Bleg: which new phone?
Contract up soon and I’m looking at the next phone. So far, it’s between the Razr Maxx, Samsung Galaxy, and the Droid Bionic. Razr seems tougher, lighter and more powerful but has the same design flaw of the iPhone that you can’t change the battery. Granted, for me, that doesn’t come up much. And the Maxx apparently has so much battery life they brag about it.
The con of the Galaxy is there’s no lapdock accessory and I think I want a lapdock.
Thoughts?
February 8th, 2012 at 11:09 am
iPhone.
(t’hee)
February 8th, 2012 at 11:13 am
You’re going to buy a phone that runs an OS designed by a company that’s evil? Not “corproate greed” evil, but censors content and is anti-gun? Who has changed their privacy policy to the point that it doesn’t exist?
You sure have some weird ass blind spots.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:20 am
I’m going with the Razr Maxx in a month or so (checking reviews on phonescoop, howardsforum and verizon first). Plus side is the docking accessory which I’ll probably also pop for (I think if you get three accessories, you get 20% off the whole purchase).
February 8th, 2012 at 11:25 am
On the lapdock thing.
My wife and I upgraded our DroidX’s to Droid Bionics a few months back.
I bought a lapdock, thinking it would be a great netbook replacement.
I hated it.
I gave it to my wife.
She loved it, and loves it still.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:26 am
I got the HTC Rezound. Cheaper than the Galaxy, HW specs are similar(the Rezound is slightly faster and also has user expandable memory), it’s cheaper, user serviceable battery (you can even get a bigger extended life one). Only catch is it’s Android 2.3 currently but Ice Cream Sandwich(4.0) is supposed to come out next month. At which point all the Galaxy will have is the slightly larger screen.
It’s that phone that flew under the radar because it came in between the Razar and Galaxy.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:26 am
I generally like my Bionic. But it has a tendency to drop the data connection once in a while. I’m a medium to high user and this happens two or three times a week. It usually only lasts a 2-3 minutes.
It is a known issue. A month ago, Verizon informed me they are “working on it.” Still waiting….
February 8th, 2012 at 11:32 am
This is hilarious really. I’ve seen this come up among all my friends and all my coworkers at some point. Lots of people try really hard to avoid iPhone because hating apple is just as cool as loving it. Everyone one of those people is now on iPhone.
I’m on my 4th iPhone and have yet to ever even think of one time I would have liked to take the battery out.
I agree with tomcat, you have some blind spots. To not even consider the most wildly used platform for mobile smartphones (based on actual usage an not just owning). All because your wildy out of touch ideas of a “closed” system fit into you preconceived biases quite well. Tell me, how many programs or changes to te root file system have you don’t to your current phone? Funny that your phone is currently an “open” system and you are looking to replace it.
Tell me, is not even considering a certain tool because of your own biases really all that much different than people who refuse to consider guns (tools) because of their own biases?
February 8th, 2012 at 11:37 am
I don’t hate iPhones. I just prefer android. More open OS, hardware is better, and if your phone is going to be that size, it should have more screen. And buttons.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:38 am
No, it’s not. It’s behind android and symbian.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:45 am
going by your list of phones i’m guessing you’re a Verizon customer…so my suggestion (Samsung Captivate Glide – i’m a bitter keyboard clinger, thankyouverymuch) is moot. any Samsung phone should serve you well, however. from what i understand all of their phones continue to get pretty consistent high marks. this is my fourth Samsung handset (started with a non-smartphone, then moved to the BlackJack 2 and the Jack, and now the Captivate) and i really, really have no complaints.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:47 am
For the cost and size of the lapdock, why not just buy and carry a netbook or other lightweight, full featured laptop?
Also, have you considered a Windows Phone? I find them a lot easier to use than Android.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:56 am
I should note, I love my bionic, as does my wide; and we have great 4g speed here in north Idaho.
Verizon has been really aggressive with their 4g rollout.
February 8th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
I’m with you on the battery thing. It hasn’t come up that often. But there have been 5-10 times in the last two years where the OS froze and I had to pull the battery to fix it.
Honestly, I would have given my iPod Touch away by now if it weren’t for three things: no cameras allowed at work, I’m thoroughly addicted to playing Bejeweled Blitz on there, and I haven’t found an mp3 player remotely close to the iPods for ease of use.
February 8th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Which phone has the evil OS from Eviltown – or can that be exorcised and defeated?
February 8th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
I have had the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for a month now and love it. Battery life sucks, but it is fast and the 4g makes quick work for browsing or uploading/downloading pictures to a blog. Razar in nice as well. Several coworkers opted for that model and they like it as well. Just make sure you go with a 4g model of anything because the data speed is so much greater. That qualification knocks out the current iPhone.
February 8th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
I’ve a Droid Razr, download Juice Defender and your battery should last most/all of the day.
I also bought an external battery from Amazon that can charge the phone if needed, it’s smaller than the RAZR and looks like a cell phone. easy to carry and you can recharge it from any of your phone’s chargers (micro usb)
Great phone BTW
February 8th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Yall’s a bunch of PHONEST reprobates.
February 8th, 2012 at 1:14 pm
I highly recommend the Galaxy Nexus. It is an excellent phone. Plus starting Friday Verizon is doing their double data promotion alongside dropping the GNex price again.
February 8th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Wait. Mobile World Congress later this month, lots of new phones will be announced. Quad core processors coming mid this year. Samsung Galaxy S3 should be announced in a few months and available later this summer. If you like the lapdock idea, ASUS will be announcing the Padphone soon (phone docks into tablet, tablet docks into keyboard, turns phone into both a tablet and a netbook). I’m in the same boat, 2 year contract almost up (although I’m with and staying with Sprint), but all in all, going to be an explosion of new latest and greatest stuff announced in the next 2 months. Yes, there’s always something new and better on the horizon, but now is a really good time to wait just a few more months.
February 8th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I have the Razr and it is a great device with one huge caveat. In 4G mode when it goes idle it drops all data synching. It is a known issue along with the Bionic. Supposedly the fix was going to be pushed Feb 1. Nope not yet. It isn’t a big deal if you aren’t a heavy user of data. It is problematic if you rely on it for calendar items from other people through outlook. The phone is great and the form factor is very good. I slip it into my back pocket all the time when I am out and about. Email me if you have any questions.
February 8th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
A “design flaw” that never affects you is not a “design flaw”, is it?
I mean, if you were such a road-warrior that you actually needed to replace batteries to stay online, it would be – but you seem to be saying that you don’t actually DO that.
It’s like someone who uses their AR-15 for plinking at a range and cleans it religiously considering lack of a forward-assist a design flaw…
(And knowing someone with an original Droid, I frankly tend to consider a battery door a design flaw more often than the lack of one. Even apart from thickness and rigidity concerns, movable parts break. And move.)
(Sidenote: I don’t know what Other Steve actually meant about “used”, but if we talk about data usage (not to mention app download rates), I believe iOS does come out ahead; my impression of the data is that iOS dominates data usage.
There are a whole lot of Android users* who buy a “smartphone” and then use it as a very, very nice feature-phone.
This is not a problem with or side-effect of Android itself, but a side-effect of the Android dominance of the bottom end of the market.
* Symbian? Please.
Sure, worldwide it has a majority- though rapidly declining – share, but in the US, Symbian isn’t even an also-ran.
The only reason Symbian is #1 in userbase now – for the last quarter in history it will be so, I think – is its huge installed base from before it dropped out of the sales lead at the start of 2011.
Symbian is irrelevant for any non-historical purpose, especially since Nokia’s abandoned it.)
February 8th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
But it is relevant in refuting the claim that IOS is the most widely used.
February 8th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
You might want to hold out until the Nokia 800 arrives later this month. If you use Windows on your computer and will update to Windows 8 it should work smoothly between phone and computer if Microsoft gets it right.
February 8th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Thanks, Patrik. That padfone looks interesting.
February 8th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Windows Phone is a great smartphone operating system, if your idea of romance is paying whores for the “full girlfriend experience” as Microsoft last quarter paid Nokia about $250 cash for each Windows smartphone they shipped.
February 8th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
You do not want the lapdock. I worked on the Motorola devices for the chip manufacturer . The Webtop experience running when you use the lapdock is a steaming pile of crap. The whole experience of getting it out the door was enough to make me leave the company and move to a competitor, in a different state.
February 8th, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Y no Windows Phone?
February 8th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
I’m really quite happy with my Galaxy Nexus, but given the jump in technology that is currently underway, you’d probably be better served waiting a few months for a new phone. LTE tends to drain the battery, so it might not be a bad idea to wait for the second generation of hardware to hit the market in the coming months. Quad-core chips are not terribly useful right now, but they’re probably more future-proof than current dual-core designs.
February 9th, 2012 at 11:55 am
There, that should settle it.
Now aren’t you glad you axed? ;->
Now : Which gun is best for concealed benchrest self-defense in an under-water, timed event against steel plate zombies with law degrees?
February 10th, 2012 at 12:05 am
@Anon: pretty much every zombie I’ve met has a law degree, and a drinking problem too.
February 10th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
I just ordered the Razr Maxx (will be delivered today). I saw they have a second battery that will plug into the phone, if you need it, if that is all that is holding you back. Verizon rep told me (after I had already bought the Razr) that they have many more iPHone returns than Razr returns.