My thoughts after one month with HOX

My thoughts after one month with HOX - Captivate General

I owned a Captivate for two years, and a month ago I used my upgrade to get a gray HTC One X. I'm posting this review in here because it's specifically focused on my experience upgrading from the Captivate. I hope that's okay...
Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. It's two years newer, so it has more RAM, more cores, more GHz. It's way faster and smoother. Okay, moving on.
GOOD
Screen - The screen, oh my God, the screen. The first thing I noticed about the Cappy in the store was the PenTile display (though I didn't know what that was at the time). I thought, "what's with the jagged edges on the text?" About a day into using the Captivate, I stopped noticing it, and it never bothered me. But when I saw the HOX's screen, I instantly knew what I'd been missing. Now, I know the resolution is much higher, so this is not meant to be a SLCD2/SAMOLED comparison. Just know that the screen is breathtakingly sharp and smooth. I do miss the Captivate's deep, inky, perfect blacks, but it's a tiny price to pay. The screen is also physically larger, which I love, but if you have small hands it could be an issue.
Camera(s) - There's not much to say about the front-facing camera except for one important fact: it exists. I think the Cappy was the last high-end phone not to include one, and it was really starting to chafe. Likewise, the flash on the main camera is a nice addition. The main camera itself is very good, although maybe it doesn't quite live up to the hype ("best phone camera ever") that it was getting around launch time.
The camera app interface is a pleasure to use, and I've had a blast playing around with slow-motion video. Another great feature of the camera is that it's very fast to launch--by default you can access it from the unlock screen, and it takes maybe one second to load up. Instead of switching between snapshot mode and video mode, there are separate buttons for each, and they're always available. Seriously, it's just easy, and I'd be reluctant to flash a ROM that didn't have access to the stock camera app, it's that good.
GPS - It works! It works well! With support for GLONASS, I've seen GPS Status reporting a lock on 15/23 satellites (3m accuracy). Once a steady lock is achieved, GLONASS is disabled and it changes to something like 8/9, but if I move the phone so that it can't get a good signal (like the floorboard of my car), it automatically re-enables GLONASS for the extra accuracy.
NEUTRAL
Unibody construction - This could very easily be a huge NEGATIVE, depending on your own needs/preferences. I went two years with the stock Captivate battery and with a 2GB SD card that never had anything on it. So for me, the non-replaceable battery and lack of an SD card slot are only minor downsides, made up for by the stylish look and very solid feel of the machined body. Although I never felt like there was any problem with the Captivate's build quality, the One X just feels like a solid brick in the hand, hard to describe the difference, but it's significant.
BAD
Power button - Admittedly this is a minor thing, but I HATE the placement of the power button on the top of the phone. Almost one month later and I still haven't found a comfortable one-handed way to push it without mashing the volume rocker. The power button is probably the thing I miss most about my Cappy!
Screen glass - It supposedly has Gorilla Glass 2, but whatever it is, I suspect it's not as scratch resistant as the Captivate's glass. Or it could just be that the phone's physical design puts the glass more "out there". Mine already has a scratch that's worse than anything the Captivate picked up in two years without a screen protector. It can be felt with a fingernail (although it's unnoticeable in normal use). I dislike screen protectors, but I may have to use one anyway.
These next three are BAD as well, but they could potentially be fixed with software updates, either official or otherwise. However, the GPS fiasco with the Captivate taught me never to assume that some problem is just a glitch that will get taken care of shortly! So here they are:
Multitasking - Read about it here. It sucks and, so far at least, HTC seems to be saying it's working as designed. There are various fixes being promoted, with some swearing they work and others saying they do nothing--so familiar! However, I do believe that once something like CM9 is available, it'll be fixed (but read below about dev support). This isn't hardware.
Data issues - There are problems maintaining connections to wifi and mobile data. Hopefully this is another consequence of HTC being overzealous with memory/battery management and will be fixed in software, but I suppose there's a small chance that it's hardware.
Dev support - It's locked down, hard. There are talented devs working on it, and there is good progress. I don't doubt that we'll have everything eventually, but the devs are really having to fight against HTC (because AT&T is leaning on them) to do it. Also, it's brickable--I haven't dared to do anything to it yet for fear of bricking it, and I really miss the Captivate's resilience in that area.

One more nail in the coffin for me not getting the phone.I'll just wait for the blue sgs3 and be happier for it.
Thanks
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium

Thanks for the review. Was considering this for my upgrade but think will consider alternatives.

Related

Long road from Inspire to Atrix and back again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Q] HTC Sensation or......

hello
im a new user to this forum and very happy from this.
please help me for buy a smart phone.
please comparison between sensation and galaxy sii and consider sensation is cheaper than galaxy but it has the more features of galaxy
thanks alot

Sensation is better than Galaxy. Hands down.

It's not better than the Galaxy Nexus, though...
To the OP, wait until February. The Mobile World Congress takes place then and you'll see all the new handsets being released. THEN you can make a proper decision

arzbhatia said:
Sensation is better than Galaxy. Hands down.
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Click to collapse
Not really. If I had the chance to change my sensation to an galaxy, I wouldn't doubt a second. The crappy build, and the crappy everything, makes me want to give HTC one on the head.

TheStigx said:
Not really. If I had the chance to change my sensation to an galaxy, I wouldn't doubt a second. The crappy build, and the crappy everything, makes me want to give HTC one on the head.
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Click to collapse
If I could switch I would do it in an instant. Can't use the phone in bed due to wifi signal, random signal drops with 3 different phones with multiple roms, low res screen, etc. Its worth only 350 now too, with phones like GS2 still holding their price.

Ali_Shaikh said:
If I could switch I would do it in an instant. Can't use the phone in bed due to wifi signal, random signal drops with 3 different phones with multiple roms, low res screen, etc. Its worth only 350 now too, with phones like GS2 still holding their price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely !

Hmm, everyone has different choices.
Anyway, I totally agree with Eddy over here.. you should wait till Feb.

I'd go for the sensation..the GSII feels like a cheap plastic phone for little kids to play with

I own a sensation XE while my other half owns a S2. Side by side the s2 is faster by a few seconds. But thats about it. They both run the same games as well as each other. The screens both look good (better colours on the S2 but more crisp image on the Sensation. The build quality is good on both. If you don't mind the plastic. If you like a premium feeling device I would go with the Sensation.

I'd go SGS2. My brother-in-law has one and I've had a chance to play with it quite a bit. I'm pretty envious, but I would never tell him that haha.
As for why? The legend of HTC build quality just isn't true anymore. My volume rocker has started to stick after 5 months and it's annoying, my power button double presses when I don't have the case on, wifi deathgrip really sucks, and the cellular antenna design is just terrible. Integrated with the removable back cover? Really?? That's not even getting into the fact that SGS2 is just plain out faster than Sensation.
Sensation isn't a bad phone mind you. I would trade it in a heartbeat, but I still like it. It's still a very nice high end device that does what I want it to do. But if the SGS2 was out when I so desperately needed a phone 5 months ago, I probably wouldn't be posting this.
But like EddyOS said. Best thing to do is wait if you can.

I think the only differences between the SGSII and the Sensation are
SGSII has NFC, Sensation doesn't
SAMOLED+ vs. S-LCD Display
Touchwiz vs. Sense 3.0
it's comepletely up to you.

thanks from those who responded.
see,sensation has a lot of gsII's options and it's cheaper than gsII.but,galaxy had been better in the tests.i wish i made a poll to make it easier to decide.
i used my uncle galaxy sii and i hate it's user interface and i thought the htc user interface is so better and it's more beautiful than sumsong
thank's a lot.

You won't be happy with the software on the sensation. Go SG2

HTC Sensation.....FTW !!

Backthen said:
You won't be happy with the software on the sensation. Go SG2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok.it's personalisation that you like this user interface or that one.i think HTC company works on the software a lot and it's software is more beautiful,more performance and.... than the others.
please talk more about their hardware and thanks a lot.

Well, here's my personal experience with both devices. I believe there's also still a topic I started hidden somewhere on the forums here when I was to decide wether to go with the SGSII, Sensation (XE) or wait for the Galaxy Nexus.
Now I'm in the possession of both the SGSII and the Sensation XE, so I pretty much have the best of both worlds. Down here is a quick overview of my personal experiences and a conclusion to why I'm using my current device (the Sensation XE).
Samsung Galaxy SII - International White Edition
At first glance it seemed like a great phone, small in design and a dedicated home button which can also wake up your phone instead of having to pry around with a power button alone. However, after holding it in my hands entirely set up with the battery in it, the weight was just way to low. I actually had to check my pockets regularly just to see if I was still in the possession of my phone. Now, I can see why people would like that, but the fact that the phone is so light comes with a price.
The durability of the phone seems to be abysmal. After inserting the battery and the simcard+MicroSD I had to put the back cover back on. That went according to plan, but suddenly I felt that the back cover wasn't matching up with the phone's housing anymore. There was a slight bulge where you have to insert your fingernail to remove the back cover which annoyed me to no end. After that, I decided to get a cover for my phone so it would stop annoying me, which it did.
Then the next issue arose with the hardware of the phone. The home button started to wiggle around a bit. no biggie I guessed, and just kept using the phone as it was. After a week or 2, a cracking noise came from the home button. Seeing as I hardly use the home button, it kind of surprised me, and I decided to think of it as a way to "crack in the device" like a new pair of shoes. Regardless, after a few more days of moderately to heavily using the phone, the cracking noise only got worse, and I decided to return the phone.
The replacement phone immediately suffered the same issue with the back cover, but with my case around it, it wasn't noticable, but the thought of knowing that it's there still annoyed me. Also, I had lost faith in the home button and tried to avoid using it as much as possible, so I only used the power button on the right side to wake my phone etc. After a while, the power button started failing to wake up my phone and I was forced to use my home button once again.
As far as software goes, the standard TouchWiz interface which comes with the phone is a immense piece of ****, excuse my language. I cannot tell you enough how much I hated it. Regardless, this is all up to personal preference, but it lagged for me at times, and only a complete reboot of the phone would restore a bit of fluidity.
The screen however is amazing. Regardless of the fact that the colors are over saturated to an extreme, the pictures and browsing I did seemed clear as day. No issues whatsoever with it. The only gripe I had with the screen was its resolution. at a 480x800 resolution, text would often appear jagged around the edges and not as sharp as I would have liked it to be. Even installling the Roboto font which is specifically made for text clarity, couldn't take away the roughness of the letters.
That's when I decided to start looking into custom roms, rooting and kernels. After trying out a multitude of roms, ranging from the golden oldies which have had quite some development time behind them to the recently released ones, the only rom which made my SGSII feel as it should be was Cyanogenmod. I must say that I was impressed by the fluidity of it. Regardless, I had to give up certain hardware acceleration options just to get a more fluid phone, which is not how it was intended in my opinion. This resulted in my feeling ripped off by Samsung.
However, the benchmark scores on the customised SGSII were out of this world. once you OC the processor to it's max and run a few benchies, you'll be quite impressed by what the device is capable of. However, in day to day use, it's impossible to keep overclocking it without having an immense amount of additional batteries stowed away in your bag, which brings me to my last point.
Before I chose to go to the Android side, I used to own an i4. Yes I know, bad choice and glad I'm back on the Android side after a year. However, the i4's battery life was simply amazing compared to the SGSII. The SGSII would not last me close to a days worth of work and I often had to recharge in the middle of the day. Note: This occured even with underclocking the processor, turning Wi-fi off and all the battery saving things which have been mentioned here on XDA. Whereas I was offended by the i4 that the battery didn't last me 2 days of moderate use (some games, browsing, video's and heavy music usage) the SGSII just left me baffled over the abysmal results it was producing. This is no different on the Sensation, but more on that in my second segment.
TLDR: Plastic device with rather bad production quality with hardware failures all around on 2 seperate devices. Great screen for colors, not so great for text. Battery life leaves much to be desired and fluidity of the device could most certainly be a lot better. A definite featherweight though, and if that's your thing, this is the ideal phone.
HTC Sensation XE Edition
The hardware on the phone is simply phenomenal. The aluminium finish really makes a difference in both style and quality. The fact that the entire frame is replacable is definitely a plus for when you accidentally drop your phone and the panel is scratched. The outside was definitely hard to remove the first time, but after inserting the battery, simcard and SD card, I didn't need to reopen the device again. Once closed up the construction still feels very solid without any mishaps on production quality. The weight of the phone is a lot more as how I like it and the rounded edges make it a lot easier to hold in my hands compared to both the i4 and the sgsII with their sharper edges.
As far as the hardware goes, people have reported both light leakages and dust under the screen, but I did not experience any of those issues on my Sensation XE. The screen is still dust free after 2 months of usage, and there is no light leakage whatsoever. I inspected the device for light leakage in a dark room under my blanket with the screen on and off for an extended period of time. The softkey buttons respond well and the volume rocker is solid as I like it. The power button is slightly more inconveniently placed, but nothing to fret about.
As far as the software goes. The Sense 3.0 interface which comes standard with the phone really makes this phone as special as it is. Unable to be ported to any other manufactureres devices, Sense provided me with sleek visuals while remaining to give me a fluid experience with the device. Ever so often the device would soft-reset itself because it runs out of memory though. Which could be seen as an annoyance at start, but hasn't happened to me after the first week for some odd reason. The Sense overlay really made my like this phone, and I have since then looked upon all previous devices I owned as inferior when it comes to their individual overlays.
The screen, standing at a qHD resolution of 960x540 which is simply great. Not astounishingly great, but it simply is wonderful. While I've always been sceptic about resolution differences on phones it has become more than apparant to me that even this tiny resolution difference on this 4.3'' screen makes a huge difference. Text is sharper, images are sharper and the overall experience is far more enjoyable. Not only when browsing, but while looking at videos and pictures as well. The colors aren't quite as vibrant as on the SGSII, but that's not something I'm actually missing. There have been talks about the screen having washed out colors at certain angles, but please, at the angles where the colors start washing out, you won't be using your device anyway.
The modding community for the Sensation seems to be quite equal to the SGSII's community, but there's one difference. The Sensation mod community seems to be a much nicer bunch compared to the SGSII, keep in mind that this is a subjective view, and should not be taken as a fact. After S-off'ing the device, rooting and installing custom roms, it's hard to stick with one certain rom while thre is so much to choose from here. Ranging from the standard Sensation roms to the XE roms and kernels, there's plenty to mess around with.
The battery life however, oh oh oh HTC, you failed there. You made an excellent device and then simply mess it all up with the battery. At first I wasn't able to get through an afternoon with the device. But that was mostly thanks to my "honeymoon" period with the device where I tried to exert its every resource. After installing a couple of different kernels and roms, I've managed to get up to 16 hours of battery out of the phone, which is more than acceptable. Keep in mind though that you might want to consider getting an extended battery.
TLDR: Great build quality with a good weight attached to it. Sense overlay really is a + for me, and the higher resolution screen definitely helps the Sensation in its presentational value. The battery life and lesser amount of ram shouldn't have been there on the flagship device, but when looking at the device in it's entirety, I must say that this is the least of my worries. Definitely a worthy device.
Conclusion:
I love my Senny, the form factor and android overlay simply made this phone into my favorite phone so far. It has also refilled my trust in HTC and its products after the failure which was the G1. I currently only use my SGSII as a backup device for when my battery dies on my Senny and is pretty much used as data storage whenever not in use, as that's all what its good for in my opinion.
Do take my opinion with a grain of salt, as I'm currently quite favorable towards the Sensation XE which I own. Nonetheless both devices have their ups and downs, but the upsides of the SGSII do not outweigh the failures.
Excuse this long wall of text and the lack of english grammar, I'm not a native speaker and I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes in here!
Regards,
Vex

Please do your own research and come to your own conclusion. Try your best to get some hands-on experience for yourself with both phones, and pick whatever YOU think is better.
I don't mean this in a condescending manner. I mean this in the most helpful manner possible, because asking one particular group for just their opinions is particularly dangerous.
When you come into our forum, you are going to get a ton of biased responses making it as if our phone is the bomb. Many responses will be critical of the other phone, even though a lot of those responses come from people who don't own that phone and/or haven't even used one before. Another hugely dangerous thing is that people will give you an opinion based on what THEY value, not what you value. You will get a lot of the "SGS2 feels like a toy" responses, which indicates that that person clearly prioritizes the feel of a phone. Those voices will crowd out the few voices of people with different values (like me), who would say things like "Sensation performs like a toy". People will say run a custom ROM, OC, different kernel, yada yada, and I've done all that, and in my experience the Sensation just doesn't run as smoothly as other phones.
There are other things that have made my Sensation experience less than pleasurable. It's just overall an under-spec'd phone IMO. Less RAM than most dual-cores, undoubtedly a pathetic amount of internal storage (1 GB, really?), an asynchronous dual-core that IMO was a poor decision, a screen that lacks in the brightness department (yes, resolution is nice, but brightness is not), software that was just plain and simple horribly finished (I love Sense but I cannot stand how much of a fail it was in terms of making sure it would run well and smoothly), a horrible speaker (worst I've heard on a phone), "build quality" that makes me question why people continue to praise HTC for that (death grip that is more significant than most phones, a creaky back, dust issues under the screen, and the backlight for the capacitive buttons leaks through a tiny crack on the side of the phone, a pseudo-unibody design), and more. The Sensation is overall just a good device, a 7 out of 10 in my book. The phones of now like the Galaxy Nexus, Droid Razr, and the like are far better IMO on paper, and I'm sure if I got hands-on experience I would like them more than the Sensation.
The issue is that clearly some people who value one certain set of aspects will love the phone. Another group of people who value a different set of aspects won't like it as much. That would be me: poor performance bothers me more than plastic build possibly could (I've had a plastic Samsung phone before, and while it was nothing to look at or hold, it was tough as heck). The thing is, my opinion doesn't matter, because I don't know what YOU value. YOU shouldn't base YOUR decision on what I value.
I suppose it's OK to get opinions from owners, but you HAVE to make sure you get them from both sides, and you HAVE to take them ALL with a grain of salt. Optimally, you'll gather opinions and then get some hands-on experience to see what really applies to you.

I wholeheartedly agree with The Janitor Mop. As you can see, both our experiences differ by quite a large margin. Therefore it is of utmost importance that you try out both devices in-store yourself to draw the best conclusion for yourself.
Even though we can outline our experiences of the device with a slightly biased opinion, the truth of the matter is that none of our needs will be exactly the same as the needs you will have for this particular phone.
So, go to your local store and ask to try out both devices!

Stealing the topic from the owner..
I'd like to ask the same question. I'm going to the US in February, and i'd like to buy a new flagship for me. I had a Nexus S, and now I'm looking for the next.
So, what currently are the best phones, hardware speaking, that are available? Don't mind the OS or brand, and I'm looking mostly for a feature phone, it must be GSM. Thank you a lot.
PS: Forgot to mention, I'm on a budget, $600 tops please.

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Thread moved to Q&A due to it being a question. Would advise you to read forum rules and post in correct section.
Failure to comply with forum rules will result in an infraction and/or ban depending on severity of rule break.

First Impressions HTC Doubleshot

Coming from a G2, I wanted to give you guys some insight of my initial impressions of the Doubleshot in Khaki...
THINNESS: The absolute first thing I noticed when I picked up this phone is how thin it is. It is remarkable how HTC can cram a keyboard into a phone this thin. It's only about 1mm thinner than my old G2, but wow what a difference it makes.
SCREEN: Definitely better than the G2, even though it's the same resolution and size. Somehow, it's a bit brighter and a bit sharper. Not anything extraordinary better, but the S-LCD makes a difference. It seems that under battery usage the screen takes up a good percentage. The S-LCD must take a lot more power than the G2 with its super TFT screen. I usually see the percentage for the screen around 50%.
BUILD QUALITY: This is where the phone starts to decline. The build is very solid and tight, but it feels very slick in the hand. Back cover is completely smooth. Every time I slip it in my pocket and take it out, I'm scared of dropping the phone. It's so thin that it's hard to grip. Difficult to slide the keyboard out as well, due to thinness. I wish there was some rubberized material around the phone, or soft touch finish on the G2. Even though it's a high end phone, the build still feels cheap. Apart from the few metal accents (such as around the rim of the phone), it's all plastic. Which makes me wonder why it's so heavy...
I have noticed that DUST does seem to get caught in the gap between the screen and the main keys. It could end up under your screen if you're not careful. It's understandable given the keys are actual buttons and not a part of the digitizer. Usually whenever I see dust starting to get caught, I take a piece of paper and just run the edge through the gap. It gets all the dust out.
SPEED: You can tell this phone is fast. Even on the stock rom, I knew this phone would be very fast. RAM seems limited though, with about 140mb for you to use once everything is loaded (stock rom). Curiously, benchmarks show much lower ratings than my old G2 OCed to 1.5 GHz. The phone is faster for sure though. Games to used to lag, no longer do. Even when running multiple apps, the phone does not slow down at all. Running a senseless rom, I have peak RAM anywhere from 275 up to 300MB free, with almost all background tasks killed, apart from a few essentials.
KEYBOARD: Oh boy, did HTC drop the ball on this one... Throughout all the android qwertys I have owned, this sadly has to be the worst. It will definitely take some time to get used to. Motorola Cliq>MyTouch 3G Slide>G2>MyTouch 4G Slide, in terms of keyboard rank for the phones I have used so far. The keys are fairly flat and have very little response and feedback. Very slick and hard to feel for. I appreciate the fact that the phone is so thin, but I'd rather have a slightly thicker phone phone to accommodate one of my main input mechanisms. With time, you can get used to anything though.
After spending a few days with the keyboard, I am glad to say it's much better. The first day or two felt terrible with this keyboard. Almost no feedback at all. But the more you use it, the more you pick up on the slight feedback YOU DO get from it. It's like trying to find the pulse on an old diabetic patient. The more you look for it, the more you will find it.
This may be personal grooming, but I've noticed that it's easier to type on the keyboard after having cut my nails than when they have grown out. It makes your finger a bit smaller and a little easier to feel for feedback, just saying...
SPEAKERPHONE: This speaker is much louder and deeper sounding than the one in the G2. Although it does get covered easily and the sound gets muffled out almost complete. This is a bad placement. For example, if you reach into you pocket to get your phone, your hand automatically covers the sound vent and then no one can hear your cool ringtone
Speakerphone still has the same flaws as I mentioned before. When playing a game in landscape mode, you do tend to cover the speaker when you're not paying attention. And then you wonder where the sound suddenly went and why it disappeared.
CAMERA: I haven't found a single scenario where this camera has not amazed me yet. It is truly stunning that a camera could be this good in a phone. Every time I have taken a picture with another phone, I always try to justify how bad it is, with the fact that it's only a camera phone and not a dedicated camera. But with the Doubleshot, I have to wonder at why I even need my camera for about 90% of my shots anymore. There has not been a single scenario where the camera has performed subpar so far. Flash is very good on this camera. Does not interfere with the photo quality at all. Usually the LED is placed so close to the camera lens, that it interferes with the image quality and actually makes the picture look worse. That was the case with every other camera phone that I have had. But not with this one.
HEADPHONE JACK: I have noticed that the headphone jack isn't ideally placed. It off to an angle if you look closely, and that could prove to be a wear issue on your buds, especially if the connector is a straight plug. It's much better to text with though, because it allows your fingers to get situated well around the phone when texting and have headphones plugged in at the same time.
BATTERY: There's no other way of putting it, the battery life is going to be bad. I'm not the kind of person that believes in toning a phone down to get better battery life, but with this phone you may have to. Realistically, with light-moderate use a user will get about 8 hours of run time before the battery is dead. The vast majority of users have said that the aftermarket Anker battery proves to be MUCH better vs stock.
My setup: 100% brightness, wifi always on, no mobile data, gmail push, pulse reader updates every hour, fancy widget GPS weather every 15 mins, and display on for collective time of 1 hour. I get about 10-12 hours on a charge (mainly because I don't use mobile data).
Will update this review the more I get acquainted with my new baby

I recently switched from a G2 as well and thought the same thing about the keyboard. After about a week you get used to it.
Sent from my HTC myTouch_4G_Slide using XDA App

gtmaster303 said:
...
SPEED: You can tell this phone is fast. Even on the stock rom, I knew this phone would be very fast. RAM seems limited though, with about 140mb for you to use once everything is loaded (stock rom).
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this is a review of first impressions, and I appreciate that window into what someone thinks coming from a different device. This is the first android cellular device i've owned (second device total - nook color being the other) and I have no basis of comparison. This device IS my entry to the smartphone scene, so posts like this give me great insight.
( I quoted the RAM part because this is a function of the BLOAT in the stock ROM, if you cut out all the BS you can easily climb above 200 megs waiting and ready on boot. Don't forget a certain amount is not user accessible, due to being allocated for system use ( CPU/GPU etc...) But this is a first impressions thread, so not trying to take away from that, just trying to bring awareness )

gtmaster303 said:
Coming from a G2, I wanted to give you guys some insight of my initial impressions...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good review, and I agree with all of it.
as others have said, you get used to the keyboard, and in the end it seems no worse (at least to me).
I recommend getting a case for this bad boy, helps with the slickness, and protects against damage. There is a thread in accessories forum that details various options. Well worth the 10-20 spent in my opinion.

Honestly, I warrantied three phones until I got one in which the keyboard gave me some kind of response. My keys actually click now.

Am I the only one who forgot about the keyboard as soon as I saw how fast it was?
Plus you didn't say anything about the camera. It is such a great improvement from what we had on the G2. I actually haven't come across a phone with a camera that can perfom as well as this in low light with no flash!
Also the front facing camera is something I always felt the G2 was missing right from the day I bought it. It makes skype so much more usable and makes sense in actually flashing a rom with the video gtalk app.
Plus let me be the first to mention this in the DS forum. I HATED WHERE THEY PUT THE SD CARD IN THE G2! FUUUUUU! It was so annoying to have to shut down your phone just to take out the card. I used to load up movies and series for when am on the go/on the road a lot on a seperate card. What is the "eject external card" for if I had to freaking yank out the battery just to get to it?!
Another thing to note is that as much as people may hate on the DoubleShot's earpiece I overlook that because now I have a fully visible notification LED,and not hidden behind a mesh which sometimes made it not clearly visible when outdoors...
The soft coating on the G2 too was a disadvantage as it was so much easier to pick up scratches and scuffs than the DS. Infact thanks to my worry that DS would suffer the same fate, I ordered the rubberised hard cover on the same day I ordered the DS.
The hinge on the G2 was a cool feature but when it finally got loose, I hated it more than I ever fancied it in the first place. I'm glad that the DS comes with a really tight slider which no amount of shock/fall could force it open.
The G2 got the 3 shortcut keys on the Keyboard, the DS got the home, menu and back buttons. Which imo makes me spend more time on the keyboard with the DS than the G2 coz am able to navigate faster and easier with the keyboard on it. I know you may not agree with me but that too makes the DS's keyboard feel more complete than that of the G2.
Another thing I felt was a bit of a failure on the G2 was the back of the top hinge which was stuck with adhesive which you had to peel off to expose the screws. For a device that is praised for its 'solid and partly metalic buid' I really didn't like the idea of using parts that were stuck to the external body with adhesive. I haven't pulled apart the DS yet, but at least the finish on the back part of the slider seems to be much better.
I don't hate the G2, it was an excellent phone, but there things about it that make me feel am much better off with the DS.
sent via a Phone Booth

gtmaster303 said:
BUILD QUALITY: This is where the phone starts to decline. The build is very solid and tight, but it feels very slick in the hand. Back cover is completely smooth. Every time I slip it in my pocket and take it out, I'm scared of dropping the phone. It's so thin that it's hard to grip. Difficult to slide the keyboard out as well. I wish there was some rubberized material around the phone, or soft touch finish on the G2. Even though it's a high end phone, the build still feels cheap. Apart from the few metal accents (such as around the rim of the phone), it's all plastic. Which makes me wonder why it's so heavy...
KEYBOARD: Oh boy, did HTC drop the ball on this one... Throughout all the android qwertys I have owned, this sadly has to be the worst. It will definitely take some time to get used to. Motorola Cliq>MyTouch 3G Slide>G2>MyTouch 4G Slide, in terms of keyboard rank for the phones I have used so far. The keys are fairly flat and have very little response and feedback. Very slick and hard to feel for. I appreciate the fact that the phone is so thin, but I'd rather have a slightly thicker phone phone to accommodate one of my main input mechanisms. With time, you can get used to anything though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disagree with the build quality, to be honest. I don't really mind the weight of the phone, it feels nice in the hand. Strong plastics are better to make a phone anyways because it isn't as easily deformed.
I definitely agree with the keyboard though. Coming from a Model M, I was expecting a little more from the keyboard. I almost *always* accidentally hit "B" when trying to hit the backspace. I wish the keyboard had *slightly* more raised keys as well as requiring a bit more force to get a key to register.

Limewirelord said:
Disagree with the build quality, to be honest. I don't really mind the weight of the phone, it feels nice in the hand. Strong plastics are better to make a phone anyways because it isn't as easily deformed.
I definitely agree with the keyboard though. Coming from a Model M, I was expecting a little more from the keyboard. I almost *always* accidentally hit "B" when trying to hit the backspace. I wish the keyboard had *slightly* more raised keys as well as requiring a bit more force to get a key to register.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't mind the weight, it's just there's not enough metal to justify it. If it has that much plastic in it, it should definitely be lighter.
Overall, the phone is very well built. Solid but not as premium feeling as you would expect.

Coming from the G2 as well, I'd have to say the Keyboard is a lot worse as well. I actually wish they had the MT4GS's design similar to the G2's. I loved the way the G2 lifted up to slide.

gtmaster303 said:
BUILD QUALITY: This is where the phone starts to decline. The build is very solid and tight, but it feels very slick in the hand. Back cover is completely smooth. Every time I slip it in my pocket and take it out, I'm scared of dropping the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm gonna guess that you have the kahki one, then? I've had both and I can tell you, the khaki one is WAY slicker than the black. With the khaki one, I almost dropped it every time I pulled it out of my pocket. It was just so freakin' slippery everywhere. The black one is a more grippy, soft-touch kind of material and it's far easier to hold onto.
So if you really can't take it and don't want a case, check on eBay for OEM black battery covers. The one I'm using now is the khaki phone with a black battery door. Still shiny and reflective bezels but a nice grippy battery door. Best of both worlds.

ryaninc said:
I'm gonna guess that you have the kahki one, then? I've had both and I can tell you, the khaki one is WAY slicker than the black. With the khaki one, I almost dropped it every time I pulled it out of my pocket. It was just so freakin' slippery everywhere. The black one is a more grippy, soft-touch kind of material and it's far easier to hold onto.
So if you really can't take it and don't want a case, check on eBay for OEM black battery covers. The one I'm using now is the khaki phone with a black battery door. Still shiny and reflective bezels but a nice grippy battery door. Best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that's a great observation. Yes, I am using the khaki cover. I will see if I can switch with my friend because she has a case over her black one anyway
Thanks for the tip! You solved the issue exactly how I would've liked.

gtmaster303 said:
Wow, that's a great observation. Yes, I am using the khaki cover. I will see if I can switch with my friend because she has a case over her black one anyway
Thanks for the tip! You solved the issue exactly how I would've liked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the PowerMat Battery case. Gives it a nice weight, and grip. Only 10-20USD on T-Mobile.Com.
Sent from my HTC myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

gtmaster303 said:
Wow, that's a great observation. Yes, I am using the khaki cover. I will see if I can switch with my friend because she has a case over her black one anyway
Thanks for the tip! You solved the issue exactly how I would've liked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, glad to help. I never would have figured it out unless I'd owned both the khaki and black ones personally. It was pretty startling how much more slippery the khaki one was.

As I keep saying, this phone is a real beast. HTC needs to start listening to its consumer base again and give us vanilla Android and stop screwing us.
Delivered via candygram for Mr. Mongo.

I have added/updated the review to include the headphone jack and battery

gtmaster303 said:
BATTERY: There's no other way of putting it, the battery life is going to be bad. I'm not the kind of person that believes in toning a phone down to get better battery life, but with this phone you may have to. Realistically, with light-moderate use a user will get about 8 hours of run time before the battery is dead. The vast majority of users have said that the aftermarket Anker battery proves to be MUCH better vs stock.
My setup: 100% brightness, wifi always on, no mobile data, gmail push, pulse reader updates every hour, fancy widget GPS weather every 15 mins, and display on for collective time of 1 hour. I get about 10-12 hours on a charge (mainly because I don't use mobile data).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, anker is the right solution for someone that wants something better then the absolute fail the HTC battery represents.
If you want a perfect solution, Mugen is a better answer, but I personally run anker in one phone, both my stock batteries in the other, and the difference is drastically noticeable.
@ 1.7GHz with tv-out and using FPSE to emulate a playstation, I get just under 3 hours of steady gameplay before it starts to reduce performance at around 18% coming from anywhere between 95-100%.
I wouldn't be so mad at HTC about the battery issue if it just died fast, but the battery causes a significant amount of heat under heavier use, and that damages the device itself. That is unforgivable, even taking into consideration that HTC is not a battery company.
For someone using the device as a phone and minimal other use, the stock battery is likely -just- sufficient.
For anyone cracking open even a sliver of the machines potential it instantly becomes a liability, before any of the standard gripes about battery life on a phone.
(remember - dual core processor - it will eat more juice then a single core phone on avergage, but use less to get big jobs done)

Blue6IX said:
I know this is a review of first impressions, and I appreciate that window into what someone thinks coming from a different device. This is the first android cellular device i've owned (second device total - nook color being the other) and I have no basis of comparison. This device IS my entry to the smartphone scene, so posts like this give me great insight.
( I quoted the RAM part because this is a function of the BLOAT in the stock ROM, if you cut out all the BS you can easily climb above 200 megs waiting and ready on boot. Don't forget a certain amount is not user accessible, due to being allocated for system use ( CPU/GPU etc...) But this is a first impressions thread, so not trying to take away from that, just trying to bring awareness )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think people shouldn't harp on "free ram". In this environment its a good thing for memory to be used. Android was designed to be used on mobile devices. The way that it handles memory is much more efficient to say a PC running Windows. With a decent task manager or view you would see that while they are taking up memory (which is otherwise unused) they are not using any cpu cycles. This allows for a much more fast feeling and fluid experience.
Let's say I use Opera the browser, later I decide I want to watch youtube videos. When ever I decide to go back to Opera its being pulled from ram rather than internal or external storage.
When you really need the ram for an application, game, etc Android will automatically unload which ever inactive process it deems necessary.
I do agree that the stock rom comes with excessive bloatware and other unnecessary features. I use JKILO's deoxed rooted stock rom in which I absolutely remove all the bloat and extra features I don't need or use. Runs amazing now, no need for OC in my opinion.

The only thing that bothered me when I first got this phone were the random reboots stock sometimes had. Other than that the phone was and still is awesome especially coming from the old mytouch 3G.

revo420 said:
I think people shouldn't harp on "free ram". In this environment its a good thing for memory to be used. Android was designed to be used on mobile devices. The way that it handles memory is much more efficient to say a PC running Windows. With a decent task manager or view you would see that while they are taking up memory (which is otherwise unused) they are not using any cpu cycles. This allows for a much more fast feeling and fluid experience.
Let's say I use Opera the browser, later I decide I want to watch youtube videos. When ever I decide to go back to Opera its being pulled from ram rather than internal or external storage.
When you really need the ram for an application, game, etc Android will automatically unload which ever inactive process it deems necessary.
I do agree that the stock rom comes with excessive bloatware and other unnecessary features. I use JKILO's deoxed rooted stock rom in which I absolutely remove all the bloat and extra features I don't need or use. Runs amazing now, no need for OC in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, which is why task killers are so bad.
The reason I mentioned the RAM was because what is using it is as important as having it - when I said over 200 megs sitting waiting and ready was to show what was available for user consumption on the apps of THEIR choosing and not HTC or T-Mo.
Given that this is a first-impressions thread, I thought it might be good to see just how much the carrier-level Bloat had an effect on that experience.
Definitely good counsel to let Android handle the RAM, and keep that management out of the userspace level.

First ten days with HTC One S

I received my phone from Orange Spain. The phone itself is very nice, quick and smooth and everything you have read about it in general review is correct. It is a very good phone and I am happy with it. BUT here are the things I don't like:
1. Micro oxydation is very nice looking although it smells a little like dirty hair. And, unfortunately, like it has been reported I have a small edge chipped. I don't know yet if I will return it for that.
2. The default browser is new and some HTML5 games are incompatible with it or play very slow. Android is still behind Apple iOS Safari Browser and this is very bad since I work for a mobile game network. I suspect this is not a problem of the phone but the ICS browser.
3. I have installed the Chrome browser and it crashes almost everytime I use it. Not only Chrome crashes but the whole phone. The phone freezes and the only way to reboot it is to maintain the power button pressed for a while.
4. Camera is fantastic. I tested a few times and worked very well. But the first time I really used it I could take the first picture then the screen became black. I mean, everything I should see through the camera stayed black. The buttons and menu were visible but I couldn't use them. I shut down the app and reload it with same problem. I had to reboot the phone to fix it.
I have one app (Live TV from Lyric) with a shortcut on the homescreen. Everytime I reboot, the icon disappear from the homescreen and is replaced with the Android robot icon. I have to replace the icon every time I boot. The app doesn't disappear, only the shortcut.
5. Maybe this is the most important problem. Reception is not very good and many times I loose the GSM signal totally, then it comes back. My HTC Desire had better recepción. 3G and HSDP is veery slow when reception is weak (2 bars or under)
The doubts I had:
- When I read reviews about this phone I had my doubts about the screen resolution and pentile technology. This is bull****. The screen is great and more than enough for a high end phone.
- Battery and autonomy. I don't care about having a non removable battery. All my previous ones had removable battery and I never used a spare. The autonomy of this phone is good and much better than my Desire. I can keep it running with a lot of use during a full day and probably two days on light use.
- Non removable memory. It is advertised to have 16GB user memory but the reality is way different: I have "only" 10GB available and I feel ripped off. Although I know I will probably never use so much memory (I don't store music or movies).
Conclusion: I would probably buy this phone again even after knowing the limitations. But I hope some software fixes will come.

I haven't bought one yet but i'm the same as you having doubts about the S's screen. I have viewed the S and X side by side in a shop and obviously the X's panel is much better to look at, but in my opinion it's the only thing the X has going for it over the S.
The per-core performance of the S is better, it's easier to hold and use, feels better built, the battery lasts at least as long if not longer and it's cheaper. I don't really care about NFC and the better front facing camera on the X as I'll never use them (apart from maybe the mirror app!)
The X seems laggy to me even though it really shouldn't. I know it has a fair few more pixels to push around but the GPU is marginally better than the S so should breeze through. This is especially noticable on the world clock... tap the globe to make it full screen and spin/zoom it. The S is super smooth and the X is very choppy in comparison.
So in all I think I can deal with the pentile matrix... I just don't want to buy it and have HTC announce a One S "2" in a few months with a 720p display!

kadison;
that shouldn't be a concern. because at any given time there will be coming better and better phones
- so don't worry that this one will get outdated, because it's not. Just look at the Desire HD or the Galaxy S2 (which people still buying btw)
I'm superhappy with this phone, although I can't wait for the xda development to start working on replacements to Sense 4.0
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

kadison said:
I haven't bought one yet but i'm the same as you having doubts about the S's screen. I have viewed the S and X side by side in a shop and obviously the X's panel is much better to look at, but in my opinion it's the only thing the X has going for it over the S.
The per-core performance of the S is better, it's easier to hold and use, feels better built, the battery lasts at least as long if not longer and it's cheaper. I don't really care about NFC and the better front facing camera on the X as I'll never use them (apart from maybe the mirror app!)
The X seems laggy to me even though it really shouldn't. I know it has a fair few more pixels to push around but the GPU is marginally better than the S so should breeze through. This is especially noticable on the world clock... tap the globe to make it full screen and spin/zoom it. The S is super smooth and the X is very choppy in comparison.
So in all I think I can deal with the pentile matrix... I just don't want to buy it and have HTC announce a One S "2" in a few months with a 720p display!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not many people will continuously look at a One X and a One S screen.
AMOLED displays have been impressive on my friend's Windows 7 device, and since I'm coming from a device from less than 200 PPI, it should be a great screen.

Been disappointed with my first few days with it. It seems to suffer from constant crashes where the phone reboots itself.
I've tried stock and some custom roms but am still getting random reboots.

paulpenny said:
Been disappointed with my first few days with it. It seems to suffer from constant crashes where the phone reboots itself.
I've tried stock and some custom roms but am still getting random reboots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you getting Crashes and Random reboots before you Rooted and started flashing other ROMS? or do you think it might be because you are flashing different ROMS that might have some minor bugs here and there?

jmercil said:
Were you getting Crashes and Random reboots before you Rooted and started flashing other ROMS? or do you think it might be because you are flashing different ROMS that might have some minor bugs here and there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about the original poster but this happens with my One S with the stock ROM. It seems to maybe happen when I'm at a wifi connection boundary (maybe?) but a couple times a week, I'll either:
1) notice the phone rebooting as it's just sitting idle on my desk
2) hear the "I just crashed and am rebooting" sound from the phone in my pocket
3) go to use it and notice the notification bar icon telling me it just recovered from a crash.
I'm sending the crash data to HTC every time, hoping they're prioritizing the fix because though it has never crashed on me like this while I'm using it (which is weird...), it's starting to get annoying.

I have not had a single random reboot, using WIP CM9.

jipi said:
1. Micro oxydation is very nice looking although it smells a little like dirty hair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really regret smelling it now lol.
Agree about the display, reviews were making a big deal put of the pentile display but it's a non issue for me. Only issue I've had, coming off an iPhone 4, has been the size of the phone. Maybe I just have small hands but not finding it too comfortable to use with one hand.
Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2

My girlfriend had the One X and i have the One S. I can definitely notice the difference with the pentile matrix on my phone especially with small writing and horizontal lines. (the edge of the messaging icon for example looks like a dotted line) but honestly it's only noticeable if im using the phone in bed and using it really close to my face. The One X is crisper looking but it's a little washed out compared to the One S's screen. The blacks on my screen are way darker compared to the X.
I've had my One S for just over a week now and have yet to see any rebooting or crashing. The phone has been fantastic so far except that i get absolutely terrible reception. I had a Desire before this phone and in places where i used to get full bars i can now maybe get one, if it's not in emergency mode. The signal bounces around from really good to really bad (mostly hovering around -107dbm) which is not good at all. I took the phone back and got it replaced as well as the sim card and i still have issues.
Overall i really like it, but i think i might have to take it back and get something else that can keep good reception.

Ive got my phone for about 4 days now, and its the best investment ive made in the past few years
I allready worked on a few Android devices ( Root etc etc ) but newer owned one myself, so the first thing I did was Unlocking, Rooting and flashing LeeDroid´s Firmware onto it.
And the phone is fantastic.
Far beyond what I expected.
The Battery life is great, my friends are allready pissed because their iPhone cant take so long OnScreen-Times
I really hope that there will be [S-OFF] and the Kernel Source available soon

FixedTheFernBack said:
I've had my One S for just over a week now and have yet to see any rebooting or crashing. The phone has been fantastic so far except that i get absolutely terrible reception. I had a Desire before this phone and in places where i used to get full bars i can now maybe get one, if it's not in emergency mode. The signal bounces around from really good to really bad (mostly hovering around -107dbm) which is not good at all. I took the phone back and got it replaced as well as the sim card and i still have issues.
Overall i really like it, but i think i might have to take it back and get something else that can keep good reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with the phone for 6 weeks now (bought it in Switzerland unbranded) and agree with you so much.
I'm thinking of sending it to Greece for "repair" although I'm not sure they can make the network reception and data connection loss disappear unless a new firmware is out, which I can update myself, if there will be (I'm on 1.78 currently).
Unfortunately, unlike you, I cannot anymore return it for a refund
I had Desire which was magnificent and am so depressed with this phone in terms of its reception! Other than that, it's magnificent as well!!!

jipi said:
3. I have installed the Chrome browser and it crashes almost everytime I use it. Not only Chrome crashes but the whole phone. The phone freezes and the only way to reboot it is to maintain the power button pressed for a while.
robably never use so much memory (I don't store music or movies).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have crash too. for example it crashes with this and this
It is a common or just a few devices have this problem?

This phone got no problems.

Got my One S a week ago. The black one. Was using a Desire before that. Here are my findings:
* Size: It is a bit unwieldy. The fact that the entire front side responds to touch doesn't make it easier to hold. I probably have to grow into it.
It feels like the chances of dropping it are higher and the results of dropping it are worse.
* Power button: A bit hard to reach and hard to press. On the Desire we have 'trackpad to wake'. I miss that.
* Reception: I don't know about actual signal, but the bars in the notification area jump back and forth pretty much between 1 and 4.
* Battery: About a full day. Of course since the device is new, I play with it more than normal. Really too soon to tell. I remember on the Desire the battery life was a bit disappointing in the beginning, but became better with time. (Better calibration? Better kernels & ROMs?)
* Body: The weight, the thinness, the shape, damn this is a marvelous piece of engineering! The MAO aluminium feels fantastic.
I don't use a case and I don't plan to. No point (for me) to hide its beauty in order to retain it. Maybe a screen protector, not sure yet. No chipping or scratching (yet?). Dropped it once, from about 1 meter, on wooden floor (not on concrete). [SH24TW]
* General performace: It just screams.
* Screen: Bigger, brighter, more pixels, yummm! (I realize that this is a counterpoint to "It is a bit unwieldy".) I am personally not bothered by pentile matrix layout
* WiFi is better: Stronger signal, faster joining, better speed, less latency.
* GPS: Was already pretty good on the Desire, but on the One S it is even better. Stronger signal, better accuracy, GLONASS.
* Camera. I'm just blown away with the awesomness of the camera.
I am very impressed so far.
-Jobo

My experience so far (have had it for 10 days now):
-Phone looks amazing - miles ahead of pretty much everything else out there. Makes my Sensation feel like a brick. That said, I agree with some that the gray finish is quite slippery and it can be hard to get a good grip. Build quality is fine, no creaks or anything.
-The non-removable battery and lack of SD slot are non-issues. Battery life is good so far and I've never used more than 5GB on my previous phones so 16GB should be more than enough.
-Screen looks great. PenTile is not a problem for me.
-Sense 4 is very nice both aesthetically and functionally, better than 3.6 and certainly at least as good as stock ICS (I have tried all three for extended periods on my Sensation as well, so they were all on an even footing).
-Very happy with the performance. No random reboots, crashes, or major bugs so far. Only issues I have are 1) Wi-Fi randomly disconnecting and then immediately re-connecting and 2) in areas with weak "4G" reception the signal will spike between no bars and full bars occasionally. Hopefully the OTA will fix these.
-Camera is excellent. Haven't had much chance to play with it but it's really, really fast and the quality is very good.
Overall, very satisfied.

Couple of weeks in.
I got 2 of these phones during the week of release, and so far i haven't got a bad word to say about it.
Reception has been superb. Not a single crash or reboot. Rooted straight away and have used several ROMs before settling with one I like. Not wanting to repeat what others have said, but i'm very happy with this phone.
My wife on the other hand, has done nothing but moan about reception issues. Although I think that says more about her, than it does the One S.

Meedmo said:
I got 2 of these phones during the week of release, and so far i haven't got a bad word to say about it.
Reception has been superb. Not a single crash or reboot. Rooted straight away and have used several ROMs before settling with one I like. Not wanting to repeat what others have said, but i'm very happy with this phone.
My wife on the other hand, has done nothing but moan about reception issues. Although I think that says more about her, than it does the One S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried extensively to convert my iPhone using wife to an Android device. I bought her a Galaxy Nexus, she said it wasn't comfortable in one hand. I got her the SGS2, she had the same complaint. Purchased the Amaze, she said the screen was too washed out (?) and Sense 3.0 wasn't her "cup of tea". I gave her a G2X for the hell of it, which she liked, but ultimately, wanted her iPhone 4 back. So, after hell and high water trying to find her the "perfect" Android device, she's back to her iPhone 4. I told her that I didn't want her to feel pressured just because I'm an Android user, and she said that the main reason she wanted her iPhone back was to facetime with her family in Canada, which I can't argue with.
So about a month later, I purchased the One S. She instantly was in shock by the gorgeous hardware design. She asked if she could use it for a few days to see if she can make the switch. So, after using it for a week (she wouldn't give it back to me), she said that she couldn't believe how vibrant the screen was (the regular consumer who has no idea what pentile is will not notice this "flaw", and that's speaking strictly from the end user who see's the screen for what it is, 4.3 inches of pure beauty), how quick and easy Sense 4 was to use, and how well it fit in her pocket. So by that point, I wanted my phone back, (I switched between an Amaze and SGS2 temporarily), and ultimately, ended up purchasing one for her. Without my knowledge, she went and got a complete guard on the entirety of the phone, as well as a white skull candy case. She's kept it in perfect condition (learns from the best =) and has officially (at least for now) retired her iPhone.
Since most of her friends are iUsers, she can boast about being the only one with common sense to use what she believes is a superior device (which it is, in our opinion). I've dealt with her whiny friends who have asked me, "why did you let her buy a droid?!" My answer is, it isn't a droid, a droid is a phone made by Motorola, first off, and second, because it's just better for her personal use, and in many ways, then the iPhone itself. They then proceed to balk on about how the iPhone just "works" etc. etc., but after they got a glimpse of the One S, she was actually able to convert a longtime iPhone user into purchasing a white Galaxy S2 for Sprint! Two down, a worlds to go, but no less, it's encouraging.
The real test begins when the "New iPhone" is released, we'll see then how she reacts. But for now, I feel as though this phone has really done well for HTC and transcended a lot of the "complications" iUsers have when trying to convert to Android. The One S has such good touch sensitivity, that it compares to that of the iPhone, where as I've noticed using the Galaxy Nexus and SGS2 that the sensitivity of touch wasn't as prevalent as these HTC devices. It's likely just perception, but it's something I've noticed.

The last decent QWERTY?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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