RAZR HD/MAXX HD vs Galaxy Note 2...I have both, I can't decide!

[Dreamliner330]

I?m most curious to hear from people who have used both the RAZR HD/HD MAXX & the Galaxy Note 2.

I have both a RAZR MAXX HD and a Galaxy Note 2. I am trying to decide which to keep. My priorities go like this:

Reception
Battery
Phone Features

I?ve used the Note 2 for a few days and battery and reception seem to be above my threshold for acceptability (few phones are). But I?ve noticed a few things.

1.) I hate TouchWiz, it is unbelievably ugly.
2.) Screen sometimes takes a while to turn on
3.) Lockscreen lags when swiping
4.) The notification shade lags when pulling it down.
5.) Animations are not always smooth.
6.) Its big?but I am managing.

I do like the RGB AMOLED screen on the Note 2. It is nice, but in daily use, for text and such, even though its PenTile, the RAZR HD MAXX almost looks better on sites with a lot of text.

I also did a few non-scientific speed tests, opening identical apps and such, except for loading webpages and scrolling smoothness (where the Note 2 won) I saw no difference is app opening speed. They were pretty much identical.

I thought I?d be much more satisfied with the Note 2, that it?d really wow me?but there seems to be many little things that really take away from the overall experience., the jittery animations really annoy me?a lot The MAXX HD honestly feels much more polished than the Note 2, even when using Nova Launcher on both.

I?m curious to hear from those who have or have had both, which you ended up with and why you think it?s better.

TIA!

 

[famouzstarz#AC]

I have used both phones myself:


I hate TouchWiz, it is unbelievably ugly. > Try a different Launcher, Nova or ADW are smooth and snappy

Lockscreen lags when swiping > Turn off animation


Moto :
has better reception but tends to drop and toggle 4g > 3g
battery is beast 2days on a single charge
more AOSP feel even on stock launcer
Older Dual Core Processor
Locked bootloader
non removable battery
camera is a total fail
Weight


Sammy :
Brighter Whites, Deeper Blacks
Weight to size ratio this thing is light for its size
S-Pen is awesome
Removable battery
MultiWindow nuff said!
Quad Core!
Plastic housing
size

 

[Dreamliner330]

I?ve decided to go back to the RAZR MAXX HD. Ultimately it came to a few reasons:

Power On Lag: ?Feature? or not, it?s unacceptable to wait 2 full seconds after a phone call to wait for the screen to turn on so I can hang up.
Noise rejection: Callers state it takes up to 5 seconds for the phone?s noise rejection to handle the car noise, I drive a quiet car, this is unprofessional and unacceptable.
Corporate Email: The RAZR will 'Push' email instantly, the Note 2 is only 4 times an hour.
Unlock Animation Lag: Glitchy animation bugs me on every unlock.
Notification Bar Lag: Power Save on or not, the Notification Bar lags with a handful of notifications in it.

I do like the RGB AMOLED, I wish it was a higher resolution as it is a noticeable on text. I also wish there would be a better use of the screen size, although this is probably an Android issue (Though I have a feeling it has to do with the Screen Density configuration). It seems everything was just bigger on the Note 2, I couldn?t see more content in apps?It was just larger.

Except raw web browsing, the App speeds of the Note 2 and RAZR MAXX HD seem virtually identical. Web browsing is noticeably quicker on the Note 2.

I really wanted to like the Note 2, and why not? The allure of the ?most powerful Android phone? is quite captivating. Ultimately my experience was not as seamless as I?d hoped. Every previous Samsung device I?ve owned has let me down (Nexus S, GS2, Galaxy Nexus) with low reception and speaker phone echo?the Note 2 didn?t have those issues which had me very excited. Hopefully the GS4 will be better at those issues?but I?ll be waiting for the Moto X device coming this summer.

So the Motorola RAZR MAXX HD is the phone for me, excellent call reception & clarity and longest lasting battery life?with instant screen on.

 

[Megaroad]

Interesting that performance ended up being a reason to keep the Razr over the Note. I think you'll like 4.1.2 on the Razr if you haven't already installed it. The phone on stock feels smoother than it did before (although swiping over to the moto quick settings page is still laggy grr).

 

[SugarMouth]

I?m most curious to hear from people who have used both the RAZR HD/HD MAXX & the Galaxy Note 2.

I have both a RAZR MAXX HD and a Galaxy Note 2. I am trying to decide which to keep. My priorities go like this:

Reception
Battery
Phone Features

I?ve used the Note 2 for a few days and battery and reception seem to be above my threshold for acceptability (few phones are). But I?ve noticed a few things.

1.)I hate TouchWiz, it is unbelievably ugly. *Nova launcher add stock icons.
2.)Screen sometimes takes a while to turn on *Turn off ripple effect in lock screen.
3.)Lockscreen lags when swiping
*Turn off ripple effect in lock screen.
4.)The notification shade lags when pulling it down. *Nova launcher
5.)Animations are not always smooth.
*Nova launcher
6.)Its big?but I am managing.
)

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

 

[johnriii]

I?ve decided to go back to the RAZR MAXX HD. Ultimately it came to a few reasons:

Power On Lag: ?Feature? or not, it?s unacceptable to wait 2 full seconds after a phone call to wait for the screen to turn on so I can hang up.
Noise rejection: Callers state it takes up to 5 seconds for the phone?s noise rejection to handle the car noise, I drive a quiet car, this is unprofessional and unacceptable.
Corporate Email: The RAZR will 'Push' email instantly, the Note 2 is only 4 times an hour.
Unlock Animation Lag: Glitchy animation bugs me on every unlock.
Notification Bar Lag: Power Save on or not, the Notification Bar lags with a handful of notifications in it.

I do like the RGB AMOLED, I wish it was a higher resolution as it is a noticeable on text. I also wish there would be a better use of the screen size, although this is probably an Android issue (Though I have a feeling it has to do with the Screen Density configuration). It seems everything was just bigger on the Note 2, I couldn?t see more content in apps?It was just larger.

Except raw web browsing, the App speeds of the Note 2 and RAZR MAXX HD seem virtually identical. Web browsing is noticeably quicker on the Note 2.

I really wanted to like the Note 2, and why not? The allure of the ?most powerful Android phone? is quite captivating. Ultimately my experience was not as seamless as I?d hoped. Every previous Samsung device I?ve owned has let me down (Nexus S, GS2, Galaxy Nexus) with low reception and speaker phone echo?the Note 2 didn?t have those issues which had me very excited. Hopefully the GS4 will be better at those issues?but I?ll be waiting for the Moto X device coming this summer.

So the Motorola RAZR MAXX HD is the phone for me, excellent call reception & clarity and longest lasting battery life?with instant screen on.

I've got a thread in the Verizon section trying to decide on these two phones as well. thanks for this info, I may have just been pushed closer to the Maxx HD.

 

[hls811]

I had a Note II for about a month and ended up returning it for the Maxx HD. I didn't really noticed all of the lag on the Note II that the OP has even with the animations on. I'm noticing it more w/ the Razr. I'm thinking its the installing/uninstalling of various apps thats doing it though because out of the box I didn't really see it. Now that i have 4.1.2 installed I probably should do a wipe and see if that helps I've just been too lazy to go through setting it all up again. (Its a work phone so I can't root and do a backup). Anyway I gave up on the Note because the novelty of the size wore off in about 2 weeks and I realized if I didnt return it for 2 more years I'd be stuck with a very large phone I didn't need. i loved the S-Pen and ability to take quick notes on the screen, luckily I found Whiteboard Pro which does the same thing.

I'm using the Nova launcher, I stumbled across it simply because I wanted to be able to use folders in my App Drawer and stock Moto doesn't allow it, now that I'm using Nova I'd have a hard time going back simply because I LOVE the ability to do a scrolling dock! How awesome is that?!?!?

And of course the battery of the MAXX makes it so worthwhile. I have chargers in the car, home, office, etc - so I'm always plugged in - I'm a battery watcher. The Note 2 battery was great, but the MAXX just seems so much better. 2GB of RAM would be nice and I think would really help this phone but I'm very happy with my decision to leave the Note 2 behind for the Razr.

 

[johnriii]

I had a Note II for about a month and ended up returning it for the Maxx HD. I didn't really noticed all of the lag on the Note II that the OP has even with the animations on. I'm noticing it more w/ the Razr. I'm thinking its the installing/uninstalling of various apps thats doing it though because out of the box I didn't really see it. Now that i have 4.1.2 installed I probably should do a wipe and see if that helps I've just been too lazy to go through setting it all up again. (Its a work phone so I can't root and do a backup). Anyway I gave up on the Note because the novelty of the size wore off in about 2 weeks and I realized if I didnt return it for 2 more years I'd be stuck with a very large phone I didn't need. i loved the S-Pen and ability to take quick notes on the screen, luckily I found Whiteboard Pro which does the same thing.

I'm using the Nova launcher, I stumbled across it simply because I wanted to be able to use folders in my App Drawer and stock Moto doesn't allow it, now that I'm using Nova I'd have a hard time going back simply because I LOVE the ability to do a scrolling dock! How awesome is that?!?!?

And of course the battery of the MAXX makes it so worthwhile. I have chargers in the car, home, office, etc - so I'm always plugged in - I'm a battery watcher. The Note 2 battery was great, but the MAXX just seems so much better. 2GB of RAM would be nice and I think would really help this phone but I'm very happy with my decision to leave the Note 2 behind for the Razr.

my biggest issue is the inevitable "buyers remorse". I got burned when I bought the Tbolt, and I'm really afraid that may happen again. slowly but surely, I'm reading more and more "cons" about both the Note 2 and the Maxx HD. alledgedly, the Maxx HD has freezing issues along with random rebooting issues. I'm sure the Note 2 has it's issues, but everyone I speak to who has one (about 6 people) swear that it's problem free, and it's the best phone since forever. I'm sure over the next 4 months things will become more clear. if the note doesn't drop from it's $199 price tag, I'm going with the Maxx HD anyway. I need to save money everywhere I can. if they are closer in price, then I will probably flip a coin....

 

[Megaroad]

I'm using the Nova launcher, I stumbled across it simply because I wanted to be able to use folders in my App Drawer and stock Moto doesn't allow it, now that I'm using Nova I'd have a hard time going back simply because I LOVE the ability to do a scrolling dock! How awesome is that?!?!?

One of my favorite features of Nova Launcher (which you access by going into the Nova Settings and holding the volume down key to display the hidden Labs menu) is the ability to put widgets in the scrolling dock. You can make a settings toggles widget and put it in one of the pages of the scrolling dock, which is a cool way to handle quick settings.

After reading an article on Android Central about Lightning Launcher, I installed it and I'm liking it a lot.

 

[Megaroad]

my biggest issue is the inevitable "buyers remorse". I got burned when I bought the Tbolt, and I'm really afraid that may happen again. slowly but surely, I'm reading more and more "cons" about both the Note 2 and the Maxx HD. alledgedly, the Maxx HD has freezing issues along with random rebooting issues. I'm sure the Note 2 has it's issues, but everyone I speak to who has one (about 6 people) swear that it's problem free, and it's the best phone since forever. I'm sure over the next 4 months things will become more clear. if the note doesn't drop from it's $199 price tag, I'm going with the Maxx HD anyway. I need to save money everywhere I can. if they are closer in price, then I will probably flip a coin....

I haven't had any freezing or random rebooting issues with the Maxx HD. It has run quite stable for me. It is laggy on stock, but you can improve that quite a bit with certain ROMs and/or launchers, if you're up for tinkering.

 

[t0ked]

I've had the freezing issue. It's more like the phone just gets soooooo slow, I'm forced to do the battery pull button dance. I noticed it does it when I'm usually using Chrome and Amazon. I've made Dolphin my default and removed the Amazon authentication app (only needed for Amazonmp3... I'm rooted) and it hasn't happened since. Plus 4.1.2 has made it smoother with better memory management.

 

[hls811]

my biggest issue is the inevitable "buyers remorse". I got burned when I bought the Tbolt, and I'm really afraid that may happen again. slowly but surely, I'm reading more and more "cons" about both the Note 2 and the Maxx HD. alledgedly, the Maxx HD has freezing issues along with random rebooting issues. I'm sure the Note 2 has it's issues, but everyone I speak to who has one (about 6 people) swear that it's problem free, and it's the best phone since forever. I'm sure over the next 4 months things will become more clear. if the note doesn't drop from it's $199 price tag, I'm going with the Maxx HD anyway. I need to save money everywhere I can. if they are closer in price, then I will probably flip a coin....

I haven't really had any freezing up or had the need to do restarts - the lag I experienced was mainly on home screen transitions, it wasn't anything major but at times I'd notice it. I ended up doing a wipe/restore today and it definitely helped. Its a pain to do since theres no true way to back everything up and it takes time to get it set up the way I like it, but its worth it. I don't see any lags now. For the most part I have the same apps on now that I was using before, the only exception is I left Beautiful Widgets off and I'm trying a new clock/weather combo. I don't think that was the cause of the lagging though.

I dindt have the Thunderbolt but I knew people who did, trust me - you won't have the same type of buyers remorse over this device. The Razr Maxx HD is phenomenal.

One of my favorite features of Nova Launcher (which you access by going into the Nova Settings and holding the volume down key to display the hidden Labs menu) is the ability to put widgets in the scrolling dock. You can make a settings toggles widget and put it in one of the pages of the scrolling dock, which is a cool way to handle quick settings..

Thats nice to know! I didn't realize it could do that. I was an Android guy years ago, then switched to an iPhone (I've always been a Mac user, Luckily I carry 2 phones, my iphone 5 and the Maxx) - anyway, I've always shied away from launchers. I didn't like the extra 'bulk' they took up over the basic skin that were installed, I always made it work. Really the only reason I tried Nova was because of the App Drawer Folders, I got used to putting icons in folders on my iPhone and the Note allows it to so I wanted to replicate that functionality, but finding these little tweaks and tips makes me realize what I'd been missing out on. I always thought widgets would make the iPhone 'perfect', I can now add a swipeable dock to that list because its one of those features that would be hard to do without.

 

[Megaroad]

Thats nice to know! I didn't realize it could do that. I was an Android guy years ago, then switched to an iPhone (I've always been a Mac user, Luckily I carry 2 phones, my iphone 5 and the Maxx) - anyway, I've always shied away from launchers. I didn't like the extra 'bulk' they took up over the basic skin that were installed, I always made it work. Really the only reason I tried Nova was because of the App Drawer Folders, I got used to putting icons in folders on my iPhone and the Note allows it to so I wanted to replicate that functionality, but finding these little tweaks and tips makes me realize what I'd been missing out on. I always thought widgets would make the iPhone 'perfect', I can now add a swipeable dock to that list because its one of those features that would be hard to do without.

Lightning Launcher is cool too. I hadn't heard of it until the article about it on the front page last week. It lets you "pin" any app or widget, thus making that thing basically act like a dock of it's own. So you could have a dock that's two rows, or have little docks scattered all over the screen, or whatever. You control what part of your screen is static and what parts move when you swipe - and you can also swipe up and down, not just side to side! It's pretty awesome.

 

[androidluvr2]

my biggest issue is the inevitable "buyers remorse". I got burned when I bought the Tbolt, .

I don't know if you got burned with the Tbolt so much as it was Verizon's first 4G LTE phone and if you are going to be an early adopter of a technology, you must accept that there will be unexpected issues that arise and need to be addressed. At the time, it was state of the art and the only 4G LTE phone available. If you had 4G LTE in your area, the towers were not congested and you could really make use of that unlimited data plan. What specifically were your issues with the Tbolt?

slowly but surely, I'm reading more and more "cons" about both the Note 2 and the Maxx HD

none of these phones are perfect. You have to pick the one whose flaws are the least bothersome to you.

 

[johnriii]

I've had the freezing issue. It's more like the phone just gets soooooo slow, I'm forced to do the battery pull button dance. I noticed it does it when I'm usually using Chrome and Amazon. I've made Dolphin my default and removed the Amazon authentication app (only needed for Amazonmp3... I'm rooted) and it hasn't happened since. Plus 4.1.2 has made it smoother with better memory management.

I got really, really close to rooting my Tbolt, then they "upgraded" me to the Rezound last november. that being said, if I get the Maxx HD, then I will probably root it. thanks for the info.

 

[johnriii]

I don't know if you got burned with the Tbolt so much as it was Verizon's first 4G LTE phone and if you are going to be an early adopter of a technology, you must accept that there will be unexpected issues that arise and need to be addressed. At the time, it was state of the art and the only 4G LTE phone available. If you had 4G LTE in your area, the towers were not congested and you could really make use of that unlimited data plan. What specifically were your issues with the Tbolt?



none of these phones are perfect. You have to pick the one whose flaws are the least bothersome to you.

specifically, the battery life. it was much worse than advertised, and I know all about the different ways you can tweak that, and I did. juice defender was a savior to me, but then after the last OTA update last June/July, connectivity went down the tubes. I couldn't watch a 4 minute youtube video without losing the connection, and after two refurbs from verizon, they finally sent me the Rezound (which is much much better on holding the signal). Before the update, I was quite happy with the phone, but lack of connectivity and subpar battery life wore me out. BTW, I bought my Tbolt about 8 months after they came out, so my choices were the Charge, Tbolt, and LG Revolution. yuck. Kansas City has excellent LTE coverage, so that wasn't the issue.

I hear ya, I'm not expecting the phone to be "perfect". but it sounds like the Note 2 is about as close as I'm going to get. thanks again for the input.

 

[dpham00]

my biggest issue is the inevitable "buyers remorse". I got burned when I bought the Tbolt, and I'm really afraid that may happen again. slowly but surely, I'm reading more and more "cons" about both the Note 2 and the Maxx HD. alledgedly, the Maxx HD has freezing issues along with random rebooting issues. I'm sure the Note 2 has it's issues, but everyone I speak to who has one (about 6 people) swear that it's problem free, and it's the best phone since forever. I'm sure over the next 4 months things will become more clear. if the note doesn't drop from it's $199 price tag, I'm going with the Maxx HD anyway. I need to save money everywhere I can. if they are closer in price, then I will probably flip a coin....

The only issue I have is that it reboots if you copy to the clipboard a number of times on the note 2. You can do reboots of your own to avoid this. I do notice occasional lag, could be because I have a lot of apps installed. Other than that, I am satisfied with the $37 that I spent on the note 2.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[dpham00]

I don't know if you got burned with the Tbolt so much as it was Verizon's first 4G LTE phone and if you are going to be an early adopter of a technology, you must accept that there will be unexpected issues that arise and need to be addressed. At the time, it was state of the art and the only 4G LTE phone available. If you had 4G LTE in your area, the towers were not congested and you could really make use of that unlimited data plan. What specifically were your issues with the Tbolt?

none of these phones are perfect. You have to pick the one whose flaws are the least bothersome to you.

It doesn't matter if it was the first 4GLTE phone, the issues that I had with connectivity, random reboots and shut downs was unacceptable to me. I am in a low signal area, but all my other phones never had anywhere close to the problems that my thunderbolt had. If you were in a strong 4GLTE area, then this really isn't a problem

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[androidluvr2]

so my choices were the Charge, Tbolt, and LG Revolution. yuck.

And that is what you have to keep in mind - back then, the choices weren't that great.

When I bought my GNex, my choices were the GNex, Razr and the Rezound. There wasn't even a Razr Maxx yet. The Razr had an awful screen and a 1780 mAh non-removable battery. The Rezound was thick, heavy and had a ridiculously reflective glass screen better suited to a mirror than an LCD (which rendered it useless outdoors) and its battery was only 1620 mAh.

 

[androidluvr2]

It doesn't matter if it was the first 4GLTE phone,

I bet you that the first Android 3G phone had a lot of problems, too.