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Someone is giving me a HTC Incredible as a gift. Looks like I'll be dropping the Droid. I hope to have better memory performance and smoother scrolling (touch interaction). Any opinions on the matter?
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I had a Droid, now I have an INC. Your assumptions are correct sir.
Have you tried overclocking and 2.2 on the Droid? I suppose since it's already done.. but the general kind of lack of fluidity was starting to erk me on the stock 2.1.. went ahead and rooted, put 2.2 on, overclocked to 1ghz (which to my touch, it seems to actually be cooler and lasting longer) and my god what a difference, it's like getting a new phone to be honest.
Yea, I am rooted on 2.2. It is like a new phone. If you have seen the touch screen test between iphone and several other phones you'll see the droid has a rough touch screen. I am also still having memory issues. But it is a lot better and faster
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Hello,
because i am trying to find out, from where can i put the 2.2 interface on droid?
haris_el said:
Hello,
because i am trying to find out, from where can i put the 2.2 interface on droid?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off you have to be rooted just google it. theres a nice youtube video but i cant post links so then after you are rooted download an app called Rom Manger its free after that you can download different roms but right now Bugless beast has the most stable up to date froyo so download his rom and its will auto flash it for you then your done
ok thanks, i'll try that...
I'm already rooted.
I'm sure the answers are posted here someplace but my search skills suck. And I can't find the info. So here are my questions.
Trying to deside whether or not to root. And was wondering if anyone has benchmarks for a stock Droid compared to the diferant levels of overclocking?
Also wondering if I would be able to get the payed apps I have now on my phone back loaded considering alot of them are listed as privet and they will not let me back them up.?.
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Not sure about the benchmarks but I also have paid apps. The market saves your information andcafter rooting you can go back to download section of market and should say purchased next to apps you've bought and allow you to install them again. I've switch phones, roms and etc many times but they're always available again in download section. Also if you root and install froyo, it backs them up to your account and re-installs them automatically every time you flash a new rom. Just make sure you use the same info when setting up the phone.
Sent from my Droid using XDA App
I wanted to comment on your benchmark question...
This alone should influence you to root your Droid. I am running CyanogenMod 6.0 Froyo with ChevyNo1 1200mhz ULTRA low voltage kernel. My battery life is fantastic given the CPU frequency and my phone linpacks at 18-20mflops. I know this is not a very realistic benchmark test but in comparison, a stock Droid will throw out about 6-8mflops.
What I really want to show you, however, is the result from Quadrant, which runs a CPU and graphics benchmark test and shows you a graph comparing your phone to other phones like the Droid (stock) and Nexus One and other popular Android phones.
Give me 5 minutes and I'll have a screenshot up (just transfering some pics)
Okay, look at the screenshot below... my Droid is the yellow bar at the top, and the stock Droid is the second one from the bottom. BIGGGG difference in performance!
Also, aerdely is right about the paid apps... they'll show up in your market so you can re-download them.
I know there's lots of options but I have to ask. What's the most stable 2.2 out there? One with everything working (wifi Bluetooth and all) .
I'm not into the whole changing roms ten times a week thing. Mostly because after setting up apps and preferances on 4 replacement phones over the past 6 months .
I hear 2.2 backs up and redownloads apps, but does it also remember icon setup and app preferences?
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Check this out: http://www.greenecomputing.com/apps/linpack/linpack-by-device/
The Droid is the fastest phone, save for that Samsung at number 2 overall. The Droids seem to be analogous to "dynoqueens" in the car world because I doubt those 54 MFLOPS devices are running at a stable temperature. So they're just overclocked and maxed out, though for only a few seconds just to get that number.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
The Droid is a very capable device, though. 30 MFLOPS seems to be consistent and is a very good benchmark number for a phone that is about nine months old.
those are fake numbers... guaranteed
With 2.2 and a 1.3ghz kernel you might see 20 mflops
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luniz7 said:
With 2.2 and a 1.3ghz kernel you might see 20 mflops
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Highest I've hit running ChevyNo1 1250mhz Ultra Low Voltage kernel was like 19.7
n1ghtwish said:
Highest I've hit running ChevyNo1 1250mhz Ultra Low Voltage kernel was like 19.7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pull a 19.3 on my 1.25 kernel on froyo
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OK my stats are as follows
Quadrant 375
LinPack 4.5 mflops
Neocore 24.5 fps
So after looking around at everyone's stats I have made up my mind to take the leep and root !
I have been doing alot of reading and have a few idea's of what I should load up but would like to ask for opinions.
I'm looking for a 2.2 it does not have to be anything funky or over the top just has to work properly with wifi and everything, with a ULV or LV 1.0ghz to 1.25ghz.
My work is a very hot place all year around and I live on my phone on my many many breaks at work so I would really like a kernel that run's cool but pumps the speed..
Opinions, suggestions, recommendations and LINKS to downloads please.
Also please feel free to PM me if you have the time to help a Noob like me with a few dozen ?'s
Thanx all for the input so far and I want to get everything downloaded and get my phone pimped out ASAP so let's get the suggestions rolling
Thanx again
ö
...so go stock.
So use the FRG01B leak that's supposed to be "stock" from Verizon. Without any further modification, it'll bump your top speed to 800 Mhz, but would allow you to see what's going on without really endangering anything.
It'll also give you a fair benchmark (personally) as to the speed of Froyo before you decide to bump things further.
is there anyway i can root without wiping the phone? im on 2.1 right now. i would just use titanium but you need root to even do that.
THeres ana app called easy root, for a buck...... gives u ROOT access, to say, install rom manager, flash the clockwork recovery and from there, install any zip.
for a buck, seems pretty nice vs. figuring out how to root the damn droid.
Rooted via easy root. and now playing with sapphire 1.0
USMC-Delta said:
THeres ana app called easy root, for a buck...... gives u ROOT access, to say, install rom manager, flash the clockwork recovery and from there, install any zip.
for a buck, seems pretty nice vs. figuring out how to root the damn droid.
Rooted via easy root. and now playing with sapphire 1.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so thatll do a complete nand unlock? thats cool. thanks
They suspended easy root from the market. ? .
It was there this morning and I was going to grab it then but my credit card was a used up prepayed card so had to wait till now to get off work and get a new card for my account. I did that only to find out the app has been removed from the market.. Come on goggle give it back ! I love goggle but this is FAIL . There are many people that have payed for the app and now can't redownload it thats even more crappy then the fact that I can't buy it...
ö
Did you do online watch, I did quick one and its available on mediafire so far from what I can see. I just typed easy root apk in search bar.
Sent from Droid using, Sapphire v1.0.0/ 928Droid Black Glass 2.2 Theme/ Sholes 1.0 Ghz 7 Slot Kernel.
Ok here's some good news just found that dm updater has been updated to root droid1, droidx, evo-4g. Try it. Here's the URL.
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-news/65007-dmupdater-updated-root-droid-1-droid-x-evo-4g-within-app.html
Sent from Droid using, Sapphire v1.0.0/ 928Droid Black Glass 2.2 Theme/ Sholes 1.0 Ghz 7 Slot Kernel.
Ok sorry everyone dm updater wasn't available sorry guys.
Sent from Droid using, Sapphire v1.0.0/ 928Droid Black Glass 2.2 Theme/ Sholes 1.0 Ghz 7 Slot Kernel.
Hows that for a benchmark? Root it, and you too can enjoy screen capture, over/under clocking, Flash, Bluetooth voicedialing...it's a no-brainer.
Ok I guess I'm done looking for the easy way out.
Please advise if I got all this right before I screw something up..
1. Download RSD Lite, the 2.0.1 .sbf file
, and the Motorola Drivers.
Motorola Drivers (for 32 bit Computers) OR Motorola Drivers (for 64 bit Computers)
RSD Lite
Droid 2.0.1 Firmware
Install and do what is posted here http://theunlockr.com/2010/06/04/how-to-root-the-motorola-droid-android-2-1/
up too step 3 then in place of there download use whats found here
http://sapphire.ccroms.net/wiki/releases/sapphire-1.0.0
and I'm rooted with sapphire and good too go right ?
Thanx
ö
Thinking about buying a new og droid from amazon. Im downgrading from my Bionic as its bootloader locked and can't stand not having soap. I've had the DROID incredible and battery was horrible no matter what I did, had the fascinate, charge, and now am looking to stick to my android roots until my upgrade in november. So should I do it?
Honestly, I was thinking about doing it myself a while back. Don't know about the new ones but the OG Droid as I remember was very responsive to overclocking and ran great. I loved mine. Thing felt like a tank. Only thing to consider is CM will be dropping support for the OG Droid with CM9. Droids are dirt cheap and if you're good with fixing gadgets, you can get one with a broken digitizer for next to nothing.
I just recently fullfilled my 2 yr contract and was looking at new phones, but decided to try rooting and using a custom ROM on my OG Droid to get back some speed and functionality. I am no longer planning to fork over $ for a new phone
They're cheap, so the risk is minimal, but imho it is a painful experience running anything higher than Froyo/CM6 on the OG Droid. I know people swear by CM7 (and various scripts like V6, etc), but I have never gotten CM7 or any other GB ROM running smoothly for me.
The problem isn't the speed (I have mine OCed to 1.2ghz), its the memory. 256mb just isn't enough anymore.
so cm6 is the way to go? I have no problem with that. Whats the better setup with cm6 as far as kernel matching with cm6? Would like to hear some setups from anyone using the old school og droid.
Currntly running PE6. 5 on my og droid with the stock kernel which is 1.05Ghz lv. Have used the V6 scripts in past with so so results, am currently using Juwe's Ram Manager with pretty successful results.
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Try going even farther back. Android 2.1 XD. I still have the old files sitting on my hard drive.
thanks! keep them coming
Looks like project elite 6.5 for me, unless they have something newer out. Anything else I need to know about project elite? Whats the verdict on it? Its hard to find info on the og droid roms, so much just scattered around.
It's an asop rom built by actngrezy, he has stated is working on a version 7 but nothing on it recently or date. Alot of info on PE roms at Droid Forums.
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Here is a link to my dropbox if you want to try this rom.
http://db.tt/FqDCbRqp
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are you guys kidding me? this device is SO SLOW it's completely unusable. No matter how you tweak it, 256MB is just not enough. The day you go to a 512mb device, you will NEVER be able to return.... seriously
wow and who are and how have you helped the xda community. Try using a device with more than 512mb. I have. If I wanted your dumbass opinion on the d1 specs I would have asked for them. Clearly you have zero reading skills. Go troll somewhere else.
I found a brand new d1 for 100. Should be here today, looking forward to stepping back in time!
Ever think not everyone can afford a 299.00 phone. I love my d1, 256 and all.
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well that's exactly it. I have come to the conclussion that I don't need an expensive phone anymore and actually my favorite phone was the htc magic running amon ra rom Three years ago. I have five main uses for android in my little world. phone, facebook, xda, pandora and email. Anything past that and the novelty dies off after a couple of days
Anyone have a working link for p.e. 4.2?
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Gingerbread roms I'd recommend is Simply Stunning, Liquid, Project Elite, CushZero (as I'm using right now) im getting really good memory. I have been along time Droid user and tried just about every single rom that has been developed for it and finally found one that I can stick too.
If you're going to use Gingerbread, I'd recommend to use v6 supercharger (option 3 or superminfree calculator settings)
Sent from my CushZero using Tapatalk
My wife has Motorola Milestone that of course is no longer updated so it is stuck on 2.1, and recently it has started acting slow and freezing frequently, as well as more and more of the apps that she wants require 2.2. So I am looking to root and update so she can have a fresh start (I am sure some of the freezing will be resolved by cleaning the slate), enjoy the features of a newer kernel, and be able to get the apps she wants. I do have experience with ROMs (flashed a lot of ROMs to my old HTC Touch Pro, and even made a couple myself), so I doubt I will have any issue there.
My question, as the title states, is which is the best ROM for her? She definitely likes having cutting edge technology, but needs it to be stable. Or rather, I do, since I will be the one that has to fix any problems I would prefer that I don't have to reboot or reflash it every other day. Once or twice a month for an update is fine, maybe once a week if the ROM is bleeding edge but stable. I have looked at the new Cyanogen Mod 9 with ICS, but not sure if that is stable enough, so any input on that is appreciated.
Things to keep in mind:
1. This phone is from a smaller carrier (Nex-tech wireless)
2. This phone IS NOT active, i.e. it doesn't connect to a mobile data connection or a cellular tower. It uses wi-fi and is basically a portable computer for her (switched to an old non-smart phone to cut costs while we save up to switch to a new carrier when our contract is up)
If there are any other things that might help in picking a good ROM for her let me know so I can tell you.
Thanks!
I would personally recommend MIUI, if only I'm not having trouble with it messing up my Recovery.
and idk what u mean by the Milestone is stuck on 2.1. It can be updated to 2.2 officially.
To me, the most stable rom I've ever used is CM7 version 7.1.3 by HOHO Tho there are newer version, but to me, the latest version has black screen issues.
Thanks for the reply. I am actually in the US, so apparently even though my carrier distubutes it as a Milestone, it runs as a Droid. I have a small regional carrier that uses custom software, and it stopped updating it at 2.1. I was able to get it rooted and ended up using Cyanogen 7, so my wife is happily testing out android 2.3.1
I've run at least 30 different roms on my droid over the last three years and I can tell you hands down that peter's bugless beast wins hands down.
http://www.peteralfonso.com/2011/10/download-bugless-beast-v-gpa19-android.html
Stripped down, no bloat ASOP looks like the real rom and is fast as hell. I was able to run at 1300mhz no other rom has allowed me to go past 1200mhz without reboots/slowdowns.
Pete is the king of the OG Droid.
I run Steel Droid 10
After bricking My Droid 3 I had to literally dust off and charge up my OG Droid that's been sitting for over a year, did a clean install and I am in love with it my OG droid like I was the day it came out
he has milestone, not droid.
HONO is the stablest I've ever tried..
but this phone has some real issues with his locked boot loader,
so he freezes ALLOT no matter what..
I would recommend Cyanogenmod 7.1. That's android 2.3.7. Very stable. Working great on my Original Droid. I don't think the Milestone or the Droid have the hardware to run ICS.
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There is CM9 for the Milestone by kabaldan on here and there is UltimateICS I have CM9 installed and it runs ok the only problem I personally have is the limited space means I can't install the apps I had installed when I was using CM7.2.
Also UltimateICS was fast but it didn't work on my Milestone as I couldn't receive calls.
oshosh said:
he has milestone, not droid.
HONO is the stablest I've ever tried..
but this phone has some real issues with his locked boot loader,
so he freezes ALLOT no matter what..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He has a CDMA version of the droid. They are called milestones by most of the carriers. It's the A855 I believe.
Anyways. Bugless beast is good if you want a ROM as close to stock as possible. Chevyno1' Simply Stunning 5.6 is a good Gingerbread rom and Chevy's Steel Droid is another really good gingerbread ROM. Chevy is also one of the few still developing for the original droid.
Peter Alfonso has probably some of the best kernels on his site for the droid. Very stable and lightweight. You may have to try a few of them until you find the right one for the phone. Each of these phones is different when it comes to the kernel. My phone I can't clock over 1000 or starts to boot loop. My wifes phone I can crank up to 1200 without an issue and it runs cooler then mine at 1000. Go figure.
I would also look up raidzero's rz recovery for the droid. It makes installing roms a snap.
Here is the thread I refered to when I rooted my phone. Download superuser before you start the root process. makes it easier.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764470&highlight=z4root
Also a quick item. To get into recovery after you root turn the phone off. Hold down the x key as you are turning it on. release the x key when the M logo appears. this is helpful if you wind up in a boot loop.
Cm9 worked really good but if your wife isn't techy and wants a fast rom and good battery I would say cm6
Sent from my XT883 using Tapatalk
the motorola milestone was my favourite phone. the retro sci fi looks and awesome keyboard really did it for me. I then decided to upgrade to a more powerful modern phone but because I am in the UK choices were limited. the htc z was not really a big enough leap forward so I tried the latest BB Bold with touch screen and physical keyboard. it lasted 2 weeks and I sold it. There were no other physical keyboard phones out in the UK that were modern specs so I decided to give up and buy a Samsung galaxy note, and then a note 2 which I currently use.
the trouble is I suck at typing on a screen, I NEED a physical keyboard back and have been searching for options. I have settled for two potential sliders, the droid 4 and the samsung relay s t699.
the droid 4 is cheaper for me to find at about £50 or £60 delivered to the UK from the states while the relay is at least twice the price. due to this and my previous love for the OG droid (even with that locked bootloader) I am looking into the droid 4 first.
do you think the downgrade from the note 2 to the droid 4 is gonna be a steep one? I cant look or hold one in person to know because we cant buy them here. I dont mind a bit of a downgrade though because I really want a physical keyboard. I was hoping with a decent rom and other tweaks I could get the most out of a droid 4 and be happy. can some current droid users give me some honest opinions on how they are holding up towards the end of 2014?
many thanks
I can say that I'm really happy with the keyboard of the droid 4. The fact that it a full QWERTY keyboard makes typing quite easy on the phone. You can also install my Hacker keyboard for enabling the rest of the keys.
Performance wise there are still some, and I stress, SMALL issues here and there but nothing serious. I'm using Cyanogen Mod and it works way better than the stock ROM but there are still some small bugs. For example GPS is not working for me, but I haven't really investigated the issue so maybe is fixable, or I did something wrong.
The good thing is that the SafeStrap recovery used for droid is really nice and you can also keep the stock Rom.
So if you want you can choose to boot the stock ROM.
Overall I'm satisfied with the phone and I would recommend you to buy one.
If you have any questions I would be happy to help
many thanks for your reply
can I ask, how bad is the screen? consider I would be coming from a Note 2. A lot of reviews mention ghosting of text when dark text is displayed on light backgrounds. How bad is it? Do custom roms make any difference?
I don't have any issues with the screen, but to be honest I haven't given a close attention regarding what you said.
I'll have a look in the coming days and if I find something I'll post.
mo0n_sniper said:
I don't have any issues with the screen, but to be honest I haven't given a close attention regarding what you said.
I'll have a look in the coming days and if I find something I'll post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi mo0n_sniper,
I've just got a Droid 4, and I'd like to use CM11 too. Do you (or most people) use the official rom from the cyanogenmod site, or use one of the roms posted in the android development section on here?
Thanks
Hi moodroid,
I use the one from the Cyanogen Mod site.
You can follow this howto: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_maserati
i like the droid 4 a lot and the keyboard is insanely comfortable compared to droid 3. performance wise id say its a capable phone but if you wanna do higher end gaming on android then its gonna struggle. cm11 has been great to me and GPS works just fine and i dont have any problems with the screen.. honestly i dont ever want to go back to stock or previous versions of android because of how comfortable 4.4 is
you can get the latest builds from the official cyanogenmod site because thats where theyre pushing all the updates
one thing thats a big negative (at least for me) is that droid 4 cant use LTE outside of the US (or verizon) so youll only have 3g.
a secondary negative is battery life but you can have workarounds for that and both of these cons depend on how you intend to use the device
Thanks for your replies. My DROID 4 arrived today and we'll the screen might take some getting used to but I look forward to rooting and flashing a rom tonight!
Any reccomendations for custom ROMs?
Slimkat or latest official CM11 snapshot. I personally use Slimkat with Apex launcher for the low memory usage.
CM12 is close to DD-able, but it has a few bugs and lollipop doesn't bring our phone much over the 4.4.4 roms with ART enabled.
Well I finally got my phone rooted and custom ROM flashed so thanks a bunch fellas!
I rooted following this guy's video [Root] Droid 4 (XT894) Jellybean with SafeRoot as @mo0n_sniper 's link to the cyanogenmod site was bit too much for the brain at the moment, need to learn all the new lingo!
I managed to install [cm-11-20141207-NIGHTLY-maserati] and it seems to be working great! I installed it into the stock-rom slot as I read that it was ok as long as I had a recent version of safestrap. I do have a query though. I come from the Note 2 where there was no such thing as safestrap and having multiple slots for roms. I always overwrote the stock rom and never had an issue. Now on safestrap it appears as though the stock rom slot is not using all of the memory available on the device. I don't want to be able to install multiple roms at once, I would like to use the device to it's full potential, utilising all available memory. What is the best way to do this? Or am I already doing it? What do those partition sizes actually mean? If someone could be kind enough to drop some knowledge that would be awesome!
As I am in the UK I also used [cdma_to_gsm_patch_for_verizon_phones_v3.3_by_mentor] and that let me use my network just fine.
Oh and just incase any other newbies are interested, for GAPPS I used [pa_gapps-modular-pico-4.4.4-20141207-signed] and it works great, just the bare minimum google stuff.
P.S. @mo0n_sniper thank you for your hacker keyboard, I have that running. Can I ask, is there a way to do an exclamation mark without moving both my thumbs over to the left side of the keyboard to hold [shift] and [1]?
Thank you guys, it feels so good to be back on a solid keyboard!
Elanzer said:
Slimkat or latest official CM11 snapshot. I personally use Slimkat with Apex launcher for the low memory usage.
CM12 is close to DD-able, but it has a few bugs and lollipop doesn't bring our phone much over the 4.4.4 roms with ART enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I ask what version of slimkat you are running? I had a look but had no idea what to go for. Also what is ART and how does one enable it? Thanks
rattymon said:
May I ask what version of slimkat you are running? I had a look but had no idea what to go for. Also what is ART and how does one enable it? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?a=show&w=files&flid=8820 from this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2491855
8.10 is the latest. ART is a new compiler for Android, basically enabling it makes programs load faster as everything is pre-compiled instead of compiled-at-run. It's enabled by default on Android 5.0, but you can turn it on in developer options in 4.4.
Rattymon if u change Safestrap to BootMenu Manager (and Patch it) you can use Cyan11 on unused partitions (like /webtop) and you save a lot of memory (on /sdcard)
Fervi
Do any of you have any problems with the screen?
I bough a D4 from ebay, but the screen on it is just awfull, even compared to my crapiest phones.
I have a very bad ghosting effect. Is there any way to make it better?
Oh and BTW, right now Im using CM12, working great.
BFG9000D said:
Do any of you have any problems with the screen?
I bough a D4 from ebay, but the screen on it is just awfull, even compared to my crapiest phones.
I have a very bad ghosting effect. Is there any way to make it better?
Oh and BTW, right now Im using CM12, working great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, the screen is naturally crappy like that and there's no way to fix it. Almost all reviewers of the Droid 4 remarked on it's poor screen. I've ordered a Motorola Photon Q with modded sim slot to replace my Droid 4, since it seems like there isn't going to be any Droid 5 anytime soon..
Elanzer said:
Nah, the screen is naturally crappy like that and there's no way to fix it. Almost all reviewers of the Droid 4 remarked on it's poor screen. I've ordered a Motorola Photon Q with modded sim slot to replace my Droid 4, since it seems like there isn't going to be any Droid 5 anytime soon..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you have both phones, can you compare the screens and the bulkiness of each one and tell me if the upgrade is worth it?
I have a kinda broken milestone 1 and its build quality is way better, and also it doesnt feel that heavy on my pocket.
BFG9000D said:
When you have both phones, can you compare the screens and the bulkiness of each one and tell me if the upgrade is worth it?
I have a kinda broken milestone 1 and its build quality is way better, and also it doesnt feel that heavy on my pocket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. It's going to be a month or so before I get the Photon Q though, as it's getting mailed from the seller in USA to czech republic for modding then to canada to me. Their form factors are almost the same, the things that will make the upgrade worth it are reduced bezel on the display and the CPU/GPU in the Photon Q is nearly twice as fast. A sim modded photon Q is also definitely more "region free" than a Droid 4 in the sense that you can use it on any american provider as well. When I go down to the US I can't actually use my Droid 4 at all because the roaming is not linked to Verizon, so I get forced to bring another device with me.
They will both be bricks with a case on them, but that's the cost of having a nice keyboard.
Just got my Photon Q modded by CornholioGSM for the SIM slot. He did an excellent job and the slot actually looks like it came from the factory.
For the most part I agree with this guy who's also done a comparison between the Droid 4 and Photon Q: http://forum.xda-developers.com/photon-q-4g-lte/general/photon-q-vs-droid-4-mini-review-t2991956
Build quality is far better on the Photon Q. Buttons feel better and general feel in hand is better. The slider kind of springs all the way open after you've opened it half way which feels nicer than the Droid 4 that requires you to push it all the way. The screen is -a lot- better and doesn't have that noticeable ghosting that the Droid 4 has. The software buttons take up some of the screen space vs hardware on the Droid 4, but in full-screened applications (ie: movie players) the buttons are hidden so you can utilize the 0.3in larger screen, although resolution of the 2 phones is the same 960x540. I also noticed that the Photon Q has pocket detection, I've never seen my Droid 4 instantly turn on the moment I pulled it out of my pocket, but this may be a CarbonROM function on my Photon Q.
Performance difference is night and day. Boot time is roughly 1/3 of the Droid 4. Everything opens quite fast and multitasking is easy. Skype in particular took anywhere from 2-3 seconds to load the interface, while on Photon Q it's less than a second. Camera opens instantly on Photon Q instead of waiting 2-3 seconds like Droid 4. For some reason, the camera has always been very slow for me on the Droid 4 regardless of what ROM I'm using. Quality of pictures is better also, seems easier to get a focused picture.
Ran a few benchmarks..
Droid 4 (Lucize JBX kernel, Slimkat 4.4.4 ART):
Antutu (5.6.1)
Stock (1.2GHz CPU, 307MHz GPU): 14776
Overclocked (1.4GHz CPU, 384MHz GPU: 18296
Geekbench
Stock: 342 single / 636 multi
Overclocked: 394 single / 737 multi
Photon Q 4G (arrrghhh kernel, CarbonROM 4.4.4 ART)
Antutu (5.6.1)
Stock (1.5GHz CPU, 400MHz GPU): 19122
Overclocked (2.0GHz CPU, 480MHz GPU): 21130
Geekbench
Stock: 495 single / 792 multi
Overclocked: 521 single / 832 multi
On Antutu, Photon Q has roughly 50% faster CPU scores, and 100% faster GPU scores. For whatever reason, Photon Q does not gain much from overclocking, while Droid 4 gets a good boost. The storage score is also 50% less than the Droid 4, but since Photon Q has only 8gb internal storage you will probably put most things on SD.. this would be why the Antutu scores are so close, individual scores show the Photon Q is much faster.
It's a shame Motorola never properly marketed either phone to a global audience. Droid 4 being stuck on Verizon in US, and Photon Q being stuck on Sprint (unless modded). Photon Q has almost no value, mine was $70 brand new but I have seen them for $20... which is quite funny because it has the same chipset as the US Galaxy S3 that still sells for about $150 on ebay for some reason.
after struggling to find a fully functional droid 4 from ebay again i considered a photon Q only to learn that its impossible to use it on verizon so droid 4 is the only option for me because im not giving up the unlimited data
everything looks nice except the lack of hardware keys on the screen so pretty jealous.
im assuming the photon q only has 3g outside of sprint like the droid 4 outside of verizon?
Puppymang said:
after struggling to find a fully functional droid 4 from ebay again i considered a photon Q only to learn that its impossible to use it on verizon so droid 4 is the only option for me because im not giving up the unlimited data
everything looks nice except the lack of hardware keys on the screen so pretty jealous.
im assuming the photon q only has 3g outside of sprint like the droid 4 outside of verizon?
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Unfortunately, the Photon Q has a Sprint sim hard-soldered to the board, it doesn't even have a sim slot out of the box, so you can't use the phone at all in any other country unless it's roaming from Sprint.
There is a modification you can do to the phone (or have someone else to do it, CornholioGSM did mine for a 70 euro donation) that consists of removing the sprint-sim and installing a sim slot on the board. The Photon Q with sim mod is completely unlocked and the photon Q also has an unlockable bootloader unlike the Droid 4. It should work on Verizon as it supports all the same CDMA/GSM bands as the Droid 4, however you won't get LTE because the photon Q uses an incompatible band.