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  • User Interface - It's basically stock Android. As opposed to the Razr/Maxx HD and M from last year, it actually feels like stock Android instead of a lightly skinned version. It's extremely smooth and responsive with no lag in the time I was messing with it. Compared to my S4, that's a tough call... the S4 does get bogged down a bit at times, but is still extremely smooth. But I also find myself getting ahead of the S4 at times, especially in processes that I'm very familiar with. I don't see that happening on the Droid. Again, it feels/looks like pure Android on a solid set of hardware.

You're also talking about a phone that doesn't have any user apps installed that could potentially slow things down vs. the GS4 that you appear to have had for a while now and have installed background running apps.
 
You're also talking about a phone that doesn't have any user apps installed that could potentially slow things down vs. the GS4 that you appear to have had for a while now and have installed background running apps.

You bring up a good point, but I ended up picking up a Maxx late yesterday to try out... I purposefully set it up almost exactly as my GS4. Maybe a couple of apps that I don't use often didn't' get in there, but 90% identical... down to Dropsync, Lux, my animated photo widget on my home page alongside my other widgets, Nova launcher, icon theme, my work email, all my social network crap, etc. I even added something to the mix that I don't use on the S4 - 3D Image Live Wallpaper... creates a parallax affect on the home screen, and has been doing so well before iOS 7! :) It runs better on the Maxx than any other device I've had previously. After setting everything up like that, it still ran just as smooth during the day today. I even copied over my music and pictures/vids to make sure any memory read/writes were taken into account as well. I try and stay balanced in my opinions! ;)
 
You bring up a good point, but I ended up picking up a Maxx late yesterday to try out... I purposefully set it up almost exactly as my GS4. Maybe a couple of apps that I don't use often didn't' get in there, but 90% identical... down to Dropsync, Lux, my animated photo widget on my home page alongside my other widgets, Nova launcher, icon theme, my work email, all my social network crap, etc. I even added something to the mix that I don't use on the S4 - 3D Image Live Wallpaper... creates a parallax affect on the home screen, and has been doing so well before iOS 7! :) It runs better on the Maxx than any other device I've had previously. After setting everything up like that, it still ran just as smooth during the day today. I even copied over my music and pictures/vids to make sure any memory read/writes were taken into account as well. I try and stay balanced in my opinions! ;)

My main concern is connectivity. At the shop my 4g is 110 dbs, at the house it is 120dbs. Both my RAZR and RAZR MAXX wouldn't connect and hold the signal, my MAXX HD has no problems. Antenna configuration I presume. How is the ultra MAXX faring? If I may impose?

If it's not HD it might as well be a newspaper.
 
You bring up a good point, but I ended up picking up a Maxx late yesterday to try out... I purposefully set it up almost exactly as my GS4. Maybe a couple of apps that I don't use often didn't' get in there, but 90% identical... down to Dropsync, Lux, my animated photo widget on my home page alongside my other widgets, Nova launcher, icon theme, my work email, all my social network crap, etc. I even added something to the mix that I don't use on the S4 - 3D Image Live Wallpaper... creates a parallax affect on the home screen, and has been doing so well before iOS 7! :) It runs better on the Maxx than any other device I've had previously. After setting everything up like that, it still ran just as smooth during the day today. I even copied over my music and pictures/vids to make sure any memory read/writes were taken into account as well. I try and stay balanced in my opinions! ;)

Good, give us balanced reports! I still consider myself on the fence but leaning more toward a GS4 at the moment. Something that interests me regarding graphical performance is that the Ultra Maxx is listed as a quad core Adreno 320 vs the GS4 is simply listed as an Adreno 320 which I take to mean single core. Battery life, graphical performance, and camera are important to me for my next phone. I already guarantee the Maxx has better battery than any other phone out there but how does the camera do?
 
Good, give us balanced reports! I still consider myself on the fence but leaning more toward a GS4 at the moment. Something that interests me regarding graphical performance is that the Ultra Maxx is listed as a quad core Adreno 320 vs the GS4 is simply listed as an Adreno 320 which I take to mean single core. Battery life, graphical performance, and camera are important to me for my next phone. I already guarantee the Maxx has better battery than any other phone out there but how does the camera do?

If you're coming from a Bionic, you'll be pleased with the camera. If you're coming from an S4 or iPhone 5 like I am, you'll like the simplicity and speed of the camera (it's very fast), but the picture quality will be lacking most of the time. It's much improved over previous Moto devices, but still not the best camera out there.

And I'm thinking the GPU you mentioned is playing a large part in making this thing so buttery smooth. But obviously the S4 is by no means lacking in that area!
 
My main concern is connectivity. At the shop my 4g is 110 dbs, at the house it is 120dbs. Both my RAZR and RAZR MAXX wouldn't connect and hold the signal, my MAXX HD has no problems. Antenna configuration I presume. How is the ultra MAXX faring? If I may impose?

If it's not HD it might as well be a newspaper.

I'm probably not the best gauge because I've rarely had signal issues in my area - at least since the early LTE days. So far the Maxx seems as good as the Maxx HD was last year, but so does the S4 to me... so, I might not be much help there. :)

I can't seem to find a clear answer as to whether or not the Maxx will support AWS when Verizon rolls it out, or the duel antenna MIMO thing (over my head). But I know the S4 will support AWS, for whatever that might be worth...
 
If you're coming from a Bionic, you'll be pleased with the camera. If you're coming from an S4 or iPhone 5 like I am, you'll like the simplicity and speed of the camera (it's very fast), but the picture quality will be lacking most of the time. It's much improved over previous Moto devices, but still not the best camera out there.

And I'm thinking the GPU you mentioned is playing a large part in making this thing so buttery smooth. But obviously the S4 is by no means lacking in that area!

You're not helping me decide! LOL
I'm generally disappointed with how the Bionic takes pics, especially coming from a DSLR background. I can be a bit of a camera snob. :p I've also been a bit jealous of how iPhone users have enjoyed fairly good pic quality and it sounds like the Maxx isn't much better than it's predecessors if the quality is still lacking. I'm guessing the GS4s camera is also pretty fast? I'm not looking for it to take constant action shots. Just don't want to miss the ones that come up quick. ;)

Is the interface really that much smoother than the GS4?
 
Motorola made it easy for me to say NO to the new droids. NO LED notification light? Are you kidding me? That's been a Droid feature from the beginning. Bye bye Droids, hello Samsung.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
 
Motorola made it easy for me to say NO to the new droids. NO LED notification light? Are you kidding me? That's been a Droid feature from the beginning. Bye bye Droids, hello Samsung.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

So I take it you're not a fan of the new "active notifications" system? :)
 
The screen could ways be used as a notification system through various apps. Multicolor LED was one of the features that originally swayed me from iphone to Android. I hope you guys like it. I will continue to purchase phones that DO have an led notifier rather than those that can imitate having one.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
 
I;m having trouble understanding your insistence. Can you elaborate?

Oh, let me illuminate my position.... (I couldn't help myself) "Just as good as" 1080p. "Just as good as" true quad core processor. "Just as good as" multicolor LED notification. As J B Webb says, "Just as good as is.... NEVER just as good as."

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
 
@recDNA - I think get where you're coming from, because I go back and forth on whether or not I like it. Active Notifications are cool, but feel a bit intrusive and more distracting - though you can minimize what they show. They're a helpful shortcut when you want to peak at your phone real quick. But like you, I loved having custom LED colors... I know if it's blinking a certain color if I need to look at it immediately or not, and I don't have to wait 7 seconds to see it (the time between Active Notifications' pulses"). And on the S4, a quick wave of the hand shows me exactly what apps have pending notifications without picking it up.

edit: oh and the S4 has a feature where it will vibrate when you pick it up if there's a notification "unread"

@WolfR1 - If you're a camera snob, you'll probably prefer the S4... and yes the S4's camera is fast... it's not as quick as the Maxx in general, but it's fast enough for me to get some great shots of my kids going down a water slide with zero blur.
 
@WolfR1 - also if you're a camera snob... one of the handiest features I've found on the S4 is the ability to use your voice to tell it to take a shot - "capture", "shoot", "cheese", and one other I can't remember, will prompt it to focus and snap a shot when the option is enabled.
 
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