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I just got the Inspire 4G the other day at an HTC conference. (Work related)
For years I've used an iPhone for my primary device. I'm no stranger to Android. I've had a Nexus One and a Samsung Captivate. The inspire in the best android phone I have used yet.
The Captivate is an aweful phone. A GPS that works when it wants to, FoYo that never arrived....etc... I installed a custom ROM (Cognition) and it brought new life to the phone and was a better experience, but I am of the opinion that I shouldn't have to use custom ROMs to make the phone work the way it is supposed to or to have the latest software when it should have already been available. Who knows when FoYo does come out for the captivate if it will be any good or will it still be better to use a custom ROM. On the Inspire I feel as if I don't need to run a custom ROM because it is great the way it is.....so far.
Two issues I did notice with the Inspire that I have verified that others I know with the phone are having as well.
1) The call quality is horrible! It's very treblely and just sounds terrible.
2) The external speaker is definately not loud enough. That seems to be a trait of HTC phones and cheap, low quality speakers.
For example on point #2. I have my own customer ringtones and sound effects for text and emails, which are the same ones I used on my iPhone. I wear my phone in a leather pouch on my belt. I can hardly hear when I get a text or the phone is ringing. Thankfully I have it set to vibrate at the same time, and if I didn't feel it vibrate I would never know I am getting a text or a call. That is very annoying. Especially when it is worn on my belt, I should be able to hear it. I don't know if this can be fixed via a software upgrade or if it is just cheap parts.
On my iPhone, if my phone is downstairs and I am upstairs, I can clearly hear loudly when I get a text or call. The iPhone has a much better speaker.
The Inspire is a very fast phone as far as the OS goes. The internet is also faster, it seems like the phone is connecting to AT&T's imitation 4G service. The battery life isn't that great though.
I am disappointed that AT&T decided to remove the front facing camera. Also it seems like the phone isn't as thick as the EVO, although it does have some good weight to it. It definately does NOT feel cheap.
The Hot Spot feature works pretty good, although I just briefly played with it.
Well that's my brief opinion for the moment. The phone is really nice, but the external speaker volume issue might force me to go back to my iPhone for primary use and knock my Inspire back to secondary play phone.
Awesome, I can't wait.
hmmm i have read a few reviews that said call quality is awesome, Mobiletech review and infosync come to mind, maybe its just some handsets
AndreaCristiano said:
hmmm i have read a few reviews that said call quality is awesome, Mobiletech review and infosync come to mind, maybe its just some handsets
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I dunno, maybe they have hearing issues. But many people I've talked to that went to the same conference that I did that also got phones made the same comments I did. Bad call quality and dretful speaker volume.
Also on a a differnet note, I used to date a girl from Manapalan years ago. I would have done anything for her back in the day. Something about Jersey girls.
chocodough said:
I dunno, maybe they have hearing issues. But many people I've talked to that went to the same conference that I did that also got phones made the same comments I did. Bad call quality and dretful speaker volume.
Also on a a differnet note, I used to date a girl from Manapalan years ago. I would have done anything for her back in the day. Something about Jersey girls.
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really how old are you?? LOL small world!
chocodough said:
I am disappointed that AT&T decided to remove the front facing camera. Also it seems like the phone isn't as thick as the EVO, although it does have some good weight to it. It definately does NOT feel cheap.
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This model (Desire HD) never had a front camera... wasn't AT&T's doing.
I just cant decide if I wanna give up my i4 for this. I wanna buy outright but sometimes I just cant justify that price when I think of other things I could buy for that amount of money. The front facing camera doesnt bother me because I have had an i4 since launch and used it maybe 4 times. I just worry about size and the speaker volume. I know that overtime with roms that can be fixed so not so worried about that. My options now are to sell wait for someone to sell and the get a new itouch for the ios fix. Sorry but imo itunes just works for me, the only phone I've used as an audio device would be my iphone. I just really like android and flashing and always having the latest on it and have been back and forth since the g1. I just sometimes dont like all the time it takes away from life having to read up all the time or keep up with the latest. Anyways enough rambling just my thoughts.
cmstlist said:
This model (Desire HD) never had a front camera... wasn't AT&T's doing.
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The only time I've used my front camera is to see if there is food in my teeth, so I don't think I'll miss not having a front camera.
Great input. I have a Captivate running a custom ROM. It was trash til I did so. Now call quality, gps, speaker and camera are great. And bigger battery. It all works bit I miss Sense.
Do you think the inspire is a better device all round when compared to a flashed captivate?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
No worries on the low volume problem, TEST THIS ON YOUR DEVICES AND COMMENT PLEASE
An easy fix for the low external speaker volume is this app, created by the infamous Meltus from xda.
Its a must if indeed the speaker is low:
---->> http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-automod-jmiC.aspx
or
DSP Manager
---->>> http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/android-apps-games/134633-dsp-manager-equalizer-android-2-2-a.html
ekerbuddyeker said:
Do you think the inspire is a better device all round when compared to a flashed captivate?
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Click to collapse
Yes I definately think it's a better device. Sure the Captivate is a good device when using a custom rom, but I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't need to run a custom rom to make the device work the way it is ment to. Plus when you run a customer rom is just has the feel of being pieced together from various parts and not really a complete experience.
HTC sense does make a world of difference. It is more than just an overlay like Touchwiz or Launcher Pro...etc... I used to be a diehard pure stock android experience, but Sense won me over. It adds so much to the device.
But the two issues I originally mentioned are a problem though. The tinny call quality and the low external speaker volume are things to take into consideration. It's terrible when you can't even hear the phone ring when it's on your hip. So far I've missed calls and SMS if my phone is in one room of my house and I am in another, whereas I could hear my iPhone even if I am upstairs and my phone is downstairs.
Today I emailed our area HTC rep and told her the problems that I and others are having and she is passing the info up the ladder. I said to her that I find it odd that HTC's quality control didn't notice the crappy speaker on the device and that I couldn't recommend the phone to my customers at this time until I hear of a resolution to the problems.
So although I love the Inspire and think it's a very good phone, I would hold off buying it until there is a bug fix or something to the speaker problems. I might have to go back to my iPhone 4 for the time being until HTC fixes the phone.
Before anyone makes a decisions on buying it, you might want to wait until the Motorola Atrix comes and compare the two.
After spending a day with the Inspire I promptly ditched my iP4. I also have a Captivate running Cognition and it just gets destroyed by the Inspire. I haven't been able to test battery life, but I know what I'm in for in that department.
The Inspire is quite simply very fast. Ran Quadrant to compare to other phones I've had this year as well. My Captivate running Cognition gets about 1500, while the Inspire was around 1900 each time. I've never used a phone that blew through that benchmark so fast. Neocore got around 57fps so that's very solid as well. GPS connected quickly, but I only tested it outdoors as that's where I would generally use it. Speaker is a bit weak, but sound is pretty fantastic through headphones. YouTube video played smooth and looked amazing. It's a much better YouTube experience than the iP4 imo.
chocodough said:
it seems like the phone is connecting to AT&T's imitation 4G service.
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Seriously? No carrier is using true 4g. HSPA+ is considered 4g now; Just look at T-Mobile.
Can anyone compare the speakers to a nexus one? Same question for battery life, granted it may be a little early for that.
substance12 said:
Can anyone compare the speakers to a nexus one? Same question for battery life, granted it may be a little early for that.
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I used to have a Nexus One last year, and always thought the external speaker was horrible on that also, but it was a bit louder than the Inspire.
Although I didn't think the call quality of the N1 was bad. The call quality is horrible on the Inspire, whether through the earpiece or the speaker phone.
HTC Inspire 4G vs Motorola Atrix 4G
chocodough said:
I just got the Inspire 4G the other day at an HTC conference. (Work related)
For years I've used an iPhone for my primary device. I'm no stranger to Android. I've had a Nexus One and a Samsung Captivate. The inspire in the best android phone I have used yet.
The Captivate is an aweful phone. A GPS that works when it wants to, FoYo that never arrived....etc... I installed a custom ROM (Cognition) and it brought new life to the phone and was a better experience, but I am of the opinion that I shouldn't have to use custom ROMs to make the phone work the way it is supposed to or to have the latest software when it should have already been available. Who knows when FoYo does come out for the captivate if it will be any good or will it still be better to use a custom ROM. On the Inspire I feel as if I don't need to run a custom ROM because it is great the way it is.....so far.
Two issues I did notice with the Inspire that I have verified that others I know with the phone are having as well.
1) The call quality is horrible! It's very treblely and just sounds terrible.
2) The external speaker is definately not loud enough. That seems to be a trait of HTC phones and cheap, low quality speakers.
For example on point #2. I have my own customer ringtones and sound effects for text and emails, which are the same ones I used on my iPhone. I wear my phone in a leather pouch on my belt. I can hardly hear when I get a text or the phone is ringing. Thankfully I have it set to vibrate at the same time, and if I didn't feel it vibrate I would never know I am getting a text or a call. That is very annoying. Especially when it is worn on my belt, I should be able to hear it. I don't know if this can be fixed via a software upgrade or if it is just cheap parts.
On my iPhone, if my phone is downstairs and I am upstairs, I can clearly hear loudly when I get a text or call. The iPhone has a much better speaker.
The Inspire is a very fast phone as far as the OS goes. The internet is also faster, it seems like the phone is connecting to AT&T's imitation 4G service. The battery life isn't that great though.
I am disappointed that AT&T decided to remove the front facing camera. Also it seems like the phone isn't as thick as the EVO, although it does have some good weight to it. It definately does NOT feel cheap.
The Hot Spot feature works pretty good, although I just briefly played with it.
Well that's my brief opinion for the moment. The phone is really nice, but the external speaker volume issue might force me to go back to my iPhone for primary use and knock my Inspire back to secondary play phone.
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Click to collapse
Based on your experiences so far, how would you rank the Inspire 4G to the Motorola Atrix? I'm waiting to make up my mind on my next upgrade. The battery life and front facing camera are really hard for me to get past, but I'm not a major fan of Motoblur either (although I know the Tegra 2 processors should handle that ok).
Great write-ups guys, that's good information to hear. Concerning the speeds compared to other phones, remember that you're using a new phone and comparing it to other phones that are bogged down by applications and data files.
Back a few weeks ago I thought my captivate was fast Oced at 1.2. I rooted to install a newer version of the ROM, master cleaned it, and it was even faster stock than it was OCed before.
Exactly my worry. We've put all the work into the Captivate only to buy an inferior phone out of the box...
ekerbuddyeker said:
Great input. I have a Captivate running a custom ROM. It was trash til I did so. Now call quality, gps, speaker and camera are great. And bigger battery. It all works bit I miss Sense.
Do you think the inspire is a better device all round when compared to a flashed captivate?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depressing. Unlike many people, I value excellent call quality above being able to get a 5m gps fix in 10 seconds. The captivate does have the former going for it...
chocodough said:
I used to have a Nexus One last year, and always thought the external speaker was horrible on that also, but it was a bit louder than the Inspire.
Although I didn't think the call quality of the N1 was bad. The call quality is horrible on the Inspire, whether through the earpiece or the speaker phone.
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Click to collapse
I've only made a couple of calls on mine, but they sounded just fine. Certainly not horrible.
So I picked up my Inspire this morning. Here are my initial thoughts coming from a Captivate with a custom ROM (where everything, including GPS works perfectly).
Screen: better contrast and brighter colors on the Captivate. screen size doesn't make that much difference.
Weight: Inpire is HEAVY compared to the Captivate. And bulkier.
Speed: Inspire is faster. Loading maps and Earth for example
Apps and Widgets: in most cases, Inspire wins hands down. Email and contacts are so much better IMHO
Camera: Captivate takes better pictures and has anti-shake. Inspire has better post production enhancements which makes final picture better on the Inspire.
Video: Captivate wins hands down. Was a replacement for my regular camera. Inspire is choppy, especially if you are moving. HTC doesn't have thus right yet.
Video player / playback: interesting one this one. Stock video player app better on the Captivate (much). But using 3rd party, like Rockplayer, is much better on Inpsire. Still nothing as good as Core on my HD2, but that's another story! Should be better than it is on Inspire.
Typing: both are excellent. I typed this on the Inspire landscape and its been a while since I didn't feel fear at typing something so long on a screen.
Sound: Captivate wins hands down. Inspire is a major disappointment after the Captivate, for both in call and speakerphone. HTC still needs to fix this.
Data: no question Inspire is faster where I live (NY).
Boot speed: same. Slow.
Battery life: too early to say. I had a custom ROM which meant 3 batteries a s day on the Captivate.
Battery door: WHAT THE FU## WAS HTC THINKING? Inspire is a disaster. Feels like I will break it every time I open the door (and with that small battery its inevitable that I will need to do so). No way you could change that on the move. Madness.
Overall: Inspire is a better overall experience. Since the day I got the Captivate I have tried to make it have the look and feel of HTC Sense! But I will miss weight, screen brightness, camera, video and sound of Captivate.
Sent from my Inspire HD using XDA App
Over all, I agree. The battery is not much of a concern to me ad I charge at my desk at work and have a car charger, though. Same goes for sound. I am either in my office or our datacenter. In my office, I can hear the vibration in my pocket of my jacket sitting on my coat rack. In the datacenter, I hear nothing but three hundred servers and large san arrays.
Those are really the only areas we differ.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G
Thinking of switching to the inspire myself. I have a real love hate relationship with the Captivate. HTC is generally great build quality
gunnyman said:
Thinking of switching to the inspire myself. I have a real love hate relationship with the Captivate. HTC is generally great build quality
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Speaking as someone who did make the switch, I am actually quite satisfied so far.
ditto.........
id10terrordfw said:
Speaking as someone who did make the switch, I am actually quite satisfied so far.
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I also switched from the Inspire. I've only had it for a day, and I already feel that it was worth every penny to make the switch.
@OP Thanks for putting this up. I'd like to hear from more people who jumped to Inspire from the Captivate!
On a side note... would you rather be inspired? Or captivated? Seriously, these phones are getting some epic naming schemes! Oh wait...
I want to add that this is the first time in a while that I feel satisfied with a device out of the box.
I don't feel i need to tinker with anything...
OK that parts not true really, is it! I HAVE to root it so I can sideload, remove bloatware and tether for free. etc. here we go again...
alex4lex said:
@OP Thanks for putting this up. I'd like to hear from more people who jumped to Inspire from the Captivate!
On a side note... would you rather be inspired? Or captivated? Seriously, these phones are getting some epic naming schemes! Oh wait...
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Click to collapse
i think I would rather be DESIRED!
I'm thinking very seriously about calling AT&T and asking them to switch me to the Inspire. I've had 2 different captivates and this one has random shut downs and a crap GPS, just like my first one.
I'm Inspired!
Hi folks. After having 2 Captivates and both of them being buggy, I decided, hey I'm still within the 30 day return policy with Costco, why not? Plus I heard from many disgruntled folks about how Samsung is hard to deal with. So, I went and got the Inspire and its like night and day! The display, the calender, the email, not to mention the boot up times and speed are all above par compared to the Captivate...I'm very happy with it. Now to find a case!
I made the switch and am never looking back
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Well I am coming back from one day on the dark side...
On a whim yesterday I went to AT&T store and picked up an Inspire. Tonight after work I will be taking it back.
The big deal breaker for me was that it doesn't support BT voice dialing, to my knowledge none of the HTC droid phones do??. The "enhancement" has been hanging out there for a year or better and it's not fixed. I tried the stock voice dialer, and ones from multiple other sources but it just wouldn't kick off the VD from any BT device.
You can root the Inspire (read downgrade ROM and root), but then have to install a diff ROM (the only one for now) since the root process breaks the sound and the source I'd bet will be a few months behind so you can't yet "play" with it like you can the captivate. Big thanks to attn1 though for the work he's done to progress it as far as it is, ON LAUNCH DAY.
All in all I agree with the OPs opinions and findings above and it's not a bad device. That being said I have been able to overcome most if not all of the issues with the captivate since there is SO MUCH development being done around it. I've had/have 3 of them. Sent one back for sleep death, have two now, one as daily driver and one as a dev phone and neither of them have any real issues.
A lot of people have had issues with the captivate I know but for me it's a decent device and is a lot more mature for someone that wants to have a toy as well as a phone, and the captivate just "feels" better to me. Not feels better in my hands... but the whole experience is just better for me.
mxracer101 said:
Well I am coming back from one day on the dark side...
On a whim yesterday I went to AT&T store and picked up an Inspire. Tonight after work I will be taking it back.
The big deal breaker for me was that it doesn't support BT voice dialing, to my knowledge none of the HTC droid phones do??. The "enhancement" has been hanging out there for a year or better and it's not fixed. I tried the stock voice dialer, and ones from multiple other sources but it just wouldn't kick off the VD from any BT device.
You can root the Inspire (read downgrade ROM and root), but then have to install a diff ROM (the only one for now) since the root process breaks the sound and the source I'd bet will be a few months behind so you can't yet "play" with it like you can the captivate. Big thanks to attn1 though for the work he's done to progress it as far as it is, ON LAUNCH DAY.
All in all I agree with the OPs opinions and findings above and it's not a bad device. That being said I have been able to overcome most if not all of the issues with the captivate since there is SO MUCH development being done around it. I've had/have 3 of them. Sent one back for sleep death, have two now, one as daily driver and one as a dev phone and neither of them have any real issues.
A lot of people have had issues with the captivate I know but for me it's a decent device and is a lot more mature for someone that wants to have a toy as well as a phone, and the captivate just "feels" better to me. Not feels better in my hands... but the whole experience is just better for me.
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Click to collapse
I would say give devs a chance on this phone, it is still brand new. I remember the early days of Captivate development, there was a whole bunch of nuthin'.
As for BT voice dial, I have heard good things about Vlingo in car. Give it a shot, at least.
id10terrordfw said:
I would say give devs a chance on this phone, it is still brand new. I remember the early days of Captivate development, there was a whole bunch of nuthin'.
As for BT voice dial, I have heard good things about Vlingo in car. Give it a shot, at least.
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Oh yeah, don't get me wrong I know things will progress with the device and it won't be long before there will be ROMS, Kernels etc. I just learned my lesson of not getting a device too soon.
I actually tried Vlingo and Choice Dialer... IMO they were horrible compared to the voice dialer on the captivate and they also didn't work with my BT in my truck. I have a BlueStar 2010 in my truck and it works great with the captivate to initiate calls from the OnStar buttons and use it purely via voice. I couldn't get it to work with the Inspire unless I physically touched the phone first, which is the point of my whole setup. I can simply get in the truck and make or receive calls without ever touching the phone. It's no reason whatsoever for anyone else to shy away from the phone, that's just a deal breaker for me.
Huge upgrade. Much better battery life + gps. And sense is so much better.
mxracer101 said:
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong I know things will progress with the device and it won't be long before there will be ROMS, Kernels etc. I just learned my lesson of not getting a device too soon.
I actually tried Vlingo and Choice Dialer... IMO they were horrible compared to the voice dialer on the captivate and they also didn't work with my BT in my truck. I have a BlueStar 2010 in my truck and it works great with the captivate to initiate calls from the OnStar buttons and use it purely via voice. I couldn't get it to work with the Inspire unless I physically touched the phone first, which is the point of my whole setup. I can simply get in the truck and make or receive calls without ever touching the phone. It's no reason whatsoever for anyone else to shy away from the phone, that's just a deal breaker for me.
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Gotcha, I know what that feeling is like. I went the the BB Bold 9700 from the 3GS. I hated it overall. Wound up going back to the iPhone.
Which is really sad for the BES administrator...
I just got back from the corp store with my Inspire!!!
Now to figure out the best way to sell my craptivate.....
I want to see some nice side by side photos of the Captivate vs. Inspire... Front, side view, back, etc etc
All you guys switching from the Captivate, how much are you paying? I talked with AT&T this morning and they said I would have to wait until April and then I could get the Inspire for 99 dollars plus a 75 dollar equipment fee.
I got the Inspire for my wife and I want it for myself ...... So if there is something I can do to get it faster, that would be great.
I would like to thank the devs and all the other helpful people in the captivate forums, tons of information from fixing a broken phone to enhancing it with custom roms or tweaks. I have found almost if not all solutions to every problem I have had with my phone. Decided to upgrade to the htc inspire and it is really freaking sweet. So time to switch to the inspire forums. Btw I checked out the atrix and have commented on it before and it just feels cheap same size screen as cappy but everything on screen looks smaller wasnt impressed with it. anyways been fun.
You mean you switched to a phone that has 2 doors that dont fit on the back and a camera that sticks out and the edges of the aluminum body protrude past the screen?
At least you can fix the software problems with the cappy...LOL just playing....enjoy
yep and like everything about it, nothing about cap i actually liked, was just only decent android phone att had at time. cappy felt like a little girl phone, and hated the plastic and the galaxy s sticking out all rough on the back, oh and the usb slot on top like how much thought was actually put into that? talking on the phone and its sticking out the top? Holding the htc in hand feels like quality and quite pleased with it, yes the battery door is rough to take off first few times but it loosens up, and atleast it has a flash.
jc2470 said:
I would like to thank the devs and all the other helpful people in the captivate forums, tons of information from fixing a broken phone to enhancing it with custom roms or tweaks. I have found almost if not all solutions to every problem I have had with my phone. Decided to upgrade to the htc inspire and it is really freaking sweet. So time to switch to the inspire forums. Btw I checked out the atrix and have commented on it before and it just feels cheap same size screen as cappy but everything on screen looks smaller wasnt impressed with it. anyways been fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm just about ready to join you.
Having to pay $399 off-contract to get the insipre sux, though. I'll have to sell my captivate, and I'm not sure whether to do it via Craigslist or eBay... just a hassle I wish I didn't have to deal with.
It'd be a lot easier if att would just take this phone back and give me credit towards the inspire, but I ain't gonna hold my breath for that one.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
I had captivate for 6 months i only had to pay 300.00 for the inspire with 6 month early upgrade. I put my captivate on craigslist for 175.00 this afternoon and sold it 30 min later, someone contacted me within 5 min of posting it on craigslist. basically it cost me 150.00 out of pocket today to get it and my cappy was 6 months old i think that is minimum for early upgrade not sure but call att store.
Hey I was just kidding. I have been through many phones. Some are better than others. The Captivate is decent, but definitely is not one of the better Android offerings. I was going to buy the atrix, although thats supposed to have a rather dissapointing screen. Oh well.
jc2470 said:
I had captivate for 6 months i only had to pay 300.00 for the inspire with 6 month early upgrade. I put my captivate on craigslist for 175.00 this afternoon and sold it 30 min later, someone contacted me within 5 min of posting it on craigslist. basically it cost me 150.00 out of pocket today to get it and my cappy was 6 months old i think that is minimum for early upgrade not sure but call att store.
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Click to collapse
My early upgrade doesn't come til July, and I'm not gonna wait that long. It's getting harder and harder to hold out with all the happy captivate->inspire defections that are growing by the day ;-)
That's pretty encouraging on the Craigslist thing, I must say. That'll be the way I go, when this swap goes down.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
Love the inspire hardware, hate the software and from reading their development forums it seems like a much different community than ours.
sturgeon123456 said:
Hey I was just kidding. I have been through many phones. Some are better than others. The Captivate is decent, but definitely is not one of the better Android offerings. I was going to buy the atrix, although thats supposed to have a rather dissapointing screen. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had my hands on both devices today. I agree about the screen size of the Atrix. It was just too small, and I didnt care for the feel of it either. Now the Inspire on the other hand, was REALLY nice, not to mention, $99.99 with a 2 yr, if I hadn't just done my upgrade on my Captivate. I'd give the Inspire a serious look.
There were a couple things that I think make the Cap a better phone. The Cap has the Hummingbird processor, and comes with double the internal memory the Inspire does. But the Inspire has a 8mp camera with flash. There aren't too many other devices that have that one. THe screen is a little bigger, and it really does feel pretty good, nice solid build
jc2470 said:
I would like to thank the devs and all the other helpful people in the captivate forums, tons of information from fixing a broken phone to enhancing it with custom roms or tweaks. I have found almost if not all solutions to every problem I have had with my phone. Decided to upgrade to the htc inspire and it is really freaking sweet. So time to switch to the inspire forums. Btw I checked out the atrix and have commented on it before and it just feels cheap same size screen as cappy but everything on screen looks smaller wasnt impressed with it. anyways been fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you happen to also notice a difference in call quality and battery life?
i was thinking of getting the inspire, but decided on the captivate since there were more things one can do on it.
i have to say that both phones look really nice though.
i love the captivate hardware, it's super slim, great screen, fast hummingbird, but the software blows. hopefully we can fix it with aosp builds until my contract is up again.
Only 12gb of storage is a big minus for me. Everything else look good though. I change phones once a year so by the time november rolls around something way better than the cappy and the inspire will be available.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Volume & Signal ???
So, hows the volume and signal on the inspire compared to the cappy. I mean does it pull in signal better than the cappy and how is the volume, earpiece and speaker, compare to the cappy ?
Slowazz28 said:
So, hows the volume and signal on the inspire compared to the cappy. I mean does it pull in signal better than the cappy and how is the volume, earpiece and speaker, compare to the cappy ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the Inspire pulls in a better signal than my Captivate (which I sold on Craigslist a week later). Volume, earpiece, and speaker seem the same to me although I'm no audiophile and usually use a my bluetooth headset to talk anyway.
Regardless of how some people feel about SAMOLED screens, I thought the Captivate's screen was awesome. The Inspire's screen is more than adequate and the extra 0.3 inches is quite noticeable. The colors are not as vibrant and rich as the Captivate's but again.. it's very adequate.
There are three other features where the Captivate shines:
1) MKV compatibility: It was nice being able to toss a 720P MKV file of my TV shows onto the phone and play it smoothly without having to waste time re-encoding.
2) 16GB of internal storage: It's nice to have an excess of storage space!
3) TV out even though it's only analog.
The Inspire doesn't have the codec support for MKV files, has 1GB of internal storage accessible to the user, and no TV out. Bummer.
I still like the Inspire more because of the two most important features: Working GPS and that huge 4.3" screen. Seriously... side by side that screen just jumps out.
If memory is your prob just buy more its not that much, everything is more snappy its faster and i have great signal. Love the screen and i love sense ui built in theme support way more widgets and better widgets, htc sense to find your phone from web or ring it or remote wipe or lock is really kool. usb port on bottom as opposed to top on captivate which btw is the most retarded design flaw, who likes a charging cord pullig on top of phone especially car charger with the spiral cord? audio sounds really good to me on it better then on captivate, lets not forge dual led flash for camera, which is also 8mp led blinking notification on front which i loved on droid x but captivate lacked, bigger screen!
Originally Posted by Slowazz28
So, hows the volume and signal on the inspire compared to the cappy. I mean does it pull in signal better than the cappy and how is the volume, earpiece and speaker, compare to the cappy ?
I think the Inspire pulls in a better signal than my Captivate (which I sold on Craigslist a week later). Volume, earpiece, and speaker seem the same to me although I'm no audiophile and usually use a my bluetooth headset to talk anyway.
Regardless of how some people feel about SAMOLED screens, I thought the Captivate's screen was awesome. The Inspire's screen is more than adequate and the extra 0.3 inches is quite noticeable. The colors are not as vibrant and rich as the Captivate's but again.. it's very adequate.
There are three other features where the Captivate shines:
1) MKV compatibility: It was nice being able to toss a 720P MKV file of my TV shows onto the phone and play it smoothly without having to waste time re-encoding.
2) 16GB of internal storage: It's nice to have an excess of storage space!
3) TV out even though it's only analog.
The Inspire doesn't have the codec support for MKV files, has 1GB of internal storage accessible to the user, and no TV out. Bummer.
I still like the Inspire more because of the two most important features: Working GPS and that huge 4.3" screen. Seriously... side by side that screen just jumps out.
Mkv doesnt need to be re-encoded, mkv is only a wrapper, use a program called tsmuxer, i can do a 20g mkv in like 2 min its switchs the container file type, like mt2s or other compatiable file types and u can stream whatever to the tv so I got no problems with that.
Btw in 6 months there will be new phones out that are even better u are correct on that and i will be upgrading then aswell if they have a decent one out.
What's this whole gold card stuff? Looks like a monumental task tio root the thing ?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Sold my captivate for 250 on craigslist and bought my Inspire off contract. Definitely the best decision I have made in a long time. I dont find myself missing anything about the captivate. I will always be buying HTC from now even if they dont start pumping out dual core phones. I take software over hardware.
Sold my captivate on ebay for $300 and currently have my wife's listed as well. Bought two new off contract inspire's and have been 100% happier than I ever was with any ROM on the captivate.
2 of my brothers just switched to inspire aswell and love it, captivate was never something that made me like wow i love this phone was just i love android. Now I love the phone like i did my droid x and te stock htc software is kool the way it is. Want root for it but no need to change roms.
So after using a D1 since release day I finally got tired of it lack of ram and rom memory and upgraded to a Thunderbolt the day it came out. At first I was thrilled with it. Now.. not so much. Battery life is not so good and developer progress has been sort of slow with lots of hold ups. Not too mention the awful direction Verizon seems to be headed in bloating and locking down their devices. So I've been considering switching to Sprint. When I found out yesterday that turtle giving a $125 credit to new subscribers that port their old number.... well needless to say once I get back from this deployment in June I'm ditching my Thunderbolt and getting my fiancée and myself two NS4G's, the feat news being that it'll only be $40 more a month for both phones than it was for the one thunderbolt!
So anyway.. my questions.
I was blindsided by a few things on the thunderbolt and I'm not looking for a repeat exerience with the new phones.
I know the 4g isn't gorilla glass but is he screen very scratch resistant? I ran my d1 without a protector for 1 1/2 years without a single scratch. The Tbolt screen isn't so durable...
Screen technology... how many different kind of screens are there for the NS? which one(s) does the NS4G have?
Car mounts? I have bought one for each of my phones... I love them. Are there any OEM ones or really good ones for the NS4G?
Reviews indicate that battery life is pretty good? Does user experience back this up?
Pound for pound would you rather have the NS4G or the Thunderbolt? Also Sprint has 4g where I work and live... VZW not so much.
Ty in advance to any helpful replies or links. I've been sifting for info and haven't much specifically about the 4g and I apologize for all the questions. Just feel like I got burned one the thunderbolt and do t want to repeat that experience.
This isn't the answer to one of your questions, but be warned that Sprint's 3G coverage has degraded lately (they lost a roaming contract) and 4G isn't in all cities yet. Heck it isn't even in all major cities yet.
I love my ns4g. Came from an evo. sprint service isnt as good as the big v, but they have chepper plans. 4g is still a battery killer. but i get is light years above the evo and TB (my girl has one)
i always use zagg screan protectors so cant help you there
Even on 3g only the TB battery life sucks... and the notification light is so useless you might as well not even have one so getting a phone without one won't be so hard.
The only thing I know that is going to suck is soon the Nexus 3 will be out. I guess I just have to ensure I set enough money back to buy it at full price when it does Gonna keep digging thru the forum trying to figure stuff out on this phone in the meantime.
Do you highly recommend the ZAGG products? and how easy are they to install and not **** it up?
I actually sold my Thunderbolt and ditched Verizon for the NS4G. I have zero regrets. Yes, coverage(service) is not as good, although acceptable. The radio on the 4G is standard Samsung, meaning it doesnt get as good a signal as the HTC or MOTO devices(this is a topic of debate, some say its the AOSP that causes it, I disagree).Ive had a screen protector on it since I pulled it out of the box, so cant answer ya there. Battery life hasnt been great for me, I am rooted though and running a custom kernel, not oc'd though. My Bolt got a little better battery life. The NS4G is a very good fit in the hand, I felt the Bolt was just a tad to much in the hand, although I loved the screen.
Overall, the Pro's outweigh the Con's. If you get the NS4G, I doubt you will regret it. The Bolt is a great idea, poorly executed and rushed though. I found it buggy and a little overhyped pre-release.
This is just my 2 cents.
Off topic....
The title of the thread reads like Yoda to me.
mikeyinid said:
I actually sold my Thunderbolt and ditched Verizon for the NS4G. I have zero regrets. Yes, coverage(service) is not as good, although acceptable. The radio on the 4G is standard Samsung, meaning it doesnt get as good a signal as the HTC or MOTO devices(this is a topic of debate, some say its the AOSP that causes it, I disagree).Ive had a screen protector on it since I pulled it out of the box, so cant answer ya there. Battery life hasnt been great for me, I am rooted though and running a custom kernel, not oc'd though. My Bolt got a little better battery life. The NS4G is a very good fit in the hand, I felt the Bolt was just a tad to much in the hand, although I loved the screen.
Overall, the Pro's outweigh the Con's. If you get the NS4G, I doubt you will regret it. The Bolt is a great idea, poorly executed and rushed though. I found it buggy and a little overhyped pre-release.
This is just my 2 cents.
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According to sprints coverage made they have good 4g signal where I live and work... I'm just so sick and tired of waiting for android goodness too "trickle down" to me via a dev who has a life/job/kids. Nothing wrong with that and I love everything the community does but I can't take not getting the stuff that makes android cool without having to jump thru a million hoops.
Hopefully the service won't be too bad, and hey! If enough of us leave VZW's oppressive ways Sprint is bound to get better.. right?
DarkAgent said:
This isn't the answer to one of your questions, but be warned that Sprint's 3G coverage has degraded lately (they lost a roaming contract) and 4G isn't in all cities yet. Heck it isn't even in all major cities yet.
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so would this explain why even though I'm getting full bars 3g, it's so god dang slow?? sprint told me there were tower issues in my area and techs would look at it. but if the lost roaming contract is the cause of this, then i'm just gonna jump ship stats.
to the op, i came from an EVO to the dell streak. i actually missed the smaller screen bc i got tired of holding those big phones. the biggest advantage imo is that the nexus s has a perfect screen size for viewing and holding. feels great in the hand as the curves and the lighter weight allows your hand to better wrap around and grip the phone without fatigue or cramping.
most importantly, go for whatever service is best for you. sounds like sprint is a no-brainer. unfortunately in my area, sprint 4g is non-existant and 3g has seemingly gone down the hole.
I'll play on this. Coming from a evo, epic, g2, iphone 4, now back to sprint and got the NS4G. I finally feel like i have a phone that i dont "FEEL" The need to sell to get something better at this moment. Mainly because its a full google phone. No middle man, no waiting, and once more devs hop on this phone, your going to love it! Far as scratching i didnt even want to test it out i cop the full body zagg ASAP so i cant help you there. In all honestly the evo has messed me up about these other htc copies that are coming on other carriers. All may have better specs in some areas, but i still feel like its a evo copy cat IMO. Nothing to make me switch carriers for, or be like "Yea that's better than my evo" But if the service is good in your area and it doesnt gets on your nerves, then welcome to the nexus s family!
I had the Thunderbolt and am now using a Nexus S 4G.
I liked the Thunderbolt a lot. I have very good LTE coverage so speeds were blazing fast. The battery wasn't so good. I was using the extended battery and was getting about 20 hours of usage.
The phone was too big and heavy though, so when the Nexus S 4G came out I switched and am glad I did!
The form factor of the Nexus is a lot better. Battery is decent, got 10 hours today with 3 hours of screen time, and with 4G on all day.
I love the SAMOLED, mainly because of the blacks. I have a black theme on my phone and it looks amazing!
Downside is that the Nexus has less RAM. It has 512MB but it seems that only 350MB is accessible by apps. I have noticed some lag on it VS the Thunderbolt with 768MB of RAM.
I'm glad I made the switch. Gingerbread is awesome, and so is the google talk video chat.
For the car mount, check out the Kensington K39256US. It is made for the iPhone but works great with the Nexus S. It's cheap on amazon.
4G brute
Got a scratch on the screen and I'm really careful with my phones. Always in a dedicated pocket, maybe caught on a button while going in? Still, never scratched the front of my phone before. Hopefully not a sign, lets see what else happens within 30 days, then back to Best Buy!
Also, zagg is cool, but the price is high and the texture sucks. I use skinomi. Similar material, no orange peel, and only $16 shipped after a 25% coupon online. Its actually pretty simple to install given u follow directions and are patient with it.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
hey in case you were planning on the ns4g soon, wirefly has a deal where its $99 on new contract, no activation/shipping charges, and no taxes. Thats $99 OTD, paying what the TMo guys are paying for theirs now on contract
I was thinking about picking up an at&t ns bc my sprint service is kinda slow here, but for $99, i'll stick with it. actually just ordered mine, and gonna take my current ns4g back to best buy where i payed $263 OTD...savings of $163
To the OP.. I would SERIOUSLY think of two things
Check your coverage.. Sprints coverage has been dramatically sliced recently: http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/281992#281992
#2... You know those 3G speeds you got on Verizon? Sprint calls that 4G.. 3G on Sprint is annoying to say the least since these coverage loses.
styckx said:
To the OP.. I would SERIOUSLY think of two things
Check your coverage.. Sprints coverage has been dramatically sliced recently: http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/281992#281992
#2... You know those 3G speeds you got on Verizon? Sprint calls that 4G.. 3G on Sprint is annoying to say the least since these coverage loses.
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The antenna issues I'm reading about are kinda scaring me as well....
I went from the Charge to the X2, and now I'm starting to dislike the lack of development for the phone and I miss 4G.
Anyone here previously own a Charge and/or X2? Thoughts? I would have gotten the TB instead but the comments I've seen about the poor voice quality and some bad screens had turned me away.
triton302 said:
I went from the Charge to the X2, and now I'm starting to dislike the lack of development for the phone and I miss 4G.
Anyone here previously own a Charge and/or X2? Thoughts? I would have gotten the TB instead but the comments I've seen about the poor voice quality and some bad screens had turned me away.
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I think there's 2 kinds of people out there.... There's the guys that think everything kicks ass, and there's the guys that think everything sucks ass. I really think people should investigate more for themselves and rely less on here-say to form an opinion about something. There's still people that think the Tbolt has problems rebooting all the time.
I haven't had one problem with my Tbolt. Can't say the same about anything from Motorola. A friend has an X2 and is feeling some real regret on account of speed, lack of 4G, and... It's a motorola. I think that pretty much says it all.
The Charge isn't bad, but it's not as technically capable as the Tbolt; a fact that carries weight with me. To me, the Tbolt is still the only option for me.
I came from the Droid X and I was disappointed in the t bolt. I'm on my 4th now, all of them rebooted constantly while on the old radio, but this is the only one that still reboots even after the new radio was flashed. the build quality is very poor on the t bolt compared to the X, horrible sound quality, call quality (on both ends) cheap feeling, poor finish. The only things I like on the t bolt over the X is the captive buttons, 4g and the RAM. Motorola has the best build quality, best reception, best call quality. As long as the bionic is rootable that's what I'll be getting next (verizon will replace it with a different phone next time)
eraursls1984 said:
I came from the Droid X and I was disappointed in the t bolt. I'm on my 4th now, all of them rebooted constantly while on the old radio, but this is the only one that still reboots even after the new radio was flashed. the build quality is very poor on the t bolt compared to the X, horrible sound quality, call quality (on both ends) cheap feeling, poor finish. The only things I like on the t bolt over the X is the captive buttons, 4g and the RAM. Motorola has the best build quality, best reception, best call quality. As long as the bionic is rootable that's what I'll be getting next (verizon will replace it with a different phone next time)
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Motorola cellular radios have always sucked ass. I stopped using them because it didn't seem to matter what model it was, NONE of them could keep a signal on the coast or the island I lived at. One had a buzz so loud you couldn't hear anyone talking over it. One wouldn't let you use switchboards. They ALL restarted all the time. Before I went smart phone, all I used was Samsung and Kyocera. For smart phones all I'd use are HTC, Samsung, and MAYBE BlackBerry. Every review I read of a Motorola notes it's cheap, flimsy feeling and build quality. If the Bionic ends up like that Moto Sprint is selling, I wouldn't be impressed by it.
loonatik78 said:
Motorola cellular radios have always sucked ass. I stopped using them because it didn't seem to matter what model it was, NONE of them could keep a signal on the coast or the island I lived at. One had a buzz so loud you couldn't hear anyone talking over it. One wouldn't let you use switchboards. They ALL restarted all the time. Before I went smart phone, all I used was Samsung and Kyocera. For smart phones all I'd use are HTC, Samsung, and MAYBE BlackBerry. Every review I read of a Motorola notes it's cheap, flimsy feeling and build quality. If the Bionic ends up like that Moto Sprint is selling, I wouldn't be impressed by it.
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Well I had a 2 Razr's and a Droid X and no Samsung, LG or HTC can match the reception of any of those, and they all had great build quality (personal experience, not reviews) I also had a blackberry storm which was a joke, but it did have great reception and call quality when it wasn't frozen. I have also had a few Samsung and LG phones (as well as my wife) and all of them had poor reception and call quality, and the trend continues from what I've seen with the galaxy phones. I've only had one HTC phone and it hasn't impressed me but from what I've seen in the inc, and what many others have told me about HTC Windows phones they seem to be good phones, that's why I think the t bolt was rushed because it isn't a very good phone.
I agree with both of you on certain points.
I have owned a few Motorola devices and my DX was by far the best when it came to call quality, I could be in my basement with -99 dbm signal strength on a call and it just wouldn't drop. Only a few times in the year I had that phone did I ever just randomly drop out of 3G in an area where Verizon had excellent coverage. Probably the most dependable phone I ever had. My old v325 held signal very well too, never had a dropped call with it.
However... the lack of updates and the outdated hardware makes it difficult for Motorola to keep up with the competition, that's why Samsung and HTC are ahead in the Android game. Those two companies are always coming out with something better in one way or another... but what has Motorola release lately that is a knockout? Nothing, and pretty soon the Bionic will be in the same boat. Motorola is too late in the game with the Bionic and it'll probably have the same crappy Pentile qHD display. I'd almost rather have a standard LCD screen.
I owned the Incredible when it first came out, but I sold it for the DX because I wanted a bigger screen and I wasn't a fan of that generation of AMOLED screens, looked just like the Pentile on the X2 except with more vivid colors. Otherwise it was a speedy phone, just didn't have the call quality the DX did.
triton302 said:
I agree with both of you on certain points.
I have owned a few Motorola devices and my DX was by far the best when it came to call quality, I could be in my basement with -99 dbm signal strength on a call and it just wouldn't drop. Only a few times in the year I had that phone did I ever just randomly drop out of 3G in an area where Verizon had excellent coverage. Probably the most dependable phone I ever had. My old v325 held signal very well too, never had a dropped call with it.
However... the lack of updates and the outdated hardware makes it difficult for Motorola to keep up with the competition, that's why Samsung and HTC are ahead in the Android game. Those two companies are always coming out with something better in one way or another... but what has Motorola release lately that is a knockout? Nothing, and pretty soon the Bionic will be in the same boat. Motorola is too late in the game with the Bionic and it'll probably have the same crappy Pentile qHD display. I'd almost rather have a standard LCD screen.
I owned the Incredible when it first came out, but I sold it for the DX because I wanted a bigger screen and I wasn't a fan of that generation of AMOLED screens, looked just like the Pentile on the X2 except with more vivid colors. Otherwise it was a speedy phone, just didn't have the call quality the DX did.
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My devices usually see a minimum of 30 or so states, if not all 48, so I definitely get to try out devices under just about every condition and terrain there is. Motorola's devices have consistently sucked ass. I was forced to stop using them all together when my wife and I lived on an island in FL. Forget making a phone call... you couldn't even text with them. I'm not too concerned about call quality if I can't make the call. The only company to make radios that are as bad is LG.
loonatik78 said:
The only company to make radios that are as bad is LG.
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I will agree with that.
Are you on your original TB? What do you think of the screen and the call quality? Those are the two biggest factors in my decision on getting this phone. I read that the TB gets much better 4G reception than the Charge does.
Screen and call quality have been great with mine. But like loonatik, I've never had reboot problems either. That said until I bought the extended battery I was ready to give up on it.
courtesy of my bolt and tapatalk
I have had problems with both the Droid X and the HTC Thunderbolt. I also travel all across the country and seen how each each work in those areas. I don't know why but one of the many Thunderbolts I had would have terrible static at times. I could hear the person but all they heard was a bunch of static. I heard static on my end a couple times. That device was replaced and I never had that issue again. Out of the LTE devices available NOW, I would still pick the Thunderbolt out of any of the others. I would actually pick it over any of Verizon's smartphones as of NOW. The Thunderbolts pros outweigh the cons for me. I love the 35+Mbps download speeds at times.
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
I have been lucky and have not had any reboot issues or any of the other ones some have mentioned. I get great reception unless I'm buried in the basment of the building I work in. I also think the screen is damn good. It's bright, great color reproduction, deep blacks, and very crisp. It doesn't do good in direct sunlight but thats pretty much the case with most any phone screen. Overall it has been a great phone for me but I would recommend rooting and a custom ROM for the best experience.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
The TBolt is a cool phone. I had a really tough time deciding whether to get it or the Charge. At the end of the day, the Charge was cheaper at Costco and I liked the screen more. Development definitely seems better on the TBolt, though I don't really mind as much since I don't use 3rd party ROMs. I'm a huge fan of the SAMOLED+, the proper subpixel pattern makes all the difference. I hate the pentile format that older AMOLEDs used, as well as what Moto is using on all of their new phones...
Regardless, I'd honestly say wait a few more days and see what the Bionic does.