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Hi OB users, I have been very tempted to buy this phone but I have a few questions that hopefully you can help me answer and decide whether or not it is a good decision to go ahead and buy it.
1.-I've heard battery life sucks, is this true? will it improve significantly if GB is ever released by LG (or maybe ICS will be the immediate update instead)?
2.-LG announced ICS will be released for OB, but I have also seen that LG has let down users many times with upgrades (e.g. GB), so do you still trust LG for keeping your HW up to date in terms of SW?
3.-If you could chose, would you chose again the OB or you would pass?
4.-Have you found HW limitations that have a direct impact over Android performance(amount of RAM, being only single core where the trend is to go dual or even quad)?
5.-Any last thoughts you could give me about your experience with this phone
Thanks in advance to everyone who took the time of reading my post, hopefully you can help me make the best decision.
Answers :
1 - battery life is normal, as any other 4" 1500mah phone, no better,no worse.
2 - Yes i trust about the release, but not the release "date".
3 - For single core, i will choose OB, my next pass is Galaxy Note at moment D), may be different when i actually changing from OB to any other device; but will wait for 3-4 months, OB meets all my need so far.
4 - 1080p video gives jerks, but 720p video runs very smoothly on OB. Haven't experienced much h/w limitations so far. [ i mean look at market, mobiles like Galaxy Y, Ace; Optimus One/Net; Defy etc occupy more than 70% of android phones, so a single core 1ghz 512mb RAM is not bad at all.. ]
5 - Display brightness and colour contrast is by far the best in whole era of smartphones, except LG PRADA 3 releasing this christmas.
It is a good option, as you may know is not the best out there, but it is a good one.
Everyone knows that smartphones are hungryphones, so it's almost the same issue to all devices. I do moderate use of it [2~3 hours calling, 2~3 hours music/gaming, about 1hour of wifi] daily and charge it every 2 days, so it's fine for me.
At the moment there is no single game that I tested and fail. Asphalt HD 6, PES 12, Fieldunners HD, GunBros [and playing online], Minigore, World of Goo, AngryBirds [all of them] and so on...
Display is a higher pro, 12pm at summer and sunniest day of the year still clearly see that display.
I'm not and android knower or anything, but in my opinion the only thing bad is SW updates or should I say no updates at all, but hey we have cm7 in good shape now and getting better
1. For me I find that the battery life of my OB can be quite erratic. Meaning sometimes it could last for 2days without charging, and sometimes the battery will just be depleted overnight (which is quite scary if you're using it as an alarm)
^Without me installing any new apps.
2. They promised, so they would have to get ICS out by hook or by crook or it will be very very bad publicity.
3&4. This I'm not too sure about myself. What I look for in a phone is it being slim and light, and a good camera. The OB is one of the thinnest phones at an affordable price. Maybe I would have gotten the Galaxy S2 or Droid Razr. So far I haven't seen it lag in heavy games like NOVA.
5. The screen is very good, colour accuracy is better than those AMOLED displays every other phone is using imo. the whites on the screen are realllllly white.
1.) Battery life definitely does not suck, it will last for 24 hours with Wi-Fi on, 3G off, 3-4 audio calls, 2 hour gaming, 3-4-5 browsing, Facebook, Messenger, Foursquare, Latitude open non stop, 30min-1h of navigation, 2-3 hours of music on the headphones, screen light on optimized (based on the light sensor ).
I know that some people wish that their Android's battery will last a week or so, but it's not 2001 anymore and these phones are not the 3310s anymore, so, IMHO, 24 hours is great, considering everything you're doing with it in that interval.
2.) Now that I've finally rooted it, I really don;t care. Yes, LG has been really delayed with the GB update, and that could possibly mean that it will delay the ICS release a lot, but that's what we have XDA for, right ?
3.) I would definitely choose the OB again. In my humble opinion it is the best price/performance ratio out there. Big screen, powerful single-core processor, enough ram to handle almost anything you throw @ it, the PowerVR GPU is a great video chipset, third best after MALI and Tegra on the market right now, all in all it's a great phone, and yes, there's always going to be a newer, better phone released, but for its price, the OB does it all.
4.)I kind of already answered that, I'll fill in additional details: There are almost no lags within the UI, the default LG Launcher is sometimes a bit laggy for half a second or so, but its just the launcher, not the phone. After replacing it with Launcher Pro for example, it performs beautifully. My Core i5 Desktop PC doesn't cycle through Windows that smooth :O The 720p playback is brilliant, no lag or other problems at all.
5.) Any last thoughts ? My personal conclusion after owning it and a SGSII for over 2 months now is this: it does 85-90% of what the SGSII does at almost half the price. Definitely a bargain !
Wish you luck with your new phone, regardless of what that will be.
Yes and no
It's like a good car with a bad driver on it... (Hardware and software) I suggest you to find a good car with a good driver Xpreia Neo V can be a good alternative...
if you want high end stuff I suggest you to wait panasonic's come back nearly april (will be presented at CES 2012)
there is also the "free thinking festival" about the OB
Thanks to everyone who read my post and dedicated some time to answer back. OB seems like a really good phone to me now, so hopefully, within the first 2 months of 2012 I might put my hands in one of those (or even sooner if I find it at a good price). Thanks again guys, you are much better than the people on the Acer tab A500 forum that I frequently check. Looking forward for more opinions
in a nutshell, if u want a brilliant 4 inch of screen estate, decent CPU nd a capable GPU,a sleek sexy and awesome looker, vivid camera and the best FRONT FACING cam,a great gesture controllable UI, go for op. Black. The software is no prob.
I had a tok wid MIUI and they confirmed immediate support for the device.also, the official GB will be available by jan latest.
If u want to hear glitches of this phone, am sorry to disappoint you....root nd delete the LG BLOATWRE,u wl hv 1day with heavy use.
I was watching this review on youtube and the guy mentions 2 issues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1BbO5TI7Fg
1.-The phone overheats and becomes unbearable to hold
2.-Signal strenght decreases while holding it (similar to iPhone 4)
Could you guys share your experience in these 2 areas? I am thinking this guy might have received a faulty unit, but I just want to confirm. Thanks again guys.
sensei22 said:
I was watching this review on youtube and the guy mentions 2 issues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1BbO5TI7Fg
1.-The phone overheats and becomes unbearable to hold
2.-Signal strenght decreases while holding it (similar to iPhone 4)
Could you guys share your experience in these 2 areas? I am thinking this guy might have received a faulty unit, but I just want to confirm. Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone may overheat when you use it while it is charging or if you're playing heavy games. My OB haven't heated up to a point thats unbearable to hold. Usually the camera area heats up. I believe that all slim phones heat up just like my friend's S2.
When it comes to signal, it's almost at par with nokia phones. With my Giorgio Armani phone, I can't even send sms inside my room, but with my OB, I can recieve and send sms anytime.
Had no such problems until now. Only heated once, but I was heavily multi-tasking atm, cooled down 2-3 minutes later. Regarding the signal, I had trouble with my old Sony Ericsson w960i and with my newer BB 8520 Curve inside this house, but the signal, even on 3G, on the OB is pure brilliancy !
Tips:
for browser use opera mobile for smooth hardware accelerated browsing.
for launcher use launcherpro. Its the smoothest launcher out there.
With all the above and CM7 the effect is my P970 is more responsive than my iphone4. Definitely worth the buy. Other good option with much tempting price is samsung galaxy W.
In my opinion its the BEST VFM out there...i m very satisfied with it!
3.-i would pass.
4.-hw is somewhat limited. gpu is weakest in competition. but games' generally working ok.
5.- sound quailty sucks. buy yourself a mp3 player with ob.
HW-wise the phone is unusable as a car navgiation. The GPS is incredibely inaccurate (50-100m difference is not a problem).
I never experienced overheating (yes, if you push it it's warm but not too much)
SW-wise the original firmware is quite buggy - there are problems with contacts associations, it happened that my phone stopped recieving SMS. There is no stable alternative, nor there is GB upgrade.
If I was considering buying the phone again, I would go for Nexus S, which costs nearly the same money, has larger community support, there is official ICS port and I can actually use it in my car.
Hi all,
a thread like this has *not* appeared in the 'similar' threads section so here goes...
What do you like about this phone, what do you not like?
I bought a cool phone a few months ago which is brilliant for many things but fails terribly in two areas: the battery which dies 1-2 times per day (are you laughing? ) and it lags terribly on ICS because of the very heavy skin and low RAM unable to manage it.
I'm attracted to this phone because:
- huge battery, not only big but online reviewers that I trust like GSM Arena tested it extensively and the battery performs brilliantly
- good-sized screen, which looks like the trend for 2013 but in a compact size (edge to edge)
- rugged screen and back
- specs will allow it to be updated to future Android versions comfortably I'd say
- I'm attracted to AMOLED, anything without a battery-killing backlight is the way forward for me
I would recommend this phone without any hesitation.
Definitely yes!
Here is my small review: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=36396900&postcount=13
As long as you dont expect a gaming platform its the best phone with that size, browsing, smoothness and app starts are as good of an experience as iphone5, nexus4 and alle the other so called high end phones.
Browsing is especially nice since we still have the outstanding stock ics browser.
You have to take care though or u will get scratches as easily as the iphone5, every metal can scratch the "colour" of the aluminum.
The cam is average at quality, outstanding at speed (beats dem iphone5 and in comparison to a ip4 its really noticable) and of course theres a button.
Thanks gents (and ladies?). This is really good news. I've been considering this one with the Samsung GS3 Mini but this one trumps that one in a few places. It's great to see that the thread isn't overloaded with manufacturer problems - my current phone has threads for that.
Yeah, my hopes for this one are straight-forward enough I guess, mostly that it will last more than one day so I stop missing calls and alarms, not laggy, and in good shape for future updates (I see Jelly Bean is imminent for this one?). I have a 32GB SD that I'll probably upgrade to a 64GB perhaps Class 10 for music. That's it really. Music is OK on the phone? No major problems? :victory:
If you consider use the stock earphone, yes, it has a very nice sound. I cant say the same for the speakers.
You can take outstanding pictured with no noise, if you know what you're doing. It just have an accentuated noise of very low light situations.
For games, you can play many of them, even N.O.V.A 3. Also with most apps rebuilding their structures to x86, you won't have problems with incompatibility. RAZR i also can handle emulation, such as N64 and PSX (played CB3).
Due to the medfield processor, you won't suffer from had to plug to the charger all the time. The 2000mAh battery can hold all day and its possible to keep 2 or 3 days without charge.
Of course I do recommend it.
Power and beauty :good:
The screen is not perfect, but for videos is pretty damn good. My battery lasts one day of moderate use with all ON (except bluetooth). I don't have had any lag, and I play a lot of games. Internet browsing is superb in Chrome. The flaws could be a decent but not awesome camera, no flash (still a need), and some apps (a few) doesn't work with x86 processor.
aberst said:
Of course I do recommend it.
Power and beauty :good:
The screen is not perfect, but for videos is pretty damn good. My battery lasts one day of moderate use with all ON (except bluetooth). I don't have had any lag, and I play a lot of games. Internet browsing is superb in Chrome. The flaws could be a decent but not awesome camera, no flash (still a need), and some apps (a few) doesn't work with x86 processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
search in the forum, if you have root, you can have flash in opera mobile, or stock browser, (maybe firefox x86 too, not sure)
sky.0165 said:
If you consider use the stock earphone, yes, it has a very nice sound. I cant say the same for the speakers.
You can take outstanding pictured with no noise, if you know what you're doing. It just have an accentuated noise of very low light situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't say that! The stock earphone is, like every stock one, a very basic one, its quality is not good! I however understand that if you don't listen to music that much or simply never tried some good ones, you can be satisfied with them...
About the camera, "oustanding pictures"? no way... correct pictures, that's all! This is a phone, not a real camera.
Ok for the noise
amazing device!
absolutely yes!
I wouldn't recommend a phone with an OS from the prehistoric times no matter the hardware.
sky.0165 said:
If you consider use the stock earphone, yes, it has a very nice sound. I cant say the same for the speakers.
You can take outstanding pictured with no noise, if you know what you're doing. It just have an accentuated noise of very low light situations.
For games, you can play many of them, even N.O.V.A 3. Also with most apps rebuilding their structures to x86, you won't have problems with incompatibility. RAZR i also can handle emulation, such as N64 and PSX (played CB3).
Due to the medfield processor, you won't suffer from had to plug to the charger all the time. The 2000mAh battery can hold all day and its possible to keep 2 or 3 days without charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes yes...but have you ever tested those 2 or 3 days?
Are they intended in stand-by mode?
mattlgroff said:
I wouldn't recommend a phone with an OS from the prehistoric times no matter the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it can be frustating, we are still waiting for Jelly Bean, but, this is a really good phone.
And I'm confident, I'm sure the Jelly bean update is coming
AW: Would you recommend this phone to a new buyer?
mattlgroff said:
I wouldn't recommend a phone with an OS from the prehistoric times no matter the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a dev and tech freak I may agree, as a user that has n4 with 4.2 and the I I disagree since there is really no difference.
mattlgroff said:
I wouldn't recommend a phone with an OS from the prehistoric times no matter the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I take that to mean you've already given up on the i?
I have just got one after being a HTC user for 8 years!! gulp! HTC *were* cool but now seem too mainstream. Motorola as a brand is like and old dinosaur, but they seem to have kicked ass with the razr I. It has an almost "military spec" build: metal, glass torx cap heads on view. I love it. Also the weight and feel and huge screen for compact size.
Things I still don;t like or get after a few days:
- my data connection seems unstable, slow and generally poor (I *could* have a problem with my SIM as it trimmed it myself from a full size)
- the screen DOES SCRATCH as easily as any or my old HTC regular screens. The corning gorilla tough class thing is 90% marketing BS
- the charge plug in the side makes the phone clumsy to use when plugged in
I have got my hands dirty with this too (see sig) with no problems - just need to decide what and how retail rom to use to remove the carrier crap I have now.
Any more comments on the audio quality? I hear that the speaker is not great, but I'd need it more with earphones. I have a good music player on my phone with it has bad battery, it makes the audio on my iPod sound awful, no joke. I use typically 320mps songs or lossless if I can help it.
I'm very happy with the sound on this phone. With headphones music sounds great and without headphones the sound is more than adequate for most people.
Also the volume on this phone (with or without headphones) is much louder than any phone I've ever owned.
NEVER had (all right, since my first gen Iphone) a smartphone going TWO days of heavy use w/o charging! For me this is an unbelievable Razr i experience.
bmszabo said:
NEVER had (all right, since my first gen Iphone) a smartphone going TWO days of heavy use w/o charging! For me this is an unbelievable Razr i experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmm show me a screenshot, because 2 days of heavy use, no offense, but I'm a but sceptical...
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
Basically, I own a GS3 right now and was thinking of upgrading to an Xperia Z. I realize that a GS4 or HTC One would be more of a proper upgrade but those are out of reach for me financially here.
I mostly use my phone for video playback(movies and such), browsing and the camera. I also use it to a lesser extent for music or gaming(angry birds type of stuff). So the screen and camera upgrade fit in the bill pretty well. I'm sure the extra 1GB of ram wouldn't hurt either. In the end the phone is also drop dead gorgeous and the waterproof/dustproof thing sounds very attractive as well.
However, after doing some research the Xperia Z seems to have a poor battery life when it comes to video playback and camera. Especially compared to the GS3 the differences seem so huge that it just doesn't make any sense. So I've started to wonder whether this upgrade would actually be worth it.
I don't mind charging my phone daily but the estimated 5h40m video playback and camera battery usage seem pretty poor. I was wondering whether any improvements have been made in this department since the initial tests carried out by GSMArena? I can already get about 6-7h in terms of video playback and less than 5h of browsing on my GS3. Would the Z be able to at least match that now or even do slightly better in terms of browsing? Will the upcoming 4.2 upgrade hopefully extend the battery life a bit as well? So, help me out here! :laugh:
No need 4u to upgrade. For those purposes that you do...just stick with the S3 :thumbup:
Sent from my C6603
nubnux said:
Basically, I own a GS3 right now and was thinking of upgrading to an Xperia Z. I realize that a GS4 or HTC One would be more of a proper upgrade but those are out of reach for me financially here.
I mostly use my phone for video playback(movies and such), browsing and the camera. I also use it to a lesser extent for music or gaming(angry birds type of stuff). So the screen and camera upgrade fit in the bill pretty well. I'm sure the extra 1GB of ram wouldn't hurt either. In the end the phone is also drop dead gorgeous and the waterproof/dustproof thing sounds very attractive as well.
However, after doing some research the Xperia Z seems to have a poor battery life when it comes to video playback and camera. Especially compared to the GS3 the differences seem so huge that it just doesn't make any sense. So I've started to wonder whether this upgrade would actually be worth it.
I don't mind charging my phone daily but the estimated 5h40m video playback and camera battery usage seem pretty poor. I was wondering whether any improvements have been made in this department since the initial tests carried out by GSMArena? I can already get about 6-7h in terms of video playback and less than 5h of browsing on my GS3. Would the Z be able to at least match that now or even do slightly better in terms of browsing? Will the upcoming 4.2 upgrade hopefully extend the battery life a bit as well? So, help me out here! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With your phone usage, i don't think you need to change XZ from SGS3. Just that SGS3 is not a 4G phone the browsing speed may be lower but the battery usage is more. SGS3 also allow you to change battery so it can be useful.. Just that i dont like Samsung "cheap plastic" feel thats why i choose XZ.
Thanks for the answers!
But what I was wondering about the most was whether there have been improvements regarding the battery life ever since those tests were carried out. I have been told that there have been firmware upgrades that have improved the battery usage when it comes to multimedia and such. Is there any truth to this or does the battery still drain in 5 hours when it comes to video playback/camera usage etc.?
i am pretty much in the same boat as you...i also had a GS3 & i couldnt upgrade because of financial reasons as well....i got the xperia z after selling of the galaxy & yes...its a pretty darn good update for me...the screen, when you view it dead on, especially with the new update that fixes contrast issues, is EPIC! the performance is miles ahead of the s3, so is the camera. I also watch movies on my phone but i music & gaming are equally important to me. The latest upgrades do improve battery life slightly & you can help it along as well using stamina mode but i am afraid its still not that great... i can make the phone go a day maybe before hitting 15% by playing heavy games like real racing 3 & listening to music & watching some episodes of initial d
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.
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-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.
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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...
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YaPeL said:
go for it, try to avoid the white version if you can.
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why should one avoid the white version ? ..
your_login said:
why should one avoid the white version ? ..
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No kevlar. (Although its more beatiful)
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YaPeL said:
No kevlar. (Although its more beatiful)
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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?
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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.
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