Honest opinions please

[mortalmallard]

My wife is upgrading from her HTC Thunderjunk. We are looking at the S3 and the Razr Maxx HD and had some questions. Which do you guys think is the better of the two for a light phone user? Obviously the Maxx takes the cake in battery life, but what are your honest thoughts on these two phones. Please give honest answers, we aren't looking for typical fanboy comments. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Subsound]

My wife is upgrading from her HTC Thunderjunk. We are looking at the S3 and the Razr Maxx HD and had some questions. Which do you guys think is the better of the two for a light phone user? Obviously the Maxx takes the cake in battery life, but what are your honest thoughts on these two phones. Please give honest answers, we aren't looking for typical fanboy comments. Thanks in advance!!

Personally I like them both about the same. My good friend has the MAXX and I have the S3. I'd say I like the camera on the GS3 more, the GS3 is faster, better quality screen but here is a site for you to compare. I like looking at stats rather than being told from another source which is unreliable in the sense that not one person may like what another does.

Comparing Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX - 22 Reasons for the Samsung Galaxy S3 - VERSUS IO

 

[Swavek]

three people at work have bought the S3 and are very happy. I played with the phone and it is very fast. It is a very nice phone and will get an update to the new version of Android : Jelly Bean 4.1
since it is going to be used by light user than the S3 might actually be a better fit.
Nevertheless, your wife will be very happy with either phone. They are both great phones.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[dhendriksen]

You should consider the RAZR M as well. We just got one for my wife and she's in love.

Both these phones are large...the RAZR M is more comfortable for her.

Sent from my Droid RAZR HD MAXX

 

[Who?]

Personally I like them both about the same. My good friend has the MAXX and I have the S3. I'd say I like the camera on the GS3 more, the GS3 is faster, better quality screen but here is a site for you to compare. I like looking at stats rather than being told from another source which is unreliable in the sense that not one person may like what another does.

Comparing Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX - 22 Reasons for the Samsung Galaxy S3 - VERSUS IO

Your link is entirely outdated. It addresses the non-HD version of the RAZR.

 

[mortalmallard]

Your link is entirely outdated. It addresses the non-HD version of the RAZR.

GladIm not the only one that noticed it. Thank you all for your responses. Still torn between the two. Now she is throowing around the idea of a Galaxy Note 2. ARRRRRGH. I think she would do well with any of them and will be happy. I have the original Maxx and love it. I was asking about the HD because I have not read anything on it and have not been able to put one in my hands. Is there that much of a difference between maxx and Maxx HD other than screen resolution and improved battery?

 

[Subsound]

GladIm not the only one that noticed it. Thank you all for your responses. Still torn between the two. Now she is throowing around the idea of a Galaxy Note 2. ARRRRRGH. I think she would do well with any of them and will be happy. I have the original Maxx and love it. I was asking about the HD because I have not read anything on it and have not been able to put one in my hands. Is there that much of a difference between maxx and Maxx HD other than screen resolution and improved battery?

Out of the two phones, they are almost equally the same besides a few slight differences. mainly

Battery life (Razr)
2gb RAM(s3)
ability to share(s3) [not that she may ever use it]
Razr is heavier
both have same picture resolution
the S3 has .1" advantage in size of the screen.

 

[Who?]

The S3 is a big phone, it's kind of comical looking, at least to me, in terms of its width, its extremely light weight and how its framed by plastic, along with Touchwiz and the hardware buttons all the way at the bottom. I bought a MAXX HD a week ago and love it. I came from a Thunderbolt, which I wanted to run over with my car time and time again. The biggest problem with the Thunderbolt (and with my current laptop) has been battery life, so that was, is, and will likely always will be, my top priority

Your wife likely has smaller hands than you. But the fact that she has mentioned the Note makes me think she doesn't care much about one-handed use. I would say this about the size comparison: Even though the MAXX screen is 4.7 inches, because of the on-screen buttons, the amount of always usable screen space is actually very comparable to the Thunderbolt, which made for a very easy transition. Even though I suppose I have larger than average hands, I didn't want a phone with a 4.8 inch overly wide screen plus hardware buttons; it's simply too large for easy use in my opinion.

Plenty of people would disagree with me, though, as there are a ton more people who have an S3 than the MAXX HD, and people will probably continue to buy the S3 in much larger quantities, even on Verizon. I wanted to like the S3. I wanted to convince myself to buy the S3. I made an effort to try to buy the "popular" phone, since I feel like I've gotten burned in the past by buying otherwise (HTC Tilt, Touch Pro2, and then the Thunderbolt), but Touchwiz, the S3s size and the build quality, along with an unimpressive battery, turned me away. I'm very happy with my MAXX. Does it lag occasionally? Once in a while, but Jelly Bean should make things smoother. Will I ever be able to root it? Probably not, but I never rooted by Thunderbolt. All I know is that the security I feel with knowing that no matter how much I use the phone -- no matter how many widgets I run, how bright the screen is, how many programs are running in the background, whether LTE is on all the time, or how often I sync my email -- its battery will never die is absolutely priceless. If your battery is dead, it doesn't matter what phone you have. If you're turning off LTE, not syncing your email as much as you want, limiting the number of widgets you use because you're worried about your battery, why even bother when there's an alternative?

 

[jneusch]

I recently sold my S3 to buy a Maxx HD. My motivation was battery life, which is phenomenal. For a light user here are my thoughts:

1. Maxx HD is easier to hold than the GS3. Kevlar back has a bit more grip than the plastic back of the GS3.
2. I was a little worried about going from 2gb RAM to 1gb. I haven't noticed any negative impact
3. I think the screen is a little better on the Maxx, but this is subjective. I will say that the GS3 is close to impossible to see in bright sun light.
4. I actually like the GS3 screen size over the Maxx. Even thought it is only .1" bigger the Maxx uses screen real estate for the buttons. That cuts down the size a bit more.
4. Storage space is same so no issues
5. Touchwiz versus Moto Blur, which is close to true Android. I love the UI on the Maxx. I had to use Nova on the GS3, but I have no need on the Maxx. Again this is subjective.
6. The Samsung sharing feature looks cool on the commercials, but unless you have others that you will share with it's a non-issue. Both still have Android Beam and wifi-direct
7. The overall build quality of the Maxx HD seems better.
8. BT seems to work better with the Maxx HD. I have fewer drop outs.
9. Radio signal strength seems better on the Maxx HD.
10. Smart Actions on the Maxx HD. This is a great feature and works great.

All in all I am happy with my decision. If I had to go back to the GS3 it wouldn't upset me though. It was a great device and gave me no real problems. I don't think either phone is a bad choice. Good luck.