Razr Maxx HD vs. Galaxy s3

[PowrDroid]

I'm on the fence on which one of these phones to get. I just got back from the Verizon store. I looked at the Maxx HD and the Galaxy S3. My main criteria are radio sensitivity, battery life, camera quality, build quality, and hand feel. The Maxx HD won all categories except camera but it wasn't the huge gap in quality in cameras I've read about in the reviews.

Radio Sensitivity: The Maxx HD was showing a signal strength of -62 dB on 4G; The Galaxy S3 was showing -72 dB. Winner: Maxx HD. Running SpeedTest I got an incredible 62 MB/sec download with the Maxx; 43 MB/sec with the S3. Winner: Maxx HD.

Battery Life: No comparison. Maxx HD by a landslide.

Camera Quality: I took a bunch of shots of the same items, from slightly different angles. The two phones were about 8 feet apart tethered to the counter so it was impossible to get the exact same angle and the exact same lighting on both shots. The S3 had slightly more lively colors--I don't know if it's because the pictures are slightly more saturated or if the Maxx was washed out. Low light shots were noisy in both cameras, but if I blew up the pictures, it appeared the S3 had slightly less noise. The S3's camera has more options but I suppose a camera app would get me those expanded options on the Maxx HD. Winner: Galaxy S3.

Build Quality and Hand Feel. I was able to pick up both phones without them being tethered at Best Buy. The Maxx HD felt more solid but I was surprised at how lightweight it was. The S3 is very lightweight and since it was bigger overall, I didn't like handling it as much as I enjoyed handling the Maxx HD. However, I did like the S3's lighter weight when I put the phone in my pocket compared to the Maxx HD. Both of them are almost too big to fit comfortably in the front pocket of the jeans I was wearing but I suppose in dress pants or khakis either wouldn't seem too big. I liked the user interface on the Maxx HD better as well. Water drop sounds on the S3--really Samsung? I also asked S-Voice a couple of questions (i.e. "Where do I find the network signal strength meter on the Galaxy S3?") which it couldn't answer directly without turning me over to the internet. Winner: Maxx HD.

I guess I'm no longer on the fence--Maxx HD for me. My contract is up in December and I'm guessing there will be price wars for the Holidays so I'm going to wait to pull the trigger and get one.

 

[jroc]

I will try to sum it up as best I can from my experience and what I read...

Battery life, reception....RAZR or a Moto phone in general. The reception plays a part in battery life in some instances. Bionic and RAZR M are anomalies for reception issues....lol.
Multi media, (camera, music player, etc)......GS3 or Samsung in general.

Figure out what you want from that and whats more important to you, whan you can, cant live with and you will be good to go.

 

[RazorbackFan]

I have had both and as I've said in other posts on this forum. There is no doubt the RAZR maxx HD is the better phone. For me anyways. The build, the call quality and UI is waaaay better than the GS3. Others will argue and that's fine but I'm older with young kids and don't care about all the little cool things that the GS3 does. Dropping the phone or my kids dropping it and not worrying about it is huge for me. Also the battery is insane. The camera while not as good as the GS3 or iPhone is actually quite good in the right conditions. Other than the camera being better I see absolutely no advantage to the GS3. The whole thing with an extra gig of ram is irrelevant. I truly believe it is needed for touchwiz. I see no speed difference between use of the two. That's just my 2 cents.

 

[jroc]

I have had both and as I've said in other posts on this forum. There is no doubt the RAZR maxx HD is the better phone. For me anyways. The build, the call quality and UI is waaaay better than the GS3. Others will argue and that's fine but I'm older with young kids and don't care about all the little cool things that the GS3 does. Dropping the phone or my kids dropping it and not worrying about it is huge for me. Also the battery is insane. The camera while not as good as the GS3 or iPhone is actually quite good in the right conditions. Other than the camera being better I see absolutely no advantage to the GS3. The whole thing with an extra gig of ram is irrelevant. I truly believe it is needed for touchwiz. I see no speed difference between use of the two. That's just my 2 cents.

I also have young kids...and for me, my phone has to be able to work as a phone when I need it. Thats one reason why I'm a Moto fan.

 

[Elric]

I know, you guys are really crazy. I get crap all the time from my family for always wanting a new phone, but in reality, I had an enV touch, which was an freaking joke of a phone, I bought a Droid 1 off of Craigslist which was a year old at the time, and then I got suckered into buying a Thunderbolt. Not counting the D1 (which I should have kept longer), all my phones have been pieces of crap. You guys just get the urge to get a new phone every 6 months and boom, you make it happen. And yet, here I am like a schmuck with my lousy Thunderbolt, patiently waiting as best I can because my wife is making me wait. Err!!@#&amp;$%!! <img src="http://cdn.droidblog.net/forum/images/smilies/mad.png" alt="" title="Mad" smilieid="8" class="inlineimg" border="0">

LOL. I feel you, dog. I'm reading this thread because I'm researching my upgrade for my OG DROID which is my current and only smart phone. My wife is like "WTF? You want a new phone you JUST got that thing!" Which is true, if by "just got" she means "purchased within the last 5 years".

We're almost exactly the same age (in fact I'm the older of the two of us) but she's apparently a time traveller from the 1950s who thinks that major purchases like TVs, Cars, Phones, Computers, are once in a lifetime events. When we got our elementary age kids laptops she was actually talking about them taking them to college with a straight face.

Thank God our standard def TV broke and there is no such thing as a TV repairman anymore. LOL!

 

[PowrDroid]

Thank God our standard def TV broke and there is no such thing as a TV repairman anymore. LOL!

Thanks for the laugh. Same situation here. I actually repaired the horizontal deflection circuit in our (then) 14 year old 32" reg def TV back in 2008. When it started exhibiting the same symptoms a few months ago I successfully lobbied for a new HDTV. Hello 55" smart HDTV!

 

[SIIG]

I'm on the fence on which one of these phones to get. I just got back from the Verizon store. I looked at the Maxx HD and the Galaxy S3. My main criteria are radio sensitivity, battery life, camera quality, build quality, and hand feel. The Maxx HD won all categories except camera but it wasn't the huge gap in quality in cameras I've read about in the reviews.

Radio Sensitivity: The Maxx HD was showing a signal strength of -62 dB on 4G; The Galaxy S3 was showing -72 dB. Winner: Maxx HD. Running SpeedTest I got an incredible 62 MB/sec download with the Maxx; 43 MB/sec with the S3. Winner: Maxx HD.

Battery Life: No comparison. Maxx HD by a landslide.

Camera Quality: I took a bunch of shots of the same items, from slightly different angles. The two phones were about 8 feet apart tethered to the counter so it was impossible to get the exact same angle and the exact same lighting on both shots. The S3 had slightly more lively colors--I don't know if it's because the pictures are slightly more saturated or if the Maxx was washed out. Low light shots were noisy in both cameras, but if I blew up the pictures, it appeared the S3 had slightly less noise. The S3's camera has more options but I suppose a camera app would get me those expanded options on the Maxx HD. Winner: Galaxy S3.

Build Quality and Hand Feel. I was able to pick up both phones without them being tethered at Best Buy. The Maxx HD felt more solid but I was surprised at how lightweight it was. The S3 is very lightweight and since it was bigger overall, I didn't like handling it as much as I enjoyed handling the Maxx HD. However, I did like the S3's lighter weight when I put the phone in my pocket compared to the Maxx HD. Both of them are almost too big to fit comfortably in the front pocket of the jeans I was wearing but I suppose in dress pants or khakis either wouldn't seem too big. I liked the user interface on the Maxx HD better as well. Water drop sounds on the S3--really Samsung? I also asked S-Voice a couple of questions (i.e. "Where do I find the network signal strength meter on the Galaxy S3?") which it couldn't answer directly without turning me over to the internet. Winner: Maxx HD.

I guess I'm no longer on the fence--Maxx HD for me. My contract is up in December and I'm guessing there will be price wars for the Holidays so I'm going to wait to pull the trigger and get one.

The S3 does have a very good camera 100% better then the Maxx HD and way thinner then the Maxx but, the S3 blows with calls.

I have many drop calls now with the S3.

I have the Razr HD and have been doing a test for the past 3 days and no drop calls no data lost..Nothing :biggrin:

 

[beandogg]

The S3 does have a very good camera 100% better then the Maxx HD and way thinner then the Maxx but, the S3 blows with calls.

I have many drop calls now with the S3.

I have the Razr HD and have been doing a test for the past 3 days and no drop calls no data lost..Nothing :biggrin:

My wife has the s3 and for some reason the battery lasts just as long as my MAXX HD. Both of us can last about 2 work days without a a charge.

I do think the gps, radio and antennae are better on my phone.though my wife's s3 camera is way better. It grabs the light setting quickly, loads quickly and reloads extremely quickly.

I actually like the maxx hd screen better for some subjective reason.

I had the s2 and switched because I didn't like touchwiz. I'm pretty happy so far but I'm definitely waiting for jellybean

 

[dan.dar]

The reason her phone can last two days is screen time. My wife's droid charge regularly goes two days, sometime into third cause all she does on it is talk and update her appointments in calendar. Next time you're both low, compare screen on time.

Sent from my MAXX HD.

 

[theguru1974]

Those of you saying the extra GB of RAM on the S3 makes no difference... comparing phones in the store which have virtually no apps on them won't tell you much. The real proof is when you load up the phone with apps, widgets, background running processes, etc. Then which phone wins do you think? That's my biggest gripe with the Razr. 1 GB of RAM just doesn't seem like it will be enough. If anyone is a "power user" and can say different I would love to be wrong. The lack of RAM is the only thing holding me back from the Razr!

 

[drew96dawg]

Those of you saying the extra GB of RAM on the S3 makes no difference... comparing phones in the store which have virtually no apps on them won't tell you much. The real proof is when you load up the phone with apps, widgets, background running processes, etc. Then which phone wins do you think? That's my biggest gripe with the Razr. 1 GB of RAM just doesn't seem like it will be enough. If anyone is a "power user" and can say different I would love to be wrong. The lack of RAM is the only thing holding me back from the Razr!

The only reason the s3 and note 2 have 2gb of ram is because of how demanding touchwiz is. This is especially true in the note since the s-pen has tons of features that aren't available on stock android

Sent from my DROID2 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2

 

[DevilDogMP]

Touchwiz is pretty cool though.

 

[SynysterBurns91]

Alright guys and gals, after spending five days with the Razr Maxx HD and five days with the Galaxy s3, I can say without any doubt that the s3 is for me. The camera on it is amazing, the screen is SLIGHTLY better, and this thing never lags for me...and I have a ton of stuff going on it at once, from playing a game and watching a video that's in the corner...to just having a bunch of stuff running in the background.

The Razr Maxx beats it in battery life...and I like how the phone looks more, but to me...that's only a very small portion of what I'm looking to get out of a phone. My Gs3 now has an Otterbox case on it (commuter)...honestly wouldn't recommend that. Buttons on the side are harder than all heck to press. I highly suggest getting one of the cheaper cases at Verizon. They look better, and they're more functional. Not to mention I just ordered an Anker Slimtalk 3200 mAh External battery charger for this thing...which I don't plan on needing all that often. Yesterday, after twenty two hours of moderate usage (phone calls, several hours of screen time and games), I had 30% of my battery left...which was awesome to me.

HOWEVER...the Razr Maxx did have better reception in my area, which was very nice. I came from the Droid X (another Motorola phone), and that one was awesome. The Gs3 just simply does not have AS good of a reception (signal strength) in some areas for me. That being said, I noticed dropped signals (4G) more often with the Razr Maxx. Phone call quality was just about the same, despite the cell reception differences.

If it wasn't for the Gs3 (or the Note 2), I would definitely be going for the Razr Maxx HD. To me, all things considered, they're both amazing phones. But for what I need and use them for...the Gs3 is the way to go.

edit: Also, TouchWiz IS more demanding, but it appears that that extra Gig of RAM accounts for that, and definitely overcomes the Maxx HD in speed and processing.

 

[Wopback]

Alright guys and gals, after spending five days with the Razr Maxx HD and five days with the Galaxy s3, I can say without any doubt that the s3 is for me. The camera on it is amazing, the screen is SLIGHTLY better, and this thing never lags for me...and I have a ton of stuff going on it at once, from playing a game and watching a video that's in the corner...to just having a bunch of stuff running in the background.

The Razr Maxx beats it in battery life...and I like how the phone looks more, but to me...that's only a very small portion of what I'm looking to get out of a phone. My Gs3 now has an Otterbox case on it (commuter)...honestly wouldn't recommend that. Buttons on the side are harder than all heck to press. I highly suggest getting one of the cheaper cases at Verizon. They look better, and they're more functional. Not to mention I just ordered an Anker Slimtalk 3200 mAh External battery charger for this thing...which I don't plan on needing all that often. Yesterday, after twenty two hours of moderate usage (phone calls, several hours of screen time and games), I had 30% of my battery left...which was awesome to me.

HOWEVER...the Razr Maxx did have better reception in my area, which was very nice. I came from the Droid X (another Motorola phone), and that one was awesome. The Gs3 just simply does not have AS good of a reception (signal strength) in some areas for me. That being said, I noticed dropped signals (4G) more often with the Razr Maxx. Phone call quality was just about the same, despite the cell reception differences.

If it wasn't for the Gs3 (or the Note 2), I would definitely be going for the Razr Maxx HD. To me, all things considered, they're both amazing phones. But for what I need and use them for...the Gs3 is the way to go.

Nice feedback.....

I originally had the 1st Maxx, so after checking out the HD, the decision to go with the S3 makes my decision the "right" one for me.....

The sw features on the S3 are innovative and have raised the bar for smartphones. Maxx to Maxx HD show few enhancements. In fact moto should have released it 3 months ago.

As for battery, my maxx made it all day with going on the charger for bed with 40% left. My s3 makes it all day with going on the charger for bed with 20% (average). Win either way...

As far as build, yes the S3 feels "cheap", but how many people truly use their phone "naked"? I don't.........

 

[sweeeeet]

30 million sold :0

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