These are my opinions - take them for what you will. Hopefully it helps answer some of the questions I've seen from those of you wondering about these 3 devices:
Waited 6+ months for the Galaxy Nexus to arrive and got it Day 1 at Verizon last week. Incredible disappointment. Worst battery life I have ever seen (10% drain per hour with screen off!) and worst radio receiver I've ever experienced. Could barely hold a signal, much less 4G. The transition between 4G and 3G was painful. It couldn't transition back and forth easily. The phone lasted 3 days before I couldn't take it anymore.
So, traded it in for a Razr which the store claimed would solve all my Nexus problems. Well, it did solve one. The Razr has a tremendous radio and always had very strong signals. But battery life, with Smart Actions on in the most conservative modes, was nearly as bad as the Nexus. Roughly 8%+ drain per hour with no use. Using it moderately would result in 12-15% drain per hour. If it could keep its data connection, it would be a half decent phone but it had a major data connection issue for me. I've seen others voice the same complaints. Had strong bars but kept losing data.
A call to Verizon technical support confirmed this is a 'known issue' and Motorola is working on a fix but had no date for release. The recent Razr update, which I received a few days ago, did not solve this issue for me. Other issues with the Razr included some of the worst e-mail management software I've seen in a long time - the Universal Inbox cannot be accessed directly from the desktop. It's under another layer called "Messaging" which results in needless multiple clicks to use your Universal Inbox - important to me with 6 e-mail accounts. Also, if you receive a forwarded e-mail, you have to download the text as an attachment and then open the attachment to read. Hard to believe. And, e-mailing a picture can only be done (at least easily) from the default e-mail account unlike HTC which lets you select your account to send from.
Anyway, I could probably live with most of the other 'issues' given the many strengths of the phone (screen, great radios, outstanding form factor, etc.) but with the horrible data connection issue and my need to have reliable data, after a week, Verizon agreed to an exchange for a Rezound. In the end, a reliable data connection is my #1 priority over everything else. I have to admit, they were totally stand-up about it. I was truly really impressed with Verizon's outstanding customer service and their understanding that the Razr data connectivity drops couldn't work for me.
I am coming from a HTC Sensation on T-Mobile so the Rezound is pretty familiar. All I can say is, in my view, there is no comparison between the Nexus/Razr and Rezound. The Rezound is such a superior, more polished device in every imaginable way. I can't imagine it's not the hot seller of the 3. Battery life, with Economy mode turned on, is terrific out of the box with the standard battery - only 2-3% drain per hour in standby and 5-7% with moderate use. I bought, but haven't even tried, the extended battery yet. The speaker is incredibly loud (far louder than Nexus or Razr). The radio signals are equal to the Razr which is pretty astounding. Have the exact same strong signal strength everywhere the Razr did with the same number of bars and signal. The e-mail program (and universal in-box) is nicely polished by HTC. And, have only had the phone for 12 hours now but zero data connectivity problems.
The screen, while not an AMOLED, is incredibly sharp and has much whiter whites than the Nexus/Razr. So, if you like deep blacks, the AMOLED screens are better (and I do love the rich colors of AMOLED), but if you like white whites than the Super LCD of the Rezound is better. For reading e-mails, which are usually white, I find the Rezound screen far superior which, for me, is the most critical experience on my phone. When I hold my e-mails up to my wife's Galaxy SII, there is no comparison - the Rezound's whites are far whiter and e-mails are much shaper and easier to read over her AMOLED grayish whites which are tiring on my eyes. The Rezound's form factor is also significantly easier to hold and use with one medium sized man's hand than the much wider Nexus or Razr which were a stretch for me to use one handed - although I was able to do it it wasn't that comfortable or secure.
So, in the end, extremely happy to be back in the HTC family and extremely happy I got this phone. After using the Rezound's competitors for the past 10 days, it's clear to me that the Rezound is the FAR superior device and deserves much more hype and kudos than it's getting.
Ron
Waited 6+ months for the Galaxy Nexus to arrive and got it Day 1 at Verizon last week. Incredible disappointment. Worst battery life I have ever seen (10% drain per hour with screen off!) and worst radio receiver I've ever experienced. Could barely hold a signal, much less 4G. The transition between 4G and 3G was painful. It couldn't transition back and forth easily. The phone lasted 3 days before I couldn't take it anymore.
So, traded it in for a Razr which the store claimed would solve all my Nexus problems. Well, it did solve one. The Razr has a tremendous radio and always had very strong signals. But battery life, with Smart Actions on in the most conservative modes, was nearly as bad as the Nexus. Roughly 8%+ drain per hour with no use. Using it moderately would result in 12-15% drain per hour. If it could keep its data connection, it would be a half decent phone but it had a major data connection issue for me. I've seen others voice the same complaints. Had strong bars but kept losing data.
A call to Verizon technical support confirmed this is a 'known issue' and Motorola is working on a fix but had no date for release. The recent Razr update, which I received a few days ago, did not solve this issue for me. Other issues with the Razr included some of the worst e-mail management software I've seen in a long time - the Universal Inbox cannot be accessed directly from the desktop. It's under another layer called "Messaging" which results in needless multiple clicks to use your Universal Inbox - important to me with 6 e-mail accounts. Also, if you receive a forwarded e-mail, you have to download the text as an attachment and then open the attachment to read. Hard to believe. And, e-mailing a picture can only be done (at least easily) from the default e-mail account unlike HTC which lets you select your account to send from.
Anyway, I could probably live with most of the other 'issues' given the many strengths of the phone (screen, great radios, outstanding form factor, etc.) but with the horrible data connection issue and my need to have reliable data, after a week, Verizon agreed to an exchange for a Rezound. In the end, a reliable data connection is my #1 priority over everything else. I have to admit, they were totally stand-up about it. I was truly really impressed with Verizon's outstanding customer service and their understanding that the Razr data connectivity drops couldn't work for me.
I am coming from a HTC Sensation on T-Mobile so the Rezound is pretty familiar. All I can say is, in my view, there is no comparison between the Nexus/Razr and Rezound. The Rezound is such a superior, more polished device in every imaginable way. I can't imagine it's not the hot seller of the 3. Battery life, with Economy mode turned on, is terrific out of the box with the standard battery - only 2-3% drain per hour in standby and 5-7% with moderate use. I bought, but haven't even tried, the extended battery yet. The speaker is incredibly loud (far louder than Nexus or Razr). The radio signals are equal to the Razr which is pretty astounding. Have the exact same strong signal strength everywhere the Razr did with the same number of bars and signal. The e-mail program (and universal in-box) is nicely polished by HTC. And, have only had the phone for 12 hours now but zero data connectivity problems.
The screen, while not an AMOLED, is incredibly sharp and has much whiter whites than the Nexus/Razr. So, if you like deep blacks, the AMOLED screens are better (and I do love the rich colors of AMOLED), but if you like white whites than the Super LCD of the Rezound is better. For reading e-mails, which are usually white, I find the Rezound screen far superior which, for me, is the most critical experience on my phone. When I hold my e-mails up to my wife's Galaxy SII, there is no comparison - the Rezound's whites are far whiter and e-mails are much shaper and easier to read over her AMOLED grayish whites which are tiring on my eyes. The Rezound's form factor is also significantly easier to hold and use with one medium sized man's hand than the much wider Nexus or Razr which were a stretch for me to use one handed - although I was able to do it it wasn't that comfortable or secure.
So, in the end, extremely happy to be back in the HTC family and extremely happy I got this phone. After using the Rezound's competitors for the past 10 days, it's clear to me that the Rezound is the FAR superior device and deserves much more hype and kudos than it's getting.
Ron
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