Prepare for phone geeking
Dec. 16th, 2011 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dsrtao[wrote this as a response to someone asking why I just bought a new Galaxy Nexus]
I've had a Motorola Droid (original flavor) since they were about three days old; I like it a bunch, but it has half the RAM of a low-end phone these days and about half the CPU, too. The battery is going. (Cheap replacement, but...) I wanted to stay with Verizon because I'm grandfathered into the unlimited data plan. Also, they aren't AT&T, which is a plus.
The current high-end Android choices on VZ are the HTC Rezound, the Motorola Droid RAZR, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. All of them have snazzy new displays: the RAZR is 960x540, and the other two are 1280x720. The Nexus display is arguably inferior to the Rezound, because the subpixels are RG and BG in sequence rather than RGB RGB. However, in actual use, I cannot tell the difference. All of them have high-speed 4G data, all have dual core CPUs, all have 1 GB of RAM. The Rezound and RAZR have slots for micro-SD cards; the Nexus has 32GB of internal storage. The Rezound and Nexus have replaceable batteries.
The Rezound is the heaviest, the RAZR is the lightest and thinnest. However, heavy is a matter of comparison: my Droid is heavier than the Rezound. I am experimenting with the best grip on the Nexus, because it is, perhaps, too thin.
The Rezound is reputed to have the worst battery life, but still plausible for all-day light use.
On to software. The Rezound and the RAZR ship with Android 2.3.5 or so, which is a very nice and stable system. Both of them will someday be upgradable to 4.0.x. The Nexus is the first device shipping with 4.0.x, and it's really very very very nice.
Hackability: HTC has a history of making hackable phones. Motorola made the Droid extremely hackable, but the RAZR has a locked bootloader with no supported way of loading your own OS image. Since the major factor in the longevity of my Droid was the ability to use 3rd party OS upgrades after VZ and Motorola stopped caring, this is important to me. The Nexus ships with a fully supported unlock method, and the Google engineer who runs the Android Open Source releases is really well engaged with the community.
So. I eliminated the RAZR because of the locked bootloader and unreplaceable battery; both of those meant a shorter usable life of the phone. Between the Rezound and the Nexus, the Nexus will have better community support. My professional life as a sysadmin has taught me that good community support is worth twenty or a hundred times what corporate support is worth, so that was my deciding factor.
Also it is so squee!
My only negative so far is that I wish the back and sides were a little grippier, rather than shiny.
I've had a Motorola Droid (original flavor) since they were about three days old; I like it a bunch, but it has half the RAM of a low-end phone these days and about half the CPU, too. The battery is going. (Cheap replacement, but...) I wanted to stay with Verizon because I'm grandfathered into the unlimited data plan. Also, they aren't AT&T, which is a plus.
The current high-end Android choices on VZ are the HTC Rezound, the Motorola Droid RAZR, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. All of them have snazzy new displays: the RAZR is 960x540, and the other two are 1280x720. The Nexus display is arguably inferior to the Rezound, because the subpixels are RG and BG in sequence rather than RGB RGB. However, in actual use, I cannot tell the difference. All of them have high-speed 4G data, all have dual core CPUs, all have 1 GB of RAM. The Rezound and RAZR have slots for micro-SD cards; the Nexus has 32GB of internal storage. The Rezound and Nexus have replaceable batteries.
The Rezound is the heaviest, the RAZR is the lightest and thinnest. However, heavy is a matter of comparison: my Droid is heavier than the Rezound. I am experimenting with the best grip on the Nexus, because it is, perhaps, too thin.
The Rezound is reputed to have the worst battery life, but still plausible for all-day light use.
On to software. The Rezound and the RAZR ship with Android 2.3.5 or so, which is a very nice and stable system. Both of them will someday be upgradable to 4.0.x. The Nexus is the first device shipping with 4.0.x, and it's really very very very nice.
Hackability: HTC has a history of making hackable phones. Motorola made the Droid extremely hackable, but the RAZR has a locked bootloader with no supported way of loading your own OS image. Since the major factor in the longevity of my Droid was the ability to use 3rd party OS upgrades after VZ and Motorola stopped caring, this is important to me. The Nexus ships with a fully supported unlock method, and the Google engineer who runs the Android Open Source releases is really well engaged with the community.
So. I eliminated the RAZR because of the locked bootloader and unreplaceable battery; both of those meant a shorter usable life of the phone. Between the Rezound and the Nexus, the Nexus will have better community support. My professional life as a sysadmin has taught me that good community support is worth twenty or a hundred times what corporate support is worth, so that was my deciding factor.
Also it is so squee!
My only negative so far is that I wish the back and sides were a little grippier, rather than shiny.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-16 08:55 pm (UTC)http://gizmodo.com/5868732/the-complete-list-of-all-the-phones-with-carrier-iq-spyware-installed?popular=true
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-16 08:59 pm (UTC)Nevertheless, the phone was rooted this morning, and I now control the horizontal and the vertical.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-16 09:46 pm (UTC)I'm getting one
Date: 2011-12-17 12:06 pm (UTC)Re: I'm getting one
Date: 2011-12-18 04:49 pm (UTC)Re: I'm getting one
Date: 2011-12-18 05:28 pm (UTC)