I, like many others in the forums have been on the rollercoaster ride that is the Galaxy Nexus release. Although I have to admit, we?ve created our own drama over this phone. I wish Verizon would just announce a release date so everyone can just relax and go pick it up when it?s ready.
Enough of that, back on topic? I picked up the Rezound on Monday and have been putting it through my paces. First impression was the screen. It is absolutely amazing! Beautiful resolution, the Ellie Goulding HD video embedded in the guided tour simply looked perfect.
I?m coming off of a Palm Pre on Sprint, so I was excited to run a speed test on Verizon?s LTE. It?s all it?s hyped to be? I got 17 MBps down and 4 MBps up in my basement, which pretty much doubles my wi-fi connection in the same location. I?m impressed with Verizon LTE on this phone.
I don?t really know what to say about the Beats Audio. The software side of Beats is only available through the stock music and video player. I have started down the Google Music path, and even though I?ve downloaded music for off-line listening, the stock music player doesn?t see it. If anyone can point me in the right direction on this, it would be much appreciated. While playing the Ellie Goulding video, you can en/dis-able Beats audio processing. I listened to the video with Beats on and off and could not discern any subtle audio differences, but then again I?m not an audiophile. It seems as if Beats does nothing more than boost the audio across the board. On the hardware side of Beats, the earbuds, I can say that you will not find a better set included with ANY phone. The earbuds have enough heft to them to make me feel as if they are well made.
Battery life has been above average coming from my Pre. After both full battery charges, I?ve had roughly 6-7 hrs of heavy use (who doesn?t use the crap out of their new phone?) down to the 10% battery level. I?m sure it?ll get better after the battery conditions and my use tapers back to its normal light-medium usage.
The built in email program has me wanting to go back to webOS. HTML emails don?t load in a full page. I have to pan and scan across the screen to view the entire email. Is this normal? And although the webOS internet browser wasn?t the best, I still prefer it to the stock HTC browser. On desktop sites, I expect to double tap a headline, picture, or paragraph and have the screen zoom to that particular width. It seems like this is all over the board? Or maybe I should expect something different from Android?
For the most part the phone UI is smooth and fast. However after loading music in Google music and performing a long scroll, the scroll is a bit jumpy, although still fast. You?ll notice the album covers load sporadically until the scroll commences. I know this is seems like a harsh test, but with the processor in this bad boy, I would expect smooth scrolling with the album covers intact.
I chose the Rezound over the Razr solely based on the physical feel of the devices. To me, the Razr was too thin. I actually am beginning to think there is a substance to a phone being too svelte. The Razr was wider than the Rezound by a margin enough to make me feel I had to constantly reposition the device in my hand in order to use it one-handed. This something I?ve grown accustomed to by using the Pre. My first glance at the Rezound spec?s actually made me laugh out loud at how thick the phone was? The device feels really good in the hand. Good balance and weight, plus I?m able to do just about everything one-handed without feeling the need to re-position the phone in my hand. One change hardware wise I would make, would be to make the power and volume rocker protrude about .5 ? 1mm more. The power button is just about flush with the phone body and while the volume rocker sits out a just a bit more. I find myself having to look to find these buttons when using them.
As much as I like this phone, it?s simply a rental for me? The fact that it does not support NFC is a deal breaker for me. If it had NFC I would only consider keeping it over the Galaxy Nexus.
That?s it for now? Hopefully this will help others. I?m sure I?ll be around asking questions until I am acclimated to Android.
Enough of that, back on topic? I picked up the Rezound on Monday and have been putting it through my paces. First impression was the screen. It is absolutely amazing! Beautiful resolution, the Ellie Goulding HD video embedded in the guided tour simply looked perfect.
I?m coming off of a Palm Pre on Sprint, so I was excited to run a speed test on Verizon?s LTE. It?s all it?s hyped to be? I got 17 MBps down and 4 MBps up in my basement, which pretty much doubles my wi-fi connection in the same location. I?m impressed with Verizon LTE on this phone.
I don?t really know what to say about the Beats Audio. The software side of Beats is only available through the stock music and video player. I have started down the Google Music path, and even though I?ve downloaded music for off-line listening, the stock music player doesn?t see it. If anyone can point me in the right direction on this, it would be much appreciated. While playing the Ellie Goulding video, you can en/dis-able Beats audio processing. I listened to the video with Beats on and off and could not discern any subtle audio differences, but then again I?m not an audiophile. It seems as if Beats does nothing more than boost the audio across the board. On the hardware side of Beats, the earbuds, I can say that you will not find a better set included with ANY phone. The earbuds have enough heft to them to make me feel as if they are well made.
Battery life has been above average coming from my Pre. After both full battery charges, I?ve had roughly 6-7 hrs of heavy use (who doesn?t use the crap out of their new phone?) down to the 10% battery level. I?m sure it?ll get better after the battery conditions and my use tapers back to its normal light-medium usage.
The built in email program has me wanting to go back to webOS. HTML emails don?t load in a full page. I have to pan and scan across the screen to view the entire email. Is this normal? And although the webOS internet browser wasn?t the best, I still prefer it to the stock HTC browser. On desktop sites, I expect to double tap a headline, picture, or paragraph and have the screen zoom to that particular width. It seems like this is all over the board? Or maybe I should expect something different from Android?
For the most part the phone UI is smooth and fast. However after loading music in Google music and performing a long scroll, the scroll is a bit jumpy, although still fast. You?ll notice the album covers load sporadically until the scroll commences. I know this is seems like a harsh test, but with the processor in this bad boy, I would expect smooth scrolling with the album covers intact.
I chose the Rezound over the Razr solely based on the physical feel of the devices. To me, the Razr was too thin. I actually am beginning to think there is a substance to a phone being too svelte. The Razr was wider than the Rezound by a margin enough to make me feel I had to constantly reposition the device in my hand in order to use it one-handed. This something I?ve grown accustomed to by using the Pre. My first glance at the Rezound spec?s actually made me laugh out loud at how thick the phone was? The device feels really good in the hand. Good balance and weight, plus I?m able to do just about everything one-handed without feeling the need to re-position the phone in my hand. One change hardware wise I would make, would be to make the power and volume rocker protrude about .5 ? 1mm more. The power button is just about flush with the phone body and while the volume rocker sits out a just a bit more. I find myself having to look to find these buttons when using them.
As much as I like this phone, it?s simply a rental for me? The fact that it does not support NFC is a deal breaker for me. If it had NFC I would only consider keeping it over the Galaxy Nexus.
That?s it for now? Hopefully this will help others. I?m sure I?ll be around asking questions until I am acclimated to Android.
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