Erik_TheRed
New Member
Hello,
So I'm finally going to get a smartphone (been using some LG enV crap for the last few years) and I'm sure that I want an android phone. I'm very tech-savvy, and have done a good bit of research about the big verizon 4g phones out right now. From what I understand, my best options are Nexus, Razr, Bionic, and Rezound but I'm having some trouble figuring which phone is best for my needs.
Stuff I REALLY care about:
-Fast and powerful
-Not buggy
-Durable
-Nice display
Stuff I sort of care about:
-Nice camera
-Solid interface
-battery that can at least take me through the day
-micro SD slot
Stuff I don't really care about
-Price
-having to wait a few months for ice cream sandwich
And at the moment I don't know much about rooting, but it's something I might want to learn more about in the future. Not sure how that might affect my ideal phone choice.
Since this is going to be my first real smartphone (I tested an iphone 3 for a few months but that doesn't really count), I'm really excited but want to be sure that I'm getting the best phone for me. In my eyes, the top contenders are the RAZR and the Nexus, or perhaps even the Bionic. I haven't done as much research into the Rezound (idk.. it just doesn't really feel right) but it's possible that I've overlooked something and it might be a good phone for me as well.
Specs-wise, the bionic and the razr are almost identical, except the razr is $100 more. This makes the bionic look like a solid choice on pen and paper, but I've seen a ton of reviews online saying that the upgrade is well worth the cost because you don't have to deal with the glitches/bugs that have plagued the bionic for months. On the other hand, most of these comparisons were made over a month ago, and there is a lot of confusion on the bionic forums about how effective the new OTA updates really are, and when they will even come out. Since this is a phone i plan on keeping for a few years, it would really suck to be stuck with a buggy device that Motorola will forever "promise" to fix... and I'd pay $100 to avoid that situation.
I really like how the RAZR seems like a durable and scratch-proof device, it's nice to know that I won't have to worry about my phone looking like **** 1 or 2 years down the line (the bane of almost every iphone user I know...)
The next thing that confuses me is the camera quality on the RAZR vs bionic vs nexus. For some reason nobody on any phone review site is able to clarify the difference between the cameras, except that the nexus has the "inferior" 5 megapixel lens but may or may not take better pictures. And then there's all the **** I've heard about the bionic camera-- unresponsive, laggy, dark, blurry pictures that may or may not have been patched (or will be patched?) And what's even more confusing is that the RAZR appears to have the same camera as the bionic, but I've heard a lot of praise about it -- snappy, responsive, high quality, etc.
As for the battery, I'm not expecting any 4G phone to last forever but something that can at least take me through the day (~10 hrs standard usage) is fine. Don't really intend on buying an extra/extended battery so I wouldn't base my phone off that feature.
Something that is pretty important to me is the display quality. I've seen the bionic and razr in the store, and from my brief experiences they both looked nice but I did notice the pentile blur a bit on the bionic. I didn't have time to compare them intensely, but it seemed like the AMOLED screen was in general a bit crisper and clearer when compared with the bionic. From what I've heard on the forums it seems like this is another controversial issue, so I'll probably have to spend some more time in the store before I can come to any conclusions. And I haven't seen the nexus for myself yet, but I got the impression that it was hands down the best display available (please feel free to challenge this point).
Something that kind of bugs me about the galaxy nexus is that it doesn't have a micro sd slot, seeing as I already have a 32 gig chip it's kind of a shame that it can't support it. And I listen to a ton of music so the extra space would have been nice, but it's not really the end of the world. I guess I can always set up a google music account and save myself a bunch of space, but I don't want to waste all of my monthly 4 gigs on music streaming either (I like to listen to music for 1-3 hours a day).
So in review, what I think about each phone
Bionic - fast, built like a tank, a bit cheaper than everything else, potentially BUGGY (software/camera)
RAZR - fast, sleek, looks just about as durable as the bionic, doesn't seem to have any major bugs, short battery?
Galaxy Nexus - fast, best display?, don't have to wait for ICS, not so durable? (plasticy, no guerrilla glass), questionable camera
Rezound - nice screen, but overall getting the impression that it's not up to par
Now after considering all of this, I'm still stuck at a crossroads between these very nice phones. So if you can think of any reason why I should or shouldn't go with a particular model, then please let me know
So I'm finally going to get a smartphone (been using some LG enV crap for the last few years) and I'm sure that I want an android phone. I'm very tech-savvy, and have done a good bit of research about the big verizon 4g phones out right now. From what I understand, my best options are Nexus, Razr, Bionic, and Rezound but I'm having some trouble figuring which phone is best for my needs.
Stuff I REALLY care about:
-Fast and powerful
-Not buggy
-Durable
-Nice display
Stuff I sort of care about:
-Nice camera
-Solid interface
-battery that can at least take me through the day
-micro SD slot
Stuff I don't really care about
-Price
-having to wait a few months for ice cream sandwich
And at the moment I don't know much about rooting, but it's something I might want to learn more about in the future. Not sure how that might affect my ideal phone choice.
Since this is going to be my first real smartphone (I tested an iphone 3 for a few months but that doesn't really count), I'm really excited but want to be sure that I'm getting the best phone for me. In my eyes, the top contenders are the RAZR and the Nexus, or perhaps even the Bionic. I haven't done as much research into the Rezound (idk.. it just doesn't really feel right) but it's possible that I've overlooked something and it might be a good phone for me as well.
Specs-wise, the bionic and the razr are almost identical, except the razr is $100 more. This makes the bionic look like a solid choice on pen and paper, but I've seen a ton of reviews online saying that the upgrade is well worth the cost because you don't have to deal with the glitches/bugs that have plagued the bionic for months. On the other hand, most of these comparisons were made over a month ago, and there is a lot of confusion on the bionic forums about how effective the new OTA updates really are, and when they will even come out. Since this is a phone i plan on keeping for a few years, it would really suck to be stuck with a buggy device that Motorola will forever "promise" to fix... and I'd pay $100 to avoid that situation.
I really like how the RAZR seems like a durable and scratch-proof device, it's nice to know that I won't have to worry about my phone looking like **** 1 or 2 years down the line (the bane of almost every iphone user I know...)
The next thing that confuses me is the camera quality on the RAZR vs bionic vs nexus. For some reason nobody on any phone review site is able to clarify the difference between the cameras, except that the nexus has the "inferior" 5 megapixel lens but may or may not take better pictures. And then there's all the **** I've heard about the bionic camera-- unresponsive, laggy, dark, blurry pictures that may or may not have been patched (or will be patched?) And what's even more confusing is that the RAZR appears to have the same camera as the bionic, but I've heard a lot of praise about it -- snappy, responsive, high quality, etc.
As for the battery, I'm not expecting any 4G phone to last forever but something that can at least take me through the day (~10 hrs standard usage) is fine. Don't really intend on buying an extra/extended battery so I wouldn't base my phone off that feature.
Something that is pretty important to me is the display quality. I've seen the bionic and razr in the store, and from my brief experiences they both looked nice but I did notice the pentile blur a bit on the bionic. I didn't have time to compare them intensely, but it seemed like the AMOLED screen was in general a bit crisper and clearer when compared with the bionic. From what I've heard on the forums it seems like this is another controversial issue, so I'll probably have to spend some more time in the store before I can come to any conclusions. And I haven't seen the nexus for myself yet, but I got the impression that it was hands down the best display available (please feel free to challenge this point).
Something that kind of bugs me about the galaxy nexus is that it doesn't have a micro sd slot, seeing as I already have a 32 gig chip it's kind of a shame that it can't support it. And I listen to a ton of music so the extra space would have been nice, but it's not really the end of the world. I guess I can always set up a google music account and save myself a bunch of space, but I don't want to waste all of my monthly 4 gigs on music streaming either (I like to listen to music for 1-3 hours a day).
So in review, what I think about each phone
Bionic - fast, built like a tank, a bit cheaper than everything else, potentially BUGGY (software/camera)
RAZR - fast, sleek, looks just about as durable as the bionic, doesn't seem to have any major bugs, short battery?
Galaxy Nexus - fast, best display?, don't have to wait for ICS, not so durable? (plasticy, no guerrilla glass), questionable camera
Rezound - nice screen, but overall getting the impression that it's not up to par
Now after considering all of this, I'm still stuck at a crossroads between these very nice phones. So if you can think of any reason why I should or shouldn't go with a particular model, then please let me know
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