Another Phone Thread

I'm on Verizon and I need a new phone to replace my Motorola Droid 2. I'm torn between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Motorola Razr Maxx HD.

Has anyone been down this road lately?

Yep. Went from a Droid X2 to a Galaxy S3 in August. Didn't realize the droid was slow, buggy, or dim until I upgraded (because the Droid was great, but the GSIII is AWESOME. Only big downside is fragility. The first one I got lasted two months before the USB port gave out and the glass face shattered from a drop onto wood flooring from three feet (although the screen still worked). I replaced it with a new one, this time in an Otterbox Commuter.

Battery life on the GSIII is kinda short, if that's something that's a big consideration. The Razr Maxx is hyped on long battery life, but it's not user-replaceable.

I have an iphone 5. Went to get a new cord so I can charge it in my truck. Not the adaptor end mind, just the cord. USB on one end and little iphone5 plug on the other. $44.00. Love the phone but what a bunch of greedy pricks.

psteav wrote: Yep. Went from a Droid X2 to a Galaxy S3 in August. Didn't realize the droid was slow, buggy, or dim until I upgraded (because the Droid was great, but the GSIII is AWESOME.

Funny, I went from an Iphone 3gs to a GS3 and went the inverse of your line of thinking.

I have no additional apps on my phone then what was delivered, E36 M3 hangs, its not nearly as intuitive as an iphone, and everything has a almost imperceptible amount of lag from when I hit the screen to when an action happens.

I'm selling my GS3 and getting an iphone 5 within the next 2 months, especially now that google maps is out for IOS6.

Thanks for the opinions guys. I should have mentioned above that I'm not interested in Apple products. I'll leave it at that.

I think I can deal with the battery life issues on the GS3 with an extended battery, an extended battery case, chargers, or one of those back up battery things in some kind of combination.

I feel like my current motorola has pretty amazing radios in it, being able to pick up pretty faint wifi signal and getting what I think is great reception in most places. Does anyone have any experience in comparing signal strength between the Maxx and SG3? Or just bad reception on either?

HiTempguy wrote:

psteav wrote: Yep. Went from a Droid X2 to a Galaxy S3 in August. Didn't realize the droid was slow, buggy, or dim until I upgraded (because the Droid was great, but the GSIII is AWESOME.

Funny, I went from an Iphone 3gs to a GS3 and went the inverse of your line of thinking. I have no additional apps on my phone then what was delivered, E36 M3 hangs, its not nearly as intuitive as an iphone, and everything has a almost imperceptible amount of lag from when I hit the screen to when an action happens. I'm selling my GS3 and getting an iphone 5 within the next 2 months, especially now that google maps is out for IOS6.

Out of curiosity, what service provider are you on?

I will say that there seems to be a perceptible difference in how well my GSIII (Verizon) works compared to my girlfriend's (AT&T). Hers is one version behind in Android (still on Ice Cream Sandwich). Mine seems to be a little quicker, and definitely came with less bloatware and crap preinstalled. Could just be me, though.

iPhones are neat, but the general ethos of the company still kind of pisses me off. I had an original iPhone, and will agree that it was intuitive and great and everything except being an actual PHONE. Dropped calls, E36 M3ty sound quality, phantom calls, the works. I understand its quite a bit better now, but I like android and I love my GSIII.

I should have clarified that: I am on Verizon, and my city is covered mostly in 4G. You have me pretty much sold on SG3 now.

Mrs. Orphancars traded in her Thunderbolt for a GS3 and loves it!!!

Battery life for her is almost 2 days! She makes a couple calls during the day (literally 1 or 2) and uses it for texting and playing games. Screen is brighter and overall the phone is more intuitive for her. Everything works better/faster compared to her old phone.

Me? Stuck with my Tbolt for another 2 weeks and then it's time for me to upgrade. I'm torn between the GS3, a Note, the new HTC, and the Motorola......decisions, decisions....

bearmtnmartin wrote: I have an iphone 5. Went to get a new cord so I can charge it in my truck. Not the adaptor end mind, just the cord. USB on one end and little iphone5 plug on the other. $44.00. Love the phone but what a bunch of greedy pricks.

Not that this is any help now, but eBay knockoffs are a fraction of the cost for something as mundane as a cord

And as usual with any Android phone, I'd check if there is a "community ROM" available without all the carrier-inflicted crap on it.

If your Droid is still working, I'd look at putting Cyanogenmod on it first - I did that on my Droid 1 and that made it useable again.

Orphan: I found the note to be too big, and the S3 to be the biggest I'd go.

Boxhead: The S3 has a huge following in the hacker world. Several ROMs available. I was running cyanogenmod on my D2 until an unfortunate update made me return to an unrootable stock ROM. Once it is no longer my main phone, I will figure it out again for its repurposed life around the house: XBMC controller, game device, google voice.

I have had the razor maxx HD for about a month now, and thus far, signal strength is great, battery life is pretty good, and aside from a few glitchy google+ things, I've had no complaints.

I came from a Droid X, and while I considered an iPhone, I decided I liked free music/apps more than further apple ownership(I own several apple products otherwise) plus I was able to use all my prior chargers/accesories......

I upgraded from a GS2 to a GS3. Not a single complaint about the GS3 so far.

No hanging whatsoever, everything is instantaneous, battery life is AWESOME.

In reply to Swank Force One:

Wait, so sprint finally helped you?

bearmtnmartin wrote: I have an iphone 5. Went to get a new cord so I can charge it in my truck. Not the adaptor end mind, just the cord. USB on one end and little iphone5 plug on the other. $44.00. Love the phone but what a bunch of greedy pricks.

Um, you can buy Lightning USB cables all day long at Walmart for $19. Expensive, sure but not $44. And reliable 3rd party cords are coming out now from AmazonBasics, Griffin, etc. for less than $19, in other colors, lengths, and even coiled versions if you want.

That said, as an iPhone 5 user I like alot about the GS3 except it's plasticy lightweight feel and construction.

I didn't buy the cord. For obvious reasons. I was just stunned at the gall.

I'm surprised I have to suggest this on GRM, but buy cables from monoprice.com. REALLY inexpensive and the same quality as anywhere else. They have an iphone cable that does the new and old styles for $7.

Also, I ended up with the S3. Amazon had the best deal I could find as well as the case I wanted (otterbox commuter, sadly not available in realtree )

I love my Winblows Nokia Lumia. I'd recommend you at least take a look at one.

I have a Lumia 920 (developer version) and it's a great piece of kit, but compared to iOS and Android, there's a certain lack of apps on the platform.

Went from a Droid to a new razor maxx a couple months ago. Didn't realize how slow my old phone was. No complaints or issues with this one yet other than I can't figure out how to dump some of the apps that came pre-loaded. Went with the razor cause it was a birthday present from my daughter (her dimes) and the galaxy s3 was a lot more $$ and the razor met my needs. The navigation app is great, used it in Philly a couple weeks ago when there for business and compared it to a garmin.

if I was on verizon I'd have a serious look at the droid DNA...

but thats not an option... I know the radios on Motorola tend to be better but the people tend to prefer other UI's over the motoblur...

that being said I'm not much help being a GSM guy... i'm running a 2 year old top of the line HTC, recently rooted and been trying out different roms, enjoying a fairly naked version of jellybean and slightly overclock (stock 1ghz single core) buys me a little more time with it before I spend the $$$ to upgrade... not that it's bad... my home internet is down (waiting on a new gateway in the mail) so I'm using it right now tethered, used it for a bit of blackops2 earlier today...

I keep hoping the nexus 4 comes back in stock before I upgrade

anyway... see if you can't get your hands on some of the phones you want... just af ew min of using them could help decide...

Apple pisses me off in every way. But I have had cell phones since almost day one, before the Motorola brick even. My first phone came in a duffle bag and you still had to plug it in. But other than a few of the early motorolas, my last 3g iphone was the first out of more than 15 that lasted the life of the 3 year contract. It proved to be bulletproof, and I am a contractor who puts his phones through hell. It was completely trouble free, glitch free, and in an Otterbox, it looked like brand new after the contract expired. I gave it to an employee and telus gave me a new iphone5. I hate the company but they make a damn fine phone.