The Official Cell Phone Junkies Thread - Part 1

[Erzengel]

the s4 is incredible. screen is stunning, useful features, extremely quick. camera is awesome.

disable bloatware and throw a launcher on...wow. just incredible. the phone is actually really quite sexy, too. i played around with the htc one at the store before i picked up the s4; feels solid but i much prefer the s4.

battery life is also surprisingly good for a phone featuring such a powerful processor and a 5 inch full hd screen.

How is the battery?

 

[The Riddler]

But-but the cheap plastic and LAG.

Nah, good for you what color did you get, Black Mist or White Frost?

white. might take a pic later with homescreen.

 

[The Riddler]

How is the battery?

very good for my purposes. EASILY lasts a full day and night with moderate use. heavier use or video will probably eat at it more, obviously.

 

[The Riddler]

I was originally going to pickup a GS4 without hesitation but when I found that the phone was going to be similar to the predecessor but with a bigger screen and all these gimmicks that people aren't really going to use, so I convinced myself to go for the One instead. It was the front faced speakers which had me at hello pretty much plus I prefer the Sense interface over the Touchwiz any day of the week.

That being said I'll still take a Galaxy over an iPhone - PERIOD!

i don't use speakers on my phone, and the gs4's speakers are actually loud in their own right.

main reasons gs4 was better for me: samsung will update their devices quicker, i prefer the camera, and some of the gimmicks are actually useful. i just disable the stuff i don't want to use; not sure why more options is a bad thing.

touchwiz is pretty bad, and it lags a bit. it's not like i care; i would have been using nova launcher anyway and it's incredibly smooth.

 

[FVD]

Gotta love the way you can easily modify your phone for all those added tweaks huh? Good stuff! And while there are drawbacks on the HTC with the no battery thing etc, you're right - them taking forever to post updates is a con against them, but I've made my decision and you have made yours. Maybe I'll look into 5 next year provided HTC don't get in the way, again!

 

[The Riddler]

Gotta love the way you can easily modify your phone for all those added tweaks huh? Good stuff! And while there are drawbacks on the HTC with the no battery thing etc, you're right - them taking forever to post updates is a con against them, but I've made my decision and you have made yours. Maybe I'll look into 5 next year provided HTC don't get in the way, again!

when i tried out the one in store, the coolest thing about it for me was it felt really nice. curved back fit in hand well and it was pleasant to use. i don't think you can go wrong either way.

 

[Lily Adler]

Ha, this made me chuckle.

[YT]Z19vR1GldRI[/YT]

The black guy's "oh no she didn't" face alone is priceless and the way all the little punches cause people to fly across the room.

 

[the dmg]

My friend is going to give me his GSIII for a day so I can customize it for him. t:

 

[gohei_]

I upgraded my Razr Maxx from Gingerbread (I think) to Jelly bean last night. Gonna take some get used to it, compared to the previous version there's both good and bad.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I'm pretty sure you were on ICS since there's no way to go straight from GB to JB.

 

[Lily Adler]

My friend is going to give me his GSIII for a day so I can customize it for him. t:

Careful now, don't want to fall under Samsung's spell.

 

[gohei_]

I'm pretty sure you were on ICS since there's no way to go straight from GB to JB.

Actually, I upgraded to ICS first and then pretty much directly after that I went for JB.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Gotcha. As far as I know, it's not possible to go from 2.3 to 4.1 without going to 4.0 first. Just curious, what do you dislike about JB so far? I haven't upgraded yet, but I absolutely loved how the improvements in ICS over GB.

Also, if you haven't already, I'd recommend a factory reset if you haven't already. When you get an OS update, some data from an old version remains and isn't overwritten which slows your phone down. My Bionic was acting up at times when I first got ICS. Rebooting didn't help but a factory reset did.

 

[gohei_]

Well, I haven't really dug too deep in the phone yet but my biggest complaint is the cosmetics. The menus and everything just doesn't look as good as in GB, especially the sms-section, it's just a mess in my eyes. Also, it seems as if they removed the "Charge only" option for when you plug it in to a pc, and that just seems a little odd.
Of course, once I get used to it I will probably get along just fine with it, and I really love the task manager or what's it called by holding down the home button.

 

[gohei_]

Also, I bought an old Blackberry yesterday, 8310 I think. Gonna tinker with it and see if I can enable web browsing and or mms somehow without using BIS.

 

[Marx]

...so I've been looking more seriously into a new phone. The Droid Razr is apparently only offered through Verizon...and I'm not switching from AT&T.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 looks pretty cool though.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Well, I haven't really dug too deep in the phone yet but my biggest complaint is the cosmetics. The menus and everything just doesn't look as good as in GB, especially the sms-section, it's just a mess in my eyes. Also, it seems as if they removed the "Charge only" option for when you plug it in to a pc, and that just seems a little odd.
Of course, once I get used to it I will probably get along just fine with it, and I really love the task manager or what's it called by holding down the home button.

I liked most of the menu changes. Some apps look a LOT better, too, now like GMail and Astro (though I use ES now). The Charge Only option being removed sucks. I don't like the stock SMS either, but I've always used an app instead. I use Go SMS. Chomp and Handcent are also good but I didn't like the layout options in Chomp and Handcent doesn't display restored back-up SMS well.

...so I've been looking more seriously into a new phone. The Droid Razr is apparently only offered through Verizon...and I'm not switching from AT&T.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 looks pretty cool though.

The original Droid Razr or one of the newer ones? Either way, as an owner of a Motorola phone, there's nothing you're missing.

 

[Marx]

I've been wanting the Droid Razr Maxx HD but it looks like Verizon is the only one offering it. I had the original one for years and years and loved it...so it's a nostalgia thing for me.

The S4 looks amazing.

 

[The Riddler]

I've been wanting the Droid Razr Maxx HD but it looks like Verizon is the only one offering it. I had the original one for years and years and loved it...so it's a nostalgia thing for me.

The S4 looks amazing.

motortola phones are garbage. sure razr maxx has great battery life and can last over a day, but the s4 will still last at least one day, fairly easily. i got used to charging my phone at night, and i think i'd probably do so, even if i had the maxx. also, i'd hold off on considering any moto phone until the new phones with google's imprint are released.

i say try out the gs4 if you're looking for a phone. feels nice, looks terrific, amazing screen, great camera features. it has a bit of everything.

 

[gohei_]

I liked most of the menu changes. Some apps look a LOT better, too, now like GMail and Astro (though I use ES now). The Charge Only option being removed sucks. I don't like the stock SMS either, but I've always used an app instead. I use Go SMS. Chomp and Handcent are also good but I didn't like the layout options in Chomp and Handcent doesn't display restored back-up SMS well.

I did not know you could change the sms-section, gonna check that out.

motortola phones are garbage. sure razr maxx has great battery life and can last over a day, but the s4 will still last at least one day, fairly easily. i got used to charging my phone at night, and i think i'd probably do so, even if i had the maxx. also, i'd hold off on considering any moto phone until the new phones with google's imprint are released.

What's so bad about Motorola? I love my Razr but it's my first and only android so far so I have nothing to compare with.

 

[Lily Adler]

My only complaint about Motorola phones have been the Motoblur Launcher, but it looks like they are slowly doing away with it and keeping it Holo with a little blur.

 

[Marx]

motortola phones are garbage. sure razr maxx has great battery life and can last over a day, but the s4 will still last at least one day, fairly easily. i got used to charging my phone at night, and i think i'd probably do so, even if i had the maxx. also, i'd hold off on considering any moto phone until the new phones with google's imprint are released.

i say try out the gs4 if you're looking for a phone. feels nice, looks terrific, amazing screen, great camera features. it has a bit of everything.

Thank you.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I wouldn't say Motorola phones are garbage, but you'll have a much better experience if you root and freeze a lot of the bloatware. After ICS and JB, they got rid of some apps being required like SlingPlayer. They were really bad with getting ICS to some of the phones, but now that they have and JB is out, it's not much of an issue. The only reason I'll probably get a Razr M as my next phone is because the S3 and S4 are too big, the Galaxy Nexus doesn't support an microSD card slot, and I won't want to pay a premium for an off-contract S4 mini.

 

[the dmg]

motortola phones are garbage. sure razr maxx has great battery life and can last over a day, but the s4 will still last at least one day, fairly easily. i got used to charging my phone at night, and i think i'd probably do so, even if i had the maxx.

I wouldn't call Moto phones garbage. They probably have the best build quality and radios in the phone market right now. The biggest flaw has been that they're UI is bloated and clunky. The camera needs work, but it seems that it's mostly due to the software. Most of their issues in general have been on the software side, but that's in Google's hands now.

also, i'd hold off on considering any moto phone until the new phones with google's imprint are released.

They're (Moto's) UI is pretty crappy, but with Google, I don't expect Blur anymore.

i say try out the gs4 if you're looking for a phone. feels nice, looks terrific, amazing screen, great camera features. it has a bit of everything.

As the most recent phone released, agreed.

 

[The Riddler]

i'm surprised so many people are defending moto.

the phones look disgusting. the kevlar back and the design language...i personally think it looks terrible and i would think the general public agrees. it's just so tacky. their track record for updates is terrible. they will likely get better on this front with google now owning them, but we'll see.

the problem with moto phones is that there's nothing special or worthwhile about them besides their big batteries. their screens are mediocre, their cameras are mediocre, their performance is mediocre, their ui isn't good...there's just no reason to buy a moto phone right now unless you really have some aversion to charging your phone once a day.

now the future moto phones under google? they may be worthwhile, but we'll have to wait and see on what they have coming. i've heard the rumored x phone won't nearly be as exciting as originally rumored.