Razr or the Galaxy Nexus?

[CarryMe]

Hi - I have to pick a phone soon (before Christmas) and am deciding between the Razr (R) and the Galaxy Nexus (GN). I am making a table up with a comparison between the 2 to help me decide.

My eyesight is not that good so the quality of the screen is important to me. I've looked at both in the store and didn't really detect a difference but I know that once you get the devices outside or under different lighting conditions, that can change.

I don't really care about the ice cream sandwich since Motorola will be updating the R to have it soon. Or will it not be soon?

So far my research can be summarized as follows:

R - metal case, removable microSD card, expandable to 32GB microSD card, lighter and smaller, 8Mp camera but there is shutter lag, gorilla glass, battery not removable, gingerbread OS but will be updated soon, better voice quality and reception (according to PCMag review)

GN - higher resolution screen, no removable microSD card, storage not expandable, 5Mp camera but no shutter lag, higher mAh removable battery, ice cream sandwich OS, some sort of volume issue but supposedly there is a software fix?


Did I get the comparison right? Are there other factors you would consider when making the choice?

Thanks in advance for your help!!!!

 

[smitty24]

Brother brought home a RAZR last night and I currently have a Nexus. I think I made the right choice. Razr is fast and you wont be disappointed, but nothing beats a Nexus. Had my nexus one for 2 years on Tmo. Never a time when it wasnt relevant.

Good luck!

 

[CarryMe]

but nothing beats a Nexus.

Can you tell me what features are the most important to you that caused you to pick the Nexus?

 

[smitty24]

Can you tell me what features are the most important to you that caused you to pick the Nexus?

Google handled updates, ability to root easily. Flashing any and every rom thats available. Mods/themes out the wazoo...just your preference. If you arent rooting and dont care to flash ROMs etc, and dont mind the MOTOBLURish overlay, a RAZR is a damn fine phone. There will be the ability to do that on the RAZR too (if there isnt already) but the developer support for Nexus devices is insane.

 

[CarryMe]

Google handled updates, ability to root easily. Flashing any and every rom thats available. Mods/themes out the wazoo...just your preference. If you arent rooting and dont care to flash ROMs etc, and dont mind the MOTOBLURish overlay, a RAZR is a damn fine phone. There will be the ability to do that on the RAZR too (if there isnt already) but the developer support for Nexus devices is insane.

If you have the time, could you translate that for me? What do rooting, flashing ROM and Motoblurish mean?

I quickly looked it up and flashing a ROM means you can tweak the OS to your liking, yes? Get rid of things you don't like and add things you do like, that sort of stuff?

Rooting is something you have to do in order to be able to flash the ROM, yes?

Motoblurish is the user interface on the Razr, yes?

And the advantage of having Google do the updates is that it is faster or more reliable (less problems)?

 

[smitty24]

If you have the time, could you translate that for me? What do rooting, flashing ROM and Motoblurish mean?

I quickly looked it up and flashing a ROM means you can tweak the OS to your liking, yes? Get rid of things you don't like and add things you do like, that sort of stuff?

Rooting is something you have to do in order to be able to flash the ROM, yes?

Motoblurish is the user interface on the Razr, yes?

And the advantage of having Google do the updates is that it is faster or more reliable (less problems)?

Yes - you have to unlock your bootloader to flash ROMs/themes/etc. Flashing Roms that developers make give you the look/features you want.

MOTOBLUR is the over lay on DROID phones (well thats what it used to be called, not sure if it still is called that)

And yes - Google handled updates are faster and typically have less issues. If they do, they get fixed quicker.

Hope this has been of some help.

 

[chevyguy8893]

I bought the galaxy nexus yesterday after comparing for about a month between the HTC Rezound, Droid Razr, and the specs online for the Galaxy Nexus. The Razr is nice, but the non-removable battery killed it for me. Other than that it is a well built phone with good screen quality and other nice features. It is not a bad phone by any means, it just didn't fit what I liked. It seems hard to tell when Ice Cream Sandwich will come out for the razr. Removable memory is a plus for some, but a USB cable works just fine too.

I did get the galaxy nexus when it came out yesterday after comparing the other phones to it in store. The phone is big, but still relatively thin. I love ice cream sandwich so far, and it should get better as it is upgraded. The phone is just as fast as the Razr, but it is a different processor. Which the OMAP 4460 in the galaxy nexus is at 1.2GHz, but according to the specs from Texas instruments it is capable of 1.5GHz. So, if overclocking becomes a possibility it could be faster. HD display is pretty much equal to the razr with the exception of the big screen in which the button disappear when playing videos. The earpiece could be better, but I text more anyways. I like the settings available for the audio in the music player and the output is very clear. Battery life has been pretty good to me so far, but my previous phone was horrible. The camera quality is not horrible at all, but the razr seemed better, but the camera was not important to me either. The battery cover on the galaxy nexus seems a little cheap, but it seems to work fine. I am trying my best to stay unbiased between the two, but having bought the nexus, it is hard not to.

 

[CarryMe]

Hope this has been of some help.

Yes it has, thank you!

 

[CarryMe]

I am trying my best to stay unbiased between the two, but having bought the nexus, it is hard not to.

How is your reception for 4G where you live with the GN compared to any other phones, if you know? Seems like some are having reception issues.

 

[chevyguy8893]

How is your reception for 4G where you live with the GN compared to any other phones, if you know? Seems like some are having reception issues.

One of my friends has the Razr, and another has the Droid Bionic, and mine seems equal in signal quality when compared to their phones in the same area. I read somewhere that the nexus reacts slow when switching between 3G and 4G, but mine seems to do it just fine. If I notice anything different in signal quality over the weekend when I am out with my friends I will report back.

 

[johnglad]

I came from the razr and couldn't be happier...the nexus is way snappier then my razr was, and this screen blows the razr screen out of the water in my opinion. I got maybe an hour more out of the razr battery, but the one in the nexus hasn't been conditioned fully yet do we'll see in a couple days about that .

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[bjrosen]

I just ordered a Nexus from Amazon. I spent the day comparing the Nexus and the Razr at a couple of different Verizon stores. The Nexus seemed to have better LTE speeds but that could just be it's position in the store because every run was different depending on the server it connected to. Yesterday the Nexus was getting a whopping 28MBit down, 9 up, today it varied between 16 and 21. The Razr got 12 to 19. However in the mall a block away the Nexus only got 10 which is still good but not mind blowing. The voice quality on the Razr was better but the Nexus in the mall was acceptable. The Nexus in the big Verizon store was unusable. There was a software bug in the GSM version that made the volume control not work. I'm guessing that the first Nexus was .00 software and that the mall version had been updated. If the second Nexus had the unintelligible voice quality of the first I would have bought a Razr. However since the second was acceptable I went with the Nexus. For me the lack of a removable battery on the Razr was the deal breaker. The lack of an SD card on the Nexus isn't a big deal. I'm using 2G on my current phone so 32G seems huge. The 5MP camera is good enough. Until there is a breakthrough in optics no phone is going to be a great camera. The thing that cinched it for me is that the Nexus gets constant updates from Google. I'm a Fedora Linux user so I feel deprived if I don't get updates every day. My girlfriend is an XP user, she's horrified at the thought of getting frequent updates. If you like the leading edge then the Nexus is a good choice, if you don't like running beta software then you might be happier with the Razr.

 

[CarryMe]

I came from the razr and couldn't be happier...

Are you having any signal strength issues?

 

[CarryMe]

if you don't like running beta software then you might be happier with the Razr.

Any signal strength issues? That is my biggest concern.

 

[MazoMark]

Best way to determine if signal strength is an issue for you is to buy it and test it out where you live and work. That's the only way to be sure. If it doesn't work for you, then return it. Worst case, you'll be out the restocking fee.

 

[CarryMe]

Best way to determine if signal strength is an issue for you is to buy it and test it out where you live and work. That's the only way to be sure. If it doesn't work for you, then return it. Worst case, you'll be out the restocking fee.

that is the plan, but I am deciding between the GN, RAZR and Rezound, so I want to make sure it is in my top 2. I will go back to the VZN store this week and play with them all again, this time paying attention to signal strength.

 

[chevyguy8893]

I compared my nexus to my friends razr today throughout Chicago and outlying areas and signal was the same on the signal meter in settings, but the bars did read different. Mine at two bars was the same signal strength as his at three bars. Four bars of 4G is just insane how fast it is for either phone. IT could be different in other areas though.

 

[jhamilton3#CB]

Friend of mine has the RAZR - while it does look great I'm just not a fan of the Moto-skin.. ICS looks so much better to me.

 

[TrendyProfessional1]

I did a big comparison in your other thread lol.
But if vision is your problem. Go with the GN it gives you the
option to change the font size. I didnt see that on the Razr

 

[CarryMe]

I did a big comparison in your other thread lol.
But if vision is your problem. Go with the GN it gives you the
option to change the font size. I didnt see that on the Razr

Thanks again, very helpful info!