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Going Android for the First Time! Help with Selecting A Phone!

Okay so I’m purchasing a phone, and I’m stuck between the HTC Desire and the Nexus One. They both are very similar yet so different and it’s making my decision very hard. So hard in fact, I’ve between contemplating this decision for about two weeks. So, below are the pros and cons for me of both phones and their importance in my life. I know I should go with what seems the best overall, but I want opinions from people that have owned the phone and have actually used them on a daily basis. I really don’t want to make the wrong decision because I’ve gone through 5 phones in the past 4 months because I wasn’t satisfied.
HTC DESIRE PROS
High Priority:
-Overall design is very attractive in my opinion
Medium Priority:
-HTC Sense
-64 MB more RAM than the Nexus One
-Comes in several colors (Black, Silver, Brown)
-Hardware Keys
-Optical Track Pad
-Chin
Low Priority:
-About $75-100 cheaper than the Nexus one for me.
NEXUS ONE PROS
High Priority:
-Back cover easy to take on/off
-More support from case makers
-Faster updates and most likely a future past Froyo
Medium Priority:
-AT&T 3G (my carrier)
-Will arrive quicker
Low Priority:
-Trackball colors
-Speech to text
HTC DESIRE CONS:
High Priority:
-Questionable whether it will receive updates past Froyo
-Slower updates
-Back cover I hear is hard to take off
-Barely any support from case makers (I’m a case-mate and Otter box fanatic)
Low Priority:
-No AT&T 3G
NEXUS ONE CONS:
Medium Priority:
-No HTC Sense
Low Priority:
-More expensive
-Trackball not track pad
If you can suggest my another AT&T 3G Android phone that's better than above be my guest.

You should consider the Xperia X10, it should fit well with your highest priority. The only thing it doesn't have is multi-touch, but that's something you can get over with.
It looks better, imo, and now since it's rooted, it is capable of getting Froyo.
Edit:
Xperia X10a supports AT&T 3G.
Also, you can load HTC Sense on the Nexus One through flashing a custom rom.

I think you would like the Nexus one better. A very big reason being the 3G. Im not sure where you live but edge is TERRIBLE where i live. Its not even worth having. As the guy above me stated you can get sense on the N1 by flashing Modaco desire rom.

I owned both and the only thing I did not like about the Desire is...lack of accessories
Now before you start saying "You live in the dark ages"...hear me out. I tried the Desire on both T-Mobile and AT&T. The speed I got on EDGE with AT&T was very fast, if not the same speed as using my N1 & iPhone 3GS. 3G might be nice, but it is a major drain on the battery. EDGE speed can be pretty reasonable if you live in an area that has good AT&T network bands. If you can catch Wifi, even better.
Speaking of hardware and build, I prefer hard buttons over the capacitive buttons of the Nexus. For some reason, even if I pressed directly on the button...it would not respond. I realized that you had to press a little above the button for it to respond. Also, the Desire has a Hero-like chin that contours to your hand and makes handling the phone a little easier. The battery cover on the Desire has a rubbery coating that gives it a sticky grip.
As far as removing the back battery-cover, it is really simple. The battery cover for the Nexus didn't feel secure like the Desire's did. Granted you have to use a finger nail to pry it off, the back cover for the Desire actually felt more secure once "snapped" into place.
Software wise, The N1 can be flashed with a Desire Rom to look like the Desire. The Desire can be loaded with a Home/Launcher alternative or flashed with a "sense-less" Rom so the decision is personal preference. From now on I am going with nothing but Sense. Some people complain that it is nothing but "bloated" software that slows the phone down. After owning the MT3G, N1 and Desire...Sense UI just looks nicer and integrates better with apps and widgets. I wouldn't be so worried about OTA updates. The good thing about using Android phones is that when updates do come out, developers here and at other forums will be quick to adapt them to Roms that are compatible with our phones.
I never tried the Xperia X10. If I had the cash and was still on a GSM network, I would have probably tried it. All I can do is just give my opinion on the Nexus and Desire

Thanks. I'm leaning towars the desire more. If I did get either I wouldn't flash a custom rom on them. Most likely only root. Another question, when you turn sense off on the desire, does it have that sliding drawer or the same launcher as the nexus?

I do not think you can disable Sense on the Desire. If I am correct, with the EVO you can disable it (or were able to until the update came out yesterday).
However, your best bet would be to check out the Desire section here and see if any progress has been made as far as disabling the UI.
If you are determined to use something other then Sense, you can look into one of the Home/Launcher alternatives that are on the market

I don't know how it is where you come from but here in PA (USA) the difference between EDGE and 3g is HUGE. I get around 75kbps on EDGE and well over 1000kbps on 3g. 3g is easily 10x faster then EDGE. That alone is reason enough to get a phone that supports your carriers 3g.
And lets be honest the two phones are so close that that you will most likely be happy with either so why not get the one that gives you 3g?

Its not out in the US for a week or two but i would go for the Dell Streak is more of a small android tablet and the bonus is its a phone as well,but every one have there own ideas so its up to you buddy

iphonehua said:
Software wise, The N1 can be flashed with a Desire Rom to look like the Desire. The Desire can be loaded with a Home/Launcher alternative or flashed with a "sense-less" Rom so the decision is personal preference. From now on I am going with nothing but Sense. Some people complain that it is nothing but "bloated" software that slows the phone down.
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Um yea...sounds sort of familiar

Don't get the nexus one, I had it for awhile. The Major problem with it is the touch sensitivity buttons. There are really annoying you have to press them at the right way or they will not work. So, I would say go with desire if 3G isn't a problem.

htc fan89 said:
Don't get the nexus one, I had it for awhile. The Major problem with it is the touch sensitivity buttons. There are really annoying you have to press them at the right way or they will not work. So, I would say go with desire if 3G isn't a problem.
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This was one of the problems I had. Trust me, I wasn't a first-batch buyer either. I waited it out a few months, so the unit I had was in excellent condition.

[Q] Captivate or EVO?

So I went and played around just for a few min with the captivate, and i was blown away by that screen.. but didnt care much for the app drawer and a few other samsung tweeks.. but it seems most can now be eliminated by CM6 so the question for all of you.. pros and cons of the captivate vs the evo?

micro2112 said:
So I went and played around just for a few min with the captivate, and i was blown away by that screen.. but didnt care much for the app drawer and a few other samsung tweeks.. but it seems most can now be eliminated by CM6 so the question for all of you.. pros and cons of the captivate vs the evo?
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Click to collapse
Biggest Pro to the captivate is no 4 G up charge also No HTC Sense.

Captivate. My cousin who has the EVO is jealous, especially of the AMOLED screen.

I faced the same decision. I code the captivate. I thought the evo was very un-smooth. Everything seemed jerky. I've read numerous reviews saying the battery will die in less than a day, even if you never turn the screen on. I thought the screen looked very dull, even by lcd standards. I don't know if htc sorted it out yet, but the screen was separating from the body of the phone for just about everyone. If you play games that require quick dragging, the phone has enough touch lag to be very irritating. The phone has dust-under-the screen issues and it's not even from the corner that separates from the body.
The captivate has problems too, but as long as the gps is fixed, I'll be happy with my decision.

micro2112 said:
So I went and played around just for a few min with the captivate, and i was blown away by that screen.. but didnt care much for the app drawer and a few other samsung tweeks.. but it seems most can now be eliminated by CM6 so the question for all of you.. pros and cons of the captivate vs the evo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmm on the Captivate forum, you think anyone will recommend the Evo?
Also there is no CM6 for the Captivate right now - someone is working on a Vanilla port, but it is not finished.
Then there is the issue of network coverage - Sprint vs. AT&T and just try taking your Evo outside North America - it won't make phone calls.
HTC doesn't have a great track record for rock solid hardware either.

I wonder if the Galaxy S phones wouldve been more popular (and better for the android brand) if Sammy hadnt actually bothered with touch wiz?
Hmmm...point to ponder

alphadog00 said:
Hmmmm on the Captivate forum, you think anyone will recommend the Evo?
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I figured in this forum there might be some ppl who switched and they could tell me why.
I think im going to go buy the captivate today.. i just wish the usb port were on the bottom so it could have a normal dock...

EVO with everything turned off: 4G, GPS, WiFi, email and other automatic updates,etc. I still got maybe 9 hours before having to recharge. When you work a 12 hour shift as ER Nurse one doesn't have opportunity to be without their drug and medical reference source while it's recharging. I don't sit down much!
Have owned a new HTC WinMo device each of the last five years, but despite quality issues they were the only real game in town. Now they aren't, and like Steve Jobs they better wake their arrogant arses up!
EVO has too many issues: screen delaminates(fixed), LED light bleeding everywhere, bright/hot spots, power buttons commonly crack as well as the protruding camera lens cracks since it takes impacts everytime one places it down on flat surface, etc. and depending on who you speak to at Sprint most consider these abuses and won't warranty them.
I don't want to jinx it, but my 3 week old Captivate's battery life kicks a** and can go 36 hours before absolutely having to recharge, plus main reason why I haven't taken final step to try JH3.
I plug it in everynight though, but aside from the hopefully repairable GPS issue it's awesome.
Updated EVO to Froyo 2.2 and noticed improvements immediately soo I can't wait. I'll miss animated Sense widget cause app version just isn't same though.

ozy944 said:
I wonder if the Galaxy S phones wouldve been more popular (and better for the android brand) if Sammy hadnt actually bothered with touch wiz?
Hmmm...point to ponder
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I like everything about touch wiz that can't be replaced by launcher pro. I like all the small stuff peppered throughout the os.

touch wiz flat out sucks.........i don't know what gave samsung the idea that it was good.
At least for HTC Sense, it's pretty, good looking, and includes things like the weather clock widget plus full weather animations that stock doesn't have, plus the Sense keyboard is good from what i've heard.
I would take Sense over touch wiz.........but yea anyways, vanilla is still better than any.
As for Cyanogenmod.....it's coming. They said there will be CM on the Galaxy S phone, you can go check out who was put on that job.
Edit: i forgot to answer the thread.........i would get the Captivate. Superior performance, better screen, slim, but less screen real estate. 4 inches IMO is just about the sweetspot for a phone. Hummingbird and PowerVR SGX540 are beast though, they will last you until your upgrade if not longer, Captivate has the best GPU in a mobile phone right now and no other phone has it yet. OMAP doesn't plan on putting it in their phones until their multi-core cpu's come out which is like the end of 2011 from what i've heard.
Go for the Captivate....snapdragon is also slow in 3D apps which means the Evo will be

I actually like the Touchwiz features - the slide to call on the contacts screen, the app drawer, widgets....
The top USB port is so your phone can lay sideways and dock - it slides into a samsung dock with plug on the side.
Some of the down sides are Samsungs email and calendar apps - but this is not really touchwiz fault - but samsung app fault. The lag issues are also not touchwiz, but Samsungs other decisions.
But you are correct in the notion that all can be fixed by a 3rd party or vanilla rom.

If you have that option, why not wait for the Epic?
4G, front facing camera, flash, slide out keyboard, SuperAMOLED screen. I wish I had Sprint. I am very happy with my Captivate though, overall.
Definitely the Galaxy S over the EVO. The EVO screen looks incredibly washed out to me now.
Plus if you're into customizing your phone at all the HTC Sense crap is very unfriendly.

EVO to Captivate
micro2112 said:
I figured in this forum there might be some ppl who switched and they could tell me why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did. Had the EVO for a month, and returned it. Primary issues
- horrible battery life, even with 4g, wifi etc turned off when not used. Couldn't get past 5PM.
- 4G connectivity is spotty at best. Doesn't work while indoors. Plus, when you have 1 bar of 4G, the phone tries to get the data thru 4G waits for a min or two, before giving up and reconnecting to 3G. All this time, I was waiting for an app to get data.
- Build quality - Light leakage at the bottom of the screen, battery door doesn't line up with the rest of the body, recessed ear piece would collect dust and so on. Expected more from a seasoned player like htc.
I didn't really mind the $10 fee for 4G, because overall Sprint's plan is cheaper than VZ's or ATT's anyway. But, the phone isn't good enough. Of course, people in EVO forums wouldn't agree

They are both great phones. Galaxy is a more powerful phone, so I think it will stay relevant longer. I have a friend with droid x and a acquaintance with evo and both screens just don't compare. Especially the droid, its just, really washed out. I am really happy with the phone, and touchwiz, but this is my first android phone. But I think samsung did an excellent job adding contrast throughout the interface to take advantage of the amoled screen. Like messaging for example. I have excellent battery life and no lag complaints, so I've never bothered with lag fix (and as an adderall fueled college student I think any lag would annoy the hell out of me)
Gps very broken though
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I have a evo and captivate. I have had a really hard time deciding what to keep. If you are a gamer I would say captivate but if gaming on your phone is not a big deal to you then I would go with the evo. They perform pretty close in all aspects but gaming is 2x to 3x better on the captivate. The captivate screen has better colors but has blue tint in whites. You cant tell unless you compare to evo side by side on Google's home page. The Sense vs touchwiz is personal preference. I like touchwiz app menu better then my evo's but sense has better UI and widgets.
Some videos I made evo vs captiavte with and without lag fix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKsAUR61ByM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji49qFNxC4c

If you turn auto sync off and gps off when your not using it, with moderate web use and a god bit of texting I got two days before battery went to red. Very happy.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

took the plunge. came home with the captivate today.. THANKS everybody for your opinions and info.. this screen is super sexy

micro2112 said:
took the plunge. came home with the captivate today.. THANKS everybody for your opinions and info.. this screen is super sexy
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Click to collapse
Ha ha told my wife the same thing, never said an electronic device was sexy before I got this thing. You'll be happy.
Sent from my captivate

Anyone come from a Aria?

Thinking about picking up a tab as soon as ATT launches, I love my captivate but dont really need two identical (hardware) devices. I was thinking about picking up a Aria throwing cyanogenmod and overclocking to 800mhz, i wouldn't mind a smaller phone in the pocket.
Anyone come from a Aria to the captivate and have any knowledge to drop?
ty!

I had an Aria prior to the Captivate and found it to be a little too small for use. The real issue I had that caused me to swap it out was the screen was so dim you couldn't see it in sunlight; that is definitely not a problem with the Captivate.

thanks for the reply, lucky here in the pacific NW the sun shouldn't be a issue. So the smaller resolution kinda sucked? hrmmm.

Started with the Aria, still use it. Have a Captivate also. To be honest, overall I like the Captivate the most. BUT the Aria has adavantages, quick snappy response, GPS WORKS, and does most what the captivate can do. Smaller screen, kind of bugged me, but can get over it. Though the captivates screen is OH SO NICE.... Gaming much better on the captivate also!

^ with a tab (hopefully) on the way the screen size should be welcome for the smaller form factor, the pocket legends beta is making me think twice now haha, looks so nice on the samoled.

gandalf21502 said:
Started with the Aria, still use it. Have a Captivate also. To be honest, overall I like the Captivate the most. BUT the Aria has adavantages, quick snappy response, GPS WORKS, and does most what the captivate can do. Smaller screen, kind of bugged me, but can get over it. Though the captivates screen is OH SO NICE.... Gaming much better on the captivate also!
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Click to collapse
I was debating on if I should go to Aria or Captivate when I was getting a new phone. I picked the Captivate because of this too. I love the bigger brighter screen and very glad I went with it. I am very happy with my Captivate. GPS is good enough for me (outdoors), no random shutdowns or any other major problems.

Don't do it. I drove 30 miles to replace my Aria.
The only advantage is GPS. You'll be sacrificing a lot of performance for a smaller footprint. Aria's actually slightly thicker. Just about every spec is worse. Know that it's a mid-range phone that will feel obsolete quickly. You really feel it when loading large webpages/images and playing games.

I loved the Aria it was very responsive although it had a small scree it was really easy to browse through text on the web, GPS was good, it size is an advantage when traveling on business. Basically if you don't need a large screen this is a good phone.

I originally had an Aria that I exchanged for the Captivate. It's a neat little phone, though you won't be able to get some apps that require the arm v7 instruction set (google earth, for example), and live wallpapers run a bit slow sometimes (super mario), but all in all, it's an awesome little phone that I wouldn't mind using as my daily driver.
I ended up exchanging it for the Captivate simply because it seemed more future-proof and because the subsidized price difference was so small that it was hard to justify keeping the Aria.
With the leaks of the Nexus S today, I can see that I made the correct choice. If it turns out that the Nexus S hardware is very similar to the rest of the Galaxy S line (which will most likely be the case, considering the model number), we are basically guaranteed updates direct from google (with a little hacking to get it running on our Captivates) for a long time to come.
Update: Oh yeah, forgot to mention the speaker. The speaker is absolutely terrible. It sounds tinny and buzzy, and you'll be instantly infuriated anytime your phone rings. Watching videos on it is unbearable unless you use headphones. This is another reason I exchanged it for the Captivate.

Aria advantages are fm radio, better browser that makes text readable on the smaller screen. 2.1 os with flash that works, snappy feel do to the smaller screen needing less processing power. Small size.
Dis advantages are poor out door readability especially with screen protectors, poor battery life, I find the captivate to be better, gps didn't work any better than the captivate, actually I think the captivate is better but I seem to be a minority in that my gps works, hard to type on small screen and I'm not one to complain about touch screens, I actually prefer touch screens for typing but 3.2 inches is just to small, non multi touch keyboard. Significantly thicker than captivate, it doesn't look it but it is. call quality not as good, ringer/speakerphone not as loud, camera not as good, captivate camera has many options only winphone7 compares imho but win phone 7 is good for different reasons, also aria camera takes time to adjust to the light, apparent in videos. Stock headphones not as good as samsung stock headphones. Internal storage couldn't hold enough apps.
All in all I did have buyers remorse when I got the aria because I couldn't read the screen in day light and because the internal storage was limited but was otherwise satiated, then when I traded up for the captive I had buyers remorse because missed the fm radio, the browser and the flash player, but it all went away when I started making phone calls, and got a taste of the stock headphones for music, every bit as good as $40 v-moda ones that I had recently broken, and better than the $50 treble heavy skull candies I bought to use with the aria.
The aria was almost a good phone and if you have an sd card and don't use 100 apps and you can deal with the screen there is nothing wrong with it but for the money it might not make sense unless they have dropped the price or the whole required store credit/rebate thing. But I feel the captivate is better for more reasons than the obvious even with it's shortcomings.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897

I miss my aria's gps. It worked flawlessly.

The Aria is...
...one bada$$ little phone! I was so very opposed to going to a full-touchscreen phone. I've always had keyboards on all my HTC Smartphones and PDA's. The fact that i got turned on to a full touch screen phone via the Aria is pretty impressive in my book.
Yes it is small. But that is one of the benefits of the phone itself, considering how big all the phones are getting. At this rate it looks like we're almost headed back to the "motorola-in-a-brief-case-Nino-Brown-era". hahaha! Sure, if you have huge fingers it will be a bit of a pain to type on no doubt. But I'm a 5'11" athletic black man and I had not too many issues.
Its just about as snappy as most other "high-end" considered phones in most categories. The speaker does suck pretty bad, but i'm always using bluetooth headsets and BT stereo headphones anyway. I loved that little phone. And now my wife loves it.
I have the Captivate now. I never wanted to get anything but HTC, but I'm on AT&T and the HTC Surround looks like a joke - not to mention I do not want a first generation WP7 anyway. So to the tune of $69 (AT&T matched the Wirefly.com price) I couldn't pass it up. Aside from not having a flash I LOVE this phone and it feels about the same weight as the Aria!
All that to say...YES, the Aria is a solid phone and great switch up from the current popular trend in phone sizes.

Long road from Inspire to Atrix and back again

Hello all!
I've had the daunting task to pick between these two phones for the last couple days. I went into the store to actually get the devices in my hand and fully expected to walk out with the Atrix. I've always had a soft spot for HTC, ever since their WoMo phones. I saw the Inspire and was super impressed at how solid the phone felt in my hand. The phone felt very responsive, and I already knew the XDA Inspire team was cranking out some awesome stuff.
I then grabbed the Atrix and was not nearly as wow'd as I had expected to be. I've been following the phone since it's announcement, and pretty much had made up my mind on the spot to pick it up. After spending a half hour goofing around with both phones, I decided the Inspire really won my heart.
Then it happened... The cold sweats... The tossing and turning in bed at night. Images of the Atrix's Tegra 2 laying waste to the earth and doing vile things to my Inspire. My horrid indecision had struck. I decided that I had obviously made the wrong choice, so the next morning I headed off to the store and bought an Atrix without returning my perfectly set up Inspire. I wanted to play with them both side by side and just return whichever one didn't make me happy.
That was a bit over 24 hours ago. After spending the last day with both of the handsets, I am closer to a decision, but it's damn tough. My overall thoughts and struggles follow:
Motorola Atrix:
-Pros:
- Bright, higher resolution screen
- Dual Core processor (even though I thought the experience was pretty weak)
- Battery (theoretical, as I haven't had it long enough to fully experience)
- This goes to the hardware again, but this phone is quite a bit more future proof.
- The handset is light enough to not remind you it's in your pocket at every step.
- GPS (This is the most rock solid phone GPS I've ever used)
- Incredibly loud speaker
- Tons of ram
- HDMI out
-Cons:
- Cheaper build quality (I feel like I need to qualify this. The phone feels solid, but the battery door is, for lack of a better word, brittle)
- Very poor color representation on the otherwise beautiful screen.
- MotoBlur - This is just a very inelegant, unrefined overlay...
- Strange compatibility issues with certain apps
- multiple force closes
- Weak social media integration
- Odd bouts of lag when least expected
- Locked Bootloader (most don't care about this, but it matters when you have a primary developer that has a history of slow patches, feature adds, and os releases.
- Chicklet keyboard is a touch small for me and requires some focus to not miss type.
**FOLLOW-UP**
- I've removed the call quality knock from the Atrix device. It turns out it was entirely my own fault, and while some people, including Motorola, are reporting issues with sound quality on some devices, mine isn't one of them.
HTC Inspire:
-Pros:
- Excellent build quality (the aluminum uni-body is a joy to hold, and has the extra added benefit of being able to be used to fend off an attacker)
- Beautiful 4.3" screen (Yes, it is big, but I'm a fan)
- Sense (I'm not a fan of these proprietary UI's, but Sense shows that HTC can offer up an experience that is easy to like, and provide an attractive interface for a phone OS that is sometimes described as clinical looking)
- The brilliant development community (currently running CoreDroid /drool)
- Very snappy performance from the second gen Snapdragon CPU
- Tons of ram (Not as much as the Atrix, but enough to be a "ton" in my eyes)
- Lovely camera (I used to not care, but I have a new son, so suddenly a camera climbed up the ladder of important features)
- Fantastic out of the box social media integration
- Has that "Just works like it should" feel to it.
- Very clear call quality
- Second best phone gps I've used
-Cons:
- The screen washes out to a grey slab in direct sunlight
- Stock battery life is horrid
- "Electric Razor" ear screen can have some jagged edges and chafe your ear
- Battery door was a ridiculous design decision
- Very current gen hardware (doesn't mean a whole lot if you're not going to be riding this phone for the next two years, but a new day has dawned and it's name is "Multi-core")
- Stock external speaker/notification volume super weak
- odd placement of the number button on the keyboard (thanks iPhone for etching that into my brain)
- recessed power and volume buttons can be a bit tough to find.
- No internal storage (this is just ridiculous)
- Relatively weak GPU
There you have it. That's what I've come up with so far. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the Inspire, as so many of those issues can be (and have been) corrected through roms. In the end, I just don't really get the warm fuzzies from the Atrix. I feel like it's a brilliant set of components tied together with a really sorry software suite, and a manufacturer that doesn't really understand the strengths of their chosen platform, or the customers that choose it.
I will continue carrying both of the devices for the next couple days, but at the moment, the winner is most definitely the Inspire in my eyes. It just feels like it's been polished to a wonderful android flavored candy shine, and with the community behind it, there's really nothing I feel the device won't be able to handle for quite some time.

get the inspire if you want good development and an array of different roms/kernels to choose from. get the atrix if you just wanna use ur phone for a phone and nothing else.

this is BY FAR the best breakdown i have seen thus far. Even better than those from mobile websites and such. Nice job man.
I have a lot more to say, but i think i will just wait until i wake up i'm way too tired right now lol

ogxku5h said:
get the atrix if you just wanna use ur phone for a phone and nothing else.
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Click to collapse
Didn't he just say that the actual phone part was where the atrix was at it's weakest?

When I said that I meant pretty much very limited development until/if they crack the locked bootloader... Custom roms can only get u so far... Kernels help maximize phone performance
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

OP, the Inspire has about 1.2 GB of internal storage (storage properties shows it as 1.13 GB).

Yeah I just got my Inspire today and coming from a Captivate, the only real ***** I have about it is the stupid battery door (who the **** thought that one up?!! I better get some more battery door replacements because its inevitable I'm going to **** this one up in no time) and the Adreno 205 is underperforming compared to the beastly SGX540 in the Captivate. Oh and the *LIE* that it has 4GB of internal storage - all ROMs report 1GB so where did the other 3GB go, HTC?!
Other than that... you can't beat 15 seconds from HTC screen to a working desktop, MIUI is the absolute bees ****ing knees of ROMs - HTC could take a lesson on how to build a UI from the MIUI project. I'd actually pay money for this and I don't pay money for ANYTHING.
Dualcore is great and all but seriously, we have a hard enough time getting iPhone developers to port their apps to Android in the first place. All I see a dual-core doing is sitting there pretty much unused unless it is an Android native application. The Adreno 205 actually hasn't been optimized as well as it could be (if you want an example, run the GLBenchmark 2.0 on it and look at all the missing polygons - BAD DRIVERS - but that's par for the course with HTC as those of us who had WinMo phones know - anyone remember that entirely disabled ATi chip in the Mogul and Touch, Touch Pro?? All we needed was drivers. At least in this case, we *HAVE* drivers unlike the Imageon series of phones HTC released and didn't get drivers made for) and from looking at various benchmarks online, it could probably take the SGX540 to task if the drivers were built to take full advantage of all the rendering capabilities the chip actually has.
I just don't see dualcore taking off until Apple releases a dualcore iPhone - most likely this June/July - until then, developers aren't going to re-code the applications they are already porting from Apple to Android in the first place, in order to support the needs of dual-core.
I'm very happy with my Inspire, especially after figuring out how to get HSUPA working with MIUI, and coming from a Captivate - that's saying a lot - the Captivate is a great device when you hack the living hell out of it.
The only other ***** is the fact they advertise 4GB of internal storage but every ROM including the stock one says 1GB. WTF at&t and HTC?

i went through the same cycle as the OP: got the inspire, was obsessed with the atrix (or it's capabilities), returned the inspire, got an atrix and bricked it in less than 2 hours trying to copy font files, got a replacement and bricked it the next day before i concluded "i couldn't make it mine". got a 3rd one, left it pretty much stock and kept it for a week before exchanging for an inspire because of in-call audio quality. (people complained that i sounded muffled. this was before Moto acknowledged the issue). i still peek at the atrix forums to see if things have changed, but nothing there has convinced me to reconsider the atrix.
i'm currently running Spike_M's Saga GB 2.3.3 port for the Desire HD (with Inspire audio quality tweaks) and i'm satisfied with my decision to stick with the Inspire. one obvious tradeoff is battery life. i've got another stock battery (as backup) and i typically charge my phone for 1-3 hrs during the workday to get me through the day. this is in addition to starting the day with a full battery.

I had the same feelings. I used both the atrix and inspire from their release dates and I really wanted to love the atrix but it just didn't impress or wow me, while the inspire did. I'll be using the inspire until further notice.
Via the XDA app for the HTC Inspire

Divinedark said:
Hello all!
I've had the daunting task to pick between these two phones for the last couple days. I went into the store to actually get the devices in my hand and fully expected to walk out with the Atrix. I've always had a soft spot for HTC, ever since their WoMo phones. I saw the Inspire and was super impressed at how solid the phone felt in my hand. The phone felt very responsive, and I already knew the XDA Inspire team was cranking out some awesome stuff.
I then grabbed the Atrix and was not nearly as wow'd as I had expected to be. I've been following the phone since it's announcement, and pretty much had made up my mind on the spot to pick it up. After spending a half hour goofing around with both phones, I decided the Inspire really won my heart.
Then it happened... The cold sweats... The tossing and turning in bed at night. Images of the Atrix's Tegra 2 laying waste to the earth and doing vile things to my Inspire. My horrid indecision had struck. I decided that I had obviously made the wrong choice, so the next morning I headed off to the store and bought an Atrix without returning my perfectly set up Inspire. I wanted to play with them both side by side and just return whichever one didn't make me happy.
That was a bit over 24 hours ago. After spending the last day with both of the handsets, I am closer to a decision, but it's damn tough. My overall thoughts and struggles follow:
Motorola Atrix:
-Pros:
- Bright, higher resolution screen
- Dual Core processor (even though I thought the experience was pretty weak)
- Battery (theoretical, as I haven't had it long enough to fully experience)
- This goes to the hardware again, but this phone is quite a bit more future proof.
- The handset is light enough to not remind you it's in your pocket at every step.
- GPS (This is the most rock solid phone GPS I've ever used)
- Incredibly loud speaker
- Tons of ram
- HDMI out
-Cons:
- Cheaper build quality (I feel like I need to qualify this. The phone feels solid, but the battery door is, for lack of a better word, brittle)
- Call quality is absolutely garbage... For what I would count as the most important part of a PHONE, the Atrix falls WAY short.
- Very poor color representation on the otherwise beautiful screen.
- MotoBlur - This is just a very inelegant, unrefined overlay...
- Strange compatibility issues with certain apps
- multiple force closes
- Weak social media integration
- Odd bouts of lag when least expected
- Locked Bootloader (most don't care about this, but it matters when you have a primary developer that has a history of slow patches, feature adds, and os releases.
- Chicklet keyboard is a touch small for me and requires some focus to not miss type.
HTC Inspire:
-Pros:
- Excellent build quality (the aluminum uni-body is a joy to hold, and has the extra added benefit of being able to be used to fend off an attacker)
- Beautiful 4.3" screen (Yes, it is big, but I'm a fan)
- Sense (I'm not a fan of these proprietary UI's, but Sense shows that HTC can offer up an experience that is easy to like, and provide an attractive interface for a phone OS that is sometimes described as clinical looking)
- The brilliant development community (currently running CoreDroid /drool)
- Very snappy performance from the second gen Snapdragon CPU
- Tons of ram (Not as much as the Atrix, but enough to be a "ton" in my eyes)
- Lovely camera (I used to not care, but I have a new son, so suddenly a camera climbed up the ladder of important features)
- Fantastic out of the box social media integration
- Has that "Just works like it should" feel to it.
- Very clear call quality
- Second best phone gps I've used
-Cons:
- The screen washes out to a grey slab in direct sunlight
- Stock battery life is horrid
- "Electric Razor" ear screen can have some jagged edges and chafe your ear
- Battery door was a ridiculous design decision
- Very current gen hardware (doesn't mean a whole lot if you're not going to be riding this phone for the next two years, but a new day has dawned and it's name is "Multi-core")
- Stock external speaker/notification volume super weak
- odd placement of the number button on the keyboard (thanks iPhone for etching that into my brain)
- recessed power and volume buttons can be a bit tough to find.
- No internal storage (this is just ridiculous)
- Relatively weak GPU
There you have it. That's what I've come up with so far. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the Inspire, as so many of those issues can be (and have been) corrected through roms. In the end, I just don't really get the warm fuzzies from the Atrix. I feel like it's a brilliant set of components tied together with a really sorry software suite, and a manufacturer that doesn't really understand the strengths of their chosen platform, or the customers that choose it.
I will continue carrying both of the devices for the next couple days, but at the moment, the winner is most definitely the Inspire in my eyes. It just feels like it's been polished to a wonderful android flavored candy shine, and with the community behind it, there's really nothing I feel the device won't be able to handle for quite some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It pretty much seems like the Atrix is the (commonly) lousy beginning of a next generation of devices while the Inspire is the fully blossomed end of the previous.... I may be wrong..
Anyways I rather have a solid device than an experimental one....

henrybravo said:
OP, the Inspire has about 1.2 GB of internal storage (storage properties shows it as 1.13 GB).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm aware. My comment was meant as an exaggeration. Most modern smartphones come with a minimum of 8GB of internal storage with the ability to expand via microSD. I was just a bit taken aback by the 4GB/1GB actual storage.

OP- The Atrix you have is NOT updated correct?
Awesome review BTW. I'm waiting for a review with an "updated" Atrix.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

I was in the same boat as you, except I didn't have them side by side. Di yourself a favor and return the atrix, there are absolutely no pros of having it over the inspire.
You can do more on the inspire, it doesn't lag, sense rules, big screen rules, not locked down (although I'm still stock and staying that way), it doesn't lag, isn't made of plastic...
And for the haters that want to hate on inspire battery life, I get basically the same out of my inspire as I did my atrix. Right now I'm 1 d 12 hr with 20% left.
Sent from my HTC Inspire using tapatalk.

acPIZZA said:
I was in the same boat as you, except I didn't have them side by side. Di yourself a favor and return the atrix, there are absolutely no pros of having it over the inspire.
You can do more on the inspire, it doesn't lag, sense rules, big screen rules, not locked down (although I'm still stock and staying that way), it doesn't lag, isn't made of plastic...
And for the haters that want to hate on inspire battery life, I get basically the same out of my inspire as I did my atrix. Right now I'm 1 d 12 hr with 20% left.
Sent from my HTC Inspire using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I'm currently sitting at 24% after 27 hours of doing testing. Not too shabby, considering my Samsung Focus lasted 12 hours with little to no use...

projekt1 said:
OP- The Atrix you have is NOT updated correct?
Awesome review BTW. I'm waiting for a review with an "updated" Atrix.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about the OTA? If so, then yes. I did the 1.5.7 update as soon as I unwrapped it. The entire review was based around that build.
Not sure what other "Updating" you can do to a locked out phone, outside of putting on Gingerblur, which is nothing but bloatware reduction (which breaks messaging and multiple email accounts), root, and theme. It's also causing a bunch of problems with the basic functionality of the phone from what I've read. Not sure how widespread it is, and I believe it's just the newest version causing the issues. Hell, you can't even put circle battery mod on the phone. Not sure why Motorola went to that extent, but jeez...

Yea the OTA is what I was talking about, thanks.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

It's funny because i came between the same cross roads. I was following the atrix since it came out and was pretty much sold on it even while owning my iphone 4 i was going to trade some one hopefully my iphone for an atrix. I ended up dropping my iPhone and completely ruining it i ended up selling it for parts and needed a phone. So i went to the At&t store and the sales guy kept trying to get me to buy the inspire it but i was already fixed on the atrix so i bought that. After using the atrix for about 3 days i couldnt stand it there were so many bugs call quality sounded terrible i couldnt type on the keyboard at all my old iphone 4 made the picture quailty on the atrix look like a 1mp and on top of that i didnt understand how i had all that power and all my apps would randomly crash while i was using them..... so i decided i was going to take it back and get the htc inspire so far i like it alot better than the atrix even though its specs arnt up to par with the atrix i think its alot more solid an reliable than the atrix although people talk about the battery life will see how that works if its really that bad ill get a second battery but on the flip side my atrix had horrid battery life so thats not a make or break for me but will see how much i like it hopefully i wont end up with an iphone again ;-/

I am curious about the actual build quality of the phone. It seems owners are very happy with the overall quality, but both the engadget and androidcentral reviews called out poorly-fitting and-sometimes-creaky SD/SIM card covers, and engadget called out the screen not fitting properly/uniformly. I have also seen posts where the bottom right portion of the screen has 'give' to it, and pressing causes light leakage. Also, how are the viewing angles on the screen itself?
These issues may be from early production batches, I'm thinking about switching to this phone from the Captivate, and the only real issue with that phone is the GPS being flaky. The build quality is decent enough and the screen is pretty fantastic.
Thanks for any feedback!!

Divinedark said:
Hello all!
I've had the daunting task to pick between these two phones for the last couple days. I went into the store to actually get the devices in my hand and fully expected to walk out with the Atrix. I've always had a soft spot for HTC, ever since their WoMo phones. I saw the Inspire and was super impressed at how solid the phone felt in my hand. The phone felt very responsive, and I already knew the XDA Inspire team was cranking out some awesome stuff.
I then grabbed the Atrix and was not nearly as wow'd as I had expected to be. I've been following the phone since it's announcement, and pretty much had made up my mind on the spot to pick it up. After spending a half hour goofing around with both phones, I decided the Inspire really won my heart.
Then it happened... The cold sweats... The tossing and turning in bed at night. Images of the Atrix's Tegra 2 laying waste to the earth and doing vile things to my Inspire. My horrid indecision had struck. I decided that I had obviously made the wrong choice, so the next morning I headed off to the store and bought an Atrix without returning my perfectly set up Inspire. I wanted to play with them both side by side and just return whichever one didn't make me happy.
That was a bit over 24 hours ago. After spending the last day with both of the handsets, I am closer to a decision, but it's damn tough. My overall thoughts and struggles follow:
Motorola Atrix:
-Pros:
- Bright, higher resolution screen
- Dual Core processor (even though I thought the experience was pretty weak)
- Battery (theoretical, as I haven't had it long enough to fully experience)
- This goes to the hardware again, but this phone is quite a bit more future proof.
- The handset is light enough to not remind you it's in your pocket at every step.
- GPS (This is the most rock solid phone GPS I've ever used)
- Incredibly loud speaker
- Tons of ram
- HDMI out
-Cons:
- Cheaper build quality (I feel like I need to qualify this. The phone feels solid, but the battery door is, for lack of a better word, brittle)
- Call quality is absolutely garbage... For what I would count as the most important part of a PHONE, the Atrix falls WAY short.
- Very poor color representation on the otherwise beautiful screen.
- MotoBlur - This is just a very inelegant, unrefined overlay...
- Strange compatibility issues with certain apps
- multiple force closes
- Weak social media integration
- Odd bouts of lag when least expected
- Locked Bootloader (most don't care about this, but it matters when you have a primary developer that has a history of slow patches, feature adds, and os releases.
- Chicklet keyboard is a touch small for me and requires some focus to not miss type.
HTC Inspire:
-Pros:
- Excellent build quality (the aluminum uni-body is a joy to hold, and has the extra added benefit of being able to be used to fend off an attacker)
- Beautiful 4.3" screen (Yes, it is big, but I'm a fan)
- Sense (I'm not a fan of these proprietary UI's, but Sense shows that HTC can offer up an experience that is easy to like, and provide an attractive interface for a phone OS that is sometimes described as clinical looking)
- The brilliant development community (currently running CoreDroid /drool)
- Very snappy performance from the second gen Snapdragon CPU
- Tons of ram (Not as much as the Atrix, but enough to be a "ton" in my eyes)
- Lovely camera (I used to not care, but I have a new son, so suddenly a camera climbed up the ladder of important features)
- Fantastic out of the box social media integration
- Has that "Just works like it should" feel to it.
- Very clear call quality
- Second best phone gps I've used
-Cons:
- The screen washes out to a grey slab in direct sunlight
- Stock battery life is horrid
- "Electric Razor" ear screen can have some jagged edges and chafe your ear
- Battery door was a ridiculous design decision
- Very current gen hardware (doesn't mean a whole lot if you're not going to be riding this phone for the next two years, but a new day has dawned and it's name is "Multi-core")
- Stock external speaker/notification volume super weak
- odd placement of the number button on the keyboard (thanks iPhone for etching that into my brain)
- recessed power and volume buttons can be a bit tough to find.
- No internal storage (this is just ridiculous)
- Relatively weak GPU
There you have it. That's what I've come up with so far. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the Inspire, as so many of those issues can be (and have been) corrected through roms. In the end, I just don't really get the warm fuzzies from the Atrix. I feel like it's a brilliant set of components tied together with a really sorry software suite, and a manufacturer that doesn't really understand the strengths of their chosen platform, or the customers that choose it.
I will continue carrying both of the devices for the next couple days, but at the moment, the winner is most definitely the Inspire in my eyes. It just feels like it's been polished to a wonderful android flavored candy shine, and with the community behind it, there's really nothing I feel the device won't be able to handle for quite some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same trouble as OP did. Ive had both phones. I started with the Inspire and took it back and exchanged it for the Atrix and then ended up trading a guy on craigslist the Atrix for his Inspire. So now im an Inspire owner again. As far as the Atrix goes I loved the 4" display, it seems to be a great compromise between 3.5 and 4.3 and the processor is lightning fast and the battery life is better than the Inspire stock. But I love flashing Roms and I love Cyanogen Mod. I've tried a lot of different Roms on all my android devices Nexus One, My touch, Nexus One Att,Vibrant,EVO,Captivate,Hero,Backflip,Atrix. and i always end up getting rid of the ones i cant put CM (or at the very least AOSP) on em. So i guess it all comes down to personal preference but i'd rather have an Anroid phone i can modify than to have a phone thats locked down. If i was gonna go back to being locked down then id go back to the iphone 4. But personally i think ill always wind up owning a nexus phone. Being with ATT though it sucks because Google always takes forever to release their Nexus phones with ATT 3g bands. But i'll be buying an ATT Nexus S as soon as its released..

matt310 said:
...engadget called out the screen not fitting properly/uniformly. I have also seen posts where the bottom right portion of the screen has 'give' to it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't get it... How can the screen not fit uniformly?

The last decent QWERTY?

I've got this MT4GS with a recently replaced screen giving me all sorts of problems, Tmo doesn't have any more of them in-stock for an actual replacement. So lately I've been lurking around the ApexQ forums here, considering whether I take Tmo up on their offer to replace the MT4GS with a Relay. Is this it? Is this the end of the line for higher end sliders?
I get so annoyed when I walk into a Tmo shop and they give me the stink eye over my physical keyboard.
"You should really try Swype"
"Keyboards are going away"
"No one really uses those"
"Just try the S4 out, you'll love it"
Try to swype out a thousand words, then do it with a physical keyboard. I'm a bit of a writer, it might be a tine platform for me to write from, but it works great. Sliders are niche preference, will the entire market really give that up? I'm waiting for Google IO before I make any decisions (because it's coming up pretty soon) but haven't heard any rumors of a high end slider coming down the line. Am I the only one holding my breath here?
Also, I've seen a couple of you post on these forums that have had the MT4GS, I think I would miss the 8MP camera the most. Any thoughts on switching over?

I don't have the relay but I follow it and have played with one. It feels similar in many ways to the MT4Gslide (I have this) but you can really feel the improvements in speed as well as a five row keyboard is just awesome. Being its part of the galaxy s line there should be a fair amount of updates, speculation of course as Samsung hasnt been the best at supporting hardware keyboard phones.
You will miss the camera, not that this one is horrible its just that the MT4Gslide has one of the best ever made. I'm not a huge sense fan but it is better than touchwiz (in my opinion) but more of a resource hog. It is possible to port it over to Sammy phones and has been done before, but I doubt anyone would bother on this phone.
Overall if its a free upgrade I would take it, being I refuse to buy phones from carriers this one would cost me full price and I haven't decided if that's worth it yet.
Good luck on your decision!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

i got both. here are the differences with the relay:
- relay's screen is super amoled pentile... colors are great, resolution sucks big time, pixels can be seen and the red ones are very tiny and the matrix will be very noticeable in some cases
- relay's camera is 5 mp vs 8 of the doubleshot. it is just inferior in both quality and resolution, not much else to say.
- relay keyboard is nicer imho but lacks replicated alt, shift, home, back, menu keys
- battery lasts much longer than the famous 1900mah anker for doubleshot
- the cpu is so much faster, ~2.5x from my findings, also, it heats a lot less
- it is noticeably ligher but more plasticy and flimsy
- stock ics and jb. more development going on
all in all, it is a sidegrade... you lose on some aspects and gain in some others... anyway the high end qwerty era is over since the desire-z/droid 2 period...

I've owned just about every GSM QWERTY device made for android over the past 2 years. I can safely say the Relay is one of the better phones that I've owned for a while.
The G2 was the best phone I've ever had.
The camera is not amazing. It will do in a pinch, but I would take a better keyboard over a better camera any day. The 4G Slide keyboard was horrid. One of the worst I've ever used. I use the keyboard much more than the camera, so my decision was simple. It's based on your preferences, really.
But just remember you don't have many options.

I've been using my relay for about 4 months now and overall I like it a lot.
Some good thoughts first:
The keys are very very good. I find they're slightly less conducive to touch typing than my Sidekick 4G was, but still one of the best small keyboards I've ever used. I can't imagine using a purely touchscreen phone, Swype or not. There's just no competition.
The phone is very quick. I've never once thought to myself "Man, I wish this would happen faster." The OS isn't quite 100% seamless, but it's close enough that I can't find anything to complain about. And things like videos, emulated games, etc are all full speed. The only times I've ever had to wait for something was when I was accessing files, and that's due to my bargain basement SD card.
The battery life has been great. I have no problem getting through my day without carrying a charger with me. Now, I'm not as active a user as some (I don't use facebook, for instance,) but I'm often looking things up on my phone while working, and even using the flashlight, and I always have between a half and a third of my battery when I get home.
The screen and the camera both fall under the category of "It's a phone for chrissakes, what are you expecting??" for me.
The screen is bright, vibrant, sharp. It looks great indoors and passable outside. There's enough room for what it needs to do. If you complain that you can't watch a 1080p movie on your phone, the problem is with your head and not your device. I guess if you offered me a higher resolution I'd take it, but I really don't feel like it needs more. And I wouldn't want the screen to be any bigger. If I wanted a massive screen in my pocket I'd buy an iPad. And then kill myself.
The camera is a dog, but so is every other phone camera in the world. Yes, this one is worse than many. But if you care about what your pictures look like, a $40 digital camera bought used off craigslist will take pictures which are 10 times better than the best cell phone camera on the market. And it's easier to carry a separate phone and camera than it is to have a separate phone and keyboard. So why everybody focuses on the sub-par camera is beyond me.
There's only one thing about the phone which I actually feel is bad, and that's the shape. Coming from a Sidekick 4G, the ergonomics of the phone are a big step down. The Sidekick was a fantastic phone to hold in the hands, both closed an open. The Relay is about as nice to hold as a brick. There's a small lip all around the phone that presses awkwardly against your ear, and it's got a certain awkwardness when open as well. No surprise there, the Galaxy S line has always looked like a knockoff of the iPhone 3G. Why would they start making something comfortable now? </curmudgeon.>
So, yeah. I like it and there's nothing else on the market which comes close to being as good as it. I'd buy one again. I'd suggest it to other people. But I'd also hope that this isn't the last QWERTY Android phone for my network, as there's still room for improvements.

i've came down the g1 (htc dream), g2 (htc desire z), relay lane.
i have my relay now for like 4 weeks. and there's really nothing i can seriously complain about. the cpu and gpu are fast and still come with some reserve. the memory is plenty. the qwerty is a big step up from the dz with the additional row. and battery life is just sweet the dz had the better display when you were outside. the relay's go the far better once you get out of the sunlight.
usually, when i got a new phone, i also got a better cam. but seriously: 5mp is enough for every day use. and as some already stated: it's a cell phone. if you want to have high-end-images, you don't get around buying a dedicated camera. and seriously.. it's the same with the screen resolution. 800x480 is enough for text, websites and pictures to be displayed properly and sharp on the small display. what's the use of a 4" full hd display? besides showing off? again... it's a cell phone. if you want high resolution, get a tablet.
*if* somebody asks me for a cell with a hardware keyboard there really - from my pov - is no reason not to recommend the relay.
and i think it's really a pitty it's not available here in europe and quite hard (and expensive) to get.
i really hope there will be new qwertys that will be available here as well. (the most recent here on sale is the dz).
admittedly the hardware keyboard phones are a niche, but those who want them will be willing to spend a lil more to get them.
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda app-developers app

I have also used many qwerty phones over the years and have been using the relay for about 5 months now. Previously I have used lg shine xenon, lg shine plus (last lg phone I will ever buy) Sony xperia pro, samsung captivate glide and now the relay. The xperia pro keyboard was the best I have ever used. Too bad it had such low on board memory and only a single core processor.
I hear you on the death of qwerties I can now type quite well with SwiftKey but still love a qwerty for messaging, emails etc. I get the same look from sales staff when I have asked about qwerty sliders.
The relay is the fastest qwerty I have used, bit more than the glides 2x core tegra 2, I also found the keys on the glide to be too flat and there were only 4 rows. Good tactile feedback on the relay, keys are spaced out well and travel is easy. However as mentioned the build quality is not the best and mine has a noticeable wobble when typing. Updates seem good so far although will probably not get past 4.2. I actually went out and bought a q10 last week, loved the new OS but the keyboard was simply too small for me, and for the build quality and screen size the q10 is waaaay over priced, so decided to return it.
On a side note I did a little bit of cosmetic altering the my galaxy s3 stock 2100mah batteries and got them to fit in the relay.. As I live in canada the relay isn't even sold here, and I place battery life pretty much at the top of my list. Need that spare battery and a charger. Anyways good luck with your relay if you get it.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

I'm sure samsung will release a follow up to the Relay, as they seem to be the only manufacturer big enough to support this niche market.
Just give them some more time. They definitely need som enew phones and fresh designs to break up all the slab phones that are coming all the time.

Well, I got the Relay. And with it I end a 8 year HTC only stint which started with the Blue Angel. Fun times...
I just got it today so not much of a chance to play with it. At the moment doing the update. Afterwards will see what else I can do. I find it a bit useless at the moment to try any other ROMs. A bit too early...

I've had 3 previous Android sliders before getting this one - the original G1, Motorola Milestone (which I gave to my husband because it was too big and heavy for me) and the HTC Desire Z. Aside from the Desire Z's incredibly stupid flipping hinge mechanism which I'm convinced was responsible for the display cable dying, it is my favourite of the four (it developed this problem where the screen would die every time I opened the keyboard - I actually disassembled it to see if I could fix it but couldn't)
This phone's not bad and I don't mind it feeling "plasticky" since it's light, while the hinge mechanism seems a lot more solid than HTC's ridiculous designs for the G1 and Desire Z, but the keyboard is LOUD. You have to press the keys really hard and I'm convinced people can hear me typing, which is really not what you want for a mobile device. If you're tweeting under the table during a boring company meeting, you better be good at pretending you're taking minutes!
I also have this weird problem, specific to the Facebook Android app, where it will jump to the top of the page randomly while I'm in the middle of typing a comment. I thought I was pressing something by accident but I've tried typing really carefully and that seem to not be the issue.
I do really miss having a trackball or optical joystick from the HTC devices. It's fine to have arrow keys on the physical kb, but when you have the phone closed sometimes you still want to be able to navigate around and click.

Really happy to have found this thread, has anybody looked at or tried the Motorola Droid 4 ??
It boasts 8MP camera and high definition display, looks like battery lasts a while.. says its splash proof and also has the 4 row keyboard.
I enjoy my glide, but they keyboard with the press on them hasn't ever given me much of an ability to type without looking at the keys..
On my blackberry after a while I was able to roll my fingers across without hardly looking at the keyboard, on computer i type 100wpm so pretty important for me to have a fast typing keyboard. even software app keyboards can't keep up and screw swipe.. without feeling where to rocker my fingers to form words im doomed to choose from autocorrect.