Moto Razr, or Nexus Prime?

[Last Ride]

So.. I was all set to upgrade my phone yesterday with verizon after being on the phone with them for an hour complaining about my fascinate missing phone calls and text messages.

I havent been paying attention to phones much lately so I was looking at what they had on the site and started researching each phone.. and I was pretty much dissapointed with every phone on there.. the bionic apparently has a pixelated screen, the thunderbolt has a ton of issues.. etc.

I did some more research and realized that the Motorola Razr, and the Nexus Prime are both pretty much being launched (as pre-orders im assuming) today/tommorow.. when I mentioned to the verizon guy that I wanted to wait till tommorow and pre-order a new release phone he said he couldnt really say much but assumed I was refering to the Motorola Razr.

So I'm going to be getting my 2nd line upgraded as the HTC Rhyme for my girl.. but for my phone I am getting either the Nexus Prime, or the Motorola Razr..

So I kinda wanted to debate the two phones and see what most people considered the top dog.. does anyone know what OS version the Razr is suppose to have? the Nexus Prime seems like my preferred choice based on the ICS OS coming out with it.. I would like to hear the Razr is getting it aswell.

I think a lot of people are struggling with this decision (yours truly included). Talking to one of my buddies today, it's sort of like picking between Batman or Superman. The RAZR, while "only" running Gingerbread, is still quite the beast. It's snappy, the screen is great, and it's super thin. Plus, just like Batman, the RAZR will have available all manner of docks and accessories. The Galaxy Nexus is more like Superman. It's pure Android, and is running the latest OS. It doesn't concern itself with trivial items like lapdocks or MicroSD slots. So, what do you prefer? I'm sure neither will disappoint. Really, it's an excellent "problem" to have if you're on Verizon. YMMV,

Bryan

 

[Poopai]

Keep in mind that the nexus has no buttons and the razor does. Size wise, they are very similar. This also applies to most other phones that have a smaller screensize but also need room for capacitive/hard buttons. From the shots I've seen and comparisons, it looks about as wide as a standard phone, and less wide then most. It looks taller then the average phone, but thats because its comes in 16x9 from factor.

RAZR: Size/Dimensions: 130.70mm (x) 68.90mm 7.1mm (z)
Nexus:Size/Dimensions: 135.50mm (x) 67.94mm (x) 8.94mm

For comparison to other phones:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Galaxy S II, Nexus One and Nexus S (macro hands-on) -- Engadget

Yet the bottom bezel of the Nexus barely looks any smaller, if smaller, than any other phones with capacitive buttons.

 

[markus_del_marko]

its a tough choice but i do not like samsung so id go with the razr.

also don't forget about the upcoming htc vigor.

 

[Super Turtleman]

One thing I want from my phone is the ability to use hotspot (and not Verizon's $20 app if you now what I mean). So I'm hoping I can get that with the Galaxy Nexus.

I also can't see myself going with the Razr because of the non-removable battery. I tend to mess with my phone all day and I need to be able to swap out batteries. Why do they even do these things?

 

[RussBad]

I too, am concerned about the non-removable battery on the Droid Razr. I love Motorola build and have had both the Droid X and Samsung Fascinate. I never had problems with Droid X with call quality and GPS, unlike the Fascinate. On numerous occasions, I have had a need to pull the batteries out to reset the phone because the phone freezes or while trying to root. If the Razr becomes unresponsive, or a malfunctioning app is in a loop causing heating and battery drain, I believe a hard reset will be necessary and the battery would need to be pulled out.

 

[ManBearPig618]

its a tough choice but i do not like samsung so id go with the razr.

also don't forget about the upcoming htc vigor.

Sort of feels like Vigor will be DoA.

 

[anon(512898)]

Well as far as internals are concerned the two phones are essentially the same. The difference are screen (nexus: 720p razr: qhd), camera (nexus: fast 5mp razr: 8mp of unknown quality), materials (nexus: plastic razr: Kevlar), and is (nexus: stock ics and first to receive later updates razr: Motorola's latest gingerblur).

Judging by this I am going for the nexus

 

[tx_tuff]

I too, am concerned about the non-removable battery on the Droid Razr. I love Motorola build and have had both the Droid X and Samsung Fascinate. I never had problems with Droid X with call quality and GPS, unlike the Fascinate. On numerous occasions, I have had a need to pull the batteries out to reset the phone because the phone freezes or while trying to root. If the Razr becomes unresponsive, or a malfunctioning app is in a loop causing heating and battery drain, I believe a hard reset will be necessary and the battery would need to be pulled out.

I wouldn't be worried about having to do a hard reset, I'm sure there will be a ahrd reset function on the phone just like the iPhone has.

 

[firelightx]

My experience with Motorola has been abysmal. I say this never having owned a motorola phone, mind you. But working in cell phones, over 75% of the android phones I have to troubleshoot are made by motorola. I'm at the point where I literally talk every customer out of buying them. I'm just tired of dealing with them. Not to mention that Motorola is the only manufacturer to date who's UI has actually made android more difficult to use.

Motorola is, in my opinion, a fantastic hardware company. This earned them a great reputation when phones were 95% hardware, and the software was constructed entirely by the carrier. The problem moto faces is that it is NOT a software company, but Android forces it to pretend to be. They don't have a design philosophy for their UI, they don't understand the importance of fixing bugs, and their OTA updates go terribly almost every time. The exception to the rule, of course, was the original Droid (which, being the first major android phone, earned them a reputation as a fantastic android manufactuer) which was stock android with no UI. And that lack of UI was their saving grace.

I wholeheartedly believe that the ONLY thing that will make Motorola phones stop sucking is if they go back to making nothing but stock android phones. Between ICS and the Google buyout, there's a small chance that this could happen. But... I'm not counting on it.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

My experience with Motorola has been abysmal. I say this never having owned a motorola phone, mind you. But working in cell phones, over 75% of the android phones I have to troubleshoot are made by motorola. I'm at the point where I literally talk every customer out of buying them. I'm just tired of dealing with them. Not to mention that Motorola is the only manufacturer to date who's UI has actually made android more difficult to use.

Motorola is, in my opinion, a fantastic hardware company. This earned them a great reputation when phones were 95% hardware, and the software was constructed entirely by the carrier. The problem moto faces is that it is NOT a software company, but Android forces it to pretend to be. They don't have a design philosophy for their UI, they don't understand the importance of fixing bugs, and their OTA updates go terribly almost every time. The exception to the rule, of course, was the original Droid (which, being the first major android phone, earned them a reputation as a fantastic android manufactuer) which was stock android with no UI. And that lack of UI was their saving grace.

I wholeheartedly believe that the ONLY thing that will make Motorola phones stop sucking is if they go back to making nothing but stock android phones. Between ICS and the Google buyout, there's a small chance that this could happen. But... I'm not counting on it.

Who knows, maybe Google will send some of their software engineers over to Motorola if the deal actually goes through. Google said that Motorola would be operated separately, so I don't know if they would get rid of Blur totally, but they could at least make it better.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Sort of feels like Vigor will be DoA.

While I personally haven't had any of the major issues that people complain about, I think the Thunderbolt issue didn't help and I personally think the thing just looks like a large Incredible and quite frankly it looks just as bulky as my Thunderbolt. I would rather have a thinner phone. I honestly think HTC has run out of hardware design ideas.

 

[TvTechGuru]

I know one of these phones will be the replacement for my OG Droid that I got release day. I'm at a crossroads on which one to get. (they aren't even released and I'm stuck)

Razr: I really love the sleek design and thinness. Those are huge. I'm really attracted to the phone, that's a huge seller for me. Next the unique building materials really sets it apart... Kevlar fiber, Gorilla glass, water repellent, 8MP camera. Downsides: Android 2.3 and not ICS. That's about my only deal breaker.

Galaxy Nexus: I love the looks so far of ICS! That's a huge seller for me. Externally the phone isn't an eye-grabber for me. The backing looks nice with the carbon-fiber look. But the rest is.. eh, ya know. I guess it's all about the guts and ICS that are the sellers for me on this one.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Razr because of it's design and I'm a loyal Motorola fan. Really these 2 phones are virtually equal in internal specs. Just 2 different manufacturers and different OS's with different designs.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

Itooks like the screen will be a lot better on the Nexus.

Plus, Motorola isn't very good at rolling out updates. Their super roller new phone will not have ICS for the foreseeable future. Screw that, if I'm going to fork a few hundred bucks for a new phone I want it to have at the minimum the latest operating system.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[allan1313]

I think the only way I get the RAZR is if the Nexus does not come to VZW for some strange reason.

 

[dbermanmd]

Does the presence or absence of NFC make a big difference in choosing between the two and why?

thanks

david

 

[TheDave]

no TI OMAP4460, no NFC, no ICS (right away anyway), no nexus?

Solid backup to G-Nex, but not compelling enough to overtake my frontrunner

 

[TheDave]

Does the presence or absence of NFC make a big difference in choosing between the two and why?

thanks

david

NFC is becoming a much more widely used entity. making payments, android beam, etc.

Not a deal breaker, but should still be considered something to have going forward

 

[jerrod6]

I am using the OG droid and can upgrade. I am picking the Galaxy Nexus. The Razr looks to be built very well however I don't think I need a Kevlar phone. It does not come with NFC and this is something I really want to try. The Google Wallet web site lets you enter your zip code and then shows all the places you can use NFC. There are over 1,675 places I can use it in or near my zip code now and many within walking distance so I want to use it.

From the videos I think ICS looks clean, crisp, well designed and fast....so what am I going to get out of a device with Moto's interface loaded on top of Gingerbread?

Next the software has been designed explicitly to work with the hardware on the Nexus so there should be very tight integration between the two. Perhaps not so with Razr, and it's interface and gingerbred and who knows how it will work when it gets ICS?

5mp camera? Well I have a 5 mp camera on my OG droid. The pictures are OK after it takes forever to start and forever to focus and snap. I have a 5mp on my Canon Powershot camera and the pictures are great. Both at 5 but different quality, so I don't care about number of mp on the phone camera because that is not indicative of picture quality(thinking of some posts about the Bionics 8 mp camera that comes defaulted to 6 unless you manually change it... wonder why?).

SD card: I have never removed my card and don't need to. So with reported available storage as long as I can transfer pictures, documents and other contents from phone to my PC...no card required.

So its Nexus for me.

Things I would not like:

Any type of manufactures UI placed on this Nexus in place of stock ICS.
Crippling of NFC such that I cannot use google wallet or any other NFC functions I choose.

 

[kilofoxtrot]

After using the Bionic's poor camera and seeing how good the Prime camera is ICS/Samsung, I will definitely be getting the Prime.

Of course the RAZR camera may be a completely different story from the Bionic.

But my Spidey-Sense tells me no.

 

[Serial Fordicator]

oops....