So I got to compare the old with the new. - Nexus One General

(WARNING: This is long.)
My father got word of the Nexus S (he's not much into technology) and wanted one, so I went to Best Buy today to play around with it. I figured I would compare it against my Nexus One with Gingerbread and see how big the difference is.
I wasn't expecting to be blown away by the new Nexus, since it's pretty much a standard Galaxy S device with a few niceties. It was disappointing to find out that it wasn't even convincing me to feel anything.
The Hummingbird CPU on the Nexus S is indeed as fast as it seems, but the experience doesn't feel that much faster than on my Nexus One (especially when using Launcher Pro). I suppose it would be better for Live Wallpapers, but I never caught on to that. I tested a YouTube video both in HD and standard quality, and neither stream played any better on the S though they looked a bit nicer on a bigger screen. It's a definite, hands-down improvement for mobile gaming, though.
The device itself definitely felt as plasticky as the Vibrant, but it's not terrible. However, I prefer the metallic feel of the Nexus One.
The screen is bigger and a bit brighter, but it also has a cooler color temperature, which may contribute to that brightness a bit. Colors from the camera lens seemed less saturated than those on the Nexus One, though they could also be closer to the actual results. I really liked the front-facing camera; I hope video calling takes off soon. (Has FaceTime even been open-sourced yet?)
The S booted up WAY faster than the Nexus One. I did a boot comparison and turned it on about a half-minute later by accident and it still booted before my Nexus One finished.
These differences would be acceptable for an upgrade, but I'm not sure if I'll feel comfortable with losing the microSD slot and trackball. The SD reader can really come in handy, and makes transfers super easy since tons upon tons of phones and laptops have one. (Then again, the Windows Phone 7 team decided to do something similar here as well, so it could be the sign of a trend. I hope not.) Trackball notifications were really, really nifty too, though not as important as the SD reader.
Other than T-Mobile making it unreasonably difficult for me to actually upgrade to the device, the deal-breaker for me was that it didn't seem nearly as innovative as the Nexus One was for me. I could be biased because my first experience on Android was on the G1...and we all know how wonderful that device was. Because of that, hoping onto the Nexus One was like a BIG breath of fresh air and a big reassurance that Android is an exceptional alternative to the iPhone universe. I feel even more so with devices like the G2 (the device I'm set on getting now), Droid X and MT4G, which have been HUGE upgrades from the devices that preceded them. The Nexus S, on the other hand, doesn't even have Wifi Calling (though I guess it'll get it at some point?) or HSPA+. I can't justify spending a small fortune on that.
As for my father, I'm getting him a Nexus One. Coming from an original iPhone, he, and my wallet, will definitely appreciate it.

It wasn't worth it the moment I heard it wouldn't be covered by the phone insurance and no SD card swap. G2 wasn't worth it either in my opinion

Does make you wonder about no ins coverage
I only played with one at Best Buy, but came to many of the OP's conclusions!

No insurance coverage? Wow, that's weird.

Re: boot time, were you comparing a fresh NS against a full-o-****e N1, or was it like for like?

Rusty! said:
Re: boot time, were you comparing a fresh NS against a full-o-****e N1, or was it like for like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like for like; N1 is running the Gingerbread ROM that's being developed, which comes with a few apps but nothing heavy. That might have slowed its boot time a bit.

Rusty! said:
Re: boot time, were you comparing a fresh NS against a full-o-****e N1, or was it like for like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I picked my NS from CPW yesterday and have been comparing it with my soon to be retired N1.
I've got FRG83D on the N1 (completely stock, no apps) and it takes twice as long to boot as the NS... but the NS only feels 'half done '! It's still got the old market, it can't see some apps on the market, and it feels Buggy... guess that's why the N1 doesn't have gingerbread yet... they haven't finished it!
The NS screen is nice but the back button doesn't work half the time! Wifi is more sensitive on theN1, 3g is more reliable on the NS. The NS feels a lot quicker but its hard to tell if its the phone or the OS.
I'm waiting on an official GB update for the N1 before I decide which phone goes on fleabay...

lf2k5 said:
I picked my NS from CPW yesterday and have been comparing it with my soon to be retired N1.
I've got FRG83D on the N1 (completely stock, no apps) and it takes twice as long to boot as the NS... but the NS only feels 'half done '! It's still got the old market, it can't see some apps on the market, and it feels Buggy... guess that's why the N1 doesn't have gingerbread yet... they haven't finished it!
The NS screen is nice but the back button doesn't work half the time! Wifi is more sensitive on theN1, 3g is more reliable on the NS. The NS feels a lot quicker but its hard to tell if its the phone or the OS.
I'm waiting on an official GB update for the N1 before I decide which phone goes on fleabay...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back button is a known issue -try and get a swap from CPWH.
To chip in my experience:
Went from a N1 with MIUI (was in love with the ROM, it's awesome, quick looks amazing etc) to Stock NS.
Have to say, N1 has been sat at home not used since the S arrived. The screen on the S is simply amazing, so responsive to touch looks fantastic. The "proper" multi-touch is great too - especially in google maps.
The S feels nice to hold - especially in landscape. The extra bulges make a big difference, it sits very nicely in the hand.
It feels a little less sturdy that the N1 does, deff lighter and doesn't feel like it'd take well to being dropped.
Still slightly worried about the screen - since no one seems to know how easily it'll scratch yet.
Speed wise, the S is quick. Navigation is about the same as N1 on MIUI (maybe a little slower), apps load wise, everything feels nippier.
The phone does lack a few features, but no doubt these will be added over the coming months - either officially or via the dev community.
It remains to be seen how the dev community will take to the S. Early days show a couple of custom roms, kernel and recovery and a few of the "bigger" names starting to work on the phone....
Is the S worth the upgrade - it depends. The overall experience IMO is better than the N1. It seems (so far) easier to get along with out. There's a few features missing - if these are must have's then the S isn't for you.
Go and have a play with one if you can.
FWIW - my fiancée is IN LOVE with the S. She normally hates smartphones, but this seems to be an exception...

You Can Have It
I just came back from Best Buy returning my Nexus S.
Yeah the touch screen had a little more snappy response
and the gpu makes it a little faster than my Nexus One
but the phone is not worth wasting a two year contract
on. Its just not much of an upgrade over the N1.
The lack of any way to move the curser was the last straw.
No track pad or track ball, no NS for me.

I did side by side tests clicking each app simultaneously and both my nexus one and the S loaded identical speeds for most everything.
I was however impressed with the quality and feel of the build of the nexus s. Much more solid and high end feeling than I thought it would be.

RogerPodacter said:
I did side by side tests clicking each app simultaneously and both my nexus one and the S loaded identical speeds for most everything.
I was however impressed with the quality and feel of the build of the nexus s. Much more solid and high end feeling than I thought it would be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got a Nexus One (traded a old netbook for it ) but had a EVO for a while now. Friend I traded with got a Nexus S so I got to play with both a lot. The bottom line is that most apps are pretty simple and would probably run fine on a 400 MHz CPU, but the apps that don't (Google Earth, Maps in 3D view, 3D gallery app, Games, etc) usually require a decent GPU to run 100% smooth, and it becomes obvious that the Adreno 200 can't keep up. It may run decently (20-30 FPS) but once you put the N1 or EVO side by side to the NS you can see that the apps are buttery smooth on second gen hardware.
It also pisses me off that I can't run a LW paper without causing the home screen to lag under 20 FPS while doing certain actions - especially the Microbes wallpaper which looks cool as hell IMO.

I say I will upgrade to watever phone Cyanogen upgrades too... and thats just being real honest loool.
Sent from my Nexus One...

Award Tour said:
usually require a decent GPU to run 100% smooth, and it becomes obvious that the Adreno 200 can't keep up. It may run decently (20-30 FPS) but once you put the N1 or EVO side by side to the NS you can see that the apps are buttery smooth on second gen hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not necessary the Ardeno200 to blame. Gingerbread has got a much better 3D stack they bought from outside, while the N1 and Evo are still using the old one. Currently it is not clear where the NS performance advantage is coming from.

draugaz said:
It is not necessary the Ardeno200 to blame. Gingerbread has got a much better 3D stack they bought from outside, while the N1 and Evo are still using the old one. Currently it is not clear where the NS performance advantage is coming from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can replace the Nexus S with a SGS running 2.1 and you'll see the same results. Its the GPU, we all know it's that. If it wasn't for that weakness, the Nexus One would still be as speedy as the newer phones.
Sent using Tapatalk

Award Tour said:
You can replace the Nexus S with a SGS running 2.1 and you'll see the same results. Its the GPU, we all know it's that. If it wasn't for that weakness, the Nexus One would still be as speedy as the newer phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure? As far as I can tell, the SGS UI is not significantly "smoother" than nexus one.
On the other hand, everyone drools how buttery smooth the WP7 devices are, and almost all of them are using Adreno200. And they even consider some "serious" 3D gaming with XBL.

Does anyone have any infos in regards to battery life on the NS? What is the battery life on the Nexus S? I think comparing battery life with the Nexus One is useless for now, since both devices are not running 2.3 yet!

draugaz said:
Are you sure? As far as I can tell, the SGS UI is not significantly "smoother" than nexus one.
On the other hand, everyone drools how buttery smooth the WP7 devices are, and almost all of them are using Adreno200. And they even consider some "serious" 3D gaming with XBL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm sure, seen it with my own eyes. The SGS suffers from weird lag to due the file system but with it fixed it runs fine, and even without it fixed it still runs smoother in things that rely on the GPU (those things I mentioned). But like I said, weird issues (like the file system lag) aside, running through a list shouldn't require a lot of power; it's when you hit apps that do need the power that you realize the difference.
...and about WP7, I agree. But this isn't WP7, and everything Google has shown so far isn't as optimized. The Adreno 200 will always be weak compared to every other high end GPU but I hope that Honeycomb w/ full HW acceleration (if it even supports the Adreno 200) can at least bring some life to it like WP7 has.

Award Tour said:
Yeah, I'm sure, seen it with my own eyes. The SGS suffers from weird lag to due the file system but with it fixed it runs fine, and even without it fixed it still runs smoother in things that rely on the GPU (those things I mentioned). But like I said, weird issues (like the file system lag) aside, running through a list shouldn't require a lot of power; it's when you hit apps that do need the power that you realize the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comparing stock for stock, when I scroll a list I can hit 100% CPU utilization on a N1, and ~84% with NS.

Related

Played with the Incredible at Best Buy today

I played around with the HTC Incredible for a few minutes today.
- I did not like the look and feel (ID) of the Incredible nearly as much as I thought I would. It looked and felt cheaper than the N1. The shape is boring and the all glass/shiny front does not look good. I am much more pleased with the look and feel of the N1.
- The software shortcut buttons (back/menu/home/search) work quite a bit better on the Incredible compared to the N1 with less chance of an unsuccessful press.
- I didn't notice a huge difference in the touchscreens like I had read about. I didn't try the multitouch test.
- Scrolling between home screens didn't seem as fast as my N1, but I am running a custom ROM and kernel on the N1.
- I like the trackball on the N1 a lot more than the optical sensor on the Incredible. It wasn't very smooth rubbing your finger over the optical sensor. The interface between the sensor and the phone casing was a little rough. The trackball is definitely smoother.
Overall I am happy having an N1 and, if it ever existed, I have lost all Incredible envy.
I'm in Canada so I'll most likely never see one of these guys.
How much were they selling for no contract at Best Buy?
I felt the exact same when I looked at it, in fact, I hated the optical track pad also, n1 scrolled wayyyyy faster with it, and pushint it in is hard on the incredible, but Still I welcome it to the family
I love the trackball. I don't know why so many don't like it. optical track pad just seems like it would be a pain.
I found a trick for the nexus track ball, if you just give it a super hard swipe, it will go clear across an entire sentence me text in one swoop. I see people complain its too slow but its not if you give it a really fast swipe.
I just played with the incredible this morning. first thought is the track pad is horrible compared to the track ball. no matter how fast I swipe my finger, it only moves the cursor a few letters. the nexus track ball will move an entire sentence, like 7 words, if you give it one fast swipe.
the incredible is very light weight, but it just feels plasticky compared to the nexus. the nexus feels like a high quality appliance to me, no contest imo.
the speed of the OS felt pretty much the same. I'm running stock ROM on my nexus, not yet rooted (but I will soon enough!).
overall I can't believe anyone would even feel remotely bad about having the incredible released with slightly better specs, the nexus seems like the better phone to me in every way. the one thing I would like is the dual led flash. I don't care about the 8 gb memory or 8 mp camera one bit. but the extra flash would be nice for those random times when you need that photo in a bar or something, cause the nexus single led isn't very good.
ill take the dual mics over the dual flash though
RogerPodacter said:
overall I can't believe anyone would even feel remotely bad about having the incredible released with slightly better specs, the nexus seems like the better phone to me in every way. the one thing I would like is the dual led flash. I don't care about the 8 gb memory or 8 mp camera one bit. but the extra flash would be nice for those random times when you need that photo in a bar or something, cause the nexus single led isn't very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only people who feel bad about the Incredible being slightly better are the whiners.
IE the people who weren't happy with the Nexus One even without any other similar device having been announced yet.
NO PHONE is perfect.
Case in point: The Incredible, despite having slightly better hardware, feels cheap and is ugly / boring.
How about we wait until FroYo gets (leaked) and we have it first?
.
Paul22000 said:
The only people who feel bad about the Incredible being slightly better are the whiners.
IE the people who weren't happy with the Nexus One even without any other similar device having been announced yet.
NO PHONE is perfect.
Case in point: The Incredible, despite having slightly better hardware, feels cheap and is ugly / boring.
How about we wait until FroYo gets (leaked) and we have it first?
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should be the banner of the N1 forum that everyone see's before they post
Paul22000 said:
The only people who feel bad about the Incredible being slightly better are the whiners.
IE the people who weren't happy with the Nexus One even without any other similar device having been announced yet.
NO PHONE is perfect.
Case in point: The Incredible, despite having slightly better hardware, feels cheap and is ugly / boring.
How about we wait until FroYo gets (leaked) and we have it first?
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really wanted to disagree with that post to not seem like an N1 fanboy, but I agree.. the Incredible is a giant plastic brick, we will get updates first, and the hardware is only slightly upgraded. It is Incredible, but if you have a Nexus.. its not worth switching over to.
If the Incredible does get developer support, and Froyo gets ported.. then.. um.. maybe we should be worried then. What if Froyo is released quickly for it? We won't have much to brag about but developer support, and.. sexiness? And then if it gets developer support, as much as we have, then it will really be a problem. They may have took root security measures like on the Desire and Legend though, so it may not even matter.
that's what I'm saying, the nexus is such a better built phone that I don't care if the incredible has a 5 gHz CPU, I'd always take the nexus every time.
RogerPodacter said:
that's what I'm saying, the nexus is such a better built phone that I don't care if the incredible has a 5 gHz CPU, I'd always take the nexus every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did I smell a touch of sarcasm there? you honestly will dump a 5GHz CPU for the nexus?? There is too much love in here guys!
well I was being half sarcastic, but not totally to be honest. sit a nexus next to an incredible and tell me "pick on for free and It's yours, but only one" and I would take the nexus every time no question.
The Nexus One is the first phone I've ever owned that I have no envy of any future phones. It fulfills every single need I have and I can see myself using it beyond 2 years. It's THAT good.
Yup. I agree with above poster. I've never had the latest and greatest and nothing available better. And there won't be for a while, in Canada. I am by no means regretting my purchase and am absolutely in love with the Nexus One. I haven't put it down since I got it 2 and a half weeks ago.
If you have one, love it. If not, then sell it and get yourself an Incredible. Then regret switching.
Jim
the only thing that really annoys me about the phone is battery life. but i guess this is something that no smartphone will do any better in the forseeable future.
I played with an Incredible at a verizon store yesterday. It does seem thinner and snappier.
Still prefer the stock UI.
Biggest sense plus is the exchange server support.
eabinsan said:
the only thing that really annoys me about the phone is battery life. but i guess this is something that no smartphone will do any better in the forseeable future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried that GSM Auto (PRL) setting in the other thread? it really seems to work. i have had HORRIBLE battery life for the last month. my battery would die in about 5 hours or maybe 6. so far with this new setting, i am at 4 hours and still at 85%. its made a huge difference so far. but i'm still testing to really know.
battery life is not _horrible_ for me, but it's not great either.
i do have the extended 2800 mAh battery from SEIDO, and i manage to get 3 days out of it. now if this were the performance with the stock battery, i would be a happy camper.

staying with N1 a little longer

I finally got my hands on a NS just a few minutes ago. Given, it was handcuffed to an alarm and a usb charger, and completely not fun to use this way. The camera.apk crashed several times. The market was less than responsive. I figured this was a badly beat up device, and am prolly right, being at a bestbuy store.
The thing is, when it was announced, I was going to buy, sight unseen. Then I read it was really a galaxy S with not much different, possible gps issues, etc - you've all heard this before.
Now, don't go crazy thinking I'm about to flaunt and rave about a wp7 device. No sir, not me. I'm a android nut to the bone. My Nexus One is just going to have to make do a little longer until the multi-core devices come out....
unless....
can someone motivate me as to why i might replace my N1 with a NS ? please, I'm -NOT- looking for a flamewar, or to bash any device. I think the S is badass, but just not badass enough to toss the N1 yet.
Convince me ? Flame me ? whatever, i want to hear why you switched from a N1.
There are plenty of threads about the device for you to make an informed decision. I suggest reading and deciding for yourself instead of creating another one of these threads.
I have a Nexus One.
I sold a G2 Friday.
Bought the Nexus S Saturday.
I found I didnt need a keyboard (I use Swype) and the G2 didnt seem to be
any faster than the N1.
I do like both the N1 and the NS.
The GPS/maps works fine on the NS, used it today.
I wouldnt pay $529 for an NS but if you are off contract its a great phone for $199.
Best phone on the planet right now. At least for the next 15 minutes.
My first impressiong of the NS was...."wtf is this ****" at best buy. It was tied up as well, and for whatever reason it wasn't turning on, felt cheap.
That was about a week ago. Today I headed out to best buy again, apparently the first time around there was no battery in it. I felt better about, and ended picking up for my papa dukes.
I've been ****ting on the NS all week after my first encounter. After using it for a few hours setting it up, holding it. It feels reall really nice in the hand. The N1 feels more "solid" but there's no form to it, it feels like holding a piece of aluminum stock down at the metal yard. The NS feels much more organic. The plastic allows it to feel warm.
Screen - Takes a huge **** on the N1 screen. The size combined with the extra saturation, it's no comparison. Touch screen in about 3 - 4 million times better than the N1. The screen wrapped with a black housing gives the phone a certain "presence" that makes the n1 seem feeble.
Software wise - stock android is trash, always has been. CM 6 runns much smoother than 2.3, no question abuot it.
4" SUPER AMOLED screen.
Game over.
I have a nexus one and I picked up the nexus s a couple of days ago.
The biggest difference for me is the fantastic screen. It's significantly better than the nexus one screen. That alone is worth the upgrade for me.
Speed wise, the nexus s isn't much faster than a nexus one running the aosp gingerbread roms, so I wouldn't buy a nexus s expecting it to be faster.
My reply will sound like everyone else's. This is a flagship phone, and it shows. Spec wise, its comparable to the N1. Experience wise, the N1 can't compare.
2.3 is very streamline. Its smooth. It flows. The 4" SAMOLED screen is incredible. The colors are vivid, the transitions are smooth, and its response is unmatched. Its so responsive, it sometimes presses the buttons before i do!
I have an N1 and I was a skeptic as well, until i turned it on and used it for a day. You simply cannot compare the two. Nexus S all day.
distortedloop said:
4" SUPER AMOLED screen.
Game over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is really all you need to know. I also came from an N1 and loved the amoled screen on there; to put it simply, the Samoled screen on the NS makes the N1 screen look like ****. I didn't think it could really be all that much better but it really is, also the touch sensor and oleophobic coating are fantastic.
I showed my 5 coworkers, who all have iphone4's, my NS yesterday and they all said the exact same thing "that screen is gorgeous."
No LED notification light, and no trackpad/trackball. These are two major sell points for me. So much so I may end up with a MyTouch 4G
if i have anything from N1, Desire, Desire HD, Galaxy S, i wouldnt trade or sell it for Nexsus S.
not that NS isnt better than N1 or Desire, its just FOR ME, the LG star "optimus 2x " or whatever its going to be called coming by Feb . thats like 2 months only from now. duel core processor with Tegra 2 from Nvidia gpu for assuming gpu performance. and on top of that a super amoled screen as well as 8M camera " i think ? "
so it doesn't make sense for me to spend an X ammount TODAY on an adroid phone when a new much better one coming in like exactly 2 months.
NOW, the NS is a developers phone. what does that mean for you that all developers will be baising their games on the Nexus S. thats the standard. for gaming. it will be on Nexus S. much like how games standards was Nexus 1. what does that mean to you is until the next developers phone comes out, ALL the new games for example or apps will run as defult on NS.
that not to say it wont run better on Tegra 2 in the LG phone for example, just like how games runs better on Galaxy S over the Nexus 1.
i think you should stick with your Nexus 1 as well.
going_home said:
Best phone on the planet right now. At least for the next 15 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol. i think the Desire HD has more power and 150% more Ram. and a 4.3 screen
but i love the nexus S though. its a great phone
Das_mobile said:
No LED notification light, and no trackpad/trackball. These are two major sell points for me. So much so I may end up with a MyTouch 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No LED notification light? No problem. NoLED turns on the screen and displays an icon depending on what kind of notification you have (new e-mail, new text, etc). Since it's SAMOLED, the black uses little to no power so it isn't a battery drain.
No trackpad/touchball? I barely used mine on my G1. I don't miss it on my Verizon Fascinate either. Not sure why people want that so badly that it influences their decision on getting a phone or not...
Das_mobile said:
No LED notification light, and no trackpad/trackball. These are two major sell points for me. So much so I may end up with a MyTouch 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was my same thought when I picked up the NS, I needed to have a notification light and thankfully the NoLed app makes the lack of trackball notifications irrelevant now. NoLed works great and looks awesome too and doesn't have any noticeable affect on battery.
ll_l_x_l_ll said:
lol. i think the Desire HD has more power and 150% more Ram. and a 4.3 screen
but i love the nexus S though. its a great phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they released it on T-mobile in the US, it'd be nice. But it isn't.
JCopernicus said:
My first impressiong of the NS was...."wtf is this ****" at best buy. It was tied up as well, and for whatever reason it wasn't turning on, felt cheap.
That was about a week ago. Today I headed out to best buy again, apparently the first time around there was no battery in it. I felt better about, and ended picking up for my papa dukes.
I've been ****ting on the NS all week after my first encounter. After using it for a few hours setting it up, holding it. It feels reall really nice in the hand. The N1 feels more "solid" but there's no form to it, it feels like holding a piece of aluminum stock down at the metal yard. The NS feels much more organic. The plastic allows it to feel warm.
Screen - Takes a huge **** on the N1 screen. The size combined with the extra saturation, it's no comparison. Touch screen in about 3 - 4 million times better than the N1. The screen wrapped with a black housing gives the phone a certain "presence" that makes the n1 seem feeble.
Software wise - stock android is trash, always has been. CM 6 runns much smoother than 2.3, no question abuot it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JC turning the corner on the NS?! Don't go towards the light!
To the OP, I will probably be returning the Nexus S before the 30 day return policy is up and sticking with the Nexus One as well.
Benefits of Nexus S:
1. SuperAMOLED (Soooo beautiful... 1 of 2 things that kills the Nexus One for me)
2. 4' screen (Personal opinion but I actually like the compactness of the Nexus One's design... I know I'm weird)
3. NFC (Not around yet, wont be for awhile)
4. True multitouch for gaming (I use a wiimote to play emulators so I don't care about multitouch gaming)
5. Better Speaker (I don't blast music through my phones speaker. If Im at home I use my computer, if I'm in the car I use the car speakers, if Im out an about I'll use some earphones)
6. Android updates developed w/ Nexus S in mind(Long as the N1 gets updates as well I'm ok w/ sharing the love)
7. Hummingbird processor (I don't notice any lag on my stock Nexus One)
8. More app storage space (I always keep my Nexus One at 75-80% free)
9. Battery life (2nd thing that kills the Nexus One... but I have a spare battery so my N1 lasts all day)
These are some great benefits for 90% of people to be worth upgrading for. Just that I'm one of the weird 10%
Another option I've been thinking of is actually getting the Samsung Galaxy Tablet to completely replace my Nexus One (with 3g enabled skype app) and Netbook (with a bluetooth keyboard) for $40/mo with T-mobile this doesn't seem like a terrible idea if I find a cool looking European shoulder bag that I wouldn't mind taking with me everywhere to have the tablet with me at all times like a phone
I had to sell my N1 as I couldnt stand the touchscreen going mental from time to time
ap3604 said:
JC turning the corner on the NS?! Don't go towards the light!
To the OP, I will probably be returning the Nexus S before the 30 day return policy is up and sticking with the Nexus One as well.
Benefits of Nexus S:
1. SuperAMOLED (Soooo beautiful... 1 of 2 things that kills the Nexus One for me)
2. 4' screen (Personal opinion but I actually like the compactness of the Nexus One's design... I know I'm weird)
3. NFC (Not around yet, wont be for awhile)
4. True multitouch for gaming (I use a wiimote to play emulators so I don't care about multitouch gaming)
5. Better Speaker (I don't blast music through my phones speaker. If Im at home I use my computer, if I'm in the car I use the car speakers, if Im out an about I'll use some earphones)
6. Android updates developed w/ Nexus S in mind(Long as the N1 gets updates as well I'm ok w/ sharing the love)
7. Hummingbird processor (I don't notice any lag on my stock Nexus One)
8. More app storage space (I always keep my Nexus One at 75-80% free)
9. Battery life (2nd thing that kills the Nexus One... but I have a spare battery so my N1 lasts all day)
These are some great benefits for 90% of people to be worth upgrading for. Just that I'm one of the weird 10%
Another option I've been thinking of is actually getting the Samsung Galaxy Tablet to completely replace my Nexus One (with 3g enabled skype app) and Netbook (with a bluetooth keyboard) for $40/mo with T-mobile this doesn't seem like a terrible idea if I find a cool looking European shoulder bag that I wouldn't mind taking with me everywhere to have the tablet with me at all times like a phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool, and thanks to all the others that replied. i like the list approach, it's how i usually do stuff....
i didn't get to try out the speaker, there was crap super glued to the phone @ the store. :-(
the screen was very very very bright and impressive. almost a G1 to N1 comparison side by side.
thankfully, folks didn't label me as trolling and have seen a similar take before. i think i'll stick with the n1 a little longer given the points in this thread. maybe february i'll buy, or maybe i'll find a NS on craigslist for 1/2 price, who knows. i'm pretty partial to my N1 for now.
thanks everyone !
psp888 said:
I had to sell my N1 as I couldnt stand the touchscreen going mental from time to time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
The N1 had so much potential, but the user experience was greatly impacted (negatively) by the wonky touchscreen behavior (imho). It was also unusable outdoors, here in sunny southern CA.

Is everyone happy with the atrix

I came from the samsung captivate with high hopes and well I have noticed a few things the i would rather have over the atrix
one would be the screen, items like the opening screen to the xda app comes out pixaled
the overal make of the phone is I would say is cheap compared to the captivate. It feels as it would break on the first drop not to mention the plastic back cover feel as if it would break after a few openings. Overall I am content with it but not as happy as expected
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Agree here. Regret to have my inspire sold.
I'm pretty happy with it, coming from an iPhone 4 (and an Evo.)
Pros:
- Screen looks great, pretty close to my i4. Yeah, if I touch my nose to the glass, I can see pixels. I'm also fine with the screen not being AMOLED over-saturated. My regular laptop isn't, my PC isn't, my Atrix lapdock isn't, my i4 isn't, my Evo isn't, my HDTV's aren't, so it doesn't really bother me that the phone looks exactly the same as everything else I own.
- It is quite fast. As an example, I tend to install or update multiple apps at once, and on my Evo (which was overclocked), it would drag the phone to being nearly unresponsive having more than 1 thing going at once.
- I'm digging the accessories so far. The DLNA feature has been great for grabbing stuff from my media server and displaying it in 720p on my TV. It's not 1080 yet, but it still looks quite good. The browser works well on the TV as well. The lapdock has been quite nifty so far as well. Barring Windows games, I've had no problem doing everything else I use my standalone laptop for.
- Battery has been amazing, compared to either my Evo or i4.
- Fingerprint scanner works extremely well, I was surprised by this, pleasantly.
- The on-screen keyboard is fantastic, right up there with the i4. Far better than any other Android I've owned to date (which is quite a few.)
Cons:
- When flipping through the screens on the phone, it hasn't been all that smooth, even after a fresh boot. It's not bad, but its like my Evo, circa launch day, prior to mods to improve its responsiveness. Might be Motoblur related?
- Data uplink is killing my latency, which if it isn't something that is fixed relatively soon, could actually be a deal breaker for me, since I do like to tether to play stuff like Bad Company 2 while at work... 130ms latency on my Evo is okay, 400 on the Atrix... isn't.
- This might sound odd, but it's so smooth that it is slippery as hell. I've had a few miraculous catches following the phone just sliding right out of my hand.
- When grabbing media for my server, I have to copy it via DLNA to the device first, THEN play it, when using the Webtop OS in either the entertainment or lapdocks. I have a feeling this will come down to someone making a crafty software fix, but who knows.
- The lapdock needs a way to hide the icon bar at the bottom to expand the browser window. If you try a Facebook game, you can't quite fit the whole game window into view, and there are other things that have a similar issue.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it, and it seems like most of the issues I have can be solved in software, one way or another.
No stock UI works that well other than Sense. I suggest getting ADW launcher and theme it like your stock UI. Its very smooth side to side etc.
One thing I noticed - this phone is flat out HORRIBLE with UI animations such as the gingerbread launcher. My captivates UI speed blows this out of the water.
They need to fix that asap.
Pretty happy so far.
Im pretty happy with it so far. I came from the LG Expo which was a WM 6.5 device. This is my first Android phone, so it was a pretty big upgrade.
If there is one thing I am slightly disappointed in is the phone's ram. The "1gb" of ram appears to be split in half between the phone and the web top environment, so either one can only access 512mb at any one time. I'm only slightly disappointed because I expected it. It's another case of misleading, but not totally false advertising...now, about my missing "G" in network speed....
Also from iPhone 4. Still haven't decided if I am going to keep it yet, overall the phone is really nice, but it still just doesn't feel as smooth/fluid/solid as the iPhone. I was really hoping a nice Tegra 2 chip would make things smooth on Android but alas I was still disappointed. The phone is fast don't get me wrong, but the UI still has plenty of places that are just ... chunky. Overall build quality of the phone is also nice, but it still doesn't feel nearly as solid in my hand as the iPhone does.
I like the phone just not sure I like it tons better than my captivate. I think a lot of people that downplay samoled screens have never owned one. Its very tough going back. Overall my phone flys using launcher pro plus with 3d animations. No slow Downs or chunkiness whatsoever.
I'm definitely happy. I @so came from the Captivate and there isn't anything I would change.
I LOVE the fact that the pixel Dr/ity is larger, therefore making everything smaller. today is going to be the first day I see how it performs out in the realworld so I hope that goes well
I'm thinking about picking up the laptock dock since you can tether for free as well... might wait a while though since I don't need it now.
Rooted/ROM Captivate
Rooted Atrix
I'm unimpressed. Of course it's fast but not noticeably faster than the inspire. I really want to keep this phone and use it as my main device but it's not looking good right now. The touch screen isn't as responsive as the captivate or the inspire. When I try to fly through things, I find the phone missing registered touches. At first, I just thought I need to get used to this device but I could do this on the inspire and captivate with no problem at all. I'm going to give this more time so we'll see how it goes. Another thing I noticed, Motorola has a load of crap that runs on the device that I'll never use (see running services) and it takes up a significant amount of memory. It'd be a pain to go through and manually end these services. Even after using a task killer, most of the services persisted.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Coming from the Nexus One, which is still regarded as the baseline for a good Android device, I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with it, no regrets at all in selling my N1 to get this. Yes, I do sorely miss the stock UI and being in that comfort zone that I'll be first to get updates (even though Google has been slacking lately). With that said, the pros out number the cons.
Pros
- BLOODY fast
- Battery is 1000x better than the Nexus One. I can go a whole day on one charge and it's not an iPhone? Say it ain't so
- Screen is 1000x better than the Nexus One, and very, very close to my wife's iPhone 4
I don't know what the guy above is smoking, but the Atrix is a 1000X better than the Captivate in terms of build quality. I was sorta anxious about it being all plastic, but the phone feels rock solid. With an Otter Box Commuter on the way, I doubt I'll ever notice it was any different than my ex-N1 (with a Commuter case as well).
Neutral
- The phone isn't the prettiest, but certainly nice.
Cons
- Motoblur adds some nice touches, but overall it's slow. I'm using LauncherPro Plus which is getting me back some of my sanity.
- Doesn't come with Gingerbread out of the box :-(
- Power button location sucks
- Volume buttons are on wrong side :-(
- I know people hate trackball, but until Gingerbread makes it out to the Atrix, copy-n-paste SUCKS
I prefer this phone over my captivate 10 fold. The screen is not a big issue to me as a lot of times on the captivate screen peoples faces always had a tint of red to them. Over saturation is over saturation no matter how you look at it. The phone is also super fast in UI transitions for me and is worlds better then the captivate in that respect. Motoblur home UI used to cause all sorts of slow down but switching to launcher pro fixed all of those issues. The phone is really quick and snappy. The XDA load screen is pixelated i would assume because it is a lower res image in the first place. Also why is that even important? it's just a load screen?
Some people are just trying too hard to find any excuse to hate the phone.
tbae2 said:
The XDA load screen is pixelated i would assume because it is a lower res image in the first place. Also why is that even important? it's just a load screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from a Nexus One (which btw was a great phone in its own right), and having had a plethora of phones including an iPhone 4 and a Captivate, I am very happy with the Atrix.
There are a lot of people making a big deal of AMOLED vs LCD. What I'd like to add is that it really is COMPLETELY A MATTER OF PERSONAL PREFERENCE! I, for one, prefer the more natural tones and higher brightness of an LCD display, but do see the draw of the higher contrast AMOLED. There are valid arguments for the pros and cons of both types of displays, and it really is best to see the two side by side in various environments to determine what works best for you.
Moving right along to the data speed: I've read a lot of posts about the data being capped and slower than 3g phones, but this has not been my experience! I used the new SIM they sent me and made sure I was on the 4G plan, and now my downloads are consistently faster than they are on the N1 and even faster than the iPhone (funny how that the iPhone still sets the benchmark).
Lastly, I want to address the performance of the phone: I think it's phenomenal! I did root and replace the stock launcher right away, but besides that everything is stock. The phone is super responsive. The transitions are seamless. Everything works great with one exception - the lock screen which takes a second to come up.
To wrap up, I think the Atrix is a very nice upgrade to my N1 and that Motorola hit a home run with this phone. Granted, we won't realize it's full potential for a few months, but I believe that the Atrix is a great platform and will have superb development support from the community!
dew.man said:
Coming from a Nexus One (which btw was a great phone in its own right), and having had a plethora of phones including an iPhone 4 and a Captivate, I am very happy with the Atrix.
There are a lot of people making a big deal of AMOLED vs LCD. What I'd like to add is that it really is COMPLETELY A MATTER OF PERSONAL PREFERENCE! I, for one, prefer the more natural tones and higher brightness of an LCD display, but do see the draw of the higher contrast AMOLED. There are valid arguments for the pros and cons of both types of displays, and it really is best to see the two side by side in various environments to determine what works best for you.
Moving right along to the data speed: I've read a lot of posts about the data being capped and slower than 3g phones, but this has not been my experience! I used the new SIM they sent me and made sure I was on the 4G plan, and now my downloads are consistently faster than they are on the N1 and even faster than the iPhone (funny how that the iPhone still sets the benchmark).
Lastly, I want to address the performance of the phone: I think it's phenomenal! I did root and replace the stock launcher right away, but besides that everything is stock. The phone is super responsive. The transitions are seamless. Everything works great with one exception - the lock screen which takes a second to come up.
To wrap up, I think the Atrix is a very nice upgrade to my N1 and that Motorola hit a home run with this phone. Granted, we won't realize it's full potential for a few months, but I believe that the Atrix is a great platform and will have superb development support from the community!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly, my phone pulls the same DL speeds I could get from my captivate in my area. The only thing I'm lacking is the upload speed.
Think I'm going back to my inspire.....on another note, the Atrix's GPS is STELLAR
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I'm extremely happy with mine. Coming from a ton of phones recently, including iP4, Captivate, Inspire, Surround among others. It may be the perfect size of phone/screen combo for me. Atrix is super fast and I'm good with the screen.
Everyone sees it's a pentile display and all of sudden it's garbage. I don't notice pixels. Sure, maybe if I got really close and squint my eyes I might. I'll never know because I don't spend all day trying to figure out how my phone sucks. Web page loads are faster than the Inspire for me.
Battery looks to be insanely good compared to the Inspire. I'd been using mine heavily since 10am yesterday googing around with it and playing games. I didn't plug it in when I went to bed and it still said 40% when I woke up. I realize that it goes in increments of 10, but that's pretty solid.
Sound quality is excellent! Talking on the phone shows really great audio quality for me. The biggest surprise was how loud/clear the speaker is for music and nav. I couldn't be happier with the phone.
Aaron J said:
If there is one thing I am slightly disappointed in is the phone's ram. The "1gb" of ram appears to be split in half between the phone and the web top environment, so either one can only access 512mb at any one time. I'm only slightly disappointed because I expected it. It's another case of misleading, but not totally false advertising...now, about my missing "G" in network speed....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, that's interesting. How did you come to this conclusion? I can't find any place in the settings that tells exactly how much RAM is in use/available.
Happy from aa TP2 but furious about what I paid for. Horrible Service no, Signed bootloader. Capped 3g Speeds, forget about 4g that is non existent where I live although it says 4G+
sdlopez83 said:
Happy from aa TP2 but furious about what I paid for. Horrible Service no, Signed bootloader. Capped 3g Speeds, forget about 4g that is non existent where I live although it says 4G+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curious why you bought it if your service is so bad? We all knew the bootloader was going to be locked down because it's Moto.
I found the Inspire to be light years ahead of the Captivate, and the Atrix to be just a notch above the Inspire. Also, I like the Atrix's skinned version of Swype. I honestly didn't even know it came with Swype until last night. I was using stock the whole time. lol
As for the iPhone 4, I can see why some aren't as impressed. When it comes down to it, no phone on the market can match its polish. Some come close, but none match. For me, I just prefer Android over iOS.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Atrix \ Galaxy S2 Comparison

I have prepared this thread to help myself and others compare and contrast the different phones and hopefully come to a decision here. If anyone has anything to add to the comparison that I have missed, please list it and we can get it all chocked up.
For the record. I have only listed something as a "Disadvantage" if I believe that the category is below what we would expect of the average Android.
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Advantages:
ATRIX
Battery Life - This is a big thing for me. I can make my vibrant last through a 14 hour day by crippling every single possible feature. But people here are saying that the Atrix runs solid though 30 hour periods. This is a huge plus for me.
Higher Resolution (even if its fake) - Even though this resolution is fake and can actually cause text to blur, I can say first-hand that I saw the screen in action at a local wal-mart and found it to be acceptable by my standards. I think it may help overall with browsing. The GS2 has a larger screen size, and no pentile matrix display, which could possibly be considered better. This is one that may work out to be a tie.
Tegra 2 - I list this as an advantage not because it is faster, the various benchmarks for either processor seem to be inconclusive at this point. I am listing it as an advantage because it has its own series of games optimized specifically for it, and because Google has chosen to build their framework around tegra 2.
Webtop - I am initially hesitant to even mention this. The phone has a webtop environment, it is most likely Debian Linux and it is said to also be very sluggish. If, in the future, devs gain access to this environment and find ways to optimize it and add in worthy apps such as Chrome and open office, then this will be a massive advantage, but right now it is pretty much just a gimmick.
The webtop interface retains its session when you disconnect it. So you can plug the phone back into another dock and go right back to what you were doing. This is one of the good things about webtop.
Laptop Dock - We all know it is hideously overpriced right now and maybe in the future a cheaper solution will be available. But regardless of how you get the dock, it is an advantage to run your apps in full screen, even if you don't use the sluggish webtop interface and firefox.
The dock charges your phone, but plays sound through your atrix speakers, it has no speakers of it's own, you can answer calls by removing the phone, picking it up on bluetooth or by just yelling at it from behind the laptop. The phone retains its session when you remove it and there is no special unmounting procedure, you just grab it and run.
GALAXY S2
Screen - Bright beautiful and extremely rich. Those who have seen the screen firsthand have claimed that there is nothing like it at all and that it is miles above even the old Super Amoled display. The 4.3 inch size is also a bonus for those of us with large hands. This is probably the best overall feature of the Galaxy S2.
Camera - 8 Megapixels, and 2 megapixel front facing camera. People say that megapixels don't really matter in the long run but the Atrix camera is also said to have a purple wash to it and that the video can be splotchy in certain situations.
Design - Even though it looks way too much like the iPhone, this phone actually looks exceptionally nice. I like the three button design much better than the 4, the search button is pretty useless overall. The thinness of this phone is also amazing if you are into that sort of thing. Naturally it may come down to the US carriers to ruin the design, but by it will likely be summer before that happens.
32GB internal storage - Expect to pay for it, but it is there, you get 64 gigs total with this phone.
Gingerbread - The Atrix won't likely get gingerbread until at least this summer, this phone will have it much sooner if you get the international version coming sometime this quarter.
Gyroscope - This phone has it, do any apps support it? Not sure, but it is there.
NFC - In the off chance that any stores upgrade to NFC this year, you will have the ability to use it. NFC may have other uses that we haven't envisioned yet. It is a protocol, so it can be applied to just about anything. You could potentially set it up to unlock your home, cars could start with it, whatever.
So it has a lot of potential use other than having your money stolen from you.
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Disadvantages:
ATRIX
Bootloader - To sum it up for those not familiar, the phone can be rooted, a custom ROM can be flashed, but the kernel cannot be altered at all. (someone will likely correct me here) but if part or all of the webtop code is contained in the kernel somehow it will be difficult to alter it to add new software or make it run more efficiently. This would be a terrible shame.
I can tell you that Team Whiskey has made my Vibrant browse faster than I have seen in Atrix videos, with half the memory and a single core processor. It is scary to think of what this phone could actually accomplish if Moto decided to allow it.
Motoblur - I read that this requires you to sign up for an account before you can even use the phone. I find it alarming that Motorola has decided to help themselves to all this information and it makes me wonder just exactly what they really have access to and why.
Crippled FM radio - WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY. All of these phones have both transmitters and receivers for FM. So can someone tell me why in god's name anyone would disable them? FM radio has many more uses than just listening to local stations and why again should I have to burn my limited data on
internet radio when there is a receiver right in my phone?
GALAXY S2
Heat - My current Galaxy S runs very hot already, if the screen is active while the phone is being charged it will heat up to what seems to be a very dangerous temperature. The pre-release Galaxy S2 was said to be scorching hot after running with the screen on and the charger active.
Fail File System, Hideous and crippling lag - Update: the galaxy S2 is said to not use RFS. Chock one up for Samsung.
Updates - Samsung has a horrible reputation for updates when working with US carriers, even for new phones. If it was not for this community I would have likely given up on Android and Samsung altogether. Although I know that part of the update delay has been t-mobile, it is also in Samsung's interests to ship out new phones instead of updating their old ones.
Battery Life I have a feeling that Samsung tried to push the limits to get their phone to be as thin as possible and I am worried that they have done so at the expense of battery life. We won't know for sure until it gets in people's hands but I expect the battery life to be subpar.
NO HID Bluetooth Support (possibly) - I have had a black wiimote sitting here for 6 months waiting to connect to my Vibrant. I love emulated classics but action games are near impossible to play with the on-screen kb. So if you want this feature, I would make sure that the GS2 has it first, because it is not likely that it will.
Availability - What it really comes down to now. Unless you want to shell out over 1000 for the phone, you will probably need to wait 5 months from now for any kind of US availability this summer. And don't doubt that those versions will become crippled and even more bloated in the process. But again there is no locked bootloader here.
Ok I think that covers it. Having written all this down, I think I am really leaning more toward the Atrix. There just doesn't seem to be anything else out there now that will be able to match it at the moment. And as you can see, our experience with Samsung has not been exceptional.
Good comparison there. I am also looking at the exact 2 models and thank you very much, looks like Atrix will too be my choice.
I guess I'll get the atrix laptop dock too and prays for the devs here to make it all better. Otherwise, I think its still a good piece of hardware I don't mind owning.
""Samsung's dual-core, Gingerbread-powered Galaxy S II has appeared on Play.co.uk alongside a tentative SIM-free price and release date. According to Play, which is currently taking pre-orders for the phone, it'll ship Mar. 31 for £599.99 (~$960). Pre-release prices are never guaranteed to be accurate and are always subject to change, but £599 seams like a realistic price point for the Galaxy S II, as it's slightly higher than current single-core offerings from other manufacturers.""
Just published at androidcentral. £599.99 (~$960)?? Get a grip..
Not bad, just a couple of things to note that I thought of while reading. First, the screen resolution can be arguable considering the Pentile screen that the Atrix uses. That gives the SGS2 more sub pixels, but then it's a bigger screen, so less (I believe) pixel density still... it's really kind of a toss up, but I think they will both look great. I think the lower resolution and bigger screen on the SGS2 will look just fine with the full 3 subpixels per pixel.
Also, the SGS2 looks nothing like an iPhone. I wish people would stop saying that about every phone that comes out. Apparently every square black phone with a screen is an iPhone now.
And also it's been reported that the SGS2 does not use RFS.
The Galaxy S2 looks like a great phone, but even as much as I hate Motorola's implementation of the lockdown...I can't *STAND* Samsung for updates. They've promised up and down that they would release updates for every phone since Android came out, and they've delivered on about 3 of those promises...out of probably 20. They are *HORRIBLE* at updating devices and they don't even apologize when they cancel. I would *never* buy a Samsung on the hopes that it would get an updated OS.
As for the screens, I don't really notice much of a difference. I'm a pretty severe audiophile and videophile and although I can tell a difference it's absolutely not enough to make me go with one phone over another. I'm coming from an iPhone 4 which has the best screen to date on a mobile phone...and even between that and my Atrix I barely see a difference. They're both fantastic screens.
hotleadsingerguy said:
The Galaxy S2 looks like a great phone, but even as much as I hate Motorola's implementation of the lockdown...I can't *STAND* Samsung for updates. They've promised up and down that they would release updates for every phone since Android came out, and they've delivered on about 3 of those promises...out of probably 20. They are *HORRIBLE* at updating devices and they don't even apologize when they cancel. I would *never* buy a Samsung on the hopes that it would get an updated OS.
As for the screens, I don't really notice much of a difference. I'm a pretty severe audiophile and videophile and although I can tell a difference it's absolutely not enough to make me go with one phone over another. I'm coming from an iPhone 4 which has the best screen to date on a mobile phone...and even between that and my Atrix I barely see a difference. They're both fantastic screens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The updates aren't really an issue for people who visit sites like this. I would never rely on Samsung to update my phone. My Captivate has been running 2.2 for ages while they just released the update for everyone else. Yes, Samsung sucks at updating, but the hacking community will always get it done regardless.
I must be the only one, but i use the search hotkey absolutely all the time. I love it and I realize that you can hold menu for the same effect on the SGS2, but i'd prefer to have the 4th hotkey than their ugly stupid home button. It is not an iPhone, embrace uniqueness samsung.
eallan said:
I must be the only one, but i use the search hotkey absolutely all the time. I love it and I realize that you can hold menu for the same effect on the SGS2, but i'd prefer to have the 4th hotkey than their ugly stupid home button. It is not an iPhone, embrace uniqueness samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really miss the hardware home key! The orientation of the 4 buttons makes it a bit awkward to thumb navigate since its so close to the bottom. Its actually one of the things about the sgs2 that is making me think twice about my atrix. Despite how much I love it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Man_of_Leisure said:
I really miss the hardware home key! The orientation of the 4 buttons makes it a bit awkward to thumb navigate since its so close to the bottom. Its actually one of the things about the sgs2 that is making me think twice about my atrix. Despite how much I love it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't mind if the buttons were hardware, thats another debate. I just want all four of them!
The back button is beyond crucial. Maybe back and home should be two hardware with the other capacitive? For symmetry, obviously a concern for samsung .
I definitely want the new Galaxy S 2. I've heard that the Atrix was a huge let down. I used to own a Captivate and I loved everything about it except the ****ty build quality and lack of flash for the camera. It was so smooth with voodoo and custom roms. The Galaxy S 2 will have an amazing screen and I think it will do average on battery consumption. Just my 2 cents
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
King Shady said:
I definitely want the new Galaxy S 2. I've heard that the Atrix was a huge let down. I used to own a Captivate and I loved everything about it except the ****ty build quality and lack of flash for the camera. It was so smooth with voodoo and custom roms. The Galaxy S 2 will have an amazing screen and I think it will do average on battery consumption. Just my 2 cents
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
****ty build quality? Like hardware wise? I personally think the Captivate is the nicest of all of the Galaxy S phones. The hardware itself has been absolutely wonderful for me. The software quality leaves a lot to be desired from a stock standpoint though.
AJerman said:
****ty build quality? Like hardware wise? I personally think the Captivate is the nicest of all of the Galaxy S phones. The hardware itself has been absolutely wonderful for me. The software quality leaves a lot to be desired from a stock standpoint though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The plastic build was a huge downgrade for me, especially coming from a beautiful iPhone 4. I'm much happier with the Inspire 4G now though. HTC Sense is amazing and super smooth, and HTC build quality is great. The phone feels ultra solid.
SGS2 is apparently RFS-free. Also, some versions will have Tegra2 instead of Exynos - hope this includes us.
People knock Samsung's plastic designs, but they're actually a lot harder to break than the "well-built" iPhone 4.
Very good write up man, these are the posts that I like to see.
By looking at my signature, you can see that I just got the Atrix as well, and I love the phone. Amazingly fast, awesome screen (love the higher density and the effect itbhas on the overall experience), and the battery is pretty good too.
I'm seriously thinking about buying the laptop dock, but I don't know how well that will perform, and I haven't seen any live videos of it.
I really like the design and specs of the GS 2, but there are a lot of possible problems holding me back....
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix
FLAC Vest said:
Very good write up man, these are the posts that I like to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot, bro.
I am no engineer and I can't build tools. But I can put a few thoughts together and provide someone with some information.
This is an amazing community and what people do here is outstanding, I just want to do what I can to add to that.
King Shady said:
The plastic build was a huge downgrade for me, especially coming from a beautiful iPhone 4. I'm much happier with the Inspire 4G now though. HTC Sense is amazing and super smooth, and HTC build quality is great. The phone feels ultra solid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S2 looks like meizu m9
I have both and a Galaxy S 2 on order
Why? I really liked the Captivate. My plan was to use both but the Atrix is so much more fun to use I'm selling the Captivate. Well, maybe. Maybe not.
Yesterday after I removed the SIM card and replaced it, the Atrix went bonkers with freezes and instability issues. After numerous soft resets, two factory resets and replacing the SIM card, SD card and battery a couple of times it seems to be back to normal. I suspect I had reinserted the SIM card incorrectly but maybe there was another issue.
So why would I pay $1000 for the Galaxy S 2? The Captivate was that much fun. Although I'm sure we will be able to do more custom rom's shortly on the Atrix, the Galaxy S 2 sounds like an even bigger blast than either. And boy oh boy does that LG 3D look interesting. But you have to draw the line somewhere.
Here is what the Atrix has that the Captivate does not:
1-better graphics and screen quality, dynamic and vivid visuals, a joy to read and watch (text as well as video quality is sharp and crisp, very clear)
2-more interactive features with outside devices (i.e. computers)
3-interacts more efficiently with e mail, voice and text programs (really like the way it handles multiple incoming calls especially when you are already on one-notification, instructions and directions for handling)(I can now actually use Excel spreadsheets and Word documents) (works well with contacts)
4-updated browser can handle more types of video content and pop up windows better
5-it feels better when you hold and talk or watch or do most anything with it (I did make one call and even though I could hear the other party clearly they could not hear me-I do not what happened.)
My friends all tell me I should get an iphone. I had one for years and the Androids are far more fun. I'll never return. I don't think. LG 3D anyone?
I think Tegra2 is actually a disadvantage for Atrix 4G.
As a new generation dualcore processor, it's early, but not strong.
It's video playback ability of H.264 is limited, but H.264 is currently the most frequently played format.
It has no neon support, big loss on processing power.
Till now Tegra2 has not proven itself in Graphics power. In benchmarks it's no superior to Hummingbird.
However the performance of Mali400MP on GS2 is also questionable, so just wait and see...
hotleadsingerguy said:
The Galaxy S2 looks like a great phone, but even as much as I hate Motorola's implementation of the lockdown...I can't *STAND* Samsung for updates. They've promised up and down that they would release updates for every phone since Android came out, and they've delivered on about 3 of those promises...out of probably 20. They are *HORRIBLE* at updating devices and they don't even apologize when they cancel. I would *never* buy a Samsung on the hopes that it would get an updated OS.
As for the screens, I don't really notice much of a difference. I'm a pretty severe audiophile and videophile and although I can tell a difference it's absolutely not enough to make me go with one phone over another. I'm coming from an iPhone 4 which has the best screen to date on a mobile phone...and even between that and my Atrix I barely see a difference. They're both fantastic screens.
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+1 great post!
King Shady said:
The plastic build was a huge downgrade for me, especially coming from a beautiful iPhone 4. I'm much happier with the Inspire 4G now though. HTC Sense is amazing and super smooth, and HTC build quality is great. The phone feels ultra solid.
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See, I don't understand that. There is far less plastic on the Captivate than the majority of the phones out there. The front is all glass, and the back is mostly metal. It's only the top and bottom on the back that are plastic, and they have both felt very solid to me since I got the phone on launch day. I came from an iPhone 4 as well, and granted nothing compares to the iPhone 4 in build quality, the Captivate definitely doesn't seem bad at all to me.
As long as you're happy with what you have now though, that's what matters. I just think the Inspire is a bit of a waste of money considering it's lack of power compared to all the other phones coming out now. It feels like it's last generation still. I did play with it a little at the AT&T store though, and it seemed nice. If it had come out last summer with the Captivate (even if it didn't have 4G), I might have gotten it. Now I'm going to wait until a dual core offering I like though.

NS still holding it's own

I enjoyed reading this:
http://thisismynext.com/2011/05/30/coming-nexus-s/
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
That's kind of how I feel as well after "upgrading" from an Epic 4g... I really wish something out there seemed better than the nexus, a 5 month old phone, release 5 months late on sprint, when in reality it's a year old hardware that launched on the Galaxy S last May...
I really sincerely agree with the blog and wish that a decent phone has come out since then, but all this bull**** with modified android, flaky hardware, and poor support really has me turned off from every phone except for the Nexus series.... When my contract with Sprint is up I'm likely going to be moving to the carrier with the newest Nexus, not with the best 4g coverage, fastest speeds, or newest phone.... but the one with the most reliable.
I just noticed that was posted by Chris Ziegler. I'd imagine that's the same one from Engadget, in which I find it to be very interesting that someone with so much exposure to new technology feels that way.
I agree with the article it's just makes more sense to release a product that works instead of a product that has everything but doesn't work...
This was my first smartphone. Yes, I could've waited a month and got another, and in terms of theoretical performance, better.
But I can't say I regret myself one bit, it's truly an amazing phone and all complaints I had in the beginning has been solved by the amazing devs here on XDA
I'll probably keel this phone for a long while!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Thanks for the link, phillevy. This article perfectly describes the current situation on the android handset market.
Before I chose the Nexus S, I had ordered 2 HTC Desire S which I sent back because of their crappy build quality (Google brings up lots of threads about this topic). I certainly prefer the looks of the Desire S over the Nexus S, but if you buy a high-end android smartphone you also expect high end build quality. If you buy a cheap (but still very good) ZTE Blade, you can live with wobbly switches and some other flaws in build quality.
Before choosing the Nexus S, I also considered the Galaxy S2. But Samsung's lame update policy and a barely noticeable added value of the dual core processor (besides some games) made me chose the Nexus S which brought up an update notification to 2.3.4 instantly after connecting to my WLAN router.
Bottomline: I'm very satisfied with my unbranded, factory-simlock-free Nexus S. There are certainly some handsets out there which outperform the Nexus S in terms of some features, but not if you have a look at the whole package.
it just feels good knowing i'm not getting crazy, cause i moved from my old htc desire hd for the same reason. Nexus S is not the best in all functionality, but makes everything pretty much well.
DHD makes HD videos and has 8mp cam, but it can focus with that, i can only take photos from static things.
DHD has a huge screen, but somehow its lcd screen is pretty lame, with washed colors (i have a sclcd nexus, but it get a way way better screen).
DHD has dolby-s and srs, but that speaker is awful, you can make it better with several tweaks, but...
to make a long story short, despite all devices with amazing specs arriving out there, i can't see a single one that lets me a little excited... i guess i'm stuck with nexus series!
Yep I agree totally coming from a higher spec G2x. In the end the specs are important but they are not everything. Especially if the experience is degraded by bugs (G2x) or skins (anything Moto). So you get a high spec phone and keep flashing nightly ROMs until you get one that works perfectly. That's quite a waiting game to play, especially if you can just get a Nexus that works perfectly out of the box . I view custom ROMs as something that can *add* to the experience and improve the phone in many ways, but they shouldn't be *necessary* to have a working bug-free, lag-free phone. Nexus FTW.
The Nexus series is the closest you can get to "future-proof" in the smartphone world. That is what made me upgrade from the Epic. Knowing that I will get pretty much every Android update in the foreseeable future (barring any new major hardware requirements implemented by Google...which I don't see happening anytime soon).
Its nice being free from the confines of Touchwiz or MotoBlur. My Nexy is truly MY phone. I can do whatever I want with it. Its a true Android experience.
Having the latest software and the peace of mind that I won't be left in the dust is better than having slightly better hardware in my opinion. The Nexus S 4G can still hold its own. The Hummingbird is still a very high end chip.
mapin0518 said:
Yep I agree totally coming from a higher spec G2x. In the end the specs are important but they are not everything. Especially if the experience is degraded by bugs (G2x) or skins (anything Moto). So you get a high spec phone and keep flashing nightly ROMs until you get one that works perfectly. That's quite a waiting game to play, especially if you can just get a Nexus that works perfectly out of the box . I view custom ROMs as something that can *add* to the experience and improve the phone in many ways, but they shouldn't be *necessary* to have a working bug-free, lag-free phone. Nexus FTW.
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+1
I just came over from the G2x as well. I went through 3 of 'em, and thought my 3rd was a winner, but that one went all wonky on me too. Supposedly gonna get an update to GB and to fix the "issues" that plague it, but I'm not convinced that a software patch and GB update is gonna fix what's wrong with the G2x.
To be honest, the NS is just a better phone for how I use a phone and I probably should have gotten it in the first place.
Yup, great phone, but needs hardware acceleration asap. Browsing experience, at least compared to my old phone HTC Desire, is hilarious. It lags at rendering flash content or big pictures and scrolling through them is not smooth at all. Another thing that is bugging me is that from the 512mb RAM, 200 is used for the GPU alone, so we're left with 300mb for the system and apps, which is very low. I often find myself left with 30-50mb free RAM and when I open some demanding apps (games for example), it lags until android kills some processes by itself, lags horridly. So I finally got to the point where I need the advanced task killer app.
I am actually surprised that people coming from the Desire HD or Inspire didn't mention anything about this :|
I was on my 4th G2x and I'm done with that phone. Reboots, freezing, can't hold a data connection or Wi-Fi. I was gonna go with a myTouch 4G but decided to go back to the Nexus S. Always loved it and it does me fine.
scmurphy13 said:
I was on my 4th G2x and I'm done with that phone. Reboots, freezing, can't hold a data connection or Wi-Fi. I was gonna go with a myTouch 4G but decided to go back to the Nexus S. Always loved it and it does me fine.
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Yup, glad to see there are quite a few of us that left the G2x for the NS. That phone was nothing but a headache for me (reboots and shutdowns on stock systems with no additional apps installed). I went through 2 of them and ran out of patience (plus I was on day 29 out of 30 of my remorse period so I needed to make a decision!).
I hope Google doesn't go with LG for their Nexus 3. LG has left a very bitter taste in my mouth.
mapin0518 said:
I hope Google doesn't go with LG for their Nexus 3. LG has left a very bitter taste in my mouth.
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That's what she said!
In all seriousness, I hope not either. The only thing I've ever purchased from LG that was worth a damn has been a washer and dryer.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
lvnatic said:
I am actually surprised that people coming from the Desire HD or Inspire didn't mention anything about this :|
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you are right, browser experience with dhd is really better, but to be honest, i was so pissed with update delay and annoying bugs that i was in cm7 for daily use!
I have come over from the G2X as well. On my second, I would get data drops like crazy.
But, I have not had a single drop since getting my Nexus S. I love this phone, and Ill probably keep until until the next Nexus phone releases
I upgraded from the Nexus S to the G2x four days before it was released. I used the G2x as my only phone for a bit over a month. Ended up selling it and coming back to the Nexus S. I did not experience any of the reboots, connection problems, or severe screen bleed that others are reporting. I simply prefer the Nexus S. That's means a lot coming from me...I'm the kind of person that upgrades phones around three times a year so I can always have the latest and greatest. I came back for four main reasons.
1) Overall smoother experience both hardware and software wise. Software felt smoother, touchscreen more responsive, and I prefer the feel of the haptic feedback.
2) Updates from Google rather than TMo. No-brainer.
3) Dramatically better battery life. No comparison at all, Nexus S blows away G2x. The NS is the only Android phone I've owned that I didn't need to carry a spare battery around for.
4) Form factor....this was the biggest reason. I'm on my phone for many hours per day. Even after a month I still disliked the feel of the G2x. I just didn't like holding it. It feels like a brick. Coming back to the NS was like a breath of fresh air, even with it's clearly inferior specs and pixelated pentile matrix. People complain of a cheap build quality, but I actually really like it. Sure it's plastic but it doesn't feel flimsy. And it's a pleasure to use. Even the way it flips around when picking it up from the base, the positioning of the power button, the curved screen. I just really like the phone. Keep your 1080p recording, HDMI out, and "Tegra Zone" (to name a few, list goes on and on). I'll keep my Nexus S.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
mhaedo said:
***
2) Updates from Google rather than TMo. No-brainer.
***
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As G2x owners are now experiencing. The phone should have had tasty gingerbread from day 1, but didn't. T-Mo said the wait for GB wouldn't be long, but it's already been 6 or 7 weeks. Now T-Mo says "by summer", whatever that means. In theory that means by June 21.
I do miss the idea of the raw power of the G2x, but I don't miss the G2x. Perhaps the next nexus device will figure out how to utilize a multi-core processor. If so, I'll leave the NS for it.

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