Topic: Verizon phones

[NWR_insanolord]

I happen to live in a market that's not "most markets." I get 3G on AT&T everywhere around here, and I'm pretty sure it's HSPA. So until Verizon brings LTE here, AT&T wins.

I'll probably still switch to Verizon though.

[MegaByte]

According to Verizon's map, you should already have LTE coverage.

[NWR_insanolord]

That may be true. I don't have much reason to look at Verizon's map very often. Next year's model should definitely support LTE, so there you go. I'm almost wishing this year's won't have it, because if it does I'm going to have a hard time not switching this year and eating the early termination fee.

[BranDonk Kong]

If you want to keep your number you need to switch before you cancel your AT&T service.

[Shaymin]

Why do many people hate Motoblur? I'm hearing varying accounts of this. Some say it's not that bad any more but was really annoying on the Droid 1 for a variety of reasons. Others say it's still bad. However, they seem to be the same people who do all kind of crazy **** like load custom ROMs with their phones that I would never do and also complain about the locked bootloader which I'm almost entirely sure wouldn't even matter to me. Is Motoblur really that awful?

Give this editorial a read. (Note that Motorola doesn't even market Motoblur anymore.)

[BranDonk Kong]

It's just called Blur now, and it's still horseshit. I prefer a "vanilla" Android setup, but my Thunderbolt has Sense 2.0 (2.1 soon...and then maybe 3.0) and it's pretty awesome. There's so much you can do with Sense that makes it awesome, but at the same time you can't sync a Wiimote to the phone, and the bitpool for bluetooth is low, so that kinds of kills it for me.

[MegaByte]

The best non-vanilla UI I've used is MIUI, which is sort of a Chinese iPhone clone by default, but has theme capability.

[Adrock]

@Shaymin - Thanks for the article. Very enlightening. Through my "research" (aka dicking around the internet when I should be working), I found out that Motorola was phasing out the name "Motoblur" due to negative public perception and that's how I found out that most people tend to detest Motoblur, hence my question. Still, it makes me wonder what the point is. Motoblur or Blur itself sucks and, like that article suggests, if Motorola insists on having it, they need to fix it and not come back until they do.

I'm not tech savvy enough to jailbreak a phone or load a custom UI (which I'm sure involves the bootloader and a series of pulleys and clockwork gears). I may just wait for the Nexus and force myself to use a touchscreen keyboard. That's what I like about companies that handle their hardware and software like Apple, RIM and now HP. The problem is that only Apple keeps up with the technology curve.

My Blackberry Bold 9700 inexplicably went from 25% battery to 0% yesterday. That doesn't always happen but it does happen. That said, I'd be more willing to deal with the dated hardware and antiquated OS if it didn't do shizzle like that and other equally annoying things, but since it does, I'm looking elsewhere.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If I wipe Moto's Blur off my phone, can I put Sense on there instead?

I've always liked HTC's Sense.

[BranDonk Kong]

If there's a port of a Sense-based ROM for your phone, then yes. This wouldn't be as simple as "uninstalling" Blur and "installing" Sense - it would have to be an entire wipe of your phone and you'd install a ROM. Take a look at forums.xda-developers.com and see what is available for your phone. I think you have a Droid X, right?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=691 would be where you want to look. I don't think there is a Sense ROM (might not even be possible), but you can definitely get a "Vanilla" Gingerbread ROM and install something like Beautiful Widgets and Launcher Pro and make it look pretty similar.

[Adrock]

So I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that most phone manufacturers are sabotaging phones with physical keyboards (i.e. Droid 3) and if I want to get an elite super-Jesus-phone, I'm going to have to get a touchscreen phone. /grumble

Right now, I'm between the iPhone 5 and the Nexus Prime (assuming it comes to Verizon). I expect the iPhone to have better battery life which is the only thing I'm really concerned about. Anything I would want to do on a smartphone is possible on both phones. I'm leaning towards the iPhone primarily for the battery life (and maybe the screen).

[MegaByte]

I've seen Bluetooth keyboard cases for iPhones. Anybody know of any for an LTE-capable Android phone?

[Adrock]

I've seen those too. They're kind of bulky and bluetooth is going to eat some of the battery. I'm sure I can get to the point where I don't detest touchscreen keyboards but I'll probably always prefer a physical one.

[Stogi]

I don't want to start a war, but Android is extremely battery efficient if you make it that way. There are plenty of tweaks you can do to make your phone sip juice rather than chug it. It is especially possible with the Nexus phones because they have no bloatware like HTC Sense or Motoblur and can be scaled back to only the most necessary applications.

So yeah, point is, if it's all about battery life, Android is the way to go.

EDIT: One more thing, if Samsung makes the Nexus again, I can guarantee that they'll put there Super AMOLED+ screen on there. If that's the case, it can be even more battery efficient since the screen only uses power for color. So doing something as simple as setting the screen to a dark background can lengthen your battery life.

[Adrock]

When it comes to Android, I'm only considering the Nexus Prime because I want a pure Android experience. I don't like propriety user interfaces like Sense and Blur and even when they unlock the bootloader like they said they would, I still don't feel like messing with it. Additionally, I'd prefer getting updates as soon as Google releases them instead of waiting for the manufacturer to get their act together. A few weeks ago I was fiddling with the Droid 3 and I liked the keyboard, but I hated the pentile screen and Motorola's UI. On top of that, it's not even an LTE phone yet I read the battery life is mediocre and changing some options offers minimal improvements. Pass.

I'm torn between the next iPhone and the upcoming Nexus because I'm trying to decide what I'm more likely to do. My needs are simple and I'm lazy. That said, the iPhone will most likely function as well as I'd need it to out of the box and the screen is unrivaled even though it's not really a "retina display." On the other hand, I could google instructions on how to make stock Android an equally or better experience but again, I'm lazy. Stock Android should give me the flexibility to avoid battery issues like the Droid 3. I suppose my main problem is that I'm not certain Nexus Prime will be available on Verizon and I'm definitely switching. Rumors state that Google is planning on releasing it on every major carrier, but who knows?

The rumored specs of the Nexus Prime are insane in the membrane. A 4.5" screen? That sounds nice on paper, but do I really want to carry that around in my pocket? And I hope they don't use that curved screen like the Nexus S. I'm not a fan. The iPhone 5 and Nexus Prime should be unveiled in the next month or 2 which will make this decision a little easier once I know what each phone is packing.

[Stogi]

Is this your first smartphone?

[BranDonk Kong]

It doesn't matter what Android phone you get if you want a stock experience - buy the phone, wait a couple weeks, root it and install a custom ROM (I suggest CM7). I have vanilla GingerBread on my Thunderbolt (well, vanilla plus the tweaks and extras that CM7 includes) and it's great. HTC Sense is brilliant, but it can be a hinder as well.

[Adrock]

Is this your first smartphone?

No. Well, I currently have a Blackberry 9700 but it wasn't very smart so yes, this is will be my first smartphone.

In all seriousness, it had 3 key strengths: keyboard, BBM, and battery life. The keyboard is the only one that still holds today. BBM is great except over the past 2 years the number of people I know with Blackberry phones has dwindled so only one person still has one. She happens to be the person I'd message the most, but she's investing in an Android phone and I'd rather just pay for unlimited texting. As expected, the battery life has slowly degraded. I have to charge it every day/day and a half which from talking to others is what I should expect right off the bat with an iPhone/Android. I know why Blackberry phones have great battery life. The technology inside even the latest Blackberry is about 1-2 years behind everything else that came out at the same time. The CPU requires less power and the screen is smaller.

The platform is just ridiculously limiting by today's standards and this is coming from someone who doesn't do all the crazy stuff that some others do. I really just want a better browsing experience and a device that can occasionally double as an MP3 player when I workout. I could get an iPod Touch; I'd just rather save $300. RIM's QNX based superphones aren't expected until Q4 2012. I'm not willing to wait that long just for a fancy keyboard.

It doesn't matter what Android phone you get if you want a stock experience - buy the phone, wait a couple weeks, root it and install a custom ROM (I suggest CM7).

I know, but like i said I don't feel like dealing with that. I'll **** it up somehow. I'd rather just start with the stock experience and the rumors say the Nexus Prime is a beast. Can't go wrong there.

[NWR_insanolord]

If you just want a clean, effective stock interface without having to modify much of anything, I'd go with the iPhone. Especially since you'd be waiting for the iPhone 5, which will ship with iOS 5, which removes the only glaring flaw with vanilla iOS right now, the shitty notifications system. It's good enough that I'm not even going to wait until it's jailbroken to upgrade; I'll use the official release until they get that working.

[Adrock]

Well, in some minor, unrelated news, Google just bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, bolstering their patent portfolio. They said they plan to run Motorla as a separate business. Hopefully, they step in sooner rather than later to kick Blur to the curb and rid Motorola devices of those awful PenTile screens.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Does that mean my Droid X is now a Google Phone?

[Adrock]

I assume you mean "will future updates to my Droid X be stock Android?" This is just conjecture on my part: you're either stuck with what you have until it dies/you buy a new phone or Google makes it so your Droid X updates to the latest version of Android (i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich) as long as the hardware can handle it though it should. It makes no sense for Google to continue supporting Blur, a UI almost universally panned, when the purpose of proprietary user interfaces was to make each manufacturer's devices seem unique. For that reason, I think future Motorola phones not already in production will launch with stock Android. As far as I know, no other company releases a pure Android smartphone unless commissioned by Google (Nexus) so, in a way, stock Android is unique.

[BranDonk Kong]

Latest version of Android is GingerBread, ICS isn't out yet for any end users. I think this is AWESOME news, especially since I have the Xoom and have plans to sell my ThunderBolt for a Droid Bionic eventually...maybe. The Xoom gets updates directly from Google already, and the Droid always had stock Android...this should be badass, the potential is basically unlimited for Android now. Expect iOS to start dying soon...

[Adrock]

iOS isn't going anywhere. It's too entrenched in our culture and many people find it perfectly suitable for their needs. These are many of the same people who don't care what Android can do better. Apple posts record quarter after record quarter. There's really no reason to believe they're in any kind of trouble just because Googlle bought Motorola Mobility.

EDIT: I'm aware that Gingerbread is the current version of Android which the Droid X should be running unless I'm mistaken. I meant, if Google offers Droid X owners an upgrade, it would be for the latest version which would be Ice Cream Sandwich at that point.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I would love for an update that wiped MotoBlur off my phone.

I'm still haven't put any effort towards rooting my phone to wipe all this Verizon/Moto stuff off of here, so an official update that took care of half of it would be really nice.