Verizon Motorola Droid Turbo Mine finally showed up, prelem eval

[wolf_walker]

Some observations after mine finally showed up, compared to my GS4.

The screen is a warmer color temp and I prefer it. White's are more pure white.
If it's any dimmer than the GS4, thus far it's minor and I can hardly tell it using bright lights inside. It got dark before I made it out. Blacks are notably blacker on the GS4, and grays are.. different. I think I have the GS4 set to "professional" or whatever it was fwiw.
Overall I'm pleased with the screen, it's sharp as a razor, pleasant colors, bright and dark enough, these things take time to get used to put it looks like my IPS monitor compared to my LCD in a lot of ways(I run them side by side).

I've been walking around with a wifi analyzer running on both phones observing wifi reception, and sadly the GS4 is clearly superior. I have some screencaps but even within a foot of the router the DT was five dB off of the GS4. Difference was more pronounced in a bad signal spot (my shop). I will say the little graphical icon up top, the DT is pessimistic or the GS4 is optimistic, there was a difference in dB but it wasn't as dramatic as I'd have assumed from the bars/lack of on the icons. Don't believe BS icons.
Have not checked cell reception other than it's so-so in my living room on both phones, solid 4g but not by a lot. No 4g on the GS4 after upgrade so someone else will have to screw with that. That said, I don't think it'll be a problem unless you have chronic weak wifi somewhere you need to use a phone regularly. If this is the case it'll probly be annoying unless what you are coming from is worse.

Media playback is plenty loud and sounds noticeably better, way better, than the BS speaker on the back of the GS4. I haven't touched the EQ on the DT or any of it's settings, whatever it came with is what I'm basing this on. I've yet to make a phone call but vibes are good as are notification volumes.

It's fast. Noticeably faster than the GS4. It's still not perfectly fluid every second ready to run run run, but it's fast as anything else I imagine. You can really feel the extra umph rapid fire installing apps and still having the device be useable, the GS4 would bog for a few seconds installing stuff, much less so the DT. I think the out of the box state had 50gig or so free space listed.

It's barely bigger than the GS4, not enough to notice to me personally. Feels great, I like the bay-les-tek nylon feel a lot, it's probly more scratch resistant than most backings but I doubt it has anything to do with "strength" either way. But I dig the feel a lot, not slippery.
I think it looks fine but that's subjective. Feels solid. Which isn't saying a lot coming from a GS4 but it'll go in a case before too long and all that's irrelevant anyway.

Will report later if anything interesting comes up. Haven't touched the camera yet.
Looking forward to the L update, though good on them for not screwing with the UI any more than they did.
Reminds me of Cyanogenmod on my GS3, which is cool.

 

[Furt]

I'm taking the blissful ignorance road on this phone. It's perfect and I'm not gonna nitpick. Signed a 2 year contract for this so it's gonna be prefect whether it looks it or not

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[wolf_walker]

Re: Mine finally showed up, prelem eval

It's not a bad phone, like so many other things there are some good aspects and some less-good compared to a previous generation device(in my case the GS4).

Did some photo observation and it's.. almost disappointing but not surprising.
Bare in mind this is still preliminary.

Low light non-HDR the GS4 has less noise. HDR mode (on not auto on the DT) the DT has less noise than the
GS4 does in HDR or non, and takes HDR photo's considerably faster. From a few brief comparison shots with the flash inside, the DT
pics looked bad, plenty well lit but just bad.

Outside well-lit is a mixed bag so far, you can tell the higher resolution sensor in the DT but that isn't really that important unless
you are trying to print images really large, for regular internet or display on even a large TV they both have plenty.
The DT is faster than the GS4 stock camera but only by a hair, the drag to focus then tap to shoot is superior on the DT,
and (a major plus), the DT is able to adjust balance and such for a specified point on the screen and the GS4 cannot(which is a huge
failing and the GS3 shared it too, don't know about the GS5) If your shot is a room with a window outside where it's bright, on the GS3/4
you have to actually re-frame the shot to have the camera either use the light level of the window(and the room is then pitch black), or use the lower light level of the room, you can't tap where you want it to sample from). So huge win for the DT out of the gate on that score.

Honestly they both look so (relatively) crappy compared to even a couple hundred dollar or less point and shoot, it's hard to get too excited or dissapointed either way.
The DT camera works fine for a cell phone, and other than the point sample function, I'd have to say the GS4 is easier to get nice shots with at the moment, but with some effort the DT is capable of better. I might try and setup to do some comparison shots, but unless you have a well calibrated and known display, you aren't going to see what I see or anyone else see's either. Differences between the two, yes, but not a true representation.
Further, with the lack of manual control and inconsistent nature of non-dedicated software, you can take two shots back to back and they will look like two different cameras from the same device which is super annoying trying to compare things.

Unless one is coming from a phone with a really outstanding camera I would not let any of this deter one from going with the DT.
You'd be far better served by a small pocket point and shoot in your glovebox or backpack and having the great screen and huge battery and
fast cpu on the DT IMO. Maybe Android L will have a better camera and/or they will update the firmware or something, part of the problem is there is very little lens/hardware and a lot of software going on with these things and that is a recipe for crappy photos.

I have high hopes the OIS helps out with low light on the Nexus 6, but it's still too big for me.

The wifi signal is a bummer but in my usage and with Verizon having as good a 4g as they do so many places, it's not a total deal breaker.
I'll get out and about and try some hotspots here and there this weekend and see how annoying it is.

 

[wolf_walker]

Re: Mine finally showed up, prelem eval

Further observations.

The wifi is really a shame.
I dug out my dBm monitor software and did some comparing on my home network
with my Nexus 7, Galaxy S4 and the DT on both 802.11G and N.
It was as expected till I reached a place where the S4 had a marginal -70dBm-ish
signal, and the DT had NONE on 5ghz and in the -80's on 2.4ghz. That spot was ten feet
short of where I sit in the back yard and play with my phone while the wife works in the garden
so that's an annoyance.

Bluetooth. I'm not sure how to tell if this thing supports AptX for streaming.
I do know streaming music to my powered Kanto bookshelf speakers I can go twice
as far with the GS4 as I can with the DT. I can barely keep it in the kitchen on the table
while I'm washing dishes which is my normal usage scenario without audio dropping out.
Range with my Plantronics Legend earpiece seems better but I haven't tested thoroughly.

All the radios seem to be a real step down from my GS4, and I assume a rung below most other
current devices. That is a screaming shame and I haven't decided if I'm going to return it because
of this or cross my fingers and hope they come up with some better performance via software/firmware.

Beyond that, great device. The moto-notifications are handy but the rest is BS to me. The hand wave thing
would be nice if it consistently worked without having to make an effort to have your hand at just the right height and
speed, etc. When I'm waving off an alarm in the AM I'm not that coordinated. It's a nice sign of things to come though.
The voice stuff is the same way, moto-voice looks to pretty much just let you activate Google Now/Voice/Lady from a
screen off condition, and set a custom phrase. It's cool but, meh. Carrier software on Android always seems to be a doll'd up
version of what Android already has, or is working on integrating. Not complaining just not that exciting.

I'm not crazy bout returning the thing, partly because the giant-0 Nexus 6 is the only other device out-ish that has really
caught my eye. I hate to admit it but if the Galaxy S5 is the more-of-the-same that the S4 was over the S3, it's probably
pretty decent and would do me fine. But it's plastic and boring and touchwiz and crappy back speaker.. Bleh.
I understand planned obsolescence and all, I do, but it's so tiring the almost-there ness of so many things.
I'm baffled how some uneducated jerkoff like myself can inside 12 hours easily and demonstratively find such a glaring
fault as the wifi and bluetooth in this thing and the extremely educated, funded and experienced folks designing and testing
them can't. I just don't get it, and it's depressing.

 

[edgefever]

I felt the same way about much of what you wrote with out any real testing like you did.
Returned it and ordered a N6

 

[wolf_walker]

Just for giggles, I tried the Motorola online chat support, to their credit they did not balk at a dBm reading and were as helpful as likely was possible.
Conversation follows..

Ely: Hi, my name is Ely. How may I help you?

rex: Hi Ely, I recently purchased a Droid Turbo to replace my Samsung Galaxy S4. I've noticed the wi-fi
connection on the Turbo is significantly weaker than on the S4 using them in the same place side by side
connected to the same router, both on 802.11G and 802.11N. I verified this with an app that will show the dBm of
the wifi signal in realtime on both devices. Any suggestions?

Ely: I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with your phone. No worries, I am here to assist you because
here in Motorola we find ways to solve our customer's concern.

Ely: But to begin with, I need your phone number and last name for my documentation?

rex: xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx

Ely: Thanks Rex, for that let me check here on my end see what I can do to your concern, by the way can I have
the IMEI of your phone please?

rex: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ely: Thanks Rex, I'll check it here see what I can do to your concern, one moment please.

rex: For what it's worth I don't think there is anything really "wrong", the wifi connection is plenty stable
and works well for as long as it's in range, but that range is just mighty short compared to the S4. I tried
forcing it to both 2.4ghz and 5ghz, pretty much same results.

rex: thanks

Ely: Can I have the Dbm of your phones Rex? Both turbo and the S4 please?

rex: one moment

Ely: Sure Rex.

rex: 3 feet from my router sitting side by side, 2.4ghz is -33 on the S4 and -45 on the Turbo. Not an issue
just sitting here obviously but the gap widens further away. Neither device has a case on at all.

rex: And if it's of interest, the S4 shows three other local wifi AP's in the neighborhood, the Turbo
intermittently shows one other besides mine. Not an issue but illustrative.

Ely: I see, I'm currently checking it now with my support Rex, kindly give me a moment Rex.

rex: No rush, thanks.

Ely: Thanks for waiting Rex, apologies for the delay, upon checking and researching on our end, we tried to
connect our Droid Turbo in our network, and test it, in our end the Droid Turbo when it is connected in our
network for the network 802.11- G type, it is showing us - 45 Dbm, however even though that the S4 that we have
reaches about-32 Dbm, it is slower than the turbo, we tested a 4 minute video clip and we found out that it will
be depending on the phone's wifi signal strength over to the provider of the internet Rex,

rex: Speed is not the issue. I'll give you an example. There is a spot in my back yard where I sit while my
wife works in the garden so we can talk, and I read stuff online with my phone via wifi. I can do that with the
S4, I cannot with the Turbo. The lack of sensitivity is the issue. I understand if there is not quick fix and I
don't really expect one, but I suspect judging by the discussion online there will be other folks pointing out
this apparent deficiency.

Ely: I do apologize for that, Rex, however I'll try to seek an assistance for your concern and I'll update you
by tomorrow for your concern Rex, as of this moment, we tried everything but I do apologize but that is the best
that we can do as of this moment, I'll be seeking an assistance to our higher of support by tomorrow Rex as of
this moment they're closed.

...........................................


I'm concerned that the N6 is also a Motorola device, that and it's huge lol.
What a pita..

 

[doogald]

I'm concerned that the N6 is also a Motorola device, that and it's huge lol.
What a pita..

The N6 is a bigger device made with different materials. It could have a better WiFi antenna layout, it could have better reception through the plastic back compared with the kevlar or ballistic nylon of the Turbo. I wouldn't want to predict what the N6 will be until somebody does the same sort of test you did. Doesn't that sound right?

 

[wolf_walker]

Or it could have a worse antenna layout.
Probably not, but I wouldn't have thought they'd let the Turbo get by with this either.