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There seems to be so many complaints from people and them replacements for their G2. Are a lot of people plagued by these problems? Do you think you have a perfect G2? (No dead pixels, no loose hinge, no random reboots, good battery, etc). I'm curious to see how many people actually needed to get a replacement before they got a 'good' phone.
I have had my G2 for about five days now, and the only problem I have is with the hinge. At first, I just thought people were complaining that the hinge would not snap-close/was easy to open, but after playing with he phone almost non-stop for the past five days I've noticed that it has actually gotten worse. It seems almost floppy now, and I fear that after a few months with this particular phone I will eventually be able to make it appear to talk. I'm going to go to T-mobile sometime in the next week and get a replacement, bu I'm curious as to what the chances are that I'll get a new phone with the same problem.
Aside from the hinge problem, I am far more than happy with the phone, bloatware and all. I'm hopeful that we will eventually have root and I look forward to keeping this phone for at least a couple of years.
No hardware problems. Just software problems which is obviously happening to everyone. I'm fine with it. Best phone I've had. And I've had em all from iphone to blackberry to android.
Sent from my HTC Vision G2
No software problems here, and don't yet have a good sense of the battery, but this hinge is driving me nuts.
Also, you're missing at least one more option in the poll: "I have a problem but I can live with it."
I have had my g 2 for 24 hours and love it. fast and smooth and no broken parts. I travel and I have had excellent signal. have only charge my battery 1 time in the last 24 hours. coming from blackberry this device beats it hands down
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
when sending or receiving picture messages, the phone resizes the picture to 12kb.. its ridiculous! i could send 1mb pictures with a goddamn Razr 4 years ago!.. anyone know how this can be fixed? also the voice recognition is useless.. the hardware keyboard is a bit flimsy, but i try to not use it much for that reason.. the battery doesn't last that long if you have "background sync" or whatever its called turned on. i turned all that crap off so now the battery actually lasts
I have had mine for about a week. Two things mildly annoy me: the speakerphone is tinny and when I place the phone screen up, my carefully customized mp3 ringtones sound weird. Two, the battery life seems to barely eke by to a day and this is without even getting on to the GPS and Bluetooth bandwagon. Just HSPA/EDGE surfing. Heck, I barely even use it to make calls. An extremely minor minor irritant is that when I tap on the app drawer (I am using LauncherPro) there seems to be a millisecond lag before the apps zoom out. I find that a bit clunky, but no serious complaints.
No big complaints about mine. I love it. Best phone ever.
Few small quirks/bugs I've noticed.
Trackpad moves itself when in bright sunlight or in a car and sun goes behind trees.
I've had one random reboot. But it was while streaming Pandora with headphones in my car with no A/C on a 95 degree day. Phone was quite hot and rebooted itself.
MMS slideshow sucks though an update should fix that.
Hinge, battery life, speed and data connection are all excellent in my opinion.
That's about it... I came from a Cliq and could not be happier.
After 24 hours the worst thing that I have had happen to me is the phone rattles a bit when it vibrates.
Otherwise so far it seems to be the best phone I've owned. I don't even know if I'll root it!
I messed up the news and weather app because I always get a force close now. I don't know where I went wrong.
I've replaced the clock app and it should be fine for now... using it with tasker if I had clock open and change orientation, id get the geniewidget error force close.
Don't like mms slideshow. Rare random reboot. I'm still happy with this phone though.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Well I will have had my phone for two weeks on Sunday (10/17/2010). I just sold my Nexus one on Ebay this week. So yes I like this baby a lot. Its faster than the N1, I love the design. I have had one random reboot, my hinges are fine. I think it's the nature of the design, not a defect. They're suppose to be loose. Plus in actual use when are you going to hold a five hundred dollar upside down. If I have one gripe it maybe the screen coming from the n1, I'll miss them black levels. But overall it's an nice upgrade. Love stock android.
ive had mine for a few days now. coming from an N1, then to a samsung vibrant, now to this.
absolutely love it, my only dislikes are not having a dedicated number row on the keypad, and charge port placement. but as far as the hinge goes, i can lay in bed with it upside down and still text. no issues there. i just cant wait until i can get a new rom on it to adjust the track pad illumination like i had with cyanogen on my N1
but no real "problems"
I've had my G2 for a week now, and I absolutely love it. It's the first smartphone I've ever bought new, so just getting to unbox it was a treat. I haven't found anything wrong with the phone at all. Only gripe is that the led light doesn't blink when there's a new message/call. A light around the track pad flashes instead, but it is almost impossible to see except in the dark. Otherwise I love everything about my G2.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I've had mine for 2 weeks now. Everything is fine, keyboard gap I can cope with, it only happens when phone is held upside down.
I'm loving the speed of this thing.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Got mines on pre-order and i do have the upside down hinge situation but its far from a problem for me since I don't use my phone that way and don't know anyone who does. Phones is perfect through and through, awaiting root!
I have several problems with mine.
1) Autorotate is a FAIL, doesn't seem to work at all, so I just have it disabled.
2) Reception is even bigger FAIL. It can't get a signal in midtown NYC very well, while my junky Nokia 6030 has full signal almost everywhere. It can't even hold a WiFi signal in my house very well, while any other device does. (802.11g).
I had one replacement phone shipped to me by T-Mobile with a very defective hinge (When you opened it up, it would wobble like it wasn't seated properly) and I'm waiting on my second replacement (or 3rd phone) to arrive via UPS. Odds are I'm going to send them all back, this phone is a pretty big dissapointment for me.
Also I'm not a huge fan of the physical keyboard, I thought I'd use it a lot more than I do (which is almost never)
I regret being an "early adopter" for sure this time. It's been a huge waste of time, money, and trips to the UPS store for returning the phone (I pre-ordered the phone from T-Mobile)
1) Not a problem, just a personal thing: Wish keyboard had another row. Coming from Tilt2 I was used to 5 rows. This one seems to have too much going on.
2) I swithched to T-Mo for this phone. Don't know anyone else w/ T-Mo in my area. They advertise I am in a strong 3G area and very close to a HSDPA+ area. I only get Edge speeds. Even with a very strong full bar, it stays on edge. Using Speedtest.net I avg. 32kbs. Using my Tilt2 on AT&T I avg 1500kbs. Customer Service tried to convince me (in a very friendly voice) that I would be very happy with the much slower speeds. They are wrong.
Overall, I love the device, but will return it Monday. I may wait a few weeks to see if any radio updates become widespread that may help. Otherwise, I will have to go with a Sprint EPIC. I wish there were more quality QWERTY Android handsets on the market.
Mine actually works pretty well. I have the hinge issue, but thats it. Really I almost accept the hinge as being a non-spring loaded hinge, which makes it kinda cool that it doesn't need it.
If it did have something locking it into place, thats just something to break later on.
No software issue's here.
Hardware: No issues other than the crappy external speaker. My hinge is fairly tight and I have had the phone since Sept. 30th. I have to hold it by the screen and wiggle it quite a bit before the keyboard drops. Really not an issue.
Software: My phone gets in a state where it is on a black screen and will not respond to power button input. I have to remove the battery for the phone to respond to power button input. It has happened 3 time since the 30th, once on the first day with the phone being straight stock (no apps installed by me). It happens if the phone is left in sleep mode for a long time. If I am constantly using the phone as I am most of the time, I do not see this problem. I am half convinced that it is some of the embedded apps that run in the background all the time. IE: My Account, Photobucket, Finance and all that jazz. When I had my app killer set to thirty minutes I did not see the issue. Now that I have it kill apps when the screen turns off it doesn't kill the apps when left asleep for an extended period and the bug has reared its' ugly head twice since then.
Other than that I love this phone coming from the nexus one. Better data connectivity, better gps lock, way better screen, way better camera, ****tier audio recording quality.
Can't really complain.
I got mine on Oct 1. As far as I can tell, it's perfect. It rebooted once when I had been wandering around our building at work checking the coverage and running speed tests. I'd probably run the xtreme speedtest +30 times. Its been rock solid since and before.
I have no problems and no complaints.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Sorry for the seemingly inane thread, but hear me out.
I'm considering importing the G2 so that means returning it would be impossible. A few questions before pulling the trigger:
- Are there any showstopping problems I should know about with this device?
- Any features you felt disappointed not to have, such as HDMI?
- Overall, do you feel like the addition of the keyboard is worth it? Is the extra bulk (thickness, weight) a worthy tradeoff? Do the keys feel too cramped?
- Does the phone feel too heavy? Can you listen to music while jogging without it feeling way too bulky?
Thanks for helping me and apologies for making you fill out a survey like this
i really like the phone, ive had a couple of them to compare. its really fast... with the stock rom, small compared to my hd2, they keyboard is going to take a little getting used to(im a custom to the touch pro), the hardware button for the camera is nice, and its native OS is droid.
cbmm said:
i really like the phone, ive had a couple of them to compare. its really fast... with the stock rom, small compared to my hd2, they keyboard is going to take a little getting used to(im a custom to the touch pro), the hardware button for the camera is nice, and its native OS is droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love it now that I over clocked it. The fact I can't get fully skinned roms is annoying but we already got overclock which has made this phone zooooom zooom. Fasted phone I have ever used.
Pickx said:
Sorry for the seemingly inane thread, but hear me out.
I'm considering importing the G2 so that means returning it would be impossible. A few questions before pulling the trigger:
- Are there any showstopping problems I should know about with this device?
- Any features you felt disappointed not to have, such as HDMI?
- Overall, do you feel like the addition of the keyboard is worth it? Is the extra bulk (thickness, weight) a worthy tradeoff? Do the keys feel too cramped?
- Does the phone feel too heavy? Can you listen to music while jogging without it feeling way too bulky?
Thanks for helping me and apologies for making you fill out a survey like this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only real issue I've encountered thus far is the loose hinge that closes when you're typing in bed, for example, but I've found that holding the phone a little higher so that your fingers are on the sides of the screen keeps it open. Minor annoyance, to be sure.
Other than that, this phone is ****ing awesome. Personally I like the weight, but objectively it's quite heavy compared to other phones. Overall, I highly recommend it.
Honestly i think the build quality is a little inconsistent, which is common when a phone first launches. I would be very nervous if you cant exchange it if something was wrong. Fortunately for me i work at a retail store that sells phones so I can fully inspect a phone before I buy it. I checked out 3 G2's and only 1 of them was good enough to buy, the other 2 had dust under the screen. My hinge is loose as well but im not bothered by it.
I would probably wait for a few models runs until htc has these things ironed out.
i'll let you know i get mine today (swithching from Touch pro 2)
- Are there any showstopping problems I should know about with this device?
not really, the device is great, the hspa coverage (for me) is spotty in areas i frequent, thus the only showstopper (for me)
- Any features you felt disappointed not to have, such as HDMI?
number row on keyboard. sure hdmi out woudl be nice but a lot of things would be. possible rgb leds (unless thats been debunked/solved) around the trackpad and charger led
- Overall, do you feel like the addition of the keyboard is worth it? Is the extra bulk (thickness, weight) a worthy tradeoff? Do the keys feel too cramped?
i like they keyboard, i find that i actually like swype but havent composed a big, long email yet. i dont really like how the keyboard doesnt feel centered and G/H are slightly to the right which is opposite of coming from a G1 with it being to the left due to the chin. the enter key i feel should be a row down but these are all things you can get accustomed to. the spacing and such are good. im not a huge fan of the hinge since when opened it feels a bit wobbly. i dont doubt its sturdy overall just feels "cheap". its like having a door on a ferrari rattle when you close it or something (you wouldnt complain but you wish it wouldnt do that).
- Does the phone feel too heavy? Can you listen to music while jogging without it feeling way too bulky?
the heft is both good and bad. it feels executive like a premium device. the downside is it might be more prone to those accidental drops or something. i dont mind the weight but if i had a pick id wish it would weigh nothing and be 1"x1" but have the display of an ipad. of course these things dont add up.
overall i might take mine back, not for the device at all however. i do like it, its snappy its clean it does what i want (wish the camera was a bit better but again, not a dealbreaker). the only issue i have is with signal, which isnt device related.
- Are there any showstopping problems I should know about with this device?Not really, I get weak signal in my apt, but once they release wifi calling that will be fixed. I also have gotten used to the higne and the reboots seem to have stopped for me.
- Any features you felt disappointed not to have, such as HDMI?
Nope, I came from an iPhone to this phoen though, so I was feature light to begin with
- Overall, do you feel like the addition of the keyboard is worth it? Is the extra bulk (thickness, weight) a worthy tradeoff? Do the keys feel too cramped?
This is my first keyboard phone and its awesome! pefect thickness, and the keyboard feels great.
- Does the phone feel too heavy? Can you listen to music while jogging without it feeling way too bulky?
Nah it feels solid, I would run with it, but I'd get some kind of neoprene sleeve/holster for it.
Pickx said:
Sorry for the seemingly inane thread, but hear me out.
I'm considering importing the G2 so that means returning it would be impossible. A few questions before pulling the trigger:
1- Are there any showstopping problems I should know about with this device?
2- Any features you felt disappointed not to have, such as HDMI?
3- Overall, do you feel like the addition of the keyboard is worth it? Is the extra bulk (thickness, weight) a worthy tradeoff? Do the keys feel too cramped?
4- Does the phone feel too heavy? Can you listen to music while jogging without it feeling way too bulky?
Thanks for helping me and apologies for making you fill out a survey like this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1, not with mine in particular, dead pixels and a weak hinge would really piss me off though.
2. You know that is one thing I would have liked but not needed. I play emulators ALOT on my phone and it would have been very nice to be able to hook up two wii controllers and bust out some old snes games with my wife on the tv.
3. Extra bulk? You need to start lifting weights if its to heavy for you. Keys are very very nice as long as I cut my nails, I had nails that hadnt been cut for two weeks or so and it was annoying. Females probably wouldnt like it, maybe you just need to get used to it.
4. Bulky? Naw I love it, it just feel cheap and weak.
Well, I just sent mine back to Tmobile for a new one.
Hinge became looser over the few weeks of owning it.
Phone would reboot on it's own from time to time.
Force Closed on apps all the time.
Signal would come in and out.
Don't let what I said scare you. I'm sure I just got a really bad apple, err... phone. I love the phone very much, and hopefully the new one works better. It's a really fast little ****er, no lie!
It does what every phone does and it doesn't do what its not meant to do "drive your car? Hopefully in 5 more years" As 3g or hspa, its deffenitely faster than the iphone 4 or any 3g phone "I live next to philly so I get good service, and I home tested myself since you can't blv ppl this days cuz they lie too much". The weight is cute it makes you feel like you have a 550$ hardware. Only thing I don't like is the opening screen, I thought it should be more solid and have a bit more preassure in it. Overall, I personally like it more than vibrant, feels like a more androidish phone. Only thing I desire is to get my hands on some htc sence.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
This is my first smartphone, so I'm pretty excited about what it can do. Only thing I'd really change right now is the SMS notice. The LED flash needs to either be constant (my preference) or much more frequent than it's currently set now. I can't believe that slipped by in UI testing.
Hmm, thanks for the help so far, you guys are really helpful. I've been playing the waiting game with Android since it launched. So many features are always 'right around the corner' and should be implemented any minute now (higher resolutions as rumored in Gingerbread, Tegra 2/ARM9, Super AMOLED on non-Samsung devices,
BUT, hardware keyboards are way too rare nowadays and this keyboard seems to have been executed quite well. Again, rare.
It's very scary to import a device that could end up with a wobbly hinge or repeated resets... but honestly other than the weight and the rootkit, this phone is extremely appealing. Looks dead sexy too.
It is sexy as hell. With that said, I'm on my second because I wanted the better deal from Costco.....100 vs 200
My first one started rebooting on its own (at least it restarted-my captivate shut down and wouldn't turn back on automatically) and now this one has the screen flicker problem when the brightness is set to low. Ill exchange it.
Overall this phone is the best phone I've had since the iPhone was the latest greatest.
Shipping it in with no option to return would make me nervous.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Hmm. Maybe I'll get the Desire Z instead. I'll give it a week or so to see if these have less problems.
- Are there any showstopping problems I should know about with this device?
Not any that I've noticed yet. Build quality throughout the initial release may be an issue- my first G2 had a cracked space bar, weak hinge, and after having the battery die in 6 hours, wouldn't charge or even turn on. The one I've got now? Perfect.
- Any features you felt disappointed not to have, such as HDMI?
Colored notification LED's (whether that's on the speaker or around the track pad), ability to root
- Overall, do you feel like the addition of the keyboard is worth it? Is the extra bulk (thickness, weight) a worthy tradeoff? Do the keys feel too cramped?
The keys most certainly don't feel cramped- it's a very, very spacious keyboard. I personally haven't used it very much, since I'm used to Swype, but the times I have used it (for typing URL's, long emails, or long texts) I've found it very comfortable and easy to use.
- Does the phone feel too heavy? Can you listen to music while jogging without it feeling way too bulky?
No way, I absolutely love the weight of this phone. It feels expensive, if you know what I mean. If you can find a phone with a strong hinge, the build quality feels absolutely fantastic. I don't job, so I can't tell you if it's good for that, but I can't imagine it would be very good for jogging without securing it to yourself in some way.
Hope this helps! This is the first phone that I've bought and truly been completely satisfied with out of the box. Aside from the rooting issues, this phone is perfect.
I absolutely love it! The thinkg flies! My only issues are no wifi hotspot yet and a few radio issues. These two things will be addressed in an ota update so I'm not too worried about it.
I'm really really loving mine. Had the G1 first, then the N1. Haven't had any of the hinge problems or random reboots. Screen is sharp, phone is super snappy (more so then the N1) and feels/looks like an expensive, proper business phone.
The keyboard is nice and got tons of really positive reviews. I personally liked the G1 keyboard better because it had dedicated number keys and overall seemed faster to type on.
As for negatives, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the crappy loudspeaker yet. I'd google some reviews of the speaker first if that factor is important to you.
Overall its a great device and I am very satisfied with it. Having said that I also didn't have any of the problems other users complained about. If you get one that works like mine I think you'd fall equally in love with it.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I just recently got the G2 about two days ago and I love it! I previously had the Blackberry Pearl for a few years and thought it was time for an upgrade. This is my first Android phone and so far, it's wonderful. I don't have the loose hinge issue or any other visible problems.
Just still getting used to it, looking for the good apps that'll tickle my funny bone, and reading more on "rooting" and the like. I'm enjoying my experience.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
The Good:
-Speedy, apps launch quickly and the phone is very smooth
-Great size, form factor
-Decent screen and brightness
-GOOD keyboard
-Battery life was impressive
The Bad:
-All three I had (yes, I ended up taking the last one back too) did the reboots in low service areas
-On my morning drive, my HD2 never drops my call. The G2 would drop in 3 places every day
-The hinge was very poorly done, and as someone who started the HTC keyboard phones with the Tytn-II, Touch Pro, and Touch Pro 2, I know they can get it right. This was just a stupid, stupid design.
-No 4gb of storage
-What the hell is with the trackpad? Can we just ditch it and save a bit of space?
I could have looked past the hinge issue, but the obvious radio issues combined with the DRM like protection of the ROM, I decided that TMOUS and HTC could shove it with this phone.
Good morning all,
I created this thread in the Inspire forums and thought I'd bring it over here too. It's just my experiences as a daily carrier of both of these devices. It's aimed at people torn between the two handsets, and also to help me ultimately choose which I prefer to keep. Only one will survive.
I've included my running updates in the OP.
___________________________________________________________________
Hello all!
I've had the daunting task to pick between these two phones for the last couple days. I went into the store to actually get the devices in my hand and fully expected to walk out with the Atrix. I've always had a soft spot for HTC, ever since their WoMo phones. I saw the Inspire and was super impressed at how solid the phone felt in my hand. The phone felt very responsive, and I already knew the XDA Inspire team was cranking out some awesome stuff.
I then grabbed the Atrix and was not nearly as wow'd as I had expected to be. I've been following the phone since it's announcement, and pretty much had made up my mind on the spot to pick it up. After spending a half hour goofing around with both phones, I decided the Inspire really won my heart.
Then it happened... The cold sweats... The tossing and turning in bed at night. Images of the Atrix's Tegra 2 laying waste to the earth and doing vile things to my Inspire. My horrid indecision had struck. I decided that I had obviously made the wrong choice, so the next morning I headed off to the store and bought an Atrix without returning my perfectly set up Inspire. I wanted to play with them both side by side and just return whichever one didn't make me happy.
That was a bit over 24 hours ago. After spending the last day with both of the handsets, I am closer to a decision, but it's damn tough. My overall thoughts and struggles follow:
Motorola Atrix:
-Pros:
- Bright, higher resolution screen
- Dual Core processor (even though I thought the experience was pretty weak)
- Battery (theoretical, as I haven't had it long enough to fully experience)
- This goes to the hardware again, but this phone is quite a bit more future proof.
- The handset is light enough to not remind you it's in your pocket at every step.
- GPS (This is the most rock solid phone GPS I've ever used)
- Incredibly loud speaker
- Tons of ram
- HDMI out
-Cons:
- Cheaper build quality (I feel like I need to qualify this. The phone feels solid, but the battery door is, for lack of a better word, brittle)
- Very poor color representation on the otherwise beautiful screen.
- MotoBlur - This is just a very inelegant, unrefined overlay...
- Strange compatibility issues with certain apps
- multiple force closes
- Weak social media integration
- Odd bouts of lag when least expected
- Locked Bootloader (most don't care about this, but it matters when you have a primary developer that has a history of slow patches, feature adds, and os releases.
- Chicklet keyboard is a touch small for me and requires some focus to not miss type.
**FOLLOW-UP**
- I've removed the call quality knock from the Atrix device. It turns out it was entirely my own fault, and while some people, including Motorola, are reporting issues with sound quality on some devices, mine isn't one of them.
HTC Inspire:
-Pros:
- Excellent build quality (the aluminum uni-body is a joy to hold, and has the extra added benefit of being able to be used to fend off an attacker)
- Beautiful 4.3" screen (Yes, it is big, but I'm a fan)
- Sense (I'm not a fan of these proprietary UI's, but Sense shows that HTC can offer up an experience that is easy to like, and provide an attractive interface for a phone OS that is sometimes described as clinical looking)
- The brilliant development community (currently running CoreDroid /drool)
- Very snappy performance from the second gen Snapdragon CPU
- Tons of ram (Not as much as the Atrix, but enough to be a "ton" in my eyes)
- Lovely camera (I used to not care, but I have a new son, so suddenly a camera climbed up the ladder of important features)
- Fantastic out of the box social media integration
- Has that "Just works like it should" feel to it.
- Very clear call quality
- Second best phone gps I've used
-Cons:
- The screen washes out to a grey slab in direct sunlight
- Stock battery life is horrid
- "Electric Razor" ear screen can have some jagged edges and chafe your ear
- Battery door was a ridiculous design decision
- Very current gen hardware (doesn't mean a whole lot if you're not going to be riding this phone for the next two years, but a new day has dawned and it's name is "Multi-core")
- Stock external speaker/notification volume super weak
- odd placement of the number button on the keyboard (thanks iPhone for etching that into my brain)
- recessed power and volume buttons can be a bit tough to find.
- No internal storage (this is just ridiculous)
- Relatively weak GPU
There you have it. That's what I've come up with so far. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the Inspire, as so many of those issues can be (and have been) corrected through roms. In the end, I just don't really get the warm fuzzies from the Atrix. I feel like it's a brilliant set of components tied together with a really sorry software suite, and a manufacturer that doesn't really understand the strengths of their chosen platform, or the customers that choose it.
I will continue carrying both of the devices for the next couple days, but at the moment, the winner is most definitely the Inspire in my eyes. It just feels like it's been polished to a wonderful android flavored candy shine, and with the community behind it, there's really nothing I feel the device won't be able to handle for quite some time.
**Update 1**
The inspire's build quality is top notch. The screen is perfectly alligned and allows no notable give for me. There is also no more light bleed than you expect from an lcd panel, and none to the touch. The battery cover is a pain. Its actually so well fitted that you have to break it in over multiple removals in order to confidently take it off without breaking it. The sim cover fits nicely, and doesn't pose the same pain that the battery cover does. There is a slight raised edge in the center of the sim cover that takes it just out of flush. Its nigh unnoticable. Viewing angles on the inspire's slcd are fantastic. I can see it clearly in a near complete 180 degree angle, with little to no noticable color bleed. It obviously dims as you move from dead center.
The atrix is in the same boat with build quality for the most part. The phone has a good weight, metal rails down the side, well alligned screen, and mostly tight fitting components. I do have some issues here, though. Mainly with the back cover. As noted in my initial post, its very brittle, thin plastic. If you think I broke a sweat taking the inspires battery cover off, you should have seen me trying to get the battery on the atrix. I pulled the top clip free, and almost bent the cover in half fighting the mid phone clips. Also, the back cover on my atrix doesn't line up flush on one side. The last couple issues are the "creakynesss" of the handset. When I grip the phone tightly I can feel the plastic components giving, and settling into place. Not terribly bad, but noticable. The last issue is the fingerprint scanner. It's been pointed out in some reviews, but the scanner is off center on some devices and just looks shoddily thrown together and misalligned.
The atrix beautiful qHD screen also washes out and tints yellow when viewed at extreme angles.
**Update 2**
I've been using the Atrix today as my primary carry handset, and I must say PROPS to Motorola on this battery... I've been beating on it for all I can muster and with almost two full hours of HSPA+ web surfing, Angry Birds while waiting for my food, poking around in the marketplace, and trying out apps, the phone has dropped 25% of the battery in 7 hours of heavy use. I'm pretty damn impressed with that. My focus would be on the charger right now. I'll be going through the exact same process on the Inspire tomorrow to see how everything shakes out.
**Update 3**
I've been carrying my Atrix for the last two days, and I have to admit... It's amazing... I don't mean to sound disappointed, quite the contrary, but I was coming closer to making my decision, and now I'm struggling again.
New Revelations/Findings:
- The little hitches you sometimes see in games like Angry Birds, when scrolling and pinch zooming are all gone... Like, completely gone. That goes for every game/app i've played that is relatively intensive with animation or processing. The Inspire is definitely no slouch, but the performance edge is fully in the Atrix's court.
- The external speaker of the Atrix is LEGEND-(Wait for it)-DARY! I hopped on a conference call last night and it was right on the edge of being as good as the dedicated conference speakers at my office. Really outstanding.
- The screen is also really pretty. I, once again, had to run from hospital to hospital yesterday and while outside was able to see every color, icon, and word on my screen. It made me secure in the fact that no matter where I took the device, i would be able to rely on it 100%, and it would perform as well as I could ever ask for.
I've been using the anti-glare/anti-fingerprint Case-Mate screen protectors on both of the devices since i've purchased them, and these things just destroy the fidelity of the screen. I will be getting my Realook protectors tomorrow, and will get to experience a bit more vibrance from both screens.
I'm still fairly disappointed with the color reproduction of the qHD screen. It's really in your face when you have the two devices sitting side by side. The SLCD screen of the Inspire is much more natural looking.
MotoBlur is still a disappointment, but after setting up LauncherPro Plus and getting Beautiful Widgets, and exploring LauncherPro's new facebook widget (think FriendStream). It's become nearly a non-issue. I've been using ADW as well, and it's great, but the Atrix seems to love LauncherPro, and I love LauncherPro... Guess that's a match made in Android heaven.
My experience, for most part mirrors yours. I went from the Captivate to the Inspire to the Atrix. I kept the Inspire for about a week and immediately missed the screen on the Captivate.
The Inspire's screen is definitely sharp, but I like the contrast on the captivate. The black text sharpness on the Atrix is really good and very comparable to the Inspire and both beat the pants off the Captivate.
I'd have to disagree with the build quality of the Inspire. Yes, aluminum feels solid compared to the plastic on the Atrix and does give you that solid quality feeling, but I had the same plastic alignment issues with two Inspires I went through. The plastic parts just doesn't line up evenly with the aluminum. The battery door was never a problem with me because of the gaps were plastic met aluminum. I was always able to get my finger nails in two places to pull the cover off easily and without destroying the soft touch cover.
Call quality on the Inspire's headset speaker always sounded tinny and lack the volume of the Atrix. The loudspeaker is really, really weak on the Inspire. The Atrix's loudspeaker has surprisingly good range, I hear a semblance of bass when playing media.
Security wise, the fingerprint scanner is a really good feature on the Atrix, makes me wonder why no one has done it before on a mobile phone. So much faster to unlock securely without a passcode or drawing.
The camera on the Inspire is better than the Atrix. The Inspire's pics come out with more contrast and better color. The Atrix has sharp images, but the color look a little washed out and there way more noise. Seems like Motorola wanted sharper images and turn down the noise reduction. Noise reduction is a big killer when it comes to image sharpness.
+1 just for referencing Barney Stinson.
Haha no, but really, this is a good comparison of the Inspire and the Atrix. I agree with most, if not all, of your pros and cons. I really can't help but emphasize the battery life though. I usually end up having to buy a spare battery and charger set for my smartphones, but it seems really unnecessary for the Atrix. If you're a power user, that's reason enough to pick the Atrix over the Inspire.
I agree almost 100%
I sit here with both phones still. I love the Inspire, and Gingerblur on the Atrix makes me love the Atrix.
The interwebz speed is what is forcing the Inspire as my daily driver at the moment.
I have gone through 3 atrix's already, when i have it, i want to sell it, as you can see in my signature, and when i sell it, i want one. thus #3....
I almost NEED to wait and see 4g... and this backhaul att speaks of....
And then there is the Samsung infuse/enfuse? idk... But they say when its dropped, it will most certainly have the capable speeds, as will the 2 other flagship "4g" phones.
I treat my phones with utmost care, as i usually am selling them for the new and next best thing, and want to ensure they can be purchased as a 10/10 quality. That being said, I will say the case-mate case i have on the inspire gives GREAT protection, but makes a big phone even bigger, the atrix with the bodyglove feels tiny in my hands after 2 weeks of driving the inspire... I recently sold another iphone4, and it reminded me of the atrix in my hands, not build quality, as you mentioned above, but size...
4.3 qHD would be a perfect mix for me, and I am sure is what is in store for future HTC devices... but for now, I am in the same dilemia many are.
to Inspire, or not Inspire and Atrix my way through the rough of it...
to the avg user, hdmi out is no biggie, but to the ub3r geek in me who likes to VPN home, CIFS mount shares, and stream, hdmi is a big deal....
oh woe is me.....
Today Inspire still drives me to and from.... CM7rc4 battery gets me through the day, even as an Exchange Admin with more email on touchdown then most people, including gmail push...
But that said, i come right back with the atrix could get me past a full day!
like the good old Blackberry days..
theres my 2 cents, thrown into the pot, both heads up...
~killster
I'm so sick of these threads.
Man_of_Leisure said:
I'm so sick of these threads.
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Then don't read 'em... Problem solved.
Divinedark said:
Then don't read 'em... Problem solved.
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Just like you have the right to create threads, I have the right to respond to them. If you don't like that, you want a blog, not a forum.
Man_of_Leisure said:
Just like you have the right to create threads, I have the right to respond to them. If you don't like that, you want a blog, not a forum.
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You are absolutely correct. I appreciate your need to contribute completely unrelated, and pointless reflections on your own worthless personal opinion in my thread. So many others that are trying to decide between these two devices will find your additions to the subject of this thread invaluable. I truly hope that you will continue to follow that urge to spout your own polished, self-important drivel in the rest of the threads on this forum. If you don't, you will effectively be robbing us of your wisdom.
I'm sorry that I wasted your time reading my relatively well researched and thought out comparison between two close competing devices on the same carrier. From this point forward I'll be sure to continue adding to the typical device war crap like "TEH ATRIX IS A$$" and what not. That should sate your thirst for informative and entertaining topics on this forum.
Again. I'm very sorry.
Man_of_Leisure said:
Just like you have the right to create threads, I have the right to respond to them. If you don't like that, you want a blog, not a forum.
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+1 I'm pretty sure there's already at least fifteen threads about Inspire vs Atrix. I thank you for taking the time to compare both and noting their strengths and weaknesses but like I said, there's already a ton of these threads and they just repeat the same opinions/info.
Clienterror said:
+1 I'm pretty sure there's already at least fifteen threads about Inspire vs Atrix. I thank you for taking the time to compare both and noting their strengths and weaknesses but like I said, there's already a ton of these threads and they just repeat the same opinions/info.
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It's true that there are a lot of posts that contribute this kind of information, but this one in particular was well thought out and written, and that helps provide a better reference for those interested. I also value those posts that say good things about devices. A lot of posts tend to complain about whatever device they're talking about. It's nice to have some good things to say in order to balance out the amount of user feedback.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
Yea... the majority of threads you see with this same general topic are basically just "The Atrix BLOWS!!!! I'm going back to my Inspire" blah blah blah. He was polite enough to explain his thoughts on the phone thoroughly, and go through his overall opinion on the phone over time, showing what has changed in his mind about each phone. Can kinda think of it more as a "phone review" than a "disgruntled customer".....
There are many Inspire / Atrix threads I've read but this one is a good, unbiased, well written everyday user experience. +1 for op.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Divinedark said:
I do have some issues here, though. Mainly with the back cover. As noted in my initial post, its very brittle, thin plastic. If you think I broke a sweat taking the inspires battery cover off, you should have seen me trying to get the battery on the atrix. I pulled the top clip free, and almost bent the cover in half fighting the mid phone clips. Also, the back cover on my atrix doesn't line up flush on one side. The last couple issues are the "creakynesss" of the handset. When I grip the phone tightly I can feel the plastic components giving, and settling into place. Not terribly bad, but noticable. The last issue is the fingerprint scanner. It's been pointed out in some reviews, but the scanner is off center on some devices and just looks shoddily thrown together and misalligned.
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The battery cover design is one of the things I really like about the Atrix. It is flexible on my phone, not brittle at all. It fits well and is a breeze to get on and off -- after the first time. The first time I was also a little scared and it caught at the middle a little. Since then, it is trivial to do. Of course, it spends most of its time covered by two layers of Otterbox Commuter in my case.
I have not noticed any creakiness -- seems very solid to me. It's reinforced by the Otterbox, so I might not ever notice anyway.
My fingerprint scanner doesn't seem to work at all. I get nothing but too short a swipe messages (works for me about 1 time out of 20). I have been assuming this is due it being placed down in a little hole by the Otterbox. I'm perfectly willing to give that up to get the extra protection and reduced slipperiness. My last unprotected phone (BB 9000) only made it a year before I dropped it many times including into 2 feet of water (don't ask, I need to be drinking to talk about it).
Yea.... i had the Defender for a day or so before i returned it for that one reason. Made it a bit more tricky to use the fingerprint reader. Found that too many times when i went to swipe (almost typed Swype in there... and no, not even on my phone. haha) my finger, it would wind up getting stuck with the outer soft casing of the Defender and either stop mid-swipe or skip part of my fingertip.
fingerprint scanner works great for me; when i first got it i thought it would be a useless novelty.
Slade8525 said:
fingerprint scanner works great for me; when i first got it i thought it would be a useless novelty.
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Not saying it doesn't work great. It works phenomenally. The issue is that some cases.... or mostly the OtterBox Defender, has quite a large hole where the fingerprint scanner resides.... and part of that hole is surrounded by the soft silicon/rubber of the outer shell of the case, which can make trying to get a solid swipe across the fingerprint reader a bit of a pain.
This is a pretty good review. I too left for an inspire and couldn't be happier, but I can see why people like their Atrix. Having cm7 was the deal breaker for me but if roms aren't a big deal the Atrix might be a better fit. I also had two phones with extremely bad call quality issues but I hear that's more of an isolated thing.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
I came from the captivate...to the atrix to the inspire and back to the atrix ...the only thing I miss from the inspire is htc sense
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
slimslim said:
There are many Inspire / Atrix threads I've read but this one is a good, unbiased, well written everyday user experience. +1 for op.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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+1 great unbiased and amusing post. I was about to moan when I saw how long your post was, Divinedark but your well thought out/written comparison made me finish it without realizing it.
Well written OP. It's actually like two reviews of both phones and not just which beats which.
Thank you.
Was not a hard decision of buying, whereas I was in search of a 7"tablet replacement with easier calls. But as just after its release I read many disappointing messages here in XDA, I decided to write my first impressions (3 days usage). Most are the answers to the previous user issues, which were also my drawbacks.
1. Call quality: I hear perfect, ppl hear perfect. The biggest fear of an uncomfortable call is indiscreet.
2. Display: More than perfect. Very bright, so that I have to limit by a 30%. Everything is crystal clear, seems no color interferences, crisp fonts. Just as the most users mentioned, the same. I feel lucky to not have that pinky shades, grayish or blurry regions, dead pixels. pentile or rgb? a big nonsense.
3. Connectivity: Wireless has no problem. At least inside home. Router is in one room, from both stores the transfer is as fast as it can be. 3G>no problem. BT file transfer is still not tested. Just tried the bt headset, it's still the same, still sucks. I guess nothing about SGN, I hope. Standard mini usb socket was a must, and there it is.
4. Material: Used plastic material seems classy, but not rugged. I prefer more protective, softened side and corner parts without a need for a case. The flipcover case is a good idea, replacing the tiny absurdly thin back cover, but the cover is so easily detached while using. No locking, just pull and its aparted. Its sure in a short time abrasion is possible. While opening the back it sounds like cracked. But still changable back cover is a well thought idea. Device is really so lightweight thus I am looking for cases to make it heavier Being weightless its quality feel decreases a bit.
5. Buttons: I agree the volume rocker is placed to the wrong side, accidentally pressed many times. Upper side is better I guess. (but who cares, its too late, please next time ask us samsung). The capacitive buttons are also not wanted. You have to be careful all the time not to press. Is it so hard to function the power button as a shutter while camera is active?
6. User interface: This is the site for all modifying the interface functions, so only a few to add; the 5 main shortcuts should be arranged by personal needs. (or there is a way already?) Also the menus should be viewed in landscape position as in galaxy 7" tablet. If its said to be a tablet. Its annoying to turn it every time while using landscape. BTW why everyone is obsessed about sliding? Saw some movies guys saying hmmm its sliding really fluent. Everyone tries to test how it slides, all comparisons made on this. Whats the point?
7. Audio: Loudness is enough. But more is always appreciated. Especially for a deaf as me. But anyway sound in terms of loudness, and clarity is better than I expected. In fact its not enough to tell but I found its quality very very well. People here discussing the sound issue should have devices manufacturing faults, or are really obsessive audiophiles (I thought myself to be one, actually I prefer to pay thousands to a car audio system) So nothing lacks about hearing. But its a fact, to get best results in low and high freqs one should prefer lossless audio.
8. Video: BRRip movie of 9000kbps-1080p plays smooth. No gaming experience and will have no.
9. E-book: Bigger display is better, so not good as my 7". But the best option as a handy set.
10. Size: I feel its my ideal phone size with my monstrous hands. One handed usage is easy for me. (used 7" easily, thats not a challenge now)
Again I think the ppl who mentioned "SGN is embarrassing to make phone calls" are exaggerating. ( I have a standard 1/8 proportion head size). (ok I will not lie; a lilbit tall maybe)
11. S-Pen: Great toy. Works with a delay (in msecs.) but still usable. Great for daily sketches. (Not for taking notes, I completely forgot handwriting)
12. Battery: 1 day with nearly full usage.
13. Kies: Sux. Go change the name first please.
14. Accessories: Anyway people will drop it more than the previous little sized phones. So a more ergonomical handy case is needed, maybe with finger holders/stickers/ on it. Flip covers are a must but not user friendly. Otterbox>a must. I guess in a short time the acc. producers will wake up and make more options, I am sure this phone will have more sales than everyone expects.
15. Pocketability: Of course.
Conclusion: This phone is great in all aspects. People are sharing the problems they face, but it is normal every product to have production related errors, with acceptable ratios. I am lucky about the manufacturing, hope also lucky in using it without dropping, stolen etc.
ps.My previous phone was an iphone4, now my sis uses it, I really cant txt anything without false. Later I fully replaced it with galaxy7" due to my need for a bigger display.
ps2.(and just before SGN for 2 months I used an old nokia 3110, great phone with 6 days battery on excessive usage. Except the last 14 titles everything is same compared to SGN))
Good to hear that . .
Good to hear everything is working great on your end.
Hope I do not ignore some issues. I again try to find something to annoy me, especially the display faults. . But nothing. Somethings wrong here. Nothing in my life goes that well. Tomorrow will go n buy an insurance package including loss to robbery. Technology never catches my losing speed.
Unless your being sarcastic shouldnt you be happy that you cant find any faults on the unit that you got?
I meant no sarcasm; Before buying I almost accepted the display problems you mentioned b4, bad audio is ok also. But the bad call quality was not acceptable. Anyway, just 1or2 of those issues should be acceptable. But together 3 or more problems, the device loses its charm. I was sure to face those issues, so although I found really cheaper smuggle SGNs, without hesitation bought from official store nearly twice the price with 2 years warranty.
if now there is no problem that means will be bigger ones. Like losing it. Karma! Also Im sure day by day as getting used to it, I'll find many missing-malfunctioned things to ask here.
i'm going to have to disagree with you on the buttons since this is how all samsung smartphones are arranged. It wouldn't make sense to change that now
Yea I know that from 7"tablet, but also I many times pressed its 4capacitive buttons by mistake. However note is a phone (I decided lastly, its a phone) and 1 handed usage is necessary many times. The back >lower right button is pressed unintentedly with inner palm, oppositely if you intend it's hard to reach and press this time. 2 hands, no problem. I wonder if developers can make customizable buttons. (ICS will make this as i understand?)
Tired of the chipping chrome paint and backplate of my still-works-fine S4, I decided it was time to try something new because I apparently have too much disposable income and an awful addiction to new phones. Here are some first impressions I've had with the device in the few hours I've been able to play with my shiny (literally) new factory unlocked gunmetal grey HTC One (M8).
Hot damn does it feel solid. Like I could use it as a weapon should someone ever try to mug me for it.
It's tall, son! Half an inch or so taller than the S4. Not a problem for me, but I can see where it would generate complaints from folks with smaller hands.
Wow that was a long first boot. Even the girls at the T-Mobile mall kiosk were shocked at this. Can't say I've ever had a phone take that long without me screwing up a flash.
Getting T-Mobile's LTE in Detroit on the thing it seems. 22Mbs down. I'm OK with this.
I forgot how much I hated having on screen buttons over the S4's capacitive ones. This really stands out to me since so much space is devoted to them. If feels like 1/5 or 1/6 of the screen is simply OS chrome elements. I can't wait to get Xposed and the immersion module on this (or better, a rom like PA).
The swipe gestures to unlock it sounded really cool at first, until I noticed that every time I tried to pocket the phone, I was unlocking it. a
Is it just me, or is the stock font just huge? I mean, I get the accessibility case here, but man...
Sense is a ton less annoying than TouchWiz (in the brief time I tried to roll with it). Specifically, I always hated the way Samsung perverted the notification shade with toggles. I can't, however, seem to find any compelling reasons to keep it outside of the swipe gestures, but I'm not sure how much I'm going to care about those anyhow. Time will tell, right?
Ok, the gestures thing where you can turn the device and hit the volume button to get into the camera without first unlocking your phone is awesome.
The camera isn't as bad as I've read. A few shots of my kids inside the mall I went to get a new sim card was poorly lit and the shots came out as expected for an Android device. Granted, I haven't printed them or shared them on Facebook, but that's why I have a 5D Mk III
God this thing feels great in my hand. I've read some say the gunmetal version is a little more "slick", but it doesn't seem any better or worse than the S4.
Someone was complaining that the metal from the case where the speakers go and the glass don't seem to be super flush. I can see what they're saying, but I can't say this bothers me outside of the gross abominations that groove will contain after a few months of use. I feel dirty just thinking about it.
Yeah, the sound is a lot better than the S4. No, it's a metric asston better. Since we're using metric, you know that's a scientific statement.
Blinkfeed is, um, cute? I mean, I already had Flipboard so I don't see what the fuss is about other than access from the homescreen, but it's not like I'm going to rock out a stock launcher anyhow.
The buttons are very subtle in the build. Not in a bad way, but it'll take time to get used to their positioning.
Bah! Why doesn't this have every rom ever for it yet! It's almost been two weeks, damnit! #fakerage
I think I'll give it another hour of play time before I void my warranty.
Thread closed,
I have closed this thread as it will very quickly become both a phone comparison and rom comparison thread, which are against forum rules.
Any issues please let me know,
Ghost