it'll need to be rooted much like the s5 to reach potential unless it's purely due to pushing the extra pixels. I enabled ART and that was even worse so I'm back to Dalvik runtime.
Camera:
Only taken a handful of photos, but they look pretty great and should be on par with the better camera phones. Not sure if it'll top the s5, but maybe it will.
Speakers:
Loud and clear--easily hear alerts/ringtones.
Hopefully some of the fluidity issues can be addressed via dev or by LG because clearly this device has a lot of potential.
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I'm also coming from an S5.
The screen def did NOT blow me away like I was hoping.. I don't get it... the icons are HUGE, why have such a high res screen if they arent going to take advantage of it..
It's also not as BRIGHT as the S5 and I feel like the blacks are blacker on the S5..
I'm already missing the side keys for volume.
I sure hope that the phone gets its act together and cuts out the choppiness, it's very noticable and I'm not really impressed with how fast it is either. I guess this completely needs to be rooted and rommed. I sold my S5, so I'll be sticking with this one for a while.
The size is perfect though. Exactly what I wanted!