Need to buy a new phone: Galaxy Nexus or Razr?

[SurfingInCalifornia]

Work is upgrading my phone, looking extensively b/t a Galaxy Nexus or a Razr.

I have read all the pros and cons (and threads on this site) about each, especially the Nexus complaints regarding sound quality, reception, power drain.

Personally, I own an iPhone 4, which has been good, but not great either. Reception has been decent, battery drain is not good (running the Waze gps app for two hours driving will knock off 40% battery easily). So my iPhone has its own issues, but has proven to be a good phone. The 3G internet speed is ok, but sloooow!

I think with any newer phone, you basically just have to have an AC charger at home and at work, as well as a car charger. For those other times when you're away from home or the car, say hiking, etc.......turn it off and enjoy the view of what you're doing.

My wife has a Charge and the 4G is excellent, almost like DSL compared to my iPhone having dial up!.

So what do you all think, Galaxy Nexus, Razr or somethng else? Thanks.............

 

[Premium1]

I would go play with both and see which you like more. I did not like the width of the razr paired with how thin it was felt awkward in hand. I would say the top two phones on verizon are the nexus and rezound. Go look at those, either one you will not be disappointed.

 

[davidb72]

I wouldn't buy any 4G phone right now. I just returned my Galaxy Nexus (which was an awesome phone) because the 4G network sucks so bad. I can't monkey around wondering if I'm going to have a data connection or not.

 

[Premium1]

I wouldn't buy any 4G phone right now. I just returned my Galaxy Nexus (which was an awesome phone) because the 4G network sucks so bad. I can't monkey around wondering if I'm going to have a data connection or not.

I see you are in HBG and I am very close to that and just wondering what issues you are having? I had no issues with 4g and even today when 4g was down my 3g still worked fine. I guess people forget that you can still go to 3g. Why get locked into a 3g phone for 2 years..

 

[SSHGuru]

I would go with the Nexus - the RAZR has issues with hardware and it will take a long time to get ICS on it.

 

[davidb72]

I see you are in HBG and I am very close to that and just wondering what issues you are having? I had no issues with 4g and even today when 4g was down my 3g still worked fine. I guess people forget that you can still go to 3g. Why get locked into a 3g phone for 2 years..

I didn't even have 3G today. I tried to force it to CDMA, did the airplane mode thing, but still no data connection.

I work in south Harrisburg right off of Cameron Street and can't get a 4G signal in my building at all either - and I have an office with a window that looks right out at a cell phone tower (don't know if it's a Verizon tower).

I'm not locked in, I am just using an old phone for now. Hopefully Verizon will be able to get their network working sometime in the future, but I can't fool around with not having a data connection once a week.

 

[2010BmwM3]

I wouldn't buy any 4G phone right now. I just returned my Galaxy Nexus (which was an awesome phone) because the 4G network sucks so bad. I can't monkey around wondering if I'm going to have a data connection or not.

Then only use CDMA and turn on LTE when you know you're in an area that has 4G....?


Edit: Posted at the exact same time you replied to the other post, Sorry

 

[Premium1]

I didn't even have 3G today. I tried to force it to CDMA, did the airplane mode thing, but still no data connection.

I work in south Harrisburg right off of Cameron Street and can't get a 4G signal in my building at all either - and I have an office with a window that looks right out at a cell phone tower (don't know if it's a Verizon tower).

I'm not locked in, I am just using an old phone for now. Hopefully Verizon will be able to get their network working sometime in the future, but I can't fool around with not having a data connection once a week.

I work in the courthouse and cannot get a 4g signal in that building but all the other surrounding buildings I can get a 4g signal some of the time. I think it has more to do with the types of buildings.

 

[davidb72]

I work in the courthouse and cannot get a 4g signal in that building but all the other surrounding buildings I can get a 4g signal some of the time. I think it has more to do with the types of buildings.

I'm sure you're right about the kinds of buildings... The customer service rep was telling me today how much better the 4G signal penetrates buildings versus the 3G signal...

Maybe in theory...

Our building is mostly glass.

 

[elvisgp]

Go with the nexus, but don't expect a perfect device. It has it's issues, but I personally haven't experienced many issues. Other than the issues, the nexus has an amazing screen, very good hardware, and ICS. ICS is the best version of Android yet.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[revickulous2001]

I don't believe the Razr to be a good choice of a 2 year contract. It has it's own set of problems and I believe its only advantage is how rugged it is.

The Rezound is a very nice phone. Take a look at that one. HTC Sense is far better than Motoblur. The Rezound has a better screen than the Razr. And it feels better when holding it.

That being said, the Galaxy Nexus is the pinnacle of phones right now. The only possible exception to that is the Galaxy SII series which isn't available on Verizon anyway. The Galaxy Nexus has the best screen, the newest version of Android, it's the only Android phone without hardware buttons, it has the best developer support, and it's super fast.

If you're a tech geek and willing to root your phone and tweak it a bit, your battery life will be fine and you will still get all the benefits of being future-proofed for at least two years.

 

[bignaz]

http://forums.androidcentral.com/droid-razr/145226-so-i-got-gnex-razr-heres-my-2-cents.html

Im one of the few people here who have both the Gnex and Razr and have used them both for longer than a day. If you have any questions just shoot me a PM. If you want help deciding between the two just let me know if theirs any thing you would like to know just shoot me a pm.

 

[doogie1]

I agree with Premium1 regarding the Razr's awkward placement in hand. I had the Razr for almost a month.. It's not a bad phone.. Speaker is certainly way better than the GN, that's as far as it goes for me. It's not much lighter than the GN. Motocast rarely synced right and the screen on the Razr isn't as rich as the GN. The thunderbolt seemed to even have a sharper looking screen than the Razr. I did like the smart action's on the Razr though. Try one and if you don't like it, take it back and exchange it for the other.

 

[SAENZ_SCENE]

I would recommend the rezound then the nexus. Just need to test out and see what's suits you though

 

[CynicX]

Worst place to look for unbiased advice.....

I personally like both and have my reasons for not getting either. Go to the store and play with both....software is the obvious difference. A lot of people like manufacture ui's and the features they offer so you'll have to see if you like it or not.

Personally I like the Razr a tad bit more currently until the gnex gets some of the kinks worked out. And I know I'll get flamed for this but if it wasn't for vanilla ICS I wouldn't want anything to do the gnex.

 

[bignaz]

I love HTC phones i just cant buy into the "Beats" in the Rezound. I tested out some i-beats, Beats Pro and Beats Solo HD and at the end of it they are over priced and mediocre at best. The beats on the Rezound is pretty much a EQ with a S curve. Lose the beats and the Rezound is a pretty nice phone. It just feels this to me. But honestly every HTC phone i had i loved. Eris, then Droid incredible and then the Evo 3D They feel like very high end phones in your hand and i personally dropped my Evo 3D from about 5 feet high onto cement and nothing on it broke. Solid phone and between the 3 phones you will be happy with either one wither it be the Rezound, Razr or Nexus but out of the three the Nexus will feel like the cheapest phone out of them after you hold all of them in your hand.

 

[ultravisitor]

I had a RAZR for a few weeks, and it is a very nice phone. It's awkward to hold, yes, because it is wide and slippery and very thin, but it is some excellent hardware otherwise. It is definitely a great phone. One feature that I don't think is being pushed hard enough in the marketing for it is Smart Actions, which is basically a way to automate your phone based on certain triggers like location or time of day. That is the one thing about the RAZR that I really miss.

I have the Galaxy Nexus now, and I love it. I prefer it to the RAZR, but that's mainly because I'm a geek who wants the latest OS ASAP, and I want to root and flash ROMs on my phone, which is much easier with the Nexus.

Question: if this phone is for work, will you still be able to/are you looking to root it or are you looking at a completely stock experience? One thing to consider is that if you are looking to flash ROMs, it's not going to be as easy with the RAZR and the development community for it will not be as large.

I do not use HTC phones because I do not like Sense. Maybe you will, which may mean that the Rezound is worth considering. But remember that if you don't like it, you won't be able to get rid of it unless you root your phone and flash a Sense-less ROM. (The same goes for the RAZR. The RAZR has its own UI skin, but that skin isn't as intrusive as Sense.)

Also to consider: how long will you be keeping this phone? If you will be keeping it for two years and want to make sure that you continue to receive the latest OS updates, the Galaxy Nexus is your best choice.

Remember, too, that the Galaxy Nexus has NFC, but the RAZR and Rezound do not. That may not matter to you now, but will that matter to you in a year?

 

[flashkillpro]

The Galaxy Nexus has the bigger and better screen wich is one of the two main reasons why i prefer this phone over the Razr. The second reason is ICS. You shouldn't expect ICS on the Razr before July. ICS is far superior to android 2.3. Also the GN is 'skinless' wich means that no crapware is added to the phone wich improves its performance, speed and usability.

 

[mitra88]

I'm sure you're right about the kinds of buildings... The customer service rep was telling me today how much better the 4G signal penetrates buildings versus the 3G signal...

Maybe in theory...

Our building is mostly glass.

Actually, this reminded me of a funny finding.

My work office building has several different types inside the same campus (yeah, I work for a college). Outside of the building complex, I always get 4 bars of LTE with the signal strength around -70~80dBm. When I get into the building complex, obviously it gets weaker, something around -80~90dBm. Unfortunately, there is one specific building in the complex which always gets higher than -110dBm. As soon as I step into that building, I get only one bar or even zero. :-X

That happens to be my office building. So, while at work, LTE pretty much means nothing. However, I have no problem since 1xRTT signal is still strong for voice talk, and I can simply use my work WiFi for data connection for my GN.

In conclusion, I totally agree with you that some buildings tend to kill LTE signals than others.

 

[Droid800]

I didn't even have 3G today. I tried to force it to CDMA, did the airplane mode thing, but still no data connection.

I work in south Harrisburg right off of Cameron Street and can't get a 4G signal in my building at all either - and I have an office with a window that looks right out at a cell phone tower (don't know if it's a Verizon tower).

I'm not locked in, I am just using an old phone for now. Hopefully Verizon will be able to get their network working sometime in the future, but I can't fool around with not having a data connection once a week.

The network has been just fine. Sure they've had a few hiccups, but that's to be expected with a new cutting edge network. Look at it this way: Verizon is doing something no one has done before at a speed no one thought possible. You HAVE to anticipate that there will be issues here and there. If you don't, you're not being honest with yourself or fair to Verizon.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk