Bell what phone to get? Didn't know where to post this

[ElliottG]

Hey guys

My upgrade date was last Monday (21st) and I have been debating what phone to get now for around 2 weeks and can't decide...

I was looking at getting the Atrix and it is a really nice phone but as I was playing with it in the Bell store I found out it had some problems...mostly the touch screen keyboard was unresponsive and very laggy and I had to force close the Navigation app once and also Speedtest app because they froze.

The other android phones Bell has at the moment are the following: HTC Desire Z and the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant. I also tried out the Galaxy S and found it to be OK, but I have heard it has a lot of problems.

From what I hear, the Incredible S is coming to Bell on April 4th, and the Nexus S on April 15th.

I am going to wait until the Incredible S comes out to at least try it before deciding, as I can always try it out for ~11-12 days before returning it for a Nexus S if I want.

I mean, Nexus S, no HD video recording? Incredible S and Atrix, locked bootloaders...MotoBlur vs Sense; I hear people have tons of complaints about both...

I have no idea what to do. What phone would you guys get and why? My other option is to buy a phone on Bell and sell it for full price to someone else so I have money to buy another phone that isn't sold on Bell...but which to get? I have no idea which phones even work on Bell.

Thanks,
Elliott

 

[gvndeb60]

OK, so many questions.....

First, stock keyboard is ehh, I use Smart Keyboard and it works great on the Atrix. The biggest problem I had with the stock keyboard was the space bar being very unresponsive, but no problems with Smart Keyboard.

I have no problems with Apps freezing, and I do use the Speedtest app, so possibly just needed a reboot.

Last, in my opinion, no matter how long you wait and no matter how cool/feature rich your phone is, a cooler/better one is going to come out 32 days after you buy yours. It is a very personal and important decision b/c many of us use our phones so much and rely on them. I like to read lots of reviews on every model that interests me b/c you are bound to find some positive/negative aspects that you would overlook but are important. Most importantly, put hands on every phone you are considering.

Now, my view on the Atrix coming from the HTC EVO.

-For every person that loves Motoblur or Sense, there is someone that hates it. Both have nice widgets, Sense is very polished, while Motoblur looks more stock Android to me. Sense bogged down my EVO occasionally, but I have yet to see Motoblur even slow down my Atrix. With both there are alternate launchers to chose from.
-A big factor to me is battery life. Stock EVO lasted maybe half a day, rooted and ROM'd I would get about 3/4 of a day. Stock Atrix is a full day. Battery life for me is absolutely amazing, live wallpaper, lots of widgets, custom launcher, and full background updates. Heavy use still gets me from 7am to about 8pm.
-Atrix is going to be locked down pretty tight vs HTC EVO. It was fun to switch ROMs constantly, and I am going to miss that, but the performance from the Atrix makes up for it.

Happy hunting, and the above are my opinions/observations, so other's views will vary.

 

[Duvi]

welcome to android central!

since you are new, you might have been able to do an intro in the introductions sub-forum (if you had not already done so) or in the general carrier sub-forum. if you'd like it to be moved to either, let me know and i'll ask a mod to do so. if not, it's cool to keep it here as well.

getting back to your concerns...

i have the Atrix and love it. i came from a Nexus One and thought the Nexus S was going to be my next device... then I saw the specs. lol. i don't use the camera too much, but the front facing camera is an option i love having. to tell you the truth, although i am using ADW EX (launcher), motoblur isn't bad at all. i didn't mind it (keep in mind i didn't add my fb and twitter info to my moto account which helped me not to dislike motoblur).

i had a chance at getting the captivate for at&t, but in all honesty, the only thing that might have been better was the screen, which is a reason i probably wouldn't go with the galaxy. the desire z has a physical keyboard and since getting the iPhone in '07, i've been spoiled and can not stand physical kb (aside from the torch and 9700 that the blackberry has).

not sure what was going on with the in-store models, but i'd never base my opinion on any of the store models, even if it was a positive review. i don't experience any lag what so ever on my atrix and this device has actually dethroned my iPhone 4, which i never thought would happen. the screen isn't as good as retina display, but the 4' screen is the pefect size. now i found the iPhone's too small and the EVO/Inspire (4'3) too big.

all in all, it all depends on what you want/need from your device. if you don't need all the bells and whistles that the Atrix has, you have options -- one of thing that really makes android so awesome.

the fingerprint scanning is big for me... not that i have things to hide, but i hate when people pick up my phone and want to roam around like i could not just have a picture or a message i didn't want them to see. so with the fingerprint scanner, they need my finger to unlock it as i never use the security code to unlock it -- as this gives them a chance to see what you type.

 

[ElliottG]

OK, so many questions.....

First, stock keyboard is ehh, I use Smart Keyboard and it works great on the Atrix. The biggest problem I had with the stock keyboard was the space bar being very unresponsive, but no problems with Smart Keyboard.

I have no problems with Apps freezing, and I do use the Speedtest app, so possibly just needed a reboot.

Last, in my opinion, no matter how long you wait and no matter how cool/feature rich your phone is, a cooler/better one is going to come out 32 days after you buy yours. It is a very personal and important decision b/c many of us use our phones so much and rely on them. I like to read lots of reviews on every model that interests me b/c you are bound to find some positive/negative aspects that you would overlook but are important. Most importantly, put hands on every phone you are considering.

Now, my view on the Atrix coming from the HTC EVO.

-For every person that loves Motoblur or Sense, there is someone that hates it. Both have nice widgets, Sense is very polished, while Motoblur looks more stock Android to me. Sense bogged down my EVO occasionally, but I have yet to see Motoblur even slow down my Atrix. With both there are alternate launchers to chose from.
-A big factor to me is battery life. Stock EVO lasted maybe half a day, rooted and ROM'd I would get about 3/4 of a day. Stock Atrix is a full day. Battery life for me is absolutely amazing, live wallpaper, lots of widgets, custom launcher, and full background updates. Heavy use still gets me from 7am to about 8pm.
-Atrix is going to be locked down pretty tight vs HTC EVO. It was fun to switch ROMs constantly, and I am going to miss that, but the performance from the Atrix makes up for it.

Happy hunting, and the above are my opinions/observations, so other's views will vary.

Thanks for the reply I really appreciate how detailed it was.

I agree that after a month or two there will always be a better phone. I'm really not sure how much I would mod the phone after I get it and I honestly have to say that I did not try rebooting the Atrix at the store which is something I should have done now that I think about it.

Could you post a pic of your homescreen just for me to check it out? I installed LauncherPro at the Bell store but didn't really have enough time to customize it that much. Do you find that LauncherPro lags being put over the stock MotoBlur UI? Also have you tried "freezing" the MotoBlur apps in the background while using LauncherPro to limit the apps?

The thing I like about the Nexus S is that it comes with Android 2.3 and updates on it are definite. Whether the Atrix will get 2.3 or not is a mystery and Motorola's rep for updating phones is shotty...As for HTC, I have no idea. I have to admit I have not researched HTC that much but I have read a bunch of people saying that the Sense UI really bogs down the phones as you mentioned above.

On top of all this, Bell dropped the price of the Atrix from $169.99 to $69.99 just a few days ago. I asked them why they did it and they said it's because they like to help their customers, which we all know is a load of BS, but it seems to me like the Atrix is a flop...what do you think?

 

[Duvi]

Thanks for the reply I really appreciate how detailed it was.

I agree that after a month or two there will always be a better phone. I'm really not sure how much I would mod the phone after I get it and I honestly have to say that I did not try rebooting the Atrix at the store which is something I should have done now that I think about it.

Could you post a pic of your homescreen just for me to check it out? I installed LauncherPro at the Bell store but didn't really have enough time to customize it that much. Do you find that LauncherPro lags being put over the stock MotoBlur UI? Also have you tried "freezing" the MotoBlur apps in the background while using LauncherPro to limit the apps?

The thing I like about the Nexus S is that it comes with Android 2.3 and updates on it are definite. Whether the Atrix will get 2.3 or not is a mystery and Motorola's rep for updating phones is shotty...As for HTC, I have no idea. I have to admit I have not researched HTC that much but I have read a bunch of people saying that the Sense UI really bogs down the phones as you mentioned above.

On top of all this, Bell dropped the price of the Atrix from $169.99 to $69.99 just a few days ago. I asked them why they did it and they said it's because they like to help their customers, which we all know is a load of BS, but it seems to me like the Atrix is a flop...what do you think?

I used Launcher Pro and maybe it was just me, Blur seemed a bit faster. I then tried ADW EX and it seemed like it was faster than both. So I've been with ADW EX ever since.

Took a photo and a quick video of me using the ADW EX. I'll post them as soon as I can upload them.

 

[ElliottG]

I used Launcher Pro and maybe it was just me, Blur seemed a bit faster. I then tried ADW EX and it seemed like it was faster than both. So I've been with ADW EX ever since.

Took a photo and a quick video of me using the ADW EX. I'll post them as soon as I can upload them.

Great thanks!

 

[Duvi]

Here you go.

The Video ->> http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/JayDuvi/22dba222.mp4

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gvndeb60]

I used Launcher Pro and maybe it was just me, Blur seemed a bit faster. I then tried ADW EX and it seemed like it was faster than both. So I've been with ADW EX ever since.

Took a photo and a quick video of me using the ADW EX. I'll post them as soon as I can upload them.

I used ADW EX on both my EVO and Atrix. I stuck with Launcher Pro on my Atrix b/c it seemed slightly faster, but that is probably placebo effect b/c I had been using ADW EX for 6ish months so newer is always faster(in your head). I will try to post screenshots, never done that before, so give me a few for some trail and error.

 

[Duvi]

I used ADW EX on both my EVO and Atrix. I stuck with Launcher Pro on my Atrix b/c it seemed slightly faster, but that is probably placebo effect b/c I had been using ADW EX for 6ish months so newer is always faster(in your head). I will try to post screenshots, never done that before, so give me a few for some trail and error.

good luck w/ the screenshots. i didn't even bother trying. took them with my iPhone...

but i will be looking into the method A.C. has on taking screenshots some time today.

 

[ElliottG]

Great thanks for the video and pic. The guide to taking pics can be found here for anyone else that wants to try it:

http://www.androidcentral.com/taking-screenshots-without-root

I love your setup Duvi and price drop of the Atrix really makes me want to get it...but I just can't help but wait for at least the Incredible S to come out...I don't think I can wait another (almost) month for the Nexus S to come out even though I should...

The other problem I see with the Bell Atrix is that right now the only ROM that is available is Adeo ROM and it doesn't really change much. Also the SBF that was released is for AT&T phones only...so if I get Adeo ROM to my knowledge there is no way to revert back to stock...

 

[Duvi]

Great thanks for the video and pic. The guide to taking pics can be found here for anyone else that wants to try it:

http://www.androidcentral.com/taking-screenshots-without-root

I love your setup Duvi and price drop of the Atrix really makes me want to get it...but I just can't help but wait for at least the Incredible S to come out...I don't think I can wait another (almost) month for the Nexus S to come out even though I should...

The other problem I see with the Bell Atrix is that right now the only ROM that is available is Adeo ROM and it doesn't really change much. Also the SBF that was released is for AT&T phones only...so if I get Adeo ROM to my knowledge there is no way to revert back to stock...

someone's been doing their homework... good stuff. this is true. didn't realize it was only at&t phones that was able to revert as i didn't even root mine.

whatever your decision is, you'll be happy with android. it's pretty good platform if you like options.

 

[ElliottG]

Yea I think I will be too but we'll see...anyone else have anything to say about this decision?