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ATT captivate users: is it worth upgrading to the Atrix?

Long story short, I can upgrade my phone every 8-12 months for the subsidized price. I bought my captivate when it came out, and im up for another upgrade if I want.
I've been waiting for the next really good android phone for ATT, and this looks like the one to get.
My only worry is if its not that huge of an upgrade over my captivate, and if I should just wait a few more months (maybe 6)
Also will the Atrix have a following as large as the captivates on XDA.

If it doesn't bother you that it can't upload worth a damn (no hsupa, recently revealed), and if you're itching to buy a phone now even though att could be getting more good ones within an unknown but potentially tolerable amount of time...
whatever you do, contract time is google voice porting time. Don't drop that ball.

Wait to see what developers cook up in the atrix forums.

Holding out for the Nexus S if you're a Google fanatic, could show up soon, made it through the fcc for att recently.

I agree with xdahgary, wait to see what the devs can do with the atrix. the reason i got into android was for the great community but if motorola takes the community out of the equation then it isn't worth it to me.

Yea I'd probably wait to see what the devs can do to the atrix ... I'm debating whether to get the atrix or nexus s.... any idea when the nexus s will be release for att??
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

If available money was of no concern,
I'd go to best buy and get the unlocked NS without the bloat. No contract, can take it to T-Mo if I don't like what ATT is doing with their plan offerings.

typical american consumerism at it's best!
a new $500 phone twice/ year...
you should start buying american products, get some jobs back,...

No 3g for the current nexus s afaik isn't that y we're all waiting for the att version
Sent from my Supernova laced Captivate using XDA App

Whoops double post.
Sent from my Supernova laced Captivate using XDA App

If what I'm reading is correct, you're likely to never have custom kernels with the Atrix.
The Captivate would be a pile of **** without custom kernels. Voodoo sound, voodoo lag fix, voodoo color, overclock, undervolt, embedded cwm recovery, etc.
Sent from my Captivate.

+1 on the wait to see what happens with the atrix. motorola builds a decent piece of hardware and with it's shear processing power it cant be slow and the huge battery is either a sign that battery life wont suffer or that running two cores makes it a serious battery sucker.
if you think you can ever be satisfied with a stock phone then sure get the atrix but for many of us the tinkering is an addiction so if that's the case with you i'd wait to see what the developers create for it. samsung makes it too easy to flash. im personally waiting to see the infuse but if it turns out to be single core and has the same graphics chip ill wait till my contract is up to upgrade. if htc could make the desire hd/inspire thinner like a galaxy s i'd get that even though it's not exactly ground breaking at this point in time.

MikeyMike01 said:
The Captivate would be a pile of **** without custom kernels. Voodoo sound, voodoo lag fix, voodoo color, overclock, undervolt, embedded cwm recovery, etc.
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Substitute all that last part with "fixes from private forum developers" and you could say that with just about any phone released in the past 8 years...
I'm not even looking at the atrix, motorola has always been B rated tech.
http://galaxys2.samsungmobile.com/html/

Trusselo said:
typical american consumerism at it's best!
a new $500 phone twice/ year...
you should start buying american products, get some jobs back,...
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Click to collapse
the man likes phones, and wants to buy a new one... nothing wrong with that... isnt that why were all here? im sorry you dont have the $$$ for a new phone and want to bash him... how he spends his money is not your business... btw if you're gonna talk trash about america you better be from here...

Reefermattness said:
Substitute all that last part with "fixes from private forum developers" and you could say that with just about any phone released in the past 8 years...
I'm not even looking at the atrix, motorola has always been B rated tech.
http://galaxys2.samsungmobile.com/html/
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looks like the infuse falls under the galaxy s 2 and is not just a slightly tweaked galaxy s. definately getting it. too many features line up for it not to be a galaxy s 2 even though only the clock speed was anounced i am now nearly certain that the infuse is infact dual core. good stuff

edit - drunk again
Reefermattness said:
Substitute all that last part with "fixes from private forum developers" and you could say that with just about any phone released in the past 8 years...
I'm not even looking at the atrix, motorola has always been B rated tech.
http://galaxys2.samsungmobile.com/html/
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these are 8yr old phones...
http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/date/q1-2003.html

previous post changed, im horrible with time... I agree Motorola has fallen off... and if it werent for them adopting and coddling android they would have fallen off even worse... but the old samsungs were pretty terrible... bad os, hard to unlock, hardware problems... they were too focused on tv's maybe... motorola and nokia used to rule the cell world... now they suck... only htc has been strong enough to develop top handsets their entire existence... and quite hackable... i never thought once id own a samsung, but they have come around... tv's too... can't count out the rest though, once you think someone's down, they get back up...

Honestly Motorolla phones as I've noticed tend to be quite laggy, maybe the Atrix will be the one to break that trend with the dual-core proccessor but then again wouldn't a samsung dual-core be even less laggy? The captivate still has some time before it falls below top-tier (with custom ROMs that is) Stick it out, By the end of the year I've heard rumors of quad-core... here's to hoping

DesignGears is "testing"an Atrix phone
Sent from my Samsung Captivate with Perception 10.4, Firebird2 v0.9 #80 Kernel, Firmware 2.2.1, Modem T9000UGJK4 using XDA App

RDI said:
DesignGears is "testing"an Atrix phone
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So?
Sent from my Captivate.

Droid4? LTE...

I'm going to be pissed if this comes out soon. I just got my D3 a few months ago
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/27/motorola-droid-4-exposed-to-our-wandering-eyes-comes-with-lte-i/

If this is true my D3 will hit ebay and I'll buy a nexus. This is just bad business, asinine.
I don't see how they can do this to consumers and think it's okay. I signed an additional 2 years onto my 1 year for this phone, just to be ****ed in the ass 3 months later. I will not buy anything but nexus in the future. One phone a year, like it's supposed to be.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/10/27/exclusive-first-pictures-of-the-droid4-by-motorola/
Can see VZ bloatware on one of the pics -- would assume this is fairly close. Moto/VZ appear to be really jerking around customers these days - I am sure Bionic customers are upset that the Droid RAZR came out so quickly (although the gap between Bionic and RAZR is much smaller), and now us Droid 3'ers have this Droid 4 coming out. I am more interested in how much RAM this thing has - LTE still sucks down too much battery life for my taste, and non-removable battery is non-ideal - I like the the slim Motorola extended batteries - the 1900 mah one for Droid 3 adds essentially no thickness and lasts a lot longer than stock 1500.

Rlin5741 said:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/10/27/exclusive-first-pictures-of-the-droid4-by-motorola/
Can see VZ bloatware on one of the pics -- would assume this is fairly close. Moto/VZ appear to be really jerking around customers these days - I am sure Bionic customers are upset that the Droid RAZR came out so quickly (although the gap between Bionic and RAZR is much smaller), and now us Droid 3'ers have this Droid 4 coming out. I am more interested in how much RAM this thing has - LTE still sucks down too much battery life for my taste, and non-removable battery is non-ideal - I like the the slim Motorola extended batteries - the 1900 mah one for Droid 3 adds essentially no thickness and lasts a lot longer than stock 1500.
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Non removable battery is an instant do not want from me also, but I'm just pissed about this ****. I will never buy another motorola phone, I'm done. Give me Nexus or give me death.

I paid full retail for this phone right when it came out, I'm pretty pissed. If that comes out within the next few months (from the looks of it, it will) it'll be goodbye moto and hello nexus for me.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

Yeah ill be pretty frustrated @ moto too.... problem is I can't live without a keyboard and for some reason moto is the only company willing to put out higher end keyboard phones

Well, the Nexus looks great (as long as you are ok with something that big - I am not), and I do love the idea of a pure Google experience, but nobody has actually used one; we have no idea how good or bad it will be. And, this is a Samsung phone, and is coming out even closer to the launch of the Samsung Charge than any the presumed D4 is coming to the D3. This is the reality - you reach a point to get an upgrade, you get the upgrade, and you stop worrying whether something slightly better is coming out in a few months - because it is.
I'm ok with a thinner device with non-removable battery - I have chargers everywhere, including in my car, and there are plenty of great portable charging devices that you can get for phones like that. After tons of issue with the Bionic over two weeks dropping data (3G, in areas where I know I have a solid 3G signal), I'm happy to have the D3 for the next 19.5 months, and give plenty of time to Moto and VZW to get LTE truly ready for prime time - because it's not quite there now. The D3 is a great phone and I'll be fine with it; not a single data drop since I've had it, and battery life is about the same as the Bionic (when it was running CDMA only).
I do think that this angle-cornered design of the Razr and this prototype is a bit on the unattractive side, though, compared with the Bionic/D3.

I don't mind that they are putting out another version of the Droid soon. It's a losing battle to have the latest and greatest phone. What bothers me is what will happen to OS updates. Will phones get abandoned quicker?
Also did anyone else notice non-removable battery, looks like I wouldn't buy it. I pay an and a leg for a phone along with a plan and both Verizon and Motorola act like they own your phone. Do they not realize why people buy Android phones? I can upgrade/swap batteries, I can run whatever programs I want, I can add a memory card, etc.

for people like sims and whitty who have been doing a lot of work on the d3 and are being ostracized, i firmly believe this is an idiotic move on moto's side. I'm probably gonna go the nexus route if the d4 drops as soon as everyone is speculating it is. This is some major bs.

At least I have the Transformer Prime to look forward to....
But seriously. Ugh. Waco has no 4G of any kind and won't for years to come so this doesn't affect me too much, but still. This will take away a huge amount of potential users and will piss off all the D3 buyers, especially the ones like me who bought it on full retail.

I hope the D4 will have no global radio, so I will not be tempted. ;-)

Most people won't have 4G for at least another year. By then, that phone will be obsolete, I wouldn't sweat the small stuff.
*If you're not on Gingerbread, you should be shot*

Really, who cares about 4G when the 3G part is not on par with a 3 years old Sonyericsson phone ?

Good God some of you are getting worked up over a phone. It is not a big deal just let it go.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

MrObvious said:
Good God some of you are getting worked up over a phone. It is not a big deal just let it go.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
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It is a big deal because if someone wants a qwerty are they going to buy the 3 or the 4? We'll be left behind with a smaller community, as great as it is. It's just frustrating and I've had it with moto's bull****.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

rweb said:
I hope the D4 will have no global radio, so I will not be tempted. ;-)
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Interesting point, if it does have a GSM radio, this will be the first Global capable phone with LTE. How wold that even work, 2 SIM cards?

Non-replaceable battery will keep it off my list too. I'm in the NYC Metro Area and I know a few people with LTE phones, Bionic, Charge and TB. All have the same complaint, the battery life is horrible and they have constant connection issues. I'm waiting until next year summer-fall when the 2nd or 3rd generation LTE chips come out.

i was pissed then i saw no removable battery the i was like i dont care lol. i choose unlimited 3g over limited 4g any day i got grandfatherd over so its all good

Motorola can't be serious, Droid 3 is only about 4 month old.
And I don't really like the curved design

jellman said:
i was pissed then i saw no removable battery the i was like i dont care lol. i choose unlimited 3g over limited 4g any day i got grandfatherd over so its all good
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If you're on unlimited data now (using 3G), when you switch to a 4G phone you stay on unlimited data (now using 4G).

Do you think the there are too many android phones

I really like my d3 but I feel like its old already with rumors of the d4 so quick and the samsung nexus coming out. It seems that the market is flooded with android phones. Even my friends that have the iphone ask " why are there so many android phones that come so quickly" and I agree with them. I love android and will always have one. When I read things that say android has the market share I can't but wonder if its do the the huge number of android phones. I wish google would grow a pair and stop this. I would love to see just a few android phones " all stock " come out and show people that don't reallly know what a stock android phone is. I think its moto and htc, and samsung messing it all up with there ui's. And because of this is why the d3 will get lost. And its a great phone. Their are a lot of great phones but you buy one and a month later 3 more that are faster bigger come out. The only good thing about all the phones is that they all try to out do the other. So the technology gets better faster. But I would love to see less and more stock phones. Im tiered of explaining moto blur to people. My friends that have the iphone are right when they say what's wrong with stock android that the manfactures have to hide it. They have a good point. But anyway I just thought this needed to be said and now I wait 8 months till my upgrade and then I will get my samsung nexus and im back on stock forever. Also I know that we have roms and your phone can be stock with these but its still not the same.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

Google has little control over whether an OEM skins Android or not - Android is open source, and whuile I believe that they have specific requirements to get the Google market and apps, the OEMs are free to alter the framework. Of course, it is not the OEMs who simply make the phones - they are trying to sell to carriers, who also have specific demands for specific features (i.e., locked down bootloaders, so users will not be able to install apps that do things like offer hotspot service for free, plus carriers get money from software companies to pre-load specific software on the phones.) It is surely not Google who is controlling when specific makers are offering specific models (with the exception of the Nexus models.)
Google does contract with OEMs roughly once per year to make the Nexus devices, which are pure Android phones (Nexus One January 2010; Nexus S in December 2010; Nexus Prime November 2011.)
Are there too many phones? I would rather have too many great phones coming out frequently than too few phones coming out less frequently. Seriously, even with a Droid 4 coming out 6 months after a Droid 3 (if the release is indeed that tight), the Droid 3 hasn't suddenly become a terrible phone. It's a dual-core OMAP 1 GHz phone with 512 MB of RAM and a very high dpi high resolution display with reasonable battery life. This phone will remain usable for all of a typical 20 month Verizon contract commitment, just as the Droid Incredible remains entirely usable now 18 months or so after its first release.
That's my opinion, anyway. I think it's healthier to be happy that there are so many great phones pushing the envelope so frequently than the alternative - having to wait and try to guess the perfect time to upgrade to a new device. Choice can be hard, but I'd rather be able to choose between many, many models of cars than have Chevy, Ford, Toyota, etc. come out with a single model each every year.
Apple's way is very smart for them, but they do not have to compete with other OEMs making iOS phones. Android OEMs do need to be mindful of each other, and I think both ways are fine. If you are worried that too many phones are being released too fast, then by all means, switch to an iPhone and you'll be able to relax more, or simply buy whichever Nexus device is available at the time you are able or want to upgrade, as they are also now on an approximate yearly cycle. If you have to switch to another carrier to do so, that will surely send a message to the carrier that you are using that if they wanted to keep your business, they should have offered a Nexus device of their own.

Very good points. Just makes me a little mad that I get a phone and and one that I would rather have comes out a few months later. But then again I did not know that at the time. I just nee to maybe wait before jumping in. I do think that the samsung nexus will be the best selling phone of all time. I think that will send a measage to the carriers that stock it always better. I would like to think that stock it better now that 4.0 is out.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

This is the point that technology is at man. Every company is going to make devices that cater to each type of person. These smartphones really haven't been out long if you think about it in relative terms. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years we start seeing the smartphones get narrowed down into a few types of droids and of course 1 or 2 ugly step cousins made by that Apple company.
So to answer your question, yea, there may be a big selection of phones out there and by the time you get used to using one it is already outdated, but that's part of the fun of being at the edge of how far technology has gotten us.

I don't think the problem lies with too many phones but personally I think the carriers and OEMs are taking way too much advantage over the position that they are in.
When I bought my OG Droid, I went with a one year contract because I knew that soon enough a new phone would be out to replace it. This turned out to be incorrect as that was when Android phones were still in their adolescence.
In July, when I finally decided it was time to upgrade to the Droid 3, Verizon no longer offered a one-year contract and there was no sign of a QWERTY slider coming out for awhile. So I felt confident in choosing the Droid 3...
Here I sit, 4 months into a 2-year contract, the Droid 4 is on the horizon and my only option when it comes out is to buy it at full non-subsidized price. Which brings me to my next point...
Why are the non-contract prices SO high for these devices?! The cost of production and materials cannot be THAT high to warrant such a price. Add in the fact that the Operating System (Minus Blur/Sense/Etc) is "free" (to an extent).
To me it just seems like if we want to go with a prepaid, non-contract carrier we have to pay a really high price for a good phone. But when we go to a contract carrier, we are stuck for two years (unless you pay $300+ to cancel the contract) and when a new device comes out we must simply ignore it or cough up $600-700.
Am I wrong or is this the truth? Pardon my rant.

I think Android phones are being released insanely fast. There was a time when I'd read about all of them but now it seems like 3-4 new phones are announced every damn day. And they're ALL the same. Dual-Core, 4G, Gingerbread.

Ya they are all the same for the most part. That's what I don't like. Just wish the carriers would slow down, and focuse on one or two phones. Just can't wait till my upgrade comes. Just afraid that the different ui's will be not be good for android. People need to know what android looks like. Its not blur or sense and those ui's slow phones down a bit aswell.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

spacecasespiff said:
Ya they are all the same for the most part. That's what I don't like. Just wish the carriers would slow down, and focuse on one or two phones. Just can't wait till my upgrade comes. Just afraid that the different ui's will be not be good for android. People need to know what android looks like. Its not blur or sense and those ui's slow phones down a bit aswell.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
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Google needs to put it's foot down and say no more skins. Skins should come as flashable roms from Moto or HTC, etc.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

Androidsims said:
Google needs to put it's foot down and say no more skins. Skins should come as flashable roms from Moto or HTC, etc.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
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No it doesn't. It completely goes against what makes Android so good. Developers like being able to brand their phones, something they can't do under Windows Phone and obviously IOS. Flashable roms would just be confusing and potentially unstable for the average consumer.

Ya but people don't know what android looks like because of these skins. People think that blur is android and its not. Goggle should at least tell then to have more phones that are stock. Why hide android? Most people put roms on there phones to get rid of the skins. I know that's what I do.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

spacecasespiff said:
Most people put roms on there phones to get rid of the skins.
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This is probably true of people who mod their phone, but definitely not true of Android users as a whole. I would guess that less then 10% of Android users actually mod their phones. While it's a small sample, out of the 9 people I know personally that own Android phones, only 2 of them have modded it, and they only did it because I did it for them because they complained of the phone being too slow (Droid 1's). Although both recently upgraded to iphones.
The bottom line is the majority of Android users don't care about what their phone looks like or what Android truly looks like. The same way I don't care about whats under the hood of my car. A car gets me from point A to point B, what makes that happen is irrelevant to me. All I care is if the car is visually appealing to me. And maybe more recently MPG, because of the cost of gas is so god damn high.

Well the nice thing is, as long as XDA exists then we will always have a more current phone. If my Droid 3 would have not crapped out on me because of the screen I would still be using it at 1 GHz with the latest Gingerbread. Once we figure out how to mod the D3 better and better and if we do ever get the unlocked bootloader then our phones will still be just as current as the Nexus Prime or whatever is newer and better.
The specs of this phone despite not being 4G are good because the CPU and RAM are up there with the currently released high end phones (except the RAZR). We already have some good custom ROMs out there and I'm sure we will get ICS soon enough thanks to Hash.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

MrObvious said:
Well the nice thing is, as long as XDA exists then we will always have a more current phone. If my Droid 3 would have not crapped out on me because of the screen I would still be using it at 1 GHz with the latest Gingerbread. Once we figure out how to mod the D3 better and better and if we do ever get the unlocked bootloader then our phones will still be just as current as the Nexus Prime or whatever is newer and better.
The specs of this phone despite not being 4G are good because the CPU and RAM are up there with the currently released high end phones (except the RAZR). We already have some good custom ROMs out there and I'm sure we will get ICS soon enough thanks to Hash.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
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The processor is good but the RAM is definitely lacking. 512MB is just not enough, the phone with stock stuff installed has a pretty terrible multi-tasking experience. Honestly I think the 512 is the reason why Motorola hasn't flagged it for an ICS update yet, because other than that it's basically the same phone as the Bionic/Razr and probably wouldn't be too hard to port.

i4mt3hwin said:
The processor is good but the RAM is definitely lacking. 512MB is just not enough, the phone with stock stuff installed has a pretty terrible multi-tasking experience. Honestly I think the 512 is the reason why Motorola hasn't flagged it for an ICS update yet, because other than that it's basically the same phone as the Bionic/Razr and probably wouldn't be too hard to port.
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No the software is just that bad.

i4mt3hwin said:
The processor is good but the RAM is definitely lacking. 512MB is just not enough, the phone with stock stuff installed has a pretty terrible multi-tasking experience. Honestly I think the 512 is the reason why Motorola hasn't flagged it for an ICS update yet, because other than that it's basically the same phone as the Bionic/Razr and probably wouldn't be too hard to port.
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512 MB will be fine for ICS, I am sure, as the Nexus S will be getting ICS with worse specs than the D3 (i.e., single-core CPU).
It's very possible that Moto and/or VZW will not want to take the time to develop ICS for the D3, or push it out, but it won't be because it has "only" 512 MB of RAM.

doogald said:
512 MB will be fine for ICS, I am sure, as the Nexus S will be getting ICS with worse specs than the D3 (i.e., single-core CPU).
It's very possible that Moto and/or VZW will not want to take the time to develop ICS for the D3, or push it out, but it won't be because it has "only" 512 MB of RAM.
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The Nexus S doesn't have a ton of bloatware on it. Verizon will have to port all the applications that are stock loaded with the Droid 3 2.3.4 build over to ICS. I'm going to go ahead and assume that ICS probably uses more RAM than gingerbread. Couple that with the crap software Verizon loads on the phone and there is definitely a case for ram being an issue. I mean the stock phone blows as is, run maps and music and it slows to a crawl.

I think the over abundance of Android phones can be disheartening at first glance, but when you think about it, remember back a few years to when the original razr was the hot phone. After owning it for two years, you go in to get an upgrade to find that the best phone on the market is still a razr, but now it can play mp3s. If you use your head, you realize that all of these people who are worried about having the latest and greatest phone and go out to buy it as it is released still have a perfectly good "last month" phone. Hello Ebay. I saved my upgrade and bought a one month old D3 off ebay for $300. Use your upgrades when the RIGHT phone comes out, until then pick up the scraps from ebay at half price. Remember, even a used phone from ebay still carries a mfg warranty.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

I agree with OP that there are too many Android phones and not enough variety. i think the main difference is that while the iPhone was originally locked to one market, Android phones were everywhere. Each carrier had their own version of each phone made by each manufacturer, not to mention their individual contracts for certain phones that ended up getting out to other carriers eventually (i.e. Evo). My issue is there isn't much variety, yeah they have small upgrades here and there and small differences but the main thing is once a 1ghz 4.3" screen came out, every company made one. Once dual core came out, every company made one. Not much innovation imo, just keeping up with the competition. And I still don't understand why there are barely any QWERTY keyboards, another reason why it seems like most of the phones coming out are the same.
For me it all has began to come down to the looks department. I know I want a QWERTY so i had limited options, but even if it was an all touch screen you look for one that you can live with looking at every day and bite the bullet. Chances are everyone else will have one with similar specs just different body design.

[Q] Tell me a made a good move

So yesterday was my birthday and my wife told me I could get a new phone. I am the previous owner of a Revolution. I actually kind of liked it especially once I rooted it and flashed gingervolt. I keep hearing that this phone is a massive upgrade from the revolution and I hope it is true. Did I make a good move by getting the bionic or should I have gotten the Razr or something. What should I do to my phone now that I have it and how. I hate to be a noob all over again but the dev on this is completely dif. Thanks alot guys!!!

Well you didn't make a necessarily "bad" move. I have a Bionic, Tbolt, and a Razr and I use the Bionic. Its a great phone.
Look at the Thunderbolt or Bionic thread in this forum.

Noob_In_Recovery said:
So yesterday was my birthday and my wife told me I could get a new phone. I am the previous owner of a Revolution. I actually kind of liked it especially once I rooted it and flashed gingervolt. I keep hearing that this phone is a massive upgrade from the revolution and I hope it is true. Did I make a good move by getting the bionic or should I have gotten the Razr or something. What should I do to my phone now that I have it and how. I hate to be a noob all over again but the dev on this is completely dif. Thanks alot guys!!!
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Click to collapse
I had a Revolution and a Charge before getting the BIONIC and it is the best phone I have had, the Motorola radios are fantastic and get great reception. It is also easy to root using motofail http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1497690 and I would recommend http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1327695 the Eclipse 2.2 Rom if you decide to mod. This is a GREAT phone
If I helped you please don't forget to click on the "Thanks" button below.
Rod

The Razr is slightly better in specs but I don't think at this point, that makes too much of a difference. They're pretty much getting the same roms from what I've seen.
I think it comes down to preference. Do you prefer a skinney phone or something with some bulk? For me personally, I like having the bulk of the bionic.
As far as talk about the bionic being outdated, that's a little over exaggerated. While it's not the newest and most up to date, it's still far from being outdated. Considering Motorola hasn't released ICS yet, the its best days of rom development are still to come.
On a side note, get used to using rootzwiki and droidhive to find a lot of things that you will need.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

I have no upgrade available to me, I'd have to buy this phone outright (that $499). Would you get this phone?
I current have a Droid Charge and the biggest limitation of this phone that I have right now is the limited RAM (only 512 MB) and the single-core CPU.

trparky said:
I have no upgrade available to me, I'd have to buy this phone outright (that $499). Would you get this phone?
I current have a Droid Charge and the biggest limitation of this phone that I have right now is the limited RAM (only 512 MB) and the single-core CPU.
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Click to collapse
I would still get the Bionic.

trparky said:
I have no upgrade available to me, I'd have to buy this phone outright (that $499). Would you get this phone?
I current have a Droid Charge and the biggest limitation of this phone that I have right now is the limited RAM (only 512 MB) and the single-core CPU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure you can get on Craigslist and buy one for around $200-250 if you want to go that route. Some people jumped on the nexus bandwagon.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

Coming from a Sprint Photon, with dual core and moto radios, I was still impressed with the speed of the phone, and with Verizon's service in my area.
Good decision!

ONLY BUY NEW. Craigslist is bogus. Don't waste your time
Sent from my Iced Bionic

coldhardtruth said:
ONLY BUY NEW. Craigslist is bogus. Don't waste your time
Sent from my Iced Bionic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also own the Bionic and the Tbolt.
I got my Bionic on Craigslist from a local guy and it was mint and still using it today.
Nothing wrong with Craigslist.
Just do your homework and check the phone out. If you feel better meeting at at Verizon store and get it checked out there do that. I sold a droid phone and they wanted to do that and I had no issue with it because I knew I was selling a working phone. If they are not willing to do that I would stay away...

Coming from a Droid x I can say that the bionic is the truth
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

kendive said:
I also own the Bionic and the Tbolt.
I got my Bionic on Craigslist from a local guy and it was mint and still using it today.
Nothing wrong with Craigslist.
Just do your homework and check the phone out. If you feel better meeting at at Verizon store and get it checked out there do that. I sold a droid phone and they wanted to do that and I had no issue with it because I knew I was selling a working phone. If they are not willing to do that I would stay away...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have purchased a "LG Revolution+ then upgraded to a Verizon DROID Charge" and then finally moved up to a "BIONIC". All purchased off craigslist and never any issues. I also insist on meeting at a Verizon store and no funds change hands until I am happy with the purchase and the Verizon rep has activated and given it a clean bill of health. I will continue to buy of craigslist in the future.

I was switched from the Rev to the Razr to the Bionic. VZ put a lot of support into getting me a phone that would do PC data correctly.
In contrasting the three phones: the Rev's receiver appears to be most sensitive and the power meter works correctly, the battery usage is the highest (unacceptable); the Razr would not stay in my hand, it has the best display contrast, the Maxx would be the right product (right size and longest battery life), it suffered with wi-fi bugs, there were lots of user keyboard command stalls; the Boinic has very good battery life (can be left on overnight), connector placement is better than Razr, excellent audio quality, and by the time I received the Bionic new firmware came out and fixed the wi-fi bug.
The Rev was a good phone but in my view LG doesn't put the effort into fixing firmware bugs, compared to Motorola. The usability of the Bionic is more westernized.
It appears that the current new product strategy is to release known bugs and support any customer who takes issue with a bug. In reading this forum you can see how the digital data wi-fi bugs were released and how it affected "our" view of the devices. All three devices I listed had these problems.
Lets be honest "it is all about the money". With world wide shipments over 100 million a month all the manufactures want those early shipment dollars. Historically those are the highest profit dollars available.
Another thing to consider (my guess) is that the Bionic production line is steaming along pumping out products to be sold, the Razr line is doing the same. So it would be a big income hit for Motorola to obsolete the Boinic, and Moto would only want to do so if the two products were competing for limit manufacturing resources which is highly unlikely.
It appears is that Motorola has at least two products in the Bionic and Razr that utilize mostly the same firmware so they can double dip into the world smartphone sales with highly leveraged after sales firmware support. That is the kind of move to put them back into number one in sales again.

I've bought many things off of Craigslist and only ever bought one bad thing which was a redring Xbox. Bought all my kids iPod touches from Craigslist, bought 3 cars, my android tablet, a blackberry , a different Xbox, and some other things without any problems.
I'm sorry to hear that not everyone has had a positive experience from Craigslist. You just have to check out what you buy first. Another good thing about Craigslist is that many times you can talk the person down on their original price. I'm always talking them down $10-20 on the iPod touches.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

sgschwend said:
I was switched from the Rev to the Razr to the Bionic. VZ put a lot of support into getting me a phone that would do PC data correctly.
In contrasting the three phones: the Rev's receiver appears to be most sensitive and the power meter works correctly, the battery usage is the highest (unacceptable); the Razr would not stay in my hand, it has the best display contrast, the Maxx would be the right product (right size and longest battery life), it suffered with wi-fi bugs, there were lots of user keyboard command stalls; the Boinic has very good battery life (can be left on overnight), connector placement is better than Razr, excellent audio quality, and by the time I received the Bionic new firmware came out and fixed the wi-fi bug.
The Rev was a good phone but in my view LG doesn't put the effort into fixing firmware bugs, compared to Motorola. The usability of the Bionic is more westernized.
It appears that the current new product strategy is to release known bugs and support any customer who takes issue with a bug. In reading this forum you can see how the digital data wi-fi bugs were released and how it affected "our" view of the devices. All three devices I listed had these problems.
Lets be honest "it is all about the money". With world wide shipments over 100 million a month all the manufactures want those early shipment dollars. Historically those are the highest profit dollars available.
Another thing to consider (my guess) is that the Bionic production line is steaming along pumping out products to be sold, the Razr line is doing the same. So it would be a big income hit for Motorola to obsolete the Boinic, and Moto would only want to do so if the two products were competing for limit manufacturing resources which is highly unlikely.
It appears is that Motorola has at least two products in the Bionic and Razr that utilize mostly the same firmware so they can double dip into the world smartphone sales with highly leveraged after sales firmware support. That is the kind of move to put them back into number one in sales again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. My outlook on the razr and the bionic is that it gives the user a choice between a bulky phone or a skinny phone. Some people prefer the bulk, and others prefer it to be thin. This allows Motorola to cover both markets. The difference in their specs is minor compared to the difference between the bionic and the revolution (or any of the previous Verizon androids released) so whichever you choose will be better than what you had.
From what I've seen over the past 3 years of owning an Android, Motorola is one of the, if not the, best in supporting their Android devices. They also tend to have better battery life. Now if we could only get them to unlock the bootloader so we could attract some of the HTC rom developers over. Nothing wrong with having more variety in rom selection.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

Battery/LTE: Every phone has its tradeoffs

I am reading a lot of bemoaning with regards to what is considered poor battery life on the Nexus 4 based on comparisons made by Anandtech's review, and I feel that people are forgetting the golden rule of smartphones. That rule being that every phone has at least one 'fatal flaw' that you have to accept when you finally purchase that device. I feel like this thread will put things into perspective for those who just want to have it all. Reality is what it is, I'm not saying you should settle and give in to sub-ideal phones, but hey if you need a phone you need a phone, ideals and wishes won't make phone calls or grab your emails for you.
Let's start with the iPhone 5. Firstly, it's iOS and all its annoying ecosystem that surely every Android enthusiast has distaste for in some way or another. I'm pretty sure that rules it out alone and causes us think "Well who cares how long the battery lasts if I hate using the thing. Pass." It does have great battery life on LTE, quality construction, more accessories than you can shake a stick at, etc etc, but it's still iOS. No LTE in my area either but hey not the phone's fault.
Onto the HTC One X, which is a good phone in many regards but still has those 'fatal flaws.' It costs $465.50 (6 months after launch) unlocked which isn't too heinous but it isn't pentaband GSM keeping you from 3G/HSPA+ on T-mobile or whatever random 1700 band International carriers there are in the world. Also has frequent wifi antenna problems for many. It only sports 1 GB of ram. It is not pure Android, HTC Sense is hated by many, can be replaced with a custom rom, which is very good. Curious how the HTC one X (1800 mah) did better than the S3 (2100 mah).
Motorola Razr M. I rather like the physical feel of this phone, but with 4.0 ICS, nowhere to buy it unlocked, 1 GB of ram, and less dev support than these other phones I wouldn't consider it strongly.
Next the Motorola Razr i. Only has 4.0.4 ICS, 1 GB of ram, $498.50 unlocked also with no 1700 band support. Screen is probably not in the HTC One X leagues either.
Skipping a few brings me to the Motorola Photon Q. Obviously this thing is only for QWERTY lovers, of which I am not. Hey it probably kicks ass though if that's your thing. Oh but wait, you can only get it from carriers which means you'll be signing a contract. Wuh-oh no dice, that ain't nice.
LG Optimus G... Locked bootloader. (I held one and went "eww" but that's a personal thing), A year after ICS was released, Jellybean has been out for months, and yet LG releases this 'flagship' phone with ICS, tsk tsk. No 1700 band, 545.50 Unlocked. Only one of the versions has a micro-sd slot too, bizarro.
Galaxy S3! Personally the T-999 T-mobile Galaxy S3 is my personal choice over the Nexus 4. BUT Problems?!!? For me it was price at $550, the build quality of the phone, and the physical big home button. I've read too many reports of them cracking on their own (while in Otterbox Defender cases or whatever other big boxy tank armor people buy) because of the crappy plastic used and also overheating during usage or charging. A phone's screen shouldn't break on it's own sitting on your desk. Those issues are rather personal so really the problem is price for a 6 month old phone.
Anyway enough of this, there are many things which aren't negatives to some and other things that definitely are negatives that I haven't included, such as motorola camera quality or something along those lines.
Honestly, where can you buy a 299 or 349 dollar unlocked smartphone with the latest hardware (except that 5" panel on the HTC DNA), latest Android OS which is also vanilla, predictably tons of dev support, and isn't a plastic pile of junk? Although the Nexus is lacking LTE, enough storage for many, less than best battery life, and whatever other gripes there are out there. Also the benchmarks are meh, personally I could care less how fast it runs a benchmark. There gets to be a point where speed no longer matters, sort of like the difference between 100 FPS and 400 FPS when playing a video game or watching a movie. I mean if the phone can load apps faster than the Optimus G by .001 seconds who really cares? It's about real world usage to me, not benchmark scores. That's me though and I realize that isn't everyone's opinion.
So anyway if someone wants more storage and awesome battery but doesn't care about being forced into a contract, they won't mind getting a Razr Maxx HD. But if another person wants to avoid contracts, have the freedom to use their phone internationally even, with the latest operating system the Nexus 4 is the best bet because of the price with the S3 tailing behind it due to custom roms.
Someone could assign a point value to every category and rate phones across the board, but the amount of points per category, or rather the importance of certain traits over others, is totally independent for each person out there shopping for a device.
Long story short here, every phone has its drawbacks and issues, it's a question of which has the least amount of flaws when weighing the needs/desires of the consumer.
The Nexus 4 does the best job of fitting my needs, but it isn't perfect. I doubt any phone ever will be, but that's beside the point. The point is what is here and now available to chose from. The point is that battery benchmark graph that I can't link due to lack of posts. I would have never bought a Nexus 4 like I did if the price wasn't so good. If it were 600 dollars I would have passed and held out for custom roms to keep me afloat on the latest version of Android.
(If you're pissed I made a thread about this don't reply telling me that. Just let it sink to the bottom of the forum to rot and die.)
Thanks and happy phone hunting.

The optimus g has basically the same hardware specs and gets great battery life. Is it wrong to expect the n4 to get somewhere in the same ballpark? N4 appears to have just average battery life which is odd. I still plan on getting it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I wish I could want an iPhone because honestly I'm tired of rooting and tweaking and iPhone gets great battery no matter what you do.
But I love stock android and honestly I feel like I am chasing a dream. First android phone was epic touch 4g then I rooted awesome battery and ICS skins. Then ICS came out battery life was crap and issues. Ran that way for months. Then jellybean waiting for Samsung kernel horrible performance. Sprint data slow as crap. Then got a gal nex no 4g now slower 3g. LTE is a mile away and it is slow.
Then nexus 4 announced no sprint version leaving sprint for T-Mobile now trying to buy four nexus 4's for the family must wait again.
So at this point if battery life sucks so be it I'm stuck chasing a dream.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Fataldesain said:
I wish I could want an iPhone because honestly I'm tired of rooting and tweaking and iPhone gets great battery no matter what you do.
But I love stock android and honestly I feel like I am chasing a dream. First android phone was epic touch 4g then I rooted awesome battery and ICS skins. Then ICS came out battery life was crap and issues. Ran that way for months. Then jellybean waiting for Samsung kernel horrible performance. Sprint data slow as crap. Then got a gal nex no 4g now slower 3g. LTE is a mile away and it is slow.
Then nexus 4 announced no sprint version leaving sprint for T-Mobile now trying to buy four nexus 4's for the family must wait again.
So at this point if battery life sucks so be it I'm stuck chasing a dream.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, the iPhone sucks without jailbreak. Especially when you are used to Android (even Stock Android) you will miss so many options. You will miss the tweaking (just because iOS sucks already). And btw, the iPhone is small as sh**.. so no wonder it's battery will last longer. How ever, browsing/writing textes is a pain in the ass on the iPhone.
Had the iPhone 3G (omfg) and the 4S.... glad I could sell them on ebay to some brainfart.
And btw: Once you get to jailbreaking your iPhone it's all problems and annoying work.

Battery is a pretty big one for me, as well as storage.. lte not so much, waiting a while to decide but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a note 2 little more expensive but I can prolly get the woman to let me spend my own money on it :good:
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

Don't really need 4G.
See, the problem with the iPhone is, that it's an Apple product.
Apple-Hate aside, what people must realize, if they are in an area that offers 4G connectivity, it will also offer FULL 3G connection. The hypothetical max of HSPA+ is 42mb/s which if you're lucky, you can get close to. Also, TheVerge got 5Mb/s in a Metropolitan area, which is more than sufficient. I leech off StarBucks wifi, getting 450 KB/S and can watch HD video and anything I realistically need.
Please tell me someone, who uses 100% of their 4G.

Yeah once your used to android its hard to leave but my thing is since the iPhone 4 apple has had a smooth working phone with great battery. I have used about 10 android phones and honestly the iPhone 4 runs better than most and it is three years old.
Now things are getting better because the specs are crazy in all these phones. But sometimes I envy the apple sheep because they think they have the best and are satisfied with it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2