The best radios and antennas combination out there, bar none... Motorola.
Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
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How well do you like the maxx? Considering buying one.
- Thread starter derekeh83
- Start date
The best radios and antennas combination out there, bar none... Motorola.
Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
Hate to admit it but I'm getting almost as good reception with my G2 as I have with all of my Moto devices. And I am in a fringe area.
Tap'd from my G2
If you long-press WiFi or Bluetooth on the settings panel of the pull-down notification shade they will toggle without having to go into settings.
Everybody's needs are different, so it's hard to say which is the best phone at any given time, but I agree that the Maxx is a great phone. I love it.
If Diztronic makes one I'd take a look ...I have the black matte for my Note 3 ..great feel and slim ..
N3 tapa
jackiescivic
Diamond Member
Thanks for the tip on long press! I miss the settings menu on the left most screen like the previous generation had.
Sent from my Droid Maxx
Android Pro Widgets has a full-size calendar widget that I really like. It even syncs to Google Calendar. The free version comes in white and a transparent dark grey, or you can buy the full version for $2.50 to get access to tons of themes. Also comes with matching Twitter, Facebook, Bookmarks, and Contacts widgets. Great app to have.
If you go with the full version I recommend the 192 Black Edition theme. Here's how mine looks:
I have the Diztronic TPU case in matte black for my Droid Maxx and I love it. It's even better made than the previous versions (at least the Bionic version that I had). And only $10 at Amazon.
You know, I'm not totally surprised. I wonder however if the physical size of the G2 and therefore the potential for a larger antenna footprint has anything to do with that. It's interesting but in some cases a better engineered smaller antenna can actually have a higher DB gain than a less well-engineered larger antenna.
In the case of antennas, they are a strange world of theory which has more to do with algorithms and less to do with practicality in application that often is quite a shocker. To quote the article below, designing an antenna is "an imprecise process, starting with the desired properties and then determining the antenna's shape through "guesses.... intuition, experience, approximate equations or empirical studies". Here's an example;
In that example, the antenna is so strangely shaped it would be expected to perform very poorly, however it turned out to be perhaps the most efficient, perfectly hemispherical radiating pattern of signal, and with the best signal to waveform ratio (most efficient radiation and dispersion of transmission power generated out the antenna and lowest bounce-back of non-radiated power to the final transistors), imaginable.
Antenna designers are very highly paid engineers and they often get paid far more for their intuitiveness and extreme thinking than they do for text-book knowledge. In that world, the self-taught amateur can actually be lucky enough to be more successful than the academically proficient.
Here's another example;
http://ve3mpg.blogspot.com/2008/11/unconventional-antennas-from-nasa-labs.html
And a couple more, including one crazy one that looks somewhat like a dead spider on its back with 8 legs going in all directions!
http://idesign.ucsc.edu/projects/evo_antenna.html
So then Cell Phone manufacturers have to try to do as good a job of designing antennas, often flat traces on plastic, or thin wires that run all manner of directions inside the case, and make them all fit into the same space without interfering with each other. It's really a daunting task...Cellular antenna(s), Bluetooth antenna, WIFI antenna, NFC antenna, what's next?
Given that Motorola has long been a military and defense contractor, and has been the mainstay of the communications for our troops for decades, it makes sense they might have a better handle on making radio communications devices that are compact, powerful and efficient, and that the antennas - most importantly on the portable radios used on the battlefield are both very efficient and also very small and yet durable.
Edit: Just found this...talk about taking it to the next level!!
http://www.livescience.com/5926-bendable-antennas-reshape-electronics.html
Hi all,
I am checking out the new Droid Maxx and might pick that up.
I currently have the Razr Maxx HD and it's been nothing but frustration. Way too laggy. I don't need a powerhouse device -- just a smooth experience. The Maxx HD has not given that to me. I know the internals of the new Droid Maxx aren't insane, but that's fine -- as long as it's smooth. And that's what it seems Motorola and Google focused on here.
Couple questions though -- Is the Gallery app "open"? One thing that really pissed me off about the Razr Maxx HD was that VZW killed the Gallery app's ability to view your Google photos from the app. From my understanding, it was intentional that Verizon did this. Is that still the case?
Also, is the vibe that the new Droid Maxx will get about the same treatment in terms of timely updates that we can kinda expect for the Moto X? Do we feel the the two devices will get updates (from Verizon) around the same time since they are so similar internally?
Thanks,
-Cameron
I am checking out the new Droid Maxx and might pick that up.
I currently have the Razr Maxx HD and it's been nothing but frustration. Way too laggy. I don't need a powerhouse device -- just a smooth experience. The Maxx HD has not given that to me. I know the internals of the new Droid Maxx aren't insane, but that's fine -- as long as it's smooth. And that's what it seems Motorola and Google focused on here.
Couple questions though -- Is the Gallery app "open"? One thing that really pissed me off about the Razr Maxx HD was that VZW killed the Gallery app's ability to view your Google photos from the app. From my understanding, it was intentional that Verizon did this. Is that still the case?
Also, is the vibe that the new Droid Maxx will get about the same treatment in terms of timely updates that we can kinda expect for the Moto X? Do we feel the the two devices will get updates (from Verizon) around the same time since they are so similar internally?
Thanks,
-Cameron
I don't know if it was Verizon that did it, because I think that the other carrier versions of the Moto X have the same issue, but the recent update to Google+ brought an app called "Photos" which can display both Google+/Picasa galleries as well as locally stored photos, so you can use that now instead.
The Droids received the latest OTA about 4-5 weeks after the first Moto X updates rolled out. That's reasonable to me, if that pattern continues. Motorola management insists that these phones will still be updated. Time will tell, but I believe them. At the Moto G launch event this morning, Moto announced that the X would start getting KitKat in "weeks". I really like the way that this new, Google-owned Motorola seems to be going.
Thanks much -- I have been debating between the new Maxx and the Moto X. Just depended on battery life.
Now the customized Moto X is $50 on Verizon. That's tough to pass up and really do feel it will get the battery life I need.
It's great having the choice on Android, but sucks having to MAKE the choice...
Thanks much -- I have been debating between the new Maxx and the Moto X. Just depended on battery life.
Now the customized Moto X is $50 on Verizon. That's tough to pass up and really do feel it will get the battery life I need.
It's great having the choice on Android, but sucks having to MAKE the choice...
Just to clarify, after the "Photos" app is updated on the phone, the first time that you swipe right to open the last photo that you took with the camera, it asks which gallery app that you want to use - Gallery or Photos. You can make the choice "Always" or "Just once" if you wish.
So, Photos can become the default gallery app, and the camera app is not locked to one or the other. I've had phones where that's happened - the camera app will only use the stock photo gallery app that shipped with the camera.
I upgraded from the Droid Razr to the Maxx. I really like it. I am getting 36 hours on average (have had it for over a week) per charge and I consider myself a moderate user (some games, listen to music, check e-mail and Facebook). That part freaked me out at first. I had become used to charging my phone sometimes twice a day now going over a day, sometimes two. I use the "OK Google Now" pretty often and have found it very responsive and acurate to my request. One other feature I like is that the phone learns your habits the first few days and offers tips that help on battery life. I am not a big camera person so not dissapointed in the camera especially after the upgrade. Since I like to listen to music if I am in the warehouse where I work, I am very impressed with the speaker quality of this phone as well. Regarding Active Notifications, I actually like this better than the led light. By turning the phone, I know what notifications I have as well as the time instead of having to remember what color led light I had set for which notification or contact. This is just my humble opinion.
Coming from galaxy nexus, maxx is like a breath of fresh air. I first got one for my wife to replace her razr maxx. After she told me how much better it is then old one and her battery duration and signal quality compared to my nexus, it just pissed me off because I had to charge my phone 3-4 times over a course of a day and would drop to 3g often enough where she kept strong 4g signal. So eventually I found a great deal for one on swappa and pulled the trigger.
I consider us both very heavy users, we both use 6+ hours of screen time through out the day and it always lasts us from 6am till midnight on single charge.
When it comes to reception, I'm getting 20mbps down where previously I would get 3-4 on nexus from same server(comcast) in poor reception neighborhood(2 out of 5 bars) .
Camera is much better then previous gen, but not on par with samsung/htc/LG. But for what I use it, it's good enough. When it really matters we have our Nikon dslr with us.
Another feature that many don't mention is the assist app which mutes all sounds and turns off active notifications at night. It also speaks the caller name and reads texts while you are driving, but also turns on music automatically once car stars moving. As I listen to my phone music over car bluetooth this feature is SWEET! I don't have to touch the phone when in the car. I can just talk to it and even with my Russian accent it understands me 90% of the time.
I think maxx is the best moto phone in the world right now.
I consider us both very heavy users, we both use 6+ hours of screen time through out the day and it always lasts us from 6am till midnight on single charge.
When it comes to reception, I'm getting 20mbps down where previously I would get 3-4 on nexus from same server(comcast) in poor reception neighborhood(2 out of 5 bars) .
Camera is much better then previous gen, but not on par with samsung/htc/LG. But for what I use it, it's good enough. When it really matters we have our Nikon dslr with us.
Another feature that many don't mention is the assist app which mutes all sounds and turns off active notifications at night. It also speaks the caller name and reads texts while you are driving, but also turns on music automatically once car stars moving. As I listen to my phone music over car bluetooth this feature is SWEET! I don't have to touch the phone when in the car. I can just talk to it and even with my Russian accent it understands me 90% of the time.
I think maxx is the best moto phone in the world right now.