Phone reccomendation

S

shoota

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
1,550
If I wanted a new phone right now off contract (Verizon) and my biggest priorities are 4G, battery life, and stock Google experience (no Moto blur, HTC stuff, etc). What are my options at this moment?
 
There is none... Unless you want a non-stock android phone. I would recommend the RAZR Maxx HD because the updated motoblur on it is more stock-like than anything else.
 
I didn't list a price because I just wanted to see everything that is available as of right now. Is the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4 the only Google experience phones on Verizon right now? Kinda sad, I know the Nexus 4 doesn't have 4G either, and that's a big time bummer.
 
shoota said:
Is the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4 the only Google experience phones on Verizon right now?
Click to expand...

No, just the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus 4 is only available from Google or T-Mobile and is only compatible with GSM carriers. Verizon has stated in early 2012 that they will no longer sell non-4G phones, so the Nexus 4 is never going to be available on Verizon. Maybe the next Nexus phone will, but I wouldn't count on it. Nexus devices are meant to be sold with both the carrier and bootloader unlocked, something Verizon is dead set against on all of their devices. I was surprised that they ever got the Galaxy Nexus, but they passed on the Galaxy S2 for some reason and probably had to pick up the Gnex in order to compensate for that. That's the only reason why I think they got it.
 
Oh I see now, great info. I hate Verizon for that :(
Is there anything on the horizon to look forward to?
 
Nothing rumored or announced that I've see so far on Verizon. The Galaxy S4 should be here around May/June if you can wait that long. I'm sure it will at least have a 1080p SAMOLED display and the new Exynos dual core (that will still be considerably faster then the current Exynos Quads in the Note 2 and International S3), 2-3 GBs of RAM and who knows what other crazy stuff they'll have in the next TW UI. I wouldn't expect much from Moto or HTC for a while since their flagships on Verizon are only a few months old still, but who knows.
 
Thanks for the info and catching me up in the mobile world, I really appreciate it!
 
T4rd said:
No, just the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus 4 is only available from Google or T-Mobile and is only compatible with GSM carriers. Verizon has stated in early 2012 that they will no longer sell non-4G phones, so the Nexus 4 is never going to be available on Verizon. Maybe the next Nexus phone will, but I wouldn't count on it. Nexus devices are meant to be sold with both the carrier and bootloader unlocked, something Verizon is dead set against on all of their devices. I was surprised that they ever got the Galaxy Nexus, but they passed on the Galaxy S2 for some reason and probably had to pick up the Gnex in order to compensate for that. That's the only reason why I think they got it.
Click to expand...

The GNex was not 4G capable at release. Google released a 4G capable version for Verizon. It would not be out of the question for Google to do the same thing again.
 
The note 2 and galaxy s3 have both had their bootloaders unlocked so if you are willing to go that route you can make them 'nearly' stock with third party roms. The note 2 has better reception and longer battery life than the galaxy s3; but is also a bit larger. The nexus had very bad reputation for both 4g reception and battery life and it build quality is less than splendor.
-
Oh yea the htc dna can also be unlocked. It has a smallish battery but but better life than expected (for battery size). the display is great and the profile is a nice (definitely smaller than the note 2). I would recommend either the note 2 or htc dna if you are willing to flash.
 
Your choices are:

1. Wait for the SGS4 or other phone with pure Cortex-A15 technology. There currently is no phone with pure Cortex-A15 technology.

2. Get the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The only plausible phone to get now, in my honest opinion. The overclocked 1.6GHz Exynos 4 quad cores are surprisingly much better than the stock speed Exynos 4 and also the 5.5 inch is a huge bonus. Plus the SGN2 has an RGB Super AMOLED display which produce the best contrast and black levels I've ever seen on a smartphone display.

Much better than the SGS3's Super AMOLED PenTile display, although it's hard to see the difference in real life.

The overclocked 1.6GHz Exynos 4 quad cores of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 outperforms the Snapdragon S4 Pro.

3. iPhone 5. I added this because it's the best in terms of if you want simplicity and don't want a big phone. It's only 4 inches but delivers excellent graphics performance. The iPhone 5 also has one of the best battery performances. It's reliable and has the best build quality.

Other phones that are coming out in between are not worth getting because they won't have Cortex-A15 CPU architecture.

Get the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or the iPhone 5 now

OR

Wait for the real Cortex-A15 smartphones to be released by Samsung, HTC and Apple.

I expect Samsung to unveil their flagship model soon, probably around February or March.
 
Last edited:
Neurofreeze said:
The GNex was not 4G capable at release. Google released a 4G capable version for Verizon. It would not be out of the question for Google to do the same thing again.
Click to expand...

That is true but this time around Google stated (in a Verge interview when the Nexus 4 launched) that they have no intentions of releasing an LTE variant of the Nexus 4 because of all of the US carrier restrictions that it entails. So it actually is pretty much out of the question.
 
Last edited:
Probably the RAZR Maxx HD. Motorola's skin is closest to stock Android.
 
Get a new model windows 8 or android phone with removeable battery so you can allways have another extra battery charged up. Make sure it has gorilla glass not like the trash apple makes with normal glass that will break if you drop it 6 inches from the ground.
 
yelsewshane said:
Get a new model windows 8 or android phone with removeable battery so you can allways have another extra battery charged up. Make sure it has gorilla glass not like the trash apple makes with normal glass that will break if you drop it 6 inches from the ground.
Click to expand...

Any glass, including Gorilla Glass, will shatter if you drop it at the right angle. The Nexus 4 is proof of that. Gorilla Glass is more intended to protect against scratches than falls.
 
yelsewshane said:
Get a new model windows 8 or android phone with removeable battery so you can allways have another extra battery charged up. Make sure it has gorilla glass not like the trash apple makes with normal glass that will break if you drop it 6 inches from the ground.
Click to expand...
nexus 4 drop tests shows that it's better than the SGS3. SGS3 is one of the worst phone ever made in that regard; it may even be worse than the iPhone 4/4S. That is why I will never recommend it.
 
Give a link and prove it becuase you have hundreds of links and youtube links of gorilla glass being scrath resistant and shatter proof but all I can find are links about how apple products crack like eggs if dropped even under a foot.
 
CHANG3D said:
nexus 4 drop tests shows that it's better than the SGS3. SGS3 is one of the worst phone ever made in that regard; it may even be worse than the iPhone 4/4S. That is why I will never recommend it.
Click to expand...

Eh, they seem about the same to me and if anything, the Nexus 4 is worse because of the back being glass too, making it more susceptible to break like the previous iPhones did. See below for more vids.

Also, not recommending a phone purely because how durable it is in drop tests is kinda dumb. Sure, some phones are better than others, but if you don't put any sort of protective case/cover/film on your phone, then you're almost asking to get your phone eventually busted. And though they're a good indicator, drop tests are hardly scientific. Any phone can get its display shattered if it lands at the right angle and it doesn't take a whole lot of force.

yelsewshane said:
Give a link and prove it becuase you have hundreds of links and youtube links of gorilla glass being scrath resistant and shatter proof but all I can find are links about how apple products crack like eggs if dropped even under a foot.
Click to expand...

Nexus 4 w/ Gorilla Glass 2 Vid 1, Vid 2 and Vid 3

Galaxy S3 w/ Gorrilla Glass 2 Vid 1, Vid 2, Vid 3 (go back and watch the iPhone 5 survive much worse drops than that), Vid 4 and there's much more too if you had actually searched on Youtube ;).
 
After owning a Nexus4, GS3, and my girlfriend owning (and constantly dropping) an iPhone 4s, I'd honestly take the 4S. The GS3 might be considered bad from "drop tests", but I never drop my phone. At least it never had its glass crack from being placed on a different temperature counter top. My Nexus 4 worries the shit out of me...
 
fyi: gorrilla glass comes in different thickness; if you check their site they list the various options. Anyways (my presumption) is some of the phone with the thinnest version (such a droid razr) seem more prone to shatter than thicker variants (htc evo 4g? (not a fair comparison since it used gor 1 and I think razr gor 2) anyways two aspect of the phone probably attribute to survial chance; ability to absorb/distribute impact and thickness of the glass (I think the s3 (from what I read) does a good job with absorbing impact which is why the batter lid pops off - also the rezound is said to perform well here). The razr (as expected) does a poor job.
-
btw if you live in an lte area I would go with iphone 5 over iphone 4s (though I personally would not want an iphone).
 
Hold up now... You're saying durability of a phone should not be considered when purchasing a phone?

GS3 would get a score of 17 out of 100, edging out the iPhone 4/4S at 19 for being the least durable phone. Where as the Nexus 4 is 46. All failed in that area, but at least the Nexus 4 doesn't hurt its overall average as much.

Yes, I just made those numbers up. But I made up those number in regarding to my perception of the device with a huge the number of drop tests videos I've seen. The GS3 is a terrible device. Note 2, however, is good.
 
I think the problem is that your opinion of the GS3 is based off of 'video'. When I scan the various forums over the past several years (I'm a digiligant shopper :)) I actually do not see a huge number of complaints on the gs3; but I do see a lot of complaints about (for example) the nexus 4 (more so for the back craking than the front); which is pretty sad given that google only sold 400K nexus 4 and samsung sold more than 100x galaxy s3. I can't really so too much more about the s3 because I've stopped reading s3 forums a few months ago when I decided it was not the phone I wanted. I've seen however lots more complaints about note 2 drops than s3 (and this make sense given the weight of the phone) which is tel-tale sign esp given how long it has been out (though they did sell 10 million so far).
 
CHANG3D said:
Hold up now... You're saying durability of a phone should not be considered when purchasing a phone?
Click to expand...

No, that is not what I was saying. I was saying that not recommending a phone based solely on its durability, when all of its other traits are way above average, is not very rational. You said "SGS3 is one of the worst phone ever made in that regard... That is why I will never recommend it." You pretty much said you will not recommend it ONLY because the GS3 wasn't good in drop tests, never mind that its specs are still comparable to newer phones coming out today, of that it's one of the few newer phones that support expandable storage and replaceable battery, or that it has been one of the fastest updating phones outside of the Nexus line (outside the US at least), or that it has the most developer support out of 95% of the other phones on the market, or that it has sold over 100 million times and has a lot of accessories out as a result of that. Nah, all that means nothing because you might break it if you drop it if you don't spend another $10 for a protective bumper/case for your $600 phone, so the phone is essentially garbage :rolleyes:.

I would also like to see where the Nexus 4 is that much better than the GS3 in durability, because out of all the vids I saw on it, it cracked every time by the 2nd or 3rd drop, which is no better or worse than the GS3. At least you don't have to worry about sitting your GS3 on a cold surface and cracking the back glass like on the Nexus 4 and Optiumus G. I don't think the Note 2 is really any better either, I watched all of them on Youtube since I have a Note 2 too and it only survived in one of the videos (there's another one it survived, but it was on a wooden floor which is a bit more forgiving than concrete).

Really, with the exception of the iPhone 5, I don't think any smartphone is significantly more durable in this respect over another. Esp. with how bezels are getting thinner around the display on most phones. I'm just at least hoping there's more to you not recommending the GS3 besides that one aspect, because there's many more important things to judge it on (as with any device). If so, then I hope it's over something a bit more relevant.
 
Last edited:
This just in... Glass breaks when dropped on hard surfaces. Some recommend not dropping $600 electronic devices on the ground.
 
Honestly, the galaxy nexus seems to be closest to your expectations, unless you use cyanogenmod.
 
shoota said:
If I wanted a new phone right now off contract (Verizon) and my biggest priorities are 4G, battery life, and stock Google experience (no Moto blur, HTC stuff, etc). What are my options at this moment?
Click to expand...

Without reading through the entire thread (pressed for time, sorry), here's my response based on your criteria.

4G - You're on Verizon, so pretty much every high-end device they sell is 4G LTE enabled now.

Battery Life - From top to bottom, it seems that the RAZR Maxx HD followed by the Galaxy Note II are the top dogs. But, they have huge batteries. The Droid DNA seems to edge out the SGS3 in battery life tests. Both are more than adequate, but you'll always have someone complain that the device can't stream porn for 36 consecutive hours at 60 faps per second. Bottom line is that most smartphones are providing better battery life than the old Snapdragon S1 devices that we got in 2010, but get the RAZR Maxx HD or the Note 2 if you need extreme battery life.

Stock Google Experience - The closest you'll get is the Galaxy Nexus. However, it offers weaker battery life, is more than a year old, doesn't offer expandable storage (if that matters), and Verizon only sells a 16GB version now (the 32GB was end-of-life a few months back). Following the fake nexus, Motorola's current UI is supposedly closer to stock than most, but I haven't toyed with it. The last Moto phones I messed with had UIs that irritated me.

After Motorola, Samsung's TouchWix is closer to stock than most give it credit for. Their notification bar since 4.0 has adopted most of Google's icons. They use Google's font, and the Holo UI elements are found throughout. The primary difference is the launcher, but using Holo/Apex/Nova fixes this. I'm using Apex but will switch to Holo shortly. It looks like a Nexus.

Last is HTC. Their interface is the furthest from stock. Now, I love Sense UI for many things and I personally feel that it is the best overall interface for Android phones. However, it is far from stock and unlike Touchwiz, cannot be made to fully look like stock Android, even with custom launchers. Using Apex doesn't rid you of the notification icons, nor the Sense-like (and not Holo-like) menus.

My personal preferences on this front, lacking a Nexus, are to either go Samsung with a custom launcher (next best thing), or go HTC and enjoy Sense.

So with that said, my recommendations are as follows;

If battery is your main priority, go with either the Note II (first choice) given how well it also matches your stock experience criteria, or go with the RAZR Maxx HD, given it has better battery life, or if you can't stand the screen size of the Note II.

If you can tolerate more typical battery life, my recommendation is the Galaxy S II given the UI concerns (or the Note II if you want a larger screen). All of the phones out now pretty much meet your 4G concerns.
 
Thanks for the great response. I think the best option right now is to just ride out the rest of my contract and wait for a more suitable phone to come from Google. It just doesn't seem too much to ask for a phone that has a great screen, battery life, 4G, and a pure Google experience. *sigh*
 
Shoota, stock AOSP Android will most likely never happen again with Verizon. Google isn't happy about what big red did with the GNex. That being said, with your needs you might have to go with a custom ROM or a different provider.
 
Oh I wasn't aware of that. I don't mind custom roms if it comes to that. Heck, I rooted my current X2 and installed Eclipse. While it's not perfect it's miles better than the crap Motorola and Verizon put on there.
 
all phones will break when dropped. Get a shell for it, there are a few good choices from OTTER and Atom.

Get a Google phone if you want to get updates when they hit. Otherwise you're stuck at the mercy of ridiculous update roll out schedules from your carrier and phone manufacturer. Like other have said there are many other pros and cons to consider. I like Motorola's higher end phones they're pretty good in terms of hardware/software.
 
Right now for android I can say Razr maxx HD or if your budget allows droid DNA...just root or use a different front end if you dont like the blur/etc...

Fact is these are the best phones right now unless you want apple or a phablet like the note 2. No room for argument here....anyone who tells you otherwise is just wrong or lying to mislead you. ;)
 
Skull_Angel said:
Fixed :D
Click to expand...

Not really. Rooting doesn't do anything about updates, custom ROMs do. Without a developer scene for your phone, you're still screwed.

That being said... Shoota: The Razr HD/Maxx HD has AOSP builds out there if you don't mind doing custom ROMs. Between that and the on scren buttons, you're pretty dan close to a Nexus. Hell, I wish the Maxx HD had a GSM version, as I'd prefer that over my N4.
 
Why buy the GS3 when the RAZR Maxx HD is available at the same price? That's the kind of thing that makes no sense to me. Samsung fanboism is getting ridiculous.
 
entropism said:
Not really. Rooting doesn't do anything about updates, custom ROMs do. Without a developer scene for your phone, you're still screwed.

That being said... Shoota: The Razr HD/Maxx HD has AOSP builds out there if you don't mind doing custom ROMs. Between that and the on scren buttons, you're pretty dan close to a Nexus. Hell, I wish the Maxx HD had a GSM version, as I'd prefer that over my N4.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I forgot that rooting doesn't mean using custom roms for most anymore, ah the days of oldgdroids... Dev. support seems to be much better than it use to be, but almost exclusively for popular flagship models.
 
CHANG3D said:
Why buy the GS3 when the RAZR Maxx HD is available at the same price? That's the kind of thing that makes no sense to me. Samsung fanboism is getting ridiculous.
Click to expand...

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a bigger screen and is ergonomically superior.

The RAZR Maxx HD has a better battery.

It all comes down to brand recognition and marketing.
 
Skull_Angel said:
Dev. support seems to be much better than it use to be, but almost exclusively for popular flagship models.
Click to expand...

What? No it doesn't, at all.

Also, Italiaferrari, have you ever actually SEEN a razr maxx HD in person? 4.7 vs 4.8" screen, the build quality is outstanding, and "ergonomically superior"? Oh, ok...
 
entropism said:
What? No it doesn't, at all.

Also, Italiaferrari, have you ever actually SEEN a razr maxx HD in person? 4.7 vs 4.8" screen, the build quality is outstanding, and "ergonomically superior"? Oh, ok...
Click to expand...

Yes I have. It's an attractive looking phone. However the rather awkward ergonomics bring it down significantly.

images
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top