Having a hard time resisting the Droid X 2 - General Questions and Answers

Hello everyone~
I am still rocking a moto droid 1, and it is a painful experience. As you may have guessed, I prefer to keep my phones for a long time. I have been doing extensive research as I get closer to replacing my droid 1.
So far, the Droid x 2 has seemed like a great choice. Good battery life, good screen, dual core, but not LTE. I have read a lot of reviews of the various choices, such as the thunderbolt and the charge, but they all seem to have deal breaking flaws for me.
Both the thunderbolt and the charge are single-core, which feels silly to me. The Droid x 2 is presumably plain and simply faster. Sure, no LTE, but I live in Corvallis, Oregon, and I am left wondering when LTE will even be in my area. Additionally, the thunderbolt has terrible battery life from what I hear. The charge seems like a good in between, but it is still single-core. Buying a single core phone when there is a dual-core phone with good battery life is a hard choice to justify.
And yet even still, when I read reviews of the x 2, such as on phonearena, they still say that it would be better to get a thunderbolt or a charge.
Forgive my ignorance or if I am missing something obvious, but WHY? How can the x 2 not be the obvious choice? I am not concerned with custom roms. I just want to be able to root and clean up a bit of the bloat.
Can someone enlighten me? I really, really, really do not want to play the waiting game for the galaxy s 2, which I would buy if given the choice.

If you're due for an upgrade, I'd check in to when your area will be getting LTE. I understand wanting to get a dual core phone but the truth is, most apps aren't optimized for dual core, and probably won't run any differently. Also, its likely that Verizon will be moving to tiered data plans (maybe higher prices for 4G?) soon, so if you can upgrade to an LTE device, you'll be locked into unlimited $30 data for when you do get 4G service.

Related

1x today has taught me how much I don’t care about 4G

Aside from being pissed by the 1x at the top of the screen I was able to do everything I wanted to do. Sent text messages all day on Google Talk and Skype, downloaded the Amazon free app of the day (business calendar) in about 40 seconds. Updated a few other apps in about a min., received and responded to multiple emails all day long, uploaded a pic to facebook with no problems, And made calls... All on 1x!
Well there is a much bigger difference between 1x and 3G than there is between 3G and 4G…. So why would I ever sacrifice battery life on this device for that difference?
Crazy!
Unless you are using your phone for internet access for your PC via tether… I think everyone is just wasting battery life for nothing.
Then you bought the wrong phone. Better luck next time.
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Dbagjones said:
Then you bought the wrong phone. Better luck next time.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
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I did not buy the wrong phone at all!! I love the speed of the phone for running the apps. I love the screen, the 8MP cam, the great front facing cam. I bought this phone because it could run the Android OS very fast and smooth. Not at all for 4G.
Are you telling me you bought this phone just for the 4G???? If that’s the case I think I bought the phone for much better reasons than you did!
HawkStream said:
I did not buy the wrong phone at all!! I love the speed of the phone for running the apps. I love the screen, the 8MP cam, the great front facing cam. I bought this phone because it could run the Android OS very fast and smooth. Not at all for 4G.
Are you telling me you bought this phone just for the 4G???? If that’s the case I think I bought the phone for much better reasons than you did!
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+1
Love How Stable and Hackable HTC Phones are. Good Size screen, More Ram for Multi Tasking, Front Camera, Kickstand. This thing is a Beast Overclocked. Im Not in a 4g City bit when I go out of town (Which I do Often) 4G Is just Icing on the Cake.
HawkStream said:
I did not buy the wrong phone at all!! I love the speed of the phone for running the apps. I love the screen, the 8MP cam, the great front facing cam. I bought this phone because it could run the Android OS very fast and smooth. Not at all for 4G.
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There are plenty of better phones out there as far as performance and features go. The Thunderbolt is an inefficient beast; in the class of smartphones, it's metaphorically similar to the 17" Desktop Replacement laptop. In other words, it's big, heavy, and very power-hungry, relative to other members of its device class.
If you had waited until the May or June launch of the Samsung phones with the Tegra 2 dual core SoC with Nvidia graphics, that thing will absolutely blow your socks off, and probably also ship with Android 2.3 or 2.4 if it's out by then. Why buy a phone still using the old PowerVR SGX core if you are crazy about graphics performance, when the SGX is just a few months away from being eclipsed by Tegra 2 phones?
HawkStream said:
Are you telling me you bought this phone just for the 4G???? If that’s the case I think I bought the phone for much better reasons than you did!
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It's the first LTE smartphone to market. Ever. Period. In the whole world. And you're telling me you bought it because it's fast? Pssh -- as far as the non-networked components go, it's basically no better than a Droid 2. It's the last model to use 2009-2010 era SoC, and the only reason it doesn't use something more cutting-edge is because the brand new chips are still being debugged and tested, and they needed a phone out in March.
The Thunderbolt has a separate radio chip for the CDMA/EvDO and the LTE. This is highly suboptimal from both a power standpoint and size/weight. Qualcomm says they can probably have chips available by early 2012 that offer both traditional CDMA, voice, and LTE in a single integrated circuit, which would also probably use smaller fabrication process technology for even less power consumption and weight. The Thunderbolt is a "hack" as far as smartphones are concerned; it's very unusual for any kind of phone to have two radios in it (even if it supports more than one radio protocol, they're usually supported together on a single chip). The phone was rushed, hence why they couldn't wait for Qualcomm to get their integrated LTE+CDMA chip together.
You can rip the Thunderbolt apart this way by looking under the hood and pointing out its many limitations and flaws. The only thing that stands out -- the only killer feature that sets this apart from the Droid 2 or any other 2010 Android-based 3G phone -- is the LTE. If not for the LTE, the Thunderbolt is just a power-hungry, heavy version of the Droid 2 (or Droid X, I guess, since it lacks a hardware keyboard too).
Since Verizon locks you in to a two year contract, you should really be planning ahead a bit unless you have $600 - $750 to sink on a retail smartphone. If you had waited for just a few more months to get the more killer "core specs" (CPU, GPU, RAM) on the phones coming out in the latter half of 2011, you would be getting the first round of the next generation of the CPU/GPU bump. And since that's what you seem to value (moreso than the bandwidth), that's probably what you should have waited for.
Now you're stuck with a phone (as am I) that will have significantly underpowered specs by the time the two year term is up -- it's entirely possible that new Android apps and games written in Q1 2013 (the last stretch of your 2 year term) will not run at all on your Thunderbolt, or lag so badly that they're unusable, because they are tuned to run on e.g. the Tegra 2 or later dual core platforms.
But I don't play games on my phone, so that doesn't matter to me. The LTE is why I value this phone so much and bought it, and since I don't exercise the CPU/GPU as highly as cellphone gamers, it probably won't matter a lick to me that in early 2013 I won't be able to play Angry Birds 3 on my Thunderbolt. I'll be satisfied that I got a full two years worth of fast LTE service, and that's what's important to me.
So just saying, if you don't care about the extra bandwidth, you made a fairly bad choice. The other aspects of the Thunderbolt are gonna be obsolete pretty quick because the non-network parts of the phone are built around a late 2009 platform, so unless you want to shell out retail when Tegra 2 phones hit, you might come to regret your purchase in about a year.
In comparison to graphics cards, it'd be like buying a Nvidia GTX 280 (supporting DirectX 10.1) a month before the Fermi cards hit the shelves (supporting DirectX 11).
Yeah guys, this was a 4G phone first and foremost. The screen, processor and ram are all average. Actually the screen is already outdated with QHD screens out. Not to mention the phone is a heavy beast with a tiny battery. Don't get me wrong I love the TB, It looks great and is fairly powerful, but the main reason I bought it was to have 4G. Now I can get rid of my cable modem. But to the point of the OP, when not tethering it actually works great with just 1x or 3G
If I didn't care about 4g I would have waited for a dual core, qhd device to come out. I wanted the Bionic which has all of the above, but they keep pushing it out amid massive development problems.
I cant download roms on the fly with Rom Manager, or update CM7-alpha while im out of the house on 1x.. thats really the only thing I saw
allquixotic said:
It's the first LTE smartphone to market. Ever. Period. In the whole world.
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uhm...no. MetroPCS beat Verizon to the punch on that one.
HawkStream said:
Aside from being pissed by the 1x at the top of the screen I was able to do everything I wanted to do. Sent text messages all day on Google Talk and Skype, downloaded the Amazon free app of the day (business calendar) in about 40 seconds. Updated a few other apps in about a min., received and responded to multiple emails all day long, uploaded a pic to facebook with no problems, And made calls... All on 1x!
Well there is a much bigger difference between 1x and 3G than there is between 3G and 4G…. So why would I ever sacrifice battery life on this device for that difference?
Crazy!
Unless you are using your phone for internet access for your PC via tether… I think everyone is just wasting battery life for nothing.
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So sell your Thunderbolt, get a RAZR, it seems that should suit you fine. Plus then you don't have to worry about battery life.
Your post today has taught me how much I don't care about what you say.
1X for a day made me have the exact opposite realization. I live in a 4G area and I am getting so spoiled by the lighting fast speeds (sometimes faster than my home broadband connection). When I had 1X, I couldn't send MMS, browsing the web was painfully slow and it was generally all around a miserable experience.
Wasn't able to steam anything at all. No AudioGalaxy, YouTube, Hulu, other Flash content. Web browsing was ridiculously slow. Downloading and installing updates was painful.
I have missed my LTE. Sorry you don't use your phone to its full capacity but some people do. I'd rather my phone not be limited to the speed of the network. If you're cool with it, congrats.
drumz0rz said:
1X for a day made me have the exact opposite realization. I live in a 4G area and I am getting so spoiled by the lighting fast speeds (sometimes faster than my home broadband connection). When I had 1X, I couldn't send MMS, browsing the web was painfully slow and it was generally all around a miserable experience.
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So agreed! Even when I got it to go onto 3G I still was like "Ughhhhhh!" Yeah, 3G is decent, but 4G is incredible. If >10X faster doesn't make a difference to you, maybe this isn't the phone for you. I noticed the difference all day. Sure, it doesn't take that long to download an app on 3G, maybe 30 seconds to 2 minutes, but you can't tell me that waiting 2 minutes is the same experience as it happening virtually instantly. On my phone, I want things happening quickly. I wanna be able to get it out and get to what I wanted to do quickly so I'm not just standing there waiting on my phone on the sidewalk. I mean, come on, with 4G most things are practically instant -- 3G there's always some waiting. If waiting is something that's okay, maybe conventional ovens are just as good as microwaves and cable internet is just as good as fiber optic, etc.
HawkStream said:
Unless you are using your phone for internet access for your PC via tether… I think everyone is just wasting battery life for nothing.
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Can't tell; is this a troll thread?
Having a 4G thunderbolt without 4G connection was the least enjoyment i've ever got out of this phone.
I've literally been twitching from the withdrawal.
4G is a night and day difference from 3G, no questions asked.
I used Wifi at Home and Work, so I was unimpacted.
And to the one guy with the long story, true this is a 2009-2010 phone, and I ONLY bought it to lock myself into cheap 4G/LTE pricing before it gets out of control and data caps, etc...
...but unless gaming is your thing, the Thunderbolt will do 90-95% of everything you need for at least the next two years. Sure I was holding out for the Galaxy SII, and I will probably sell the TB and buy a Dual Core phone off contract with the money that I make, but that is not even an issue at this point because this phone does EVERYTHING I need.
Eddog4DROID said:
I used Wifi at Home and Work, so I was unimpacted.
And to the one guy with the long story, true this is a 2009-2010 phone, and I ONLY bought it to lock myself into cheap 4G/LTE pricing before it gets out of control and data caps, etc...
...but unless gaming is your thing, the Thunderbolt will do 90-95% of everything you need for at least the next two years. Sure I was holding out for the Galaxy SII, and I will probably sell the TB and buy a Dual Core phone off contract with the money that I make, but that is not even an issue at this point because this phone does EVERYTHING I need.
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I love my TB, i haven't even gotten to use 4G yet and i love it compared to my Eris. I think 3G is fast enough now that I have a phone that can handle using it lol. Also every Android phone will be obsolete after a year, this forum is proof that the hardware cannot keep up with the advancements in technology. I agree with you on selling my TB to get a phone with a Dual Core or a nicer video card but this phone gets me through the day and more using "Mobile Network" only when i need it because you don't need that sh!t on to text or call. Everyone that complains this thing is a heavy beast you are a retard imo, its a F'n phone its in your pocket and you don't feel it 95% of the day. When you hold a phone its usually for just over a minute maximum. If your holding off on the purchase of a phone because of weight you are a dumbass.
WOW at this thread lol espcially wow at the guy who said 1x was fine. I know personally I do tons of stuff that require the internet. Facebook/twitter/youtube/email/browsing. All that sucked on 1x it was like being on 56k I could only do one thing at a time and on top of that it did it slowly. Now my 4G is back I can surf the net pop over to facebook and twitter and still stream music/youtube with out missing a beat. 4G is serious
allquixotic said:
It's the first LTE smartphone to market. Ever. Period. In the whole world.
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Nope...
PJnc284 said:
uhm...no. MetroPCS beat Verizon to the punch on that one.
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+1, this is exactly what I was thinking when I read that post.
Turns out that I did care. My home WiFi happened to crap out the day before. While I did what I could to fix it, it became a lower priority with this phone. D'oh!
As to the larger issue of why buy this phone, I will chime in. Until VZW recently turned on LTE where I live, I thought it was going to be at least a year out. I was wrong. I had planned on buying a Dinc 2, as I loved my Dinc, and it would hold me out until LTE was where I was, and by then i'd have a number of choices.
Why I bought the Tbolt 2 weeks ago: 4G locked in at this price for at least 2 years. Can't predict the future, but this matters to me. Next: developer support. I don't like Moto, and devs really do an amazing job with HTC phones. I worried that the Dinc 2 would get no (or less) love. The LG and Sammy phones may turn out to be great but they are not released yet, and who knows what kind of dev support there will be.
Lastly, the sooner I upgraded (I was sitting on an early upgrade for almost a year), the sooner I can upgrade to the next or next next gen phone.
Phone has a bug or two, but no regrets at all (already rooted), and as I said I had thought my rooted Dinc was awesome.
Get a droid incredible
sent from planet snarf
Everyone has a butthole and everyone think theirs is more special than the other person but you shouldn't go around flaunting your asshole and telling others theirs should be like yours.

Memory & Processor

I'm thinking about getting either the Thunderbolt or the Droid X2. My question is when it comes to performance which one will be better? (Data connection speeds aside) I know that the X2 isn't out yet so you can't really compare but when it comes to hardware is a phone with a Tegra 2 dual core processor and less RAM likely to perform better than a 1Ghz 2nd gen. processor and more RAM?
For those of you who have had the Droid X, did the motoblur interface slow it down alot compared to HTC's sense interface? Do you think there will be a noticeable enough performance difference to really make one device stand out versus the other or will it be simply a matter of 3G vs 4G (and battery)?
Well obviously raw CPU speed has the DX2 trumping the TBolt.
RAM is not so important, since the Android OS will typically only have about 500-600MB that it can actually allocate, depending on the ROM you're on (whether it is stock, custom Froyo, custom Gingerbread, etc.) So having 512MB on the DX2 is not deal-breaker there. Same for the Tbolt and its 768MB. I'm running Das BAMF 1.6.3, and the OS has access to 597MB of the phone's total 768MB.
Storage is also something to consider. The TBolt ships with a 32GB card, which alone is easily $50 or $60. So technically your $249 phone is really a $199 phone, you're just "forced" to buy a 32GB card, if you want to look at it that way. You get a mere 2GB card with the DX2, so you'll have to spring for the extra non-onboard storage if you want it.
DX2 wins with size and sleekness, but it's personal preference. For example, I like my TBolt with its extended battery waaaay more than I did my Nexus One. I like a phone with some ass behind it.
I can't say anything about a stock DX2's battery, but bear in mind the TBolt on stock everything is horrific. Like 3-6 hours. It becomes normal if you spring for the extended battery and load up a custom ROM/kernel though. Mine can go more than a day, sometimes near 2 days if it just sits idle.
TBolt wins in data future-proofness, with its LTE radio for 4G. The DX2 will be stuck at 3G, and you'll be signing a 2 year contract on that more than likely, right? Frankly, this would be a deal breaker for me. It may not be for you. 1.5-2Mb on 3G vs 15-22Mb on 4G is a pretty big difference, and 3G will seem worse and worse as more 4G rollouts happen. And Verizon's pushing out a good many 4G markets. I'd equate it to still using dialup at home when residential DSL started booming.
Also, the DX2 has micro HDMI output. The Tbolt has nothing for external display.
TL;DR - Each has pros/cons, it's up to you to weigh each one and decide yourself. Your phone, your choice; we can't say what you'll like.
RAM is not so important, since the Android OS will typically only have about 500-600MB that it can actually allocate, depending on the ROM you're on (whether it is stock, custom Froyo, custom Gingerbread, etc.) So having 512MB on the DX2 is not deal-breaker there. Same for the Tbolt and its 768MB. I'm running Das BAMF 1.6.3, and the OS has access to 597MB of the phone's total 768MB.
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This is very helpful.
Storage is also something to consider. The TBolt ships with a 32GB card, which alone is easily $50 or $60. So technically your $249 phone is really a $199 phone, you're just "forced" to buy a 32GB card, if you want to look at it that way. You get a mere 2GB card with the DX2, so you'll have to spring for the extra non-onboard storage if you want it.
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I'll actually be upgrading and extending my contract with VZW so my discounted price brings the thunderbolt to 209. If the DX2 is discounted that may be even more incentive for me to move in that direction as well. We'll see...
I can't say anything about a stock DX2's battery, but bear in mind the TBolt on stock everything is horrific. Like 3-6 hours. It becomes normal if you spring for the extended battery and load up a custom ROM/kernel though. Mine can go more than a day, sometimes near 2 days if it just sits idle.
TBolt wins in data future-proofness, with its LTE radio for 4G. The DX2 will be stuck at 3G, and you'll be signing a 2 year contract on that more than likely, right? Frankly, this would be a deal breaker for me. It may not be for you. 1.5-2Mb on 3G vs 15-22Mb on 4G is a pretty big difference, and 3G will seem worse and worse as more 4G rollouts happen. And Verizon's pushing out a good many 4G markets. I'd equate it to still using dialup at home when residential DSL started booming.
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This bothers me quite a bit.. that I'd have to root just to get a decent custom ROM/kernel to save some battery. I'd almost rather wait another 2 years untill VZW perfects their 4G network and there are more phones to chose from... almost.. 4g is not in my area right now but will be before EOY. Data connection will be a factor. Thunderbolt still wins this side of the argument for me.. Thanks for your advice, it helped!
coolpoete said:
This bothers me quite a bit.. that I'd have to root just to get a decent custom ROM/kernel to save some battery. I'd almost rather wait another 2 years untill VZW perfects their 4G network and there are more phones to chose from... almost.. 4g is not in my area right now but will be before EOY. Data connection will be a factor. Thunderbolt still wins this side of the argument for me.. Thanks for your advice, it helped!
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Such are the woes of a Round 1 device. The TBolt is the first phone on Verizon with true 4G. Right now, a relatively weak stock battery, LTE radio, and Froyo bogged down with bloatware/Sense UI are huge battery drains. That said, even simple mods help the battery greatly. AOSP (stock) and Gingerbread is hands down the best Android experience one may have. At one point, I had the stock battery and CyanogenMod7's pre-alpha (2.3.3 gingerbread). The ROM alone, with no custom kernel or overclocking/undervolting, nearly doubled my battery life. But 8 hours is still not great.
Glad I could help. Enjoy whichever you pick.
Also keep in mind that the dx2 will more than likely have a locked bootloader (not confirmed, just assumed) so custom kernels would be out of the question. MOTO blur is THE WORST oem UI there is, hands down. I love sense myself. It's smooth and has awesome widgets.
Also as stated above, if the tbolt has a 1ghz processor and the battery life sucks that bad, id hate to see how fast a dual core would suck a battery dry.
4g was definitely a deal breaker for me. By are going to turn it on in my area very soon and I'm super excited about it.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
orkillakilla said:
Also keep in mind that the dx2 will more than likely have a locked bootloader (not confirmed, just assumed) so custom kernels would be out of the question. MOTO blur is THE WORST oem UI there is, hands down. I love sense myself. It's smooth and has awesome widgets.
Also as stated above, if the tbolt has a 1ghz processor and the battery life sucks that bad, id hate to see how fast a dual core would suck a battery dry.
4g was definitely a deal breaker for me. By are going to turn it on in my area very soon and I'm super excited about it.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
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Touchwiz is much worse.. and before I rooted my battery on stock wasn't TOO horrible.. would get a day on moderate usage
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These other guys getting crappy life must never put there phone down.. I went 12 hours with 25 percent battery life left. With about 2 hours of talk time and some 4g usage. I'm stock btw.
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I would be willing to be a lot of money that the X2 is going to have a locked bootloader, which means it'll impossible to try and tweak some things. The Thunderbolt may have issues with battery life, but that improves GREATLY with custom ROM's and kernels (and/or extended batteries), and those are improving greatly every day. The T-Bolt has a phenomenal dev community that has been workin' their asses off to get stable ROM's and kernels for all of us. I highly doubt the X2 will be supported as well by the community, considering the general distaste for Motorola around here.

[Q] DROIDX Owner on the fence about getting Charge

I now can upgrade my DROID X to a newer phone.
Is the Verizon Droid Charge worthy as a replacement to Droid X? I keep reading about some of the growing pain on rooting the VDC, which I can understand. Beyond that, despite a better screen, is VDC's hardware close enough in term of its performance specifically on these three major criteria, i.e. GPS antenna, battery life and responsiveness, when you compare it with DX? Or, will I suffer from it due to the noticeable difference in poorer performance of those things? Discuss.
Note that my only reason to even pick VDC is for the 4G speed as I'm quite happy with DX hardware.
You and I are in the same boat. Although I don't have a Charge in my possession, I have decided to get it as an upgrade to my X, and here is why.
I initially got the Xperia Play as an upgrade, and had it for a day, and got rid of it because I didn't like many aspects of it.
That got me looking at an alternative upgrade, so I looked at all the 4g phones. Knowing data tiering is right around the corner, I feel this was a good move on my part. Anyway, after playing with the thunderbolt, Charge, and Revolution, I felt none of the phones were perfect for me, but the Charge was the best. I also feel it is an upgrade over my DX running team black hats Gingerbread.
The camera isn't quite as good as the Thunderbolt. The colors are... off, but resolution is better than the X by a little.
Game speed is faster. While I was at the vzw store looking at the phones, I downloaded Dungeon Defenders and played Deeper Well on insane. Faster than the Droid X by far, and what a wonderful screen!!! Not to freaking mention I was able to download the entire game over 4G faster than I could at home with Comcast/wifi. (20min) That's a freaking bonus right there buddy!
I think it will be a nice upgrade, but I wont know for a week, so ask me again then.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Its alot better. The possessor is an a new hummingbird so it handles battery better. The screen is super amoled plus. Once you install the lagfix its fast. And finally 4g is 4g
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Ted A said:
Note that my only reason to even pick VDC is for the 4G speed as I'm quite happy with DX hardware.
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If you can go without an upgrade, then I say stick it out for the next best phone. If you need an upgrade but don't necessarily need 4G LTE, go Droid X2, imo. Beast of a phone. I just don't like how it's sans 4G LTE.
Ted A said:
I now can upgrade my DROID X to a newer phone.
Is the Verizon Droid Charge worthy as a replacement to Droid X? I keep reading about some of the growing pain on rooting the VDC, which I can understand. Beyond that, despite a better screen, is VDC's hardware close enough in term of its performance specifically on these three major criteria, i.e. GPS antenna, battery life and responsiveness, when you compare it with DX? Or, will I suffer from it due to the noticeable difference in poorer performance of those things? Discuss.
Note that my only reason to even pick VDC is for the 4G speed as I'm quite happy with DX hardware.
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I upgraded from the DX to the DC primarily because I wanted to be grandfathered in to unlimited 4G when they make the change. I chose the DC over the Tbolt because of the battery life and the battery life to me does seem better than my DX.
from a performance stand point, I would not have upgraded just for the hardware originally. I might have waited it out for the Bionic BUT that being said, there is a noticeable difference in the performance of the 2 phones and I for one like the feel of the charge as opposed to the feel of the X.
Though the dev community is just now starting out, I find ROM flashing and such to be so much easier on the Charge, primarily because you don't have to deal with the bootstrapper and all that mess.
Overall, i'd say your decision has to come down to priorities, my priority was 4G unlimited (assuming that VZW will grandfather people in). If you want straight up hardware and performance, possibly hold out to the Bionic or go with the DX2 (I would've have gone with it except I couldn't see the point in getting a new phone that couldn't do 4G). Better battery life IMO go with the DC.
I am extremely happy with with all aspects of the DC over my X.

[Q] Infuse or Atrix

I am upgrading to a smartphone and really have no idea about anything... I am fairly tech savy with computers so I figured it was high time but after spending over 4 hours on anandtech comparing benchs and roaming the various sites I still feel like I don't know anything about smartphones...
At the moment I am hellbent on sticking with AT&T because I get a huge discount through my work (Grandfathered into unlimited data etc.)...
What I understand is that the Galaxy S2 or whatever is by far the best phone but it is also very expensive atm (800 dollars?) in U.S. and is not yet mainstream, so I can't spend that kind of money. I need my phone by sunday for work (job change), so I think the Atrix and Infuse are the two best 4G phones from AT&T...
Atrix has the dual core so it basically runs a little faster, smaller screen, matrix screen etc. etc.
Infuse is larger, maybe slightly longer(?) battery life due to single core, has a superior screen and is rootable/unlockable or something due to the bootloader(?)
Being a tech junkie I crave speed and hate waiting for anything so the atrix loads web pages and programs faster so that seems appetizing at first. This has to be weighed against the "custom goodies" you can get with the infuse.
So basically please help, I have no idea what a locked bootloader means, why it is bad that the atrix has that, and what the "custom goodies" that come from having a rootable(?) phone are for the Infuse. My understanding is that the Infuse is more customizable (how exactly?). Really my understanding between these two phones is that besides the superior sound and video quality from the infuse (bigger size too) is that the atrix is faster and that has to be weighed against how customizable the infuse is. Sorry for the vague questions but I don't really know much, I realize I am posting on the infuse boards so the responses might be somewhat bias.
Sorry if this is the wrong place this is my first post and first quest into the world of smartphones...
Simple - Motoblur is a steaming turd that slows down phones and eats battery, and the locked bootloader of Motorola devices means that you are stuck with whatever turd Moto gives you. A lot of people felt that even the (slightly weaker than the Infuse) HTC Inspire was faster in actual usability for most tasks than the Atrix due to the crappiness of Motoblur.
With an unlocked bootloader, you aren't stuck with carrier bloatware and can nuke it. For now, an unlocked bootloader means only that we have de-bloated and tweaked variants of the stock ROM, however down the line, we can expect:
1) If another carrier (such as Rogers) releases an update AT&T doesn't, it can be used as a base for ROMs for our AT&T phones. Example - it's rumored the Canadians will get Gingerbread for the Infuse first.
2) Eventually with Infuses in the right dev's hands, we'll see AOSP or the Cyanogenmod source tree targeted at our device. Once that's the case, we'll likely track the latest and greatest Android versions with little delay.
You will never see either of 1 or 2 with an Atrix.
Also if you search the threads you will see a lot of people who came from the atrix and say this is not only a better phone, but faster
I dunno guys - it's looking more and more like the next Atrix OTA is going to have a bootloader unlock and if that really happens then I'm really going to regret leaving the Atrix behind for the Infuse.
Both are great devices. To make your decision ask yourself one question: What is more important to me? A device that works or a device I can customize to the max.
I think that'll help you make a firm decision.
I had the Atrix for almost 30 days. I rooted it on day 1. I loved the long lasting battery cause I use the hell out of my phone. That battery would easily last me a full day! From 8:15 am till around 20% left before I went to bed at 2 am lol the phone would lag once in a while though and people had a hard time hearing me when I spoke on the phone. So I returned it.
The Infuse is sweet so far! Also rooted on day 1. Just wish it had a battery similar to the Atrix and a dual core processor. Everything else is great as is!
kamui8899 said:
I am upgrading to a smartphone and really have no idea about anything... I am fairly tech savy with computers so I figured it was high time but after spending over 4 hours on anandtech comparing benchs and roaming the various sites I still feel like I don't know anything about smartphones...
At the moment I am hellbent on sticking with AT&T because I get a huge discount through my work (Grandfathered into unlimited data etc.)...
What I understand is that the Galaxy S2 or whatever is by far the best phone but it is also very expensive atm (800 dollars?) in U.S. and is not yet mainstream, so I can't spend that kind of money. I need my phone by sunday for work (job change), so I think the Atrix and Infuse are the two best 4G phones from AT&T...
Atrix has the dual core so it basically runs a little faster, smaller screen, matrix screen etc. etc.
Infuse is larger, maybe slightly longer(?) battery life due to single core, has a superior screen and is rootable/unlockable or something due to the bootloader(?)
Being a tech junkie I crave speed and hate waiting for anything so the atrix loads web pages and programs faster so that seems appetizing at first. This has to be weighed against the "custom goodies" you can get with the infuse.
So basically please help, I have no idea what a locked bootloader means, why it is bad that the atrix has that, and what the "custom goodies" that come from having a rootable(?) phone are for the Infuse. My understanding is that the Infuse is more customizable (how exactly?). Really my understanding between these two phones is that besides the superior sound and video quality from the infuse (bigger size too) is that the atrix is faster and that has to be weighed against how customizable the infuse is. Sorry for the vague questions but I don't really know much, I realize I am posting on the infuse boards so the responses might be somewhat bias.
Sorry if this is the wrong place this is my first post and first quest into the world of smartphones...
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From what I've read, the infuse is actually faster than the atrix. Even though the infuse has a 1.2 GHz single core and the atrix a 1GHz running at 2 cores, the infuse is faster since android is only being loaded on a single core for the atrix and to my knowledge, there arent any apps on the market that are able to multi-thread. I may be wrong but that's what I have seen. Also, the hummingbird processor on the infuse can decode(and hopefully encode with the gingerbread update) full HD faster than the atrix's tegra. I have also read that the atrix has some problems with overheating but I may be wrong. The infuse is a pretty good phone, granted the Touch Wiz UI is not as friendly as Sense UI, it is a hella lot better than Motoblur. For the battery life, the infuse is very good and lasting, i don't know about the atrix though. The screen on the infuse is just killer and has AMAZING colors, its basically a pocketable 4.5 inch 1080p HDTV, while the atrix is a smaller sceen(4 inch) phone with qHD display. I believe the infuse's screen is better though because its a SAMOLED(super active matrix organic light emiting diode) screen which eliminates some screen filters that normal LEDs, LCDs and TFTs have, making the colors wonderful. The atrix's qHD display does have 24bit color but i think that it comes short to the infuse. Hope you choose the infuse though. The possible gingerbread update will make it far more superior to most known phones. You wouldn't have buyers remorse
Hopefully I can help a little as I currently use "both" devices. They each have their pros and cons and it really tailors to what you "need" in a smartphone.
Keep in mind I am going from my perspective as a power user, display is off and phone not running some sort of app in the course of 12 hours for maybe 2 hours total.
The atrix succeeds in battery life, 7am to 7pm I still hold about 15-20%, infuse is being charged at that time, actually usually an hour before.
Atrix has better gps lock speed, I definitely rely on it more for road trips, although I have an issue where the gps and google nav use more power that what my cla replenishes "look into it if this is important to you"
Screen goes to the infuse hands down, people say oh qHD is more this and that, Super amoled plus is more this and that, well guess what. When I look at my infuse and turn on a video, I feel like im looking through a window into a little 4.5in world, its amazing
Considering almost ALL of us root, change, configure and who knows what else to personal our device I wouldn't listen to all the motoblur sucks, sense suck, tw sucks folks out there. Both of my phones look exactly the same and although the atrix should be faster the only time I see it win is when loading certain apps, other than that they are damn close so if phone speed is a concern, you can enjoy either one.
The Atrix is definitely LOUDER!! I tend to miss calls here and there with my infuse in the pocket and im outside, never miss a beat with the atrix, wtg moto. Reminds me of the old loud razor.
Screen real estate was a must for me for editing files so that was my win for the infuse, I love the large responsive display. It may only be .5 in but it makes a difference trust me
All in all they are both great devices and worthy of use. The atrix definitely wins in the poweruser world for its trusty gps, louder ringer (people don't like if you miss their call ) and longer battery life
for the entertainment or social user I would say infuse all the way, much much much better camera, larger display, more crisp, light, great size for web browsing, social networking, or just about anything. It has some things it lacks as mentioned but if those are not deal breakers than the infuse is definitely more FUN to own.
PS: They both run games exceptionally well and I have yet to see a hiccup during gameplay that actually affected me while playing.
Well, the Atrix bootloader was unlocked last night. So, we now have Gingerbread on our phones!
Infuse has
Better camera than the Atrix
far better screen
better stock software
Atrix has
better accessories
better feel/build quality
theoretically faster specs (although it doesn't translate to reality at this point)
probably better development now that it's unlocked as well, motorola devices seem to be easier to develop for than Samsung ?
skillz9669 said:
Considering almost ALL of us root, change, configure and who knows what else to personal our device I wouldn't listen to all the motoblur sucks, sense suck, tw
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I disagree on that - if the stock UI sucks and the manufacturer has gone through measures to make you unable to change it, then it's a severe liability.
Motoblur sucks and on most Motorola phones, you have no choice. Apparently that may be changing/have changed as of last night for the Atrix, but I still don't trust Motorola. The arrogance of some of the things they've said to the public is inexcusable.

Need Help: Thunderbolt vs Bionic

So I've owned the Thunderbolt for over a year now, pretty much got it a couple weeks after it's release. It's a good phone..nothing crazy special...I was most interested in it because of it's rooting capabilities..and down the road I found out I could emulate PSx on it quite easily..hello Final Fantasy on work downtime..
Anyhow, my 3g/4g connectivity has always sucked..from day ****ing one. I've gotten several free months as consequence and I am also on my 4th replacement. With enough stink being raised Verizon offered me a couple other phones: The Motorola Bionic, Samsung Charge and of course..another Thunderbolt.
I know the Charge is pretty much out of the question, so this discussion is more than likely going to be about the Bionic versus the Thunderbolt.
I've done plenty of reading on the Bionic and I am very interested in it...only one thing is holding me back..the interface.
I've read Motoblur is far less appealing than the Sense. This is my main purpose, can anyone comment on the two? Aside from the Interface, I'm open to any thoughts about the Bionic in general. Also, as far a rooting...the Thunderbolt was incredibly easy...almost a no brainer after a while, how is it on the Bionic and does it open as many options?
Thanks!
Thunderbolt is the better bet but are you absolutely positive verizon won't give you any other replacement options? I kept nagging about my droid charge and they bumped me up to a rezound mostly free (they didn't send me a battery, had to buy that myself).
Sleek69 said:
Thunderbolt is the better bet but are you absolutely positive verizon won't give you any other replacement options? I kept nagging about my droid charge and they bumped me up to a rezound mostly free (they didn't send me a battery, had to buy that myself).
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Sleek69 said:
Thunderbolt is the better bet but are you absolutely positive verizon won't give you any other replacement options? I kept nagging about my droid charge and they bumped me up to a rezound mostly free (they didn't send me a battery, had to buy that myself).
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Click to collapse
Can you give me any facts as to why you think the TB is better?
So far, the only upside to the TB I can see is the interface..however the Snapdragon was a kick a$$ little processor
The Bionic has:
Higher resolution
HDMI Out
Dual Processor...
More ram
What am I missing?
I had the Bionic got it day one when it came out, thought it was the greatest thing on earth until i notice the screen more and more, that pen-tile screens just does not do it for me you need to go see it in person before you make your choice. I would pick the T-Bolt over the Bionic and my wife had the charge and if you use your maps at all good luck with it ever getting a GPS signal and also keeping it data connection.

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