Related
I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
They're almost the same. For me the major difference is battery life and spen ... I love to sketch. So I switched. Battery is superb.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
Yumunum said:
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The colors are amazing. I find them just as vibrant as the S2. The only real difference is the pentile display, but the dpi is so high you can't even tell. I find the screen to be far more useful than the S2 with the extra size and resolution.
Battery life wasn't great at first but once I turned off latitude and froze a few samsung apps it got MUCH better. Oh, and using minimum brightness is a major factor too. I wasn't too happy about turning the brightness down but after a day you don't notice it. I just have a widget on the desktop so I can quickly turn up the brightness if I need to.
After using the phone for a bit more, the Note is better in some ares:
-GLONASS satellite system allows it very fast lock in and response, although its not as precise as GPS, maybe 5-10ft off, but realky isn't an issue at all.
-Better PPI, but can see grains if eyes 6" from the screen.
-Screen is slightly brighter.
Cons: Can't operate it one handed at all due to size.
Sound quality is the same, not bad but not great. Same camera I think. Both can get pretty warm, but a case helps.
battery life: qualitatively it seems note lasts longer.
sound quality: equally good but note louder esp on speaker.
heat: i suppose any phone will heat up under stress e.g. video, charging but by and large i have never felt much heat from either.
camera: this is one area note is better than S2. S2 had weird pink hues but this is less noticeable in note. the screen seems to respond better in camera mode for note too.
in short, unless size and portability are major concerns, note is a better get. hope this helps!
comrad said:
I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allrighty.
I currently own both, and can help you out with answering a few things.
I'll start off with something that I haven't seen many if any even, touch base on:
Typing is a dream. I used the stock Gingerbread keyboard on my Galaxy SII as it was the most comfortable one for me, but found it a tad cramped at times and landscape was just too wide to type anything on naturally. On the Note using the same keyboard, I personally had fewer mistakes and found that my typing speed had stayed near dead on to my thumbing on the smaller brother. I'd say it hits that sweet spot for completely comfortable portrait typing.
The sound quality in call is right on par with that of the GSII, dare I say even a little bit better. In any of the time I've spent talking on it, I haven't had an issue and it's clear on the other end.
Battery life is most certainly better. It's not worlds better, but I have no worries that I won't kill my battery come the end of my day and get home, whereas there were days were I was cutting it too close for comfort on the GSII. I'm a light to moderate user, with locally stored music playback anywhere from 1-7 hours, screen on time around 3-4 hours, bluetooth always on (for MBW-150), and no wifi every day.
I've found the software for the camera to be improved. It's not Nexus-fast in terms of snapping off a photo, but it's easily much faster at taking a photo on the Note than the GSII. Image quality and detail is on par with the GSII's snapper.
The Note is the same as the SII in terms of heat. That hasn't changed, but this is only if you're actually working it by playing games or watching HD video. Likewise, it stays cool with regular use, as does the SII.
Screen saturation is almost that of the SII's screen, but not enough to fret about. I've found the colour on the Note's screen to be a touch warmer, but that could very well be because it's a newer screen with less on time than my GSII. Outdoor visibility isn't an issue, at my usual screen brightness of 25% I have no problems making out what's on the screen throughout the day, even in near direct sunlight. This was the same case with it's smaller sibling, so no real differences here.
As a note about the Note's screen (pardon the pun), the screen is fantastic. Flat out. Text, images, and video are easily more crisp and enjoyable to view on the Note than the SII. Because of the high pixel density, you can't even make out the sup pixels while reading unless you bring the phone less than 6" away from your face and even then it's difficult.
I absolutely love my Note. Everyone I've showed it to has had the same reaction: "Wow. It huge!". So it most certainly stands out if that might matter to you. There are times where I miss the GSII for it's size and general 'feel'. It's definitely been tamed and feels a touch more responsive while moving through the OS, and the light weight was always a plus. There have been times where my hand was slightly fatigued from holding the Note, but again this really is a two handed device.
To sum it all up, I bought my Galaxy SII in August. I just got my Note about a week ago, never handling or seeing one in real life and I feel it was a worthy enough upgrade. My reasoning is of course biased for my wants in the device, but chances are if you're looking into getting this device, you'll surely be impressed.
It is interesting to see different experiences with SGS2 and Note. I own both, and here is my quick comparison.
Screen - I like the bigger format ( I love the bigger format) but the screen is not as bright as SGS2. White is little bit grayish. Colors are pretty much same, I don't see the problem with RGB or pentile display. So Note: 1 point.
Sound - I absolutely love the sound, all notifications are louder, in call volume louder, speaker louder and more bass. Note: 1 point
Wi Fi signal: I tested SGS2, Note, Galaxy Tab and my wife's Iphone 4G wifi signal strength in my house, I have latest Linksys router, super fast cable internet with latest modem capable up to 100 mbps, in real I am getting 54 mbps. Note performed worst of all of them. Around 16 mbps versus 22 for SGS 2 and iPhone. Very dissapointed with wi fi signal strength as well, loosing signal in places where SGS2 and iPhone still works ok. Note: 0 points, SGS 2 : 1 point.
Camera: oh boy, much much worse than SGS 2, I couldn't believe how bad this camera is. I will post later side by side pictures from both phones with same settings, you will be surprised. Not focusing as quickly as SGS2, white balance off, takes ages refocusing between light area and dark area, etc... SGS 2: 1 more point here.
Stylus: since SGS2 doesn't have it, Note gets 1 more point here, because I find this feature very useful for my business and it was one of the main reasons I bought this phone. (screen and Stylus)
Scrolling between home screens is little bit laggy, much more noticeable than SGS2. Stock browser scrolling is jerky, not iphone smooth as SGS2. Wake up screen delay is 1.5 sec from pressing any button ( home or power) compared to almost instant screen on with SGS2.
Both phones running stock firmware, SGS2 is on UK unbranded 2.3.4 rooted, Note is on 2.3.6. German firmware not rooted.(yet)
Using it on USA AT&T carrier. Phone signal more less same,somewhere SGS2 performs better, somewhere Note has better signal, but I am satisfied with both phones performances.
Overall I prefer Note right now, it may be because of it's novelty versus my "old" SGS2, but it will be very hard for me to go to smaller size screen phone after using Note. Probably the best phone I ever had so far. I bought Note without seeing it in real from Amazon.de and I am not dissapointed with the purchase.
enjoy it, life is short.
Well thanks everyone, my general impressions from what has been said are:
1.) Screen is much better
2.) Battery is much better
3.) Pen is a potential advantage (I almost forgot about the pen)
4.) Experience with remaining features can vary (probably due to manufacturing differences ?) but overall they are all more or less comparable to Galaxy S2
5.) With one exception being GPS, at least based on this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=arOYNNux_mg
it seems the Note's GPS should be quite superior (it may be the best GPS in any phone yet ?)
So if screen, battery life and GPS are improved over S2 then it's probably good enough for me. However it would be much cleaner cut if there would be more horsepower under the hood as well I'd love some faster CPU, 32GB of storage and faster stock sd cards. (Actually I'd love to see some SSD on it You can put SSD into a netbook so why not to a phone ? )
Also one thing I would probably prefer is to have 16:9 (720 height instead of 800) display and about 4.8 - 5" big, slightly more portable and less funny looking while making a call. Maybe they've opted for Note's aspect ratio as to give better support for note taking ?
ive had my galaxy note for a month. just picked up a free galaxy s2 today on vodafone AU's $29 cap. personally, i think i'll stick with the note. everything about the note is just more convenient for me. bigger screen makes portrait keyboard awesome, higher res makes everything look better. battery life is only better on the note with gaming and video watching, both are on par for web browsing battery life due to the weakness of samoled.
gps is much much better on my galaxy note. locks down fairly well when im indoors whilst the s2 cant even lock after running it for half an hour in navigation mode.
as for the screen ratio, samsung havent made a phone that uses 16:9 screen ratio for a fair while (if they have made any at all, cant seem to think of any). the slightly wider/taller (depending on how you look at it) makes portrait keyboard useful, but i must agree, the extra pixels are wasted on videos. if you want a 16:9 screen ratio, look towards the lg nitro hd and galaxy nexus.
one thing the galaxy nexus has that these phones dont seem to have is the correct positioning of the 3.5mm socket. the galaxy nexus has it positioned on the bottom, like my old n900. this is the perfect place for the socket since it means you can pull your phone out of your pocket when headphones are plugged in and it will be the right way up. it also means if youre plugging it into anything in your car, it wont have any silly cables coming out the top. its one of those little things that are nice and much appreciated. but im digressing a bit here.
overall, the phones will be similar, with the screen being the main difference and the unique advantage of the note will be the S pen. but that may be a bit of a downer in terms of update speed. for the galaxy s2, all samsung need to do is refine the experience, add touchwiz, and its all ready. for the note, they need to add touchwiz and then modify the S-Pen apps to run correctly as well. shouldnt delay the release of ICS for the note by too much considering samsung should have gained experience with ICS when working with the galaxy nexus, but its still a bit of a delay.
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact. videos are encoded at what? 17mbps? thats still only 2-3mb/s of write speed needed. theres very little on the device that could take advantage of the added speed of an SSD. its just something that will drive up the product cost with very little benefit in realworld usage. apps load quickly enough so i dont think samsung would bother to consider an SSD for phones anytime soon.
Souai said:
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faster than 20MB/s - yes it's mainly for data transfer. But note also that while most android apps are small, some (especially games which can have couple of hundreds of MBs) should benefit from faster storage. And if you bench seq. write speed of S2 it's nowhere near to 20MB/s. It's more like 5-7MB/s - very slow for large data transfers (I don't know if Galaxy Note is any better). The internal memory of S2 is of course optimized for fast random reads/writes rather then seq. speeds. But if we can have high capacity USB3 sticks with read / write speeds above 100 MB/s and still very good random read/write speeds (e.g. 64GB flash for about 100€) then maybe to have phone with 32GB-64GB internal memory and 50/30MB/s and USB3 etc. could be done for similar price (which would be very fine with me).
Note seems to be well suited for video playback but with typical 720p movie at about 5GB I find the 12GB internal + 32GB external SD cards quite limiting in capacity as well as in transfer speeds (esp. considering that I need permanently at least 16GB for my music collection and lot's of free space for 1080p video recording) Surprisingly most netbooks have comparable RAM capacity and CPU speeds (at least for non floating point tasks) to those of highend smartphones, yet the storage capacity and seq. transfer speeds on netbooks is order of magnitudes higher.
I got it today ! It's very big AND unfortunately the side panel has annoying squeaking problem. It's only on one place - below the volume button, exactly where I tend to leave my fingers. Anyone else with the same problem ? Never had any squeaking problems on SGS2.
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
I have both phones.
When I got the Note I wanted to sell the S2, even had a buyer for it.
But after I used the Note for a day I start to have serious second thoughts.
The S2 is so much smoother ... Honestly, in this respect the Note is much closer to SG1 than SG2.
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
Chagrim said:
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
zkyevolved said:
With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, now I feel myself really dumb! Thanks for that
holgalee said:
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not possible because I tripplechecked (by removing and putting back) the cover prior to asking here.
But there is more to Note than that: I saw videos of Note compared to S2 etc. on youtube I saw pictures in reviews etc. but nothing could prepare me to how big it actually is in real. I will be probably in minority here but I can't avoid thinking that it's actually too big - for calling it a phone at least. At the same time I could live with larger screen and res than S2 (mostly for comfortable video watching) So I think if I could spec and ideal phone for me, based on interpolation between S2 and Note it would have display comparable to Galaxy Nexus (1280x720 ~ 4.7" - 4.8", 120g - 140g) that should be a perfect balance between display usefulness and overall portability. Too bad they've crippled Nexus with missing SD slot and missing flash support. Hope that Galaxy S3 will hit it all right (I already can't wait ) Btw any chance Note's awesome GPS making it to other Samsung phones ? (can it be put to any phone regardless of it's size ?) As far as GPS goes the difference is stunning (basically a toy like implementation vs. state of the art awesomeness)
Now I have hard time deciding what to do with Note: I should probably return it but then the screen is so awesome that it's very tough to just return it, even when I don't need it Btw about the screen and pentile vs. non-pentile debate: there were only few occasions when I noticed there was some grain on the Note without looking for it, e.g. the red birds in Angry Birds Rio and orange balloon in Samsung demo video (from 0:36) On galaxy2 I never noticed any grain (even when looking for it), so yes Superamoled Plus would be even nicer but for 99% of practical cases it doesn't matter to me.
Where are those comparsion photos that someone mentioned. Has anyone had the camera perform poorly?
I own both, well I gave the S2 to the missus when I got the Note.
The Note is equivalent too, or better then the S2 in everything. I would find it impossible to have an S2 as my main phone now after having used the Note for almost a month.
You will hear a lot of negativity about the size of the Note, I kept hearing it is too big, it is uncomfortable to carry etc etc. Nonsense. It took me a day (max) to get use to the size, it fits in all my pockets comfortably and is very portable. Dare I say it I think it could even be a tad bigger, maybe 5.5" All other phones now seem tiny to me, and this has become the standard. I don't think I will be able to go back to a small(er) phone after using this.
I have found the camera and video recording similar to the S2. GPS on the Note is amazing, I get a lock in seconds, it beats every other satnav/phone I have ever owned. The screen... wow. One month on and it still impresses me. Games, Videos, Satnav, Internet Browsing even Ebook reading is all a joy on the Note, it is the ultimate all in one device imo.
hi all
my current phone is galaxy s2 and i would like to change my phone
so i'm thinking about the 4x is it a good phone, and as 4x user how do you think about it?
is really lg bad in update and as i read there is no real developer for lg phone!
yes here are no proper devolper for this phone.....but phone is good.....bright disply...sound high and phones look awsome...battery backup is best.......all the littel things ignored..hurry...purchase the phone
vijay2 said:
yes here are no proper devolper for this phone.....but phone is good.....bright disply...sound high and phones look awsome...battery backup is best.......all the littel things ignored..hurry...purchase the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you
This phone make the best deal for gaming experience.
Other purpose (multimedia, browsing, document processing) is adequate.
If you like to take precision and advanced camera function, you may want to look another model.
Sent from my LG-P880 using xda app-developers app
Why is browsing adequate? Is it better on the One X lets say?
I found browsing fast and as good as it gets.
is the camera that bad?
camera is good but not perfect need some software fixes...the phone is great and smooth but need more software support
if bootloader unlocks devs gonna make the best of this phone
DONT
i regret it.
bootloader and crappy lg support messed it up
One X all the way..
onex is good but have some serious touch problems and high temp overheat...
read my friend...
and this phone is new...give it some time
onex got almost morethan 1 year of rom cooking
i Hate Samsung for there bad quality in production "i have alot of problem with them" second thing both company have slow software support in my region
but at least Samsung have unlocked bootloader and HTC is very Overpriced here.
4X heats on gaming too..
and one year of rom cooking? they can. we cant.
my advice, go for s3.. or wait till someone uses an S4 pro chip and go for that..
but not optimus g.. that'll suck **** too
I'm still cheating on it with my p1i. But if you need an android phone, you can do (a lot) worse than this one. Battery life is good, when comparing it to other android phones I've tried... also compared to other tegra 3 devices.. Standby-time tends to be measured in days, which is as it should be (even if that hasn't been obvious for designers for a while for some reason). And battery life while running low-power apps also is good because of the companion core, and lack of in-built apps that use active focus, or keep requesting busy services too fast, etc. So playing music or streaming in the background, and so on, actually didn't draw much power.
So then you have basically the standby time of the second generation iPhones, while still also having the low power-draw while running modest tasks, or flipping through the menus. Seems to be intelligently set up when it comes to using cores when accelerating video, and running on hdmi out as well. That it's not pushing every core to full burn, and balance the running cores. I expect that this is not specific to this phone, though, and happens transparently on the chipset (and that it's the lack of active in-built apps in the background that makes the difference between this and the onex that I tried). On top of that you have apparently the best 3d performance in the shop, without the thing becoming a glowing hot potato in your hand after two minutes.
Menu system and standby screen with the circle unlock (that opens up directly to the app below, etc) also works well, imo. Would wish they did a bit more with it and let you customise it a bit more, though.
Did I mention it has a stereo-plug connector that's not in conductive rubber? That's lovely. Screen and edges I like better than the iPhone I was forced to use for a short while.
Also, optional and removable sd-slot. Thought that was standard nowadays, but no.
Negatives are.. no led blip when getting new messages. Is a bit strange, but saves me a lot of stress, strangely enough
Has no keyboard. And it's fricking huge (relatively speaking.. it's smaller than both the galaxy 3 and the onex.. :/ which makes it the smallest in this class.. fail.. ). If you open it up, the widest component is the module with the home-buttons. Next is the external modules for antenna, I think. The actual core chip with the bus-interface is less than half the thickness of the device. Battery is tiny inside the chassis as well. They could easily have fitted a slightly flatter but larger lithium-polymer battery inside that casing, and had twice the battery life on this thing.
So maybe one day, we'll get a device like this in a credit card sized ips panel. Grey or Tegra4 maybe? Should be possible in the current design as well, though.
Other than that - no odt text editor in Android yet. But I can spam twitter and facebook with every touch of my fingers. Otherwise, format support is good, and this phone doesn't force you to use specific applications via annoying vendor registry settings. Which is a mercy since the boot-loader is locked.
But lacking that smaller phone... since there unfortunately ARE NO PHONES LIKE THAT ON THE MARKET WHATSOEVER. Smaller phones also tend to be thicker. And the different manufacturers are competing with themselves on who can make the most iPhone-like iPhone copy. And have apparently decided that slide-out keyboards are evil... So with that in mind, this is probably the best you can get at the moment, since it's also the cheapest tegra 3 phone on the market. Frankly agonized a lot over buying it, but I'm not unhappy with it so far.
Also, a thing very very important with me, is that since its plastic and with patterns, I dont have to put it in a case, which will make it even bigger. I just use a screen protector and I am done!
even that i'm fully aware of the locked bootloader, i still bought it, because it has excellent hardware with a good price...
for the camera, im not using stock apps, and it is good
What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Of all the phones I've had I might just be the best. Battery life is good. I unplugged it 10 hours ago (8:15 am to 18:15) and I'm down to 70% in that time I've sent a few texts, emails, listen to podcast in my car over Bluetooth for half an hour. Taken a few pictures and listened to 20 mins of music. Not bad really. It's been on wifi for most of the day which is less taxing than 3G.
The screen is very sharp and colours are good. The screen looked a bit washed out for the first day or so, but that's because I've been using amoled for the last two years. Anyone thought the same? I'm already used to the new screen now though.
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
The speakers are amazing! Listening to music on this just blows everything else away. Call quality is again a bit hit and miss. I've heard the odd hissing, popping and sometimes the caller sounding muffled, but in fairness the muffle could have been the caller's end.
So far I've not seen the slightest hint of any lag. This phone is very snappy and looking at the used and available RAM, the management looks good. Whenever I've checked there has always been over a gig of RAM free. Why do I keep looking? Because I've come from a Galaxy S3 which was crippled by its measly RAM. This is nothing like that I'm please to say. It looks premium and feels premium too. I can't think of anything else to trump it at the moment. Go get it!
A step forward
MrSteez said:
What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is a Smartphone and not a phablet like the Note 2. If you want a top end Smartphone this is the One to get. Love the screen clarity and music playback. Will be using the my One a lot for music playback. Battery life so far better than I expected. Got through a work day with 60% left. I replaced the standard launcher with Nova and I am much happier now.
Read the stickied thread about reviews to see what users have to say. Mine is on the last page aswell.
Sent via my HTC One using XDA Premium
mwatson said:
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
hamdir said:
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true! optimism, denial on my part maybe maybe?...
My personal verdict: From a scale from 0 to 10 I give a 10000
Superfast, beautiful design, good materials used, best-looking user interface (I even like it more than vanilla android), awesome stereo speakers, perfect screensize for me. Also important is 2GB Ram (1GB is out of date, apps get closed in the background too fast) and LTE...yes, there are some phones also with 2GB Ram and LTE but for me the HTC One is the best one of them, so I chose it as my next phone ^^ Never have been so satisfied by a phone
Screen: In a word, stunning. Once or twice in the past 2 weeks I have almost gone into a daydream like state looking at this thing.
Audio: I have never heard audio of such a quality from any mobile device. It literally makes people ask "what is that". If I had one small complaint, it would be that the lowest volume level is not low enough. The granularity of the incremental volume levels is too coarse. Maybe 24 levels and not just 10-12.
Battery: I have been pleasantly surprised by the battery life. I get through a day fine with it. If you play Real Racer a lot or wish to make a blockbuster movie with the thing then battery will not last as long.
Camera: Superb for a phone. If you wish to print out your shots then you will not be able to get higher resolution images out of it. This is not the job of a camera though. The video and snaps are fantastic I have found. HDR is pretty good also.
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
If you are getting this thing soon... if you have it on order... you will really like it. It just oozes quality. It just feels like a supremely well made piece of hardware. Oh... it looks amazing also.
Ok, they are having some trouble getting this thing out of the factories to the stores... but when they do... people will forget the frustration. It is superb.
Beautiful, lag free, awesome speakers - nuff said.
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Had mine for a week now, I am a heavy user (not games, but lots of music /Internet/twitter /texts.
No lag at all yet.
I have had the nexus 4 and it even beats that and that was quick.
As someone said earlier, this is the nearest to the ios lag free feeling from any android phone. (even ios lags sometimes)
For me the only thing is the camera which I have not made my mind up about yet, I have had some amazing results but also some poor (probably more good than bad though) I need more time with the camera but overall I think it will be acceptable.
I have had a lot of phones and I have to say this is in the top 3 and I think it will be my number 1 but need more time with it before it gains that honour
crawlgsx said:
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is smooth. But lack of smoothness is Google issue as the first version of Butter was better but they changed for some reason. It is also faster than the Note 2.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
This phone marks the end of the race in terms of screen quality. The camera is excellent if you have the time to make a quick couple of adjustments before you shoot. Blinkfeed is a consumer orientated gimmik aimed at users who have never heard of flip board. Lag is a thing of the past. Battery life is about what you expect from a top end smart phone, you'll see the day out with average use.
Speakers are the best of any device yet, just don't expect HiFi. Sense and indeed the initial stock and custom ROMs are very embryonic. I.e. when paranoid android breaks for this device it will open up a whole new world.
From a phone enthusiast who started with a Phillips savvy and one day traded a sony Z for a HTC canary.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
As a One X owner who intended to keep his phone for the full 2 years, I originally didn't have much interest in this phone...but the build quality is striking, and my One X is definitely feeling the limitations of its 1 GB of RAM.
Really looking forward to trying this out when it finally gets released in the US.
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
constructorx said:
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it faster than pure android though?. Looking at N4, that also seems instant & fast imho.
I give it 500 out of 10 it's awesome
Only let down my video recording has hissing on it new phone from 3 coming today
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Scootmien said:
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any lag with live wallpaper?
msterner123 said:
Any lag with live wallpaper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy to report that no, there is no lag on my device with live wallpaper enabled.
Wow! So this phone basically sounds about as amazing as I keep reading online. But the one thing I keep hearing about is the camera.. I'm going from an EVO 4G LTE (so basically a One X)... Is the camera quality going to be better or worse? From what I hear it's hit or miss but on average would you say it's an improvement?
I mean I really only use my camera for Instagram pics so I'm not really expecting 100% professional quality but I just want to make sure it's not a decrease in quality from my phone.
I just want a release date for Sprint now
I believe it is and it has definitely been on my wish-list ever since it first came out. Specifically the i, not the M version. But it has been a year and a half since it was launched, so I thought you guys, the owners, would be the perfect people to tell whether it's still a good buy
Firstly, could you tell me about how does it age? I mean, if you have it for longer than a year now, did it collect too many scratches or other signs of wear and tear? The build quality of the thing seems to be top notch, but I hope you guys can tell me whether it stands up against the everyday usage just as well
And secondly, I'm just going to list things I use my smartphone for and what I want from it and maybe you could tell me whether the Ri would be a good choice for me
Use for, do and want:
-compactness (I currently have a DEFY+ and I love its size, except for the thickness - this little boy sure is a fatty, but I think that the Ri is the perfect size and can be used with just one hand easily, correct?)
-good battery life (I keep my phone always connected, it's on WiFi when at home and on 2G while I'm anywhere out and sometimes on 3G+ when I need the speed for browsing or a quick download of something - the Ri should be good in this regard, because of the power optimisations coming from Intel, right?)
-music playing (my smartphone is my music player and one big plus for the i in the Moto range is the memory card slot. How is the quality of audio output, though, if you could comment on that?)
-enough power for multi-tasking (multi-tasking in my case = music playing + web browsing + writing a mail, for example. It should have plenty enough power for tasks like this, I think.)
-quick camera (the biggest problem I have with my DEFY is that Camera takes 5-6 seconds to start which makes it almost pointless for me The only times I would use my phone as a camera is when I need to capture something quickly and the Ri seems to be perfect for such occasions, because of the dedicated camera button and the speed of all camera operations)
-custom ROMs (one thing I love about the DEFY is that sooo many ROMs are available for it! on the other hand, it seems that development for the Ri is at a much lower level... maybe that will change with KitKat, ey? But I really wish there was some CyanogenMod available for it, it's really got a lot more to offer compared to AOSP )
Don't use for, don't need:
-gaming (I don't game on my phones and I just need enough graphics power to have a smooth UI experience throughout all apps and when browsing and for an occasional video, I guess. Nothing more.)
So... That's pretty much it, I guess. I'm sorry about the long post But please bear with me and give me a couple of answers Please
Cheers!
razr i defy+
in my pinion the razr i has an ideal pocket size, not as thich as the dey+, but screen size a little bit larger. the razr is robust (metal frame), it's not
water resistent but water potected (some type of coating). The display is, sharp with good colours. The display suffers only the things every
phone display suffers, nearly not readable in the sun and not matted (I wish one day there are matted displys for phones).
Scratches, the same as all others (gorilla glass or similar) is scratch resitant till a certain point, but only a tiny grain of sand can scratch it and maybe even a hrdened or coated metal (I use a pouch). For not being afraid of snd grains you need display with saphire glass.
I have Omar's ROM installed and this ROM is very responsive on the razr i with good battery life. i'm looking forward to kitkat too.
I'm satisfied with the razr i. The only phone I would give away the razr I, is an xperia z1compact (because ofit's water resistance and the CM support).
I think, considering your list, you'd be happy with the Razr I. It's a great Smartphone and since Motorola announced the update to KitKat it'll become a bit more up-to-date.
The Razr I is my daily phone for more than a year and I'm still satisfied with it.
It's very robust (almost no scratches) and has everything a good Smartphone needs.
Additionally I'd recommend you to take a look at the Moto G, if you haven't done it before. I think it's at least as good as the Razr I and a good, but not so old Smartphone.
I also did have the defy:
niksy+ said:
Firstly, could you tell me about how does it age? I mean, if you have it for longer than a year now, did it collect too many scratches or other signs of wear and tear? The build quality of the thing seems to be top notch, but I hope you guys can tell me whether it stands up against the everyday usage just as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine has a couple of heavy scratches on the border (it fall when I was running) but pretty good overall.
niksy+ said:
Use for, do and want:
-compactness (I currently have a DEFY+ and I love its size, except for the thickness - this little boy sure is a fatty, but I think that the Ri is the perfect size and can be used with just one hand easily, correct?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, you get used to the size pretty quickly
niksy+ said:
-good battery life (I keep my phone always connected, it's on WiFi when at home and on 2G while I'm anywhere out and sometimes on 3G+ when I need the speed for browsing or a quick download of something - the Ri should be good in this regard, because of the power optimisations coming from Intel, right?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't complain, but its not much better than say a defy+
niksy+ said:
-music playing (my smartphone is my music player and one big plus for the i in the Moto range is the memory card slot. How is the quality of audio output, though, if you could comment on that?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not great, but its better than the defy
niksy+ said:
-enough power for multi-tasking (multi-tasking in my case = music playing + web browsing + writing a mail, for example. It should have plenty enough power for tasks like this, I think.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yess more than enough-
niksy+ said:
-quick camera (the biggest problem I have with my DEFY is that Camera takes 5-6 seconds to start which makes it almost pointless for me The only times I would use my phone as a camera is when I need to capture something quickly and the Ri seems to be perfect for such occasions, because of the dedicated camera button and the speed of all camera operations)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yess its freaking fast
niksy+ said:
-custom ROMs (one thing I love about the DEFY is that sooo many ROMs are available for it! on the other hand, it seems that development for the Ri is at a much lower level... maybe that will change with KitKat, ey? But I really wish there was some CyanogenMod available for it, it's really got a lot more to offer compared to AOSP )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not so much scene for this phone, but I rather have a good stock experience than an half backed custom rom.
niksy+ said:
Don't use for, don't need:
-gaming (I don't game on my phones and I just need enough graphics power to have a smooth UI experience throughout all apps and when browsing and for an occasional video, I guess. Nothing more.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use it for gaming, and I'm pretty happy (ppsspp, and epsxe with the ipega, plus some native games and I'm really happy)
I don't know about serbia, but around here, the razr i is the cheapest phone to get kitkat that you can buy (yes, more cheaper than the moto g) If you are on a budget, its still a good option.
paulle said:
The display suffers only the things every phone display suffers, nearly not readable in the sun and not matted (I wish one day there are matted displys for phones).
Scratches, the same as all others (gorilla glass or similar) is scratch resitant till a certain point, but only a tiny grain of sand can scratch it and maybe even a hrdened or coated metal (I use a pouch). For not being afraid of snd grains you need display with saphire glass.
I have Omar's ROM installed and this ROM is very responsive on the razr i with good battery life. i'm looking forward to kitkat too.
I'm satisfied with the razr i. The only phone I would give away the razr I, is an xperia z1compact (because ofit's water resistance and the CM support).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Display - Oh... I read the reviews and they all said great things about the display and its contrast when outside. Is it at least good outside, when not in direct sunlight? The DEFY's display is completely unreadable in direct sunlight
Gorilla Glass - Yes, I do know it doesn't offer complete protection from scratches, but it's still a huge advance from standard glass, imho. The Gorilla Glass on my DEFY was great for me, it has been actively used for two and a half years now and it does have a tiny scratch or too, but they aren't deep and they are hardly visible at any angles, I don't even remember where they are until I search for them. And I know what sapphire glass is, my dad's got a swiss army watch with it, it is incredible!
Z1 Compact - Absolutely awesome device! But I've got two problems with it - the price is MUUCH higher than Razr i and it's not a Motorola... I'm still a huge Moto fan
To tell you the truth, I would possibly rather have a Droid Mini (which is the actual Razr i/M successor, with a 720p 4.3" display and even more compact than Ri (it's noticeably shorter)), but it's only available in America and shipping and taxes would make it too expensive for me But the phone is a beast as much as that Z1 Compact, imho, although it does lack waterproofness. All Droid Minis are factory unlocked and work anywhere in the world, if you didn't know And the new Ultra line (which Mini is a part of) all have the Moto X8 chip which is in the X, as well, so there's touchless control and all that... A really sweet device
j0n1th4n said:
The Razr I is my daily phone for more than a year and I'm still satisfied with it.
It's very robust (almost no scratches) and has everything a good Smartphone needs.
Additionally I'd recommend you to take a look at the Moto G, if you haven't done it before. I think it's at least as good as the Razr I and a good, but not so old Smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Age - Year and a half is a long period, it's good to know that you're still satisfied with it. Could you tell me if the battery is still as good as it was when you bought it? I'm kinda worried that it will start losing capacity quickly, which would be a big problem Actually, if you could tell me anything more about battery life, that would be great :good:
Moto G - a great device, but simply not for me. The build quality, camera, memory card slot, size - all in favour of the Ri The G does have more horsepower and a better (actually bigger, but not sure whether bigger = better) screen, but it's plastic and the bezels around the screen suck and it's veery limited on memory... I love what Moto has done, but it's really not for me
YaPeL said:
Battery:
Can't complain, but its not much better than say a defy+
Price:
I don't know about serbia, but around here, the razr i is the cheapest phone to get kitkat that you can buy (yes, more cheaper than the moto g) If you are on a budget, its still a good option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery - What does "not much better than a defy+" mean? Because my defy+ did last for 3 days often when it was new and on the stock Gingerbread ROM, but now I have to recharge it every night The only time it lasts for 2 days is when I'm at home for those two days and barely use it
Price - The Ri is cheaper than a 16gb Moto G here, as well
And yes, I am on a tight budget, to be honest. I believe the Ri is the best I could get for my money, but I'm trying to triple-check it with you guys, since I will probably be stuck with it for at least a year and a half after purchase
Thanks for helping out, mates
niksy+ said:
I believe it is and it has definitely been on my wish-list ever since it first came out. Specifically the i, not the M version. But it has been a year and a half since it was launched, so I thought you guys, the owners, would be the perfect people to tell whether it's still a good buy
Firstly, could you tell me about how does it age? I mean, if you have it for longer than a year now, did it collect too many scratches or other signs of wear and tear? The build quality of the thing seems to be top notch, but I hope you guys can tell me whether it stands up against the everyday usage just as well
And secondly, I'm just going to list things I use my smartphone for and what I want from it and maybe you could tell me whether the Ri would be a good choice for me
Use for, do and want:
-compactness (I currently have a DEFY+ and I love its size, except for the thickness - this little boy sure is a fatty, but I think that the Ri is the perfect size and can be used with just one hand easily, correct?)
-good battery life (I keep my phone always connected, it's on WiFi when at home and on 2G while I'm anywhere out and sometimes on 3G+ when I need the speed for browsing or a quick download of something - the Ri should be good in this regard, because of the power optimisations coming from Intel, right?)
-music playing (my smartphone is my music player and one big plus for the i in the Moto range is the memory card slot. How is the quality of audio output, though, if you could comment on that?)
-enough power for multi-tasking (multi-tasking in my case = music playing + web browsing + writing a mail, for example. It should have plenty enough power for tasks like this, I think.)
-quick camera (the biggest problem I have with my DEFY is that Camera takes 5-6 seconds to start which makes it almost pointless for me The only times I would use my phone as a camera is when I need to capture something quickly and the Ri seems to be perfect for such occasions, because of the dedicated camera button and the speed of all camera operations)
-custom ROMs (one thing I love about the DEFY is that sooo many ROMs are available for it! on the other hand, it seems that development for the Ri is at a much lower level... maybe that will change with KitKat, ey? But I really wish there was some CyanogenMod available for it, it's really got a lot more to offer compared to AOSP )
Don't use for, don't need:
-gaming (I don't game on my phones and I just need enough graphics power to have a smooth UI experience throughout all apps and when browsing and for an occasional video, I guess. Nothing more.)
So... That's pretty much it, I guess. I'm sorry about the long post But please bear with me and give me a couple of answers Please
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the "common" Defy, not the plus one, before the Razr I. What a tough phone, I really enjoyed that, upgraded the CyanogenMod's until the ICS, then I sold it to a friend... whom killed him sinking it in a glass of Red Label whisky! Poor phone :crying:. But let's talk about the Ri. I bought mine in December, 2012. Now, I was about to buy another phone, but the news about upgrade to KK changed my mind, and I'll keep it a little more months. The Ri isn't water and dust proof as Defy, but it's tough anyway. It fell in the ground after 1 week I received it, and made a VERY little scratch in the bottom left metal corner! The Kevlar, in practice, doesn't make it feel tougher, but helps a lot about finger prints usually is visible in the back of other phones, in Ri is extremely reduced.
-compactness: In comparison to Defy, it's MUCH thinner! I use my Ri with a silicon case, and screen shield, and when I take out the case, it makes a huge difference, in weight, and dimensions, and the feel that metal + kevlar gives you. Yes, it can be used with only one hand easily.
-good battery life: It depends a lot of use. I use my Ri with static wallpaper and auto brightness. 2G/3G always ON, 40% of the time in WIFI, a few times checking Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, some SMS's and a few calls, it can handle from 8am till 10pm~01am most of times, in my style of use.
-music playing: I have to admit that Ri isn't my main music player, but my tablet Asus Transformer. Anyway, I have PowerAmp installed in Ri too, it has a good sound quality, the speaker could be louder, it reduces the bass to avoid dirtortions. The earphone that comes with Ri is an ordinary one, with a mic. If you really like sound quality, I recommend you to buy a good one, if you don't have already done.
-enough power for multi-tasking: It can handle this case of Multi Tasking easily. It won't be as fast as the top phones, but it won't disappoint you in your situation of multi tasking.
-quick camera: The camera opens REALLY fast. The case I use in my Ri, doesn't have the hole to press the camera button, so sometimes when I take my phone, accidentaly press the camera button and it instantly turns on. In quality of image, it's more than enough to post in Facebook, and this social websites. But looking deeply, in dark situations, it shows a lot of noise, if not used in Night mode (use in Auto, for ex.). The videos in Full HD are awesome, sound too, but the against part, is that if you don't get steady, they'll be shaky very easily.
-custom ROMs: This is weakest point of Ri, because of Intel processor, it makes to get the drivers much harder for the developers. But I'm fine with the way stock JB is, and Kit Kat is about to come. I had already passed some bad situations changing ROM's in my old Defy, so the more you stand in a stock ROM, better it'll be. With KK, Ri will be up to date, so there's no reason for a while to search for other ROMS.
I don't like gaming in the phones too. Although, Ri can handle most of them, it heats a little, nothing that makes unconfortable, like most of the other phones in the market.
Sometimes, my Ri starts to get a little laggy, but I learned a trick, that anyone can use it if you want: the cache memory from apps. When the laggy starts, just go to Settings, and clear the caches from the main apps (Facebook, Instagram, for ex., which ones can reach +100MB of cache quickly).
It's a good phone, worth it for it's price, but it will get outdated, as I bet that KK will be the last update for Ri. As someone told before, there is the Moto G, that is newer, and can receive another update, but it loses against the Ri in the lack of SD card, and camera.
Sorry for any mistake in my English, I really hope you understood everything I wrote, because it's my routine with Razr I.
You can also consider waiting few days for Moto E launch, but if you don't like Moto G, wou probably wouldn't like E as well ;]
I bought my Razr i just about month ago and it was great choice.
hey there, what an interesting subject !
I had similar thoughts to yours about a months ago.. and then I bought myself a white, used Razr I
I have to say that I'm very satisfied with it. Previously I owned a Samsung Galaxy S Plus (nice phone but the plastic-metal frame around the screen made it sooo ugly) and before this I owned a Motorola Defy whitch I practically felt in love with and I really liked Motorola for the quality of the product.
With the Razr I am now finally 100% happy. This phone is very powerfull - its flashing fast, the UI is super smooth on stock and every app and game Ive tried works amazingly great and I had no problems or disappointments at all.
Now I'll try to quick-answer to you questions basing on my experiences:
- multitasking - PERFECT
- battery life - you can easily get 2 days of usage with all the extras turned on all the time BUT with programs like DS battery saver installed (turns off all the connectivity after screen is turned off and just regulairly turns it on) and maybe other apps which prolong the battery use. WIthout these apps one day is easily achievable even with gaming, GPS, and web browsing etc.
- sound - really good, speaker isn;t as good as in DEFY (Defy's speaker is a legend !!) but its also loud and nice to listen to, not like in all the samsung galaxy S plus or LG nexus. With the headphones the quality is good for me, comperable to my iPod classic 5g.
- camera - super fast but the photo quality is not fantastic (Samsung S plus 5MP takes better pics), but still great, movies quality is super sharp !
- size and quality of make - the size is ideal, HEAVY is RELIABLE ("Lock stock and two smoking barrels" ;D ) but my first experiences were a bit stressing - the phone felt as it could fall out of my hands - after getting used to it it feels better. Im still thinking whether to get a case for it or not.
Generally its a great phone that I would honestly recomend, if you have any questions feel free to ask.
niksy+ said:
Display - Oh... I read the reviews and they all said great things about the display and its contrast when outside. Is it at least good outside, when not in direct sunlight? The DEFY's display is completely unreadable in direct sunlight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its passable with the brightness on medium, its better than the defy in every aspect but definition, you may see some pixels on the white letters, but you get used to it, and once you go amoled, you never go back (?.
niksy+ said:
Battery - What does "not much better than a defy+" mean? Because my defy+ did last for 3 days often when it was new and on the stock Gingerbread ROM, but now I have to recharge it every night The only time it lasts for 2 days is when I'm at home for those two days and barely use it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the same as with the defy, a day and a half, a day-
niksy+ said:
And yes, I am on a tight budget, to be honest. I believe the Ri is the best I could get for my money, but I'm trying to triple-check it with you guys, since I will probably be stuck with it for at least a year and a half after purchase
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go for it, try to avoid the white version if you can.
Well,
I am on my second Razr I at the moment. When it came out, I was really happy to be one of the first to have the Atom based Smartphone. Here my thoughts about the phone:
Pros:
- Awesome battery life. I switched from a Galaxy S2 to the Razr I and I was happy to at last be able to last through the day. When the Razr I came out, I could hardly think of a phone that could beat it's battery life. Then, a year ago I moved and got a new phone, the Razr I was still the best option considering battery life. The "old Razr I" is now used by my wife, she also loves it.
- Good build Quality
- Excellent size for people who don't like having such big phones.
- Nice screen quality. That does't mean that it has the best screen, I just see it has a good contrast level (blacks are really black, colors are vivid).
Cons:
- Many apps were (or are still) not compatible with Intel based phones. One example was (now it works) Firefox. It isn't a stopper for me, but it could be for some people.
- Really few custom roms.
- Updates from Motorola... Well, its a shame but I see it's just the same with other vendors...
- Battery not removable. Bad if the phone hangs (has happened to me once or twice, rebooting it is not very normal-user-friendly). However, after having the first phone with relatively heavy usage since it was launched, battery still performs without any noticeable difference.
- The Aluminium Bezel easily scratches, and scratches then are... aluminium color, so for me using some kind of case is a must (imho).
- Even though it supports Hyperthreading, it is just not as fast as a 4-core chip...
So, if I was going to get a new phone soon, I probably would consider some other (newer / more actual) model. There are plenty of 2000mAh+ phones on the market, I would just look for options where battery life is at least as good as the Razr I and I would probably go that way. However, that doesn't mean that the Razr is not actual anymore, I think we will stick with them for at least one more year...
Regards
mschmiedel said:
- Updates from Motorola... Well, its a shame but I see it's just the same with other vendors...
- Battery not removable. Bad if the phone hangs (has happened to me once or twice, rebooting it is not very normal-user-friendly). However, after having the first phone with relatively heavy usage since it was launched, battery still performs without any noticeable difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Yeah well I think motorola is the best in this regard, also the razr i its one of the oldest non-nexus device to get kitkat (if not the oldest)
- Just press powerbutton + vol up + vol down and you will reboot your device, no matter how bad it hung it will work.
YaPeL said:
- Just press powerbutton + vol up + vol down and you will reboot your device, no matter how bad it hung it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I found out after the first time it got stuck... However, I don't see it as a very normal-user-friendly feature... Any normal user would remove the battery, and if it's not possible, they would keep the powerbutton pressed, but I can hardly imagine someone trying it in combination with other buttons (well, the Razr I only has these three )... I could imagine people letting the battery drain and rescuing the phone after a full charge...
I'm glad to say that after more than a year with this phone, I still wouldn't give it up and would whole-heartedly recommend it.
On the case of durability, I bought a bodyglove case for mine and it's practically indestructible. I mean, drop on concrete from five feet indestructible. Didn't even bother putting a screen protector on it, I let the Gorilla Glass do its job. Only a minor scratch after months without one, from one of my keys. The aluminum frame will scratch, but that's expected.
Battery life is, in one word, MAGNIFICENT. I used to be really frugal with it and never used 3G unless I needed it, and I could make it through twelve hours of light use with 60% left. Now I just leave my 3G on all the time, and I still make it through about 12 hours of heavy use (trivia crack got me) with about 40% left. It's truly fantastic.
Multitasking is fine for what you plan on using it for, I usually have music playing while I'm on it. As a music player, I love it. 32gb card keeps my whole collection, and I use Shuttle for a really nice, clean experience.
The camera is more than adequate, and very fast. Literally launches in less than a second. Pictures often come out grainy, especially if you zoom in it. But it's still a very good camera.
On roms, it's pretty meh. Not too many roms to choose from, but we have many dedicated members who have put some amazing roms out. I'm on omar's rom and it's quite fantastic.
Overall, it's a great phone. If you can find for a decent price, I'd go for it. Even with low price contenders like the Moto G (which has KK, a +) I would still recommend it. Definitely a good buy.
Do you want a compact phone? Get it. Otherwise get the moto g which is great. The I is fast, getting KitKat, the only downside is that it has only one gigabyte of RAM which us notable like once a day after heavy browsing. Speed wise its fast, real racing works nicely(it's the only hardware intensegame that I could test, I don't play on the phone). Browsing is fast but pages will have to reload after multi tasking more often then not. As I already said, if u want the size go for it, if you don't care or are after size don't.
I bought the Moto G for my father and he didn't want it so i decided to keep it. I have the Razr I and i have the moto X. Long story short, i sold the Moto G. Why? Well the screen technology is not as good as the amoled that is on the razr i. Yes it was fast, but the Moto G (at the time) didnt take an SD. The phone was considerably bulkier (and yes i have a Moto X that i use as my daily driver).
I am anxiously awaiting KitKat upgrade because the phone used to run out of memory and lag some once too many applications were running. Everyone compliments me on the Razr I and its screen when i travel.
Hi there, just adding, i bought a Rarzr i recently (around 2 month) well i have to say : totally worth it ( and i had a one X and a SGS III before )
It is the 1st one i keep at stock ROM plus the battery last quite long and it feels smooth and snappy
All i wait now is the 4.4 update...
Sent from my XT890 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
YaPeL said:
go for it, try to avoid the white version if you can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why should one avoid the white version ? ..
your_login said:
why should one avoid the white version ? ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No kevlar. (Although its more beatiful)
Enviado desde mi XT890 usando Tapatalk now Free
YaPeL said:
No kevlar. (Although its more beatiful)
Enviado desde mi XT890 usando Tapatalk now Free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All right, i havnt even noticed how does it make a difference in practical way? Is kevlar lighter, protects the back of the phone stronger or radiates the hot temperature from the cpu better?
your_login said:
All right, i havnt even noticed how does it make a difference in practical way? Is kevlar lighter, protects the back of the phone stronger or radiates the hot temperature from the cpu better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well english is not my first tounge so I don't really know how to explain it exactly but some people reported that the "^threads^ of their back started to fall out", anyway is not something that happened to everyone, so maybe you got a good one.
Enviado desde mi XT890 usando Tapatalk now Free
There seems to be plenty of people moaning about what they don't like, there is a Note 4 Let Down Thread, so I wanna read some positive comments about what we DO like about the Note 4 in General, it doesn't matter which model you got, but if you feel happy about it please share your positive thoughts.
-Personally I Like the style of the phone.
-I also like the fact that its made from metal (well most of it) except the battery door which comes always in handy and its another pro about this phone, the access to the battery and micro sd card.
-Of course it runs on Android which I love.
-I like the screen which is amazing
-I like the camera, both, the front camera and rear camera.
-I like the S-pen and yes I use it everyday when I go to the gym, I keep track of my workouts, weights, reps, all in one place, I have a phone, a music player, a great camera shooter, and a notebook, and we all must thank Samsung for this, if not go back and read about what people though about the first Note device.
-I like the fact we still have the LED for notifications, which a lot of manufactures still forgetting about it.
-I like the battery life, yes I know, I have read about all the complains, but its not in my case, yes I have 90% of Samsung bloatware turned off, I just use what I like and what I need.
- I like how easily I can access a hard drive or any external storage via OTG.
-I like the IR Blaster, which not a lot of devices have it, and they should.
-I like the S Health app, and yes, i use the heart rate monitor, im into fitness, and yes this app help me track all my workouts, ive even improve in my diets.
Of course there are plenty of stuff I just forgot right now, but I hope you guys help me to remember them by commenting your positive thoughts and everything you like and what makes you feel good and special about the Note 4,
IF YOU WANT TO COMMENT COMPLAINS AND NEGATIVE COMMENTS PLEASE SEARCH AROUND THERE ARE PLENTY OF THREADS, NOT HERE, THANKS
I love my note 4. I like it's size, the display is beautiful, the battery life is far better than my note 2. It has more space. I like the way it feels in my hand. I paid cash for it so I don't owe tmobile a dime lol...
Overall I love my note 4 and I'm extremely happy with my purchase. I don't have any complaints and I haven't at all since I've had it
It's a hulk, which for my Neanderthal-esque hands helps out a ton.
The screen is gorgeous
The camera is top notch and helps me, who happens to be one of the worst picture takers of all time, take good pics.
I use S-Note in my meetings every day.
Build wise it feels great in the hand without a case.
Eventually I can pick up an additional battery pack.
One day it will get an update that stops the ferocious lag lollipop has at times.
Dat screen doe.
Overall, 9/10
It's better than my previous iPhone 6
ixon2001 said:
It's better than my previous iPhone 6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comment your reasons...cheers:fingers-crossed:
I've only had my Note 4 since 4/30 but I've yet to find anything that I don't like.. Running stock 5.0.1 using the TouchWiz launcher, and only have the Google apps that don't have a Samsung equivalent enabled! Love this thing!!
mistah_mumford said:
I've only had my Note 4 since 4/30 but I've yet to find anything that I don't like.. Running stock 5.0.1 using the TouchWiz launcher, and only have the Google apps that don't have a Samsung equivalent enabled! Love this thing!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please post everything you like specifically, everything you use, thanks, cheers:fingers-crossed:
I like the battery, the screen size and that is Amoled, Touchwiz features, and that it fits ok in my hand because it's thin. Also I like Samsung is okish with software updates compared to other manufacturers.
Everything the OP said, plus now that we're on Lollipop I can use my MicroSD card properly again with Solid Explorer and other properly updated apps (without rooting). Also like the battery life, regularly 20-30% left at the end of the day with normal usage. Finally, I'm on the N910C with the Wolfson DAC which is giving great sound paired with my Sennheisers - so much so that I just sold my trusty old Sony Walkman on eBay! The sound with PowerAmp, to my ears, was as good if not better. Best smartphone I've owned to date by a long shot. Oh... and the IR, getting that set up now
Forgot that it's also my remote control for every room I visit. I watch whatever I want at the bar now
Best phone ever, I like every single thing about it! It's such a powerful, flexible, customisable phone that can do it all, looks and feels great and I never have to worry about the battery before the end of the day!
Like the metal, is gorgeous to hold. Love that battery and Sim are accessible - wish for nicer back cover though, or at least a larger selection.
Multitasking is fabulous, very effective.
Excellent screen!
Stylus.
Sent from my SM-N910H using XDA Premium HD app
best phone ever
It's the best phone I've ever had hands down, I like the way it feels in the hand, I use a case during the day, but I can't wait to get home to take the case off. That shiny metal rim is the best.
I use public transportation to get to work, and I have caught people reading the news with me.....That screen is just awesome. I have even downloaded 4k videos just for show.
And dont get me started on the stylus.... How did I ever get by without it?! I use it at work to jot down orders, phone numbers, reminders...
The camera experience has probably impressed me the most: from the responsiveness of the camera app to the quality of the photos and videos and finally viewing them on that gorgeous 5.7 inch screen.
Overall since I prefer the 5.7 screen size and like the S-pen features I think the Note 4 is still the best smartphone and will remain so till the Note 5.
Note 4 has been the best phone I've owned bar none.
I just wished there was a way to get updates and not rely on the carrier.
I have an att phone. The only way I can get updates is to borrow an att chip and then I can update my rom.
Totally sucks since I'm on another carrier.
Anyways, enjoying the note 4 experience thus far.
Camera the best.
Lollipop over all is a great experience on the note 4
before i was going to buy a new mobbile i was looking for good looking phone, excellent outdoor brightness, great camera ... developers support good audio ..... big screen..... so i got xperia z3 with big screen compromise but it was way better looking and water and dust proof and front firing speakers and very slim ..... after buying i regretted because there was abbsolutely no developers support..... almost negligible ...so then i got note 4 ....i like it alot ... becauser .. back cover is removable ...... amoled screen ..... super bright ..... developers support is good.... but touchwiz is bad and on aosp roms brightness is very low....
z3 over note 4- had better sound of speakers, better looking, battery life way better , very thin
note 4 over z3- has better brightness , better developer support, back cover removable...i put a leather one on the back ... battery removable, camera is better, screen is bigger. its an amoled which i love because of deep blacks and saturated colors. i love popping colors , the best thing is fast charging.
Hmmm, where do I start?
-That screen is unbelievably good. Bright, vibrant, and there's no way you'd notice the subpixels without a VR headset. Makes me wish we had AMOLED PC monitors on the market already.
-None of that screen space is wasted with onscreen buttons, either! As much as people complain about the physical Home button and all, I actually prefer it and wish the other two buttons were physical like the S Active/Sport line.
-Wacom digitizer support in OneNote and Clover Paint is excellent. The Note 4 even boasts tilt sensitivity!
-I wasn't expecting Gear VR to be immersive due to the obvious performance limitations the Note 4 has compared to a gaming PC, but it's actually astounding how it keeps up with my head movements. Cardboard apps aren't even close, they're a blurred mess by comparison.
-I shouldn't have to bring up microSD card slots of all things as a selling point against the competition, but that's what it's come down to after the S6. They're great for mass media storage and Nandroid backups, since you don't want those backups taking your internal storage space! Too much risk of getting wiped if you're a flashaholic.
-Batteries that can be removed without a heat gun also shouldn't have to be a selling point, but are now. The battery life's plenty for my purposes, but if that's not enough, I can just pop in a second battery or install an extended battery! Phone freezes up or gets wet? Pop that battery! Cells degrade to the point of uselessness after a few years (and they will)? Swap 'em out for some newly-manufactured ones instead of paying some service center to get the dead weight outta your phone!
-Adaptive Fast Charge/Quick Charge 2.0 has spoiled me rotten now. Dead battery to a usable charge in just 30 minutes, near-full charge in an hour? I don't even have to leave the Note 4 on the charger overnight now!
-Sprint doesn't lock the bootloader, so rooting's easy if you don't mind a tripped Knox bit. I don't.
-The camera's good enough, as long as I never have to zoom in.
Thus far, there isn't any other phone on the market I'd rather own, and I'll be more than happy to keep the Note 4 for another two years! All I hope for is that the next two Note generations don't throw out microSD slots and removable batteries like the S6 did, otherwise I might be using that Note 4 longer than anticipated.
I have two things that really make a difference for me and those are the great battery life and finally being able to work from my phone. I get sent contacts and I can edit and sign them on n the phone. There is no need to involve my laptop anymore. This makes commutes by train really productive.
Note 4 on KK is fantastic. Very fast, lots of storage, excellent screen, fabulous battery, glorious smooth glass, the hard metal body feels great, one handed use (just) and it's magnificent S-Pen.
There is just nothing like this phone. I wish Samsung didn't make is users feel second best. I've been messing around with the S6s.... After a while I came running, RUNNING back to my Note 4.
I'm so sorry baby. I'll never let you go again.
*smooch*
Sent from my SM-N910H using XDA Premium HD app
1 - Display
2 - Performance
3 - Sound through earphones
4 - Camera
5 - Build quality
6 - Support (from people here)
7 - Storage
8 - Physical buttons (hate onscreen waste of space)
9 - Removable battery
10 - Its beauty