Inspire 4G vs. Atrix 2...

[JoshuaExline]

I have been using the Inspire since the day it released and I have been pretty disappointed in a lot of things with the phone. Battery life is terrible (example; I took my phone off the charger at about 7am this morning and by 9:50am I had it on my charger dock because it had dropped to 65% charge after only 2 phone calls, some quick web browser usage, medium twitter usage, and a quick glance at the facebook app) and it probably spends more time on the charger or in a dock than it does not in a given day. And, more importantly, since the Gingerbread OTA it has been just a buggy mess that I spend more time ing about than actually getting anything done. Not to mention the signal issues I have (wi-fi will drop almost completely off even when I'm in the same room as the wireless router, 4G will get horrible coverage at times - resulting in the deadspots that aren't deadspots for others - for example; my wife takes the same route to work I do and in areas where I have a deadspot her iPhone 4 has strong signal - and I get just horribly bad coverage in my downtown office while others will sit in my office with full signal or almost full signal on different phones)

Anyway, sorry for the long rambling, but here's my reason for coming here; I have talked to AT&T and their retention dept - to make up for the constant aggravation I've had both with this phone & with AT&T over the last year and half - has offered to let me get the ATRIX 2 for $74.99 (they also offered my the Galaxy for $174.99, but that's a little too rich for my blood right now) and wave the activation fee without extending my contract by another 2 years. I've been doing my research and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it.

Questions I have;
Battery life. How is it? I understand that Android battery lifes are not going to be great because of all the stuff constantly running in the background but how does the Atrix 2 compare in the grand scheme of Android devices. Any former Inspire users who can tell me how it compares to the Inspire??

Gingerbread? Please god tell me that .5 is better/smoother/more reliable/NOT BUGGY when compared to .3

Signal/antenna? Any constant dropout or deadspot issues that weren't there before? Problems keeping the wi-fi connected and running strong??

Any and all input is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Sentrix]

Questions I have;
Battery life. How is it? I understand that Android battery lifes are not going to be great because of all the stuff constantly running in the background but how does the Atrix 2 compare in the grand scheme of Android devices. Any former Inspire users who can tell me how it compares to the Inspire??

I've never used an Inspire, but I can tell you that the Atrix 2 has, by far, the best battery life I have ever seen on an Android smartphone. With moderate-to-heavy use, I got 16 hours from 100% to 0%. This only happened once as I purposely tested it out. I've never had the battery ever get lower than 30% during a regular day.

You'll notice immediately just how much bigger in actual size the Atrix 2's battery is compared to the Inspire. (I came from a Thunderbolt)

Gingerbread? Please god tell me that .5 is better/smoother/more reliable/NOT BUGGY when compared to .3

Very smooth. No bugs at all as of yet.

Signal/antenna? Any constant dropout or deadspot issues that weren't there before? Problems keeping the wi-fi connected and running strong??

Wi-Fi range and stability is very impressive. There are areas of my house where I'd lose connection with my Thunderbolt, but this is never the case with the Atrix 2. Mobile data has also been good, however I do tend to drop from 4G (HSPA+) to EDGE a little more often than I'd like (even in good coverage areas), but the phone usually corrects itself quickly.

Quality is great - very clear and loud earpiece. Call reception seems to be fine - I haven't had a dropped call yet. That's more AT&T than anything else though, and they are known for having a lot of dead spots, so we'll see.

For $75 and no extension of your contract end date, the Atrix 2 is a total steal. Get it.

 

[sprof]

Anyway, sorry for the long rambling, but here's my reason for coming here; I have talked to AT&T and their retention dept - to make up for the constant aggravation I've had both with this phone & with AT&T over the last year and half - has offered to let me get the ATRIX 2 for $74.99 (they also offered my the Galaxy for $174.99, but that's a little too rich for my blood right now) and wave the activation fee without extending my contract by another 2 years. I've been doing my research and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it.

$75 and no contract extension? DO IT!

 

[bigddybn]

My reply to your thread on the other android forum:

I had an Inspire for 6 months. The Atrix 2 has MUCH better battery life. My Inspire wouldn't make it through a busy day. The Atrix just laughs when I plug it in at night with 40% left.

The Atrix does seem to hang onto calls better than both my Inspire and iPhone 4 did. I think the speakers sound much "warmer" also. The Inspire used to drop to edge occasionally at my office in an aircraft hangar. Haven't seen the Atrix 2 do that yet but it really wasn't very often at all.

Gingerbread has no complaints from me but the phone desperately needs root to remove a few dumb restrictions.

The Atrix 2 is definitely snappier than the Inspire. You'll notice the dual core cpu.

The Inspire will likely always have better aftermarket and dev support simply because it's an HTC phone.

 

[mrakifa]

Are u sure its at no contract extension?

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk

 

[JoshuaExline]

Thanks for all the input. I got a chance this afternoon to run by an AT&T store and get a little hands on time with the phone. One of the things that always bugged me about the original Atrix was that it felt kinda cheap in my hand, definitley didn't feel like a "high end smartphone" to me. First thing I noticed was that the 2 didn't feel this way to me, so, that's a positive in my book.

In the little bit I could play with the phone in store I was digging it, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on it. Because the more I research/read the more I realize that, as has been stated, $75 w/ no contract extension is indeed a steal.

Are u sure its at no contract extension?

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk

positive. BUT, considering that I'd been working under the assumption that I could upgrade to an iPhone for upgrade price at anytime (which is what retention told me over the summer) only to find out last night that the person who told me this was mistaken and the date they were basing this information off of was in fact a 2012 date and not a 2011 date I have my (obvious) doubts that they've given me factual information.

 

[katamari201]

I'm not sure if AT&T has lower no-contract plans (like T-mobile) compared to their 2-yr contract plans, but if you are planning to ink another 2-yr contract later on anyway, you should get the Galaxy S II now (as long as it doesn't extend your contract) and sell it for a profit on ebay. Then later on when you sign up for the next 2-yr contract, you can get, say the Atrix 2, for the $99 pricetag, or maybe even less or FREE after a couple months with how Android phones are pooping out this holiday season. That's assuming a lot of things like you don't need the phone right away and such, and your contract is terminating soon, and that you really can get either of the two phones without contract extension. Just some food for thought. You can also sell your Inspire as well afterwards...

 

[bigwig001]

I too, was an Inspire user, and I couldn't be happier with my switch to the Atrix 2.
Battery life is immensly better, no connection issues with wifi or bluetooth. GPS locks on instantly and stays locked. It is definately snappier and more responsive. Also, you can remove all of the ATT bloatware out of the box.
I would definately recommend it.

 

[916x10]

Questions I have;
Battery life. How is it? I understand that Android battery lifes are not going to be great because of all the stuff constantly running in the background but how does the Atrix 2 compare in the grand scheme of Android devices. Any former Inspire users who can tell me how it compares to the Inspire??

Gingerbread? Please god tell me that .5 is better/smoother/more reliable/NOT BUGGY when compared to .3

Signal/antenna? Any constant dropout or deadspot issues that weren't there before? Problems keeping the wi-fi connected and running strong??

Any and all input is appreciated. Thanks

Battery life is impressive! My phone has been on for 12.5hrs, 30mins of phone calls and 30min of WiFi, a few texts here and there, about an hour and a half of 4g data and I still have 62% batt left.

I love GB 2.3.5, no issues with it at all so far (my phone is not yet a week old)

I have not had a single dropped call with this phone, no WiFi connection issues and it's speed is pretty darn fast. On SpeedTest i'm getting a constant 18.22Mbps down and 5.18 Mbps up.

 

[icebike]

I had the same questions as Goes Down.

Was deciding between the same two phones.

I came here to AC and read all the reviews. I saw reviewers whining about the SIZE of the phones being too big (Total rubbish), the horrible camera, the screen brightness, Blur, Sense, etc.

I went and played with them The Atrix 2 screen was much brighter, the camera indistinguishable to the naked eye, but the Moto was Faster by a lot when launching apps (dual core), and a later release (newer).


Price was the same.

Couldn't get a recommendation from the sales guy to save my sole, and it became apparent I knew more than he did.

Went with the Atrix 2. Astoundingly nice phone. Even most of the AT&T crapware will uninstall if you want to (Navigator, Family stalker, and such). How refreshing! Uninstalling bloatware without root.!!!


One note:
Using SpeedTest app from the market, its anywhere from 4 to 8 times faster downloading than my 3G nexus one. But the Nexus One upload speed is still faster, so clearly AT&T hasn't turned up HSUPA in my area yet even though the 4G download is smoking fast.

Second Note: You can't share a photo synced from your Picasa account via email/mms with the not-quite-android stock Gallery app like you can on pure android.