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Dec

10

2011

Why I Got Rid of My DROID Razr and Am Waiting for the Galaxy Nexus

36

by Jack Holt
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The moment I heard about the DROID Razr I was extremely excited.  I checked out the Droid Does web site constantly drooling over this phone. A few days before the launch, a contest was held where the first person to decipher the code won the phone. Sadly I didn’t win the phone, but that didn’t stop my drooling over it. It did land me this job here however, so I chalk that up as a major win in itself.

The Razr

I happened to be in Best Buy on 11.11.11, the day the Razr was released, and stopped by the mobile phone department to see if they had one to play with. The moment I touched it I was surprised at how light it was. The screen was rather crisp and the phone was quite quick. I was hooked. I bought one right then and there. I didn’t hold out for the Nexus because of Motorola’s announcement about bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to the Razr and figured I could patiently wait for that update. At this point, we were thinking it would be the beginning of 2012 to see it.

I took it home and started installing all my apps (roughly 150). I was impressed with the amount of internal storage the phone had. I was able to install all of my apps without moving any to the SD card with a heap of storage to spare. I still moved some out of principle, but it was nice knowing that I didn’t have to. All the apps started up quickly and I saw no lag, whatsoever. I was impressed.

For the first few days I had the phone I was in heaven. It did everything I wanted it to with ease and finesse. The Motorola don’t-call-it-blur overlay had a few bells and whistles I was impressed with. I liked their contact widget and the little flare they had when you switched between home screens was nice. I did notice that there were only five home screens to play with. Considering that the norm is seven, and I use every single one of them, I was a little miffed at only having five. Maybe Motorola figured we only needed five, something I didn’t like, but something I could over look.

The Quirks

After a few days my phone started to do things that were a wee bit quirky. When I swiped the lock screen I found it to be sluggish in responding. It took two or three swipes to get it to unlock. A quick restart of the phone would fix this, but considering I rarely had to restart my old Android phones with them still being responsive, having to restart the phone every other day was not normal to me.

Upon restarting the phone my phone’s ringtone would randomly play at full volume on start up. I say randomly because some days it wouldn’t do this while other days it did quite often. It continually did this and I tried a factory reset to see if that would help. It didn’t, so I ended up taking the phone back to Best Buy. They figured that it was software related or had something to do with the Sim card bug the Razrs have and gave me a new one. This phone worked great until it started resetting during phone calls and randomly playing the ringtone again. As I am an EMT and need to use my phone to call hospitals regarding patients, I couldn’t have my phone randomly reset during phone calls.

I took the phone back and they offered to do a factory reset. This seemed to help the problem for the first 10 minutes I had the phone back until I tried to call my sweetie. The phone reset and my ringtone started playing again. Frustrated I took the phone back, again. The courteous folks at Best Buy told me that I could either get a new Razr or they could return my money. They said that given I have had two that did this already I would probably get another one with the same issues. I told them I would go back to my old Incredible 2 until the Galaxy Nexus comes out and asked for my money back.

Actually I contemplated going with the Rezound but after multiple talks with one of TalkAndroid’s other authors, Stacy Bruce, I saw the error of my ways, I figured I’d wait until the Galaxy Nexus came out. Of course I wrestled back and forth between getting the Rezound and waiting for the Nexus so much that I was worried that Stacy Bruce would come to my house and cut me if I went with the Rezound or even mentioned the idea again.

I thought about going with the Rezound again after they dropped the ball on this rumored release date, Mind you, this was when the rumored launch was December 9th, but considering I’d have to order the phone online, I’d be waiting until roughly December 15th so I might as well wait and see if the Nexus comes out then. I may reevaluate again come Thursday. But I digress.

The Nexus… Why?

So back to the main point of this whole back story, why I returned my Razr and am waiting for the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus, if you don’t know, is the first full Google Experience phone to be seen on Big Red’s network. It comes with ICS right from the get go and is fully designed with that in mind. Yeah it has a 5MP camera compared to the Razr’s 8, but in my opinion, I think it will do just fine. I’m not an avid photographer and have a 10.1 MP camera for those vacation shots anyway.

I do like the idea that this phone will be the first one to receive updates when they come out from Google, assuming Verizon doesn’t botch that, and that this phone has some staying power. The Razr, is slated to receive ICS in possibly 4-6 months but who knows about any other subsequent updates after that. Also I don’t know when the Rezound is coming out with their ICS update but I have a feeling we are looking at the same timeline as the Razr.

I will miss how thin the Razr is, but I didn’t like the idea of not being able to pull the battery out, and get new ones if I need to. While the Nexus might have an issue with switching batteries, I like the idea of being able to get new one or having another one for those longer work days. Both phones have SAMOLED screens but the Nexus totes a 720p resolution, and while the Razr is crisp, I can’t help but wonder if the Galaxy Nexus is going to be more visually stunning.

The Conclusion

To conclude, I use my phone for practically everything short of being my music player at the gym. I have an old ipod classic for that. Movies, gaming, email, work, and so on; it’s my go to device. The Razr was an amazing phone for the first few days that I had it and then the honeymoon phase wore off and I found the phone to be buggy and frustrating to use after a few days time. While the Galaxy Nexus has its own bugs, Google is much quicker to roll out bug fixes than Motorola is right now. I hope that the merger helps with this, but as of right now I’m putting my money on Google.

When the phone comes out I’m sure it will come with its own quirks but hopefully they aren’t deal breaking. Others may have better luck with the DROID Razr, but after 2 botched Razrs, and an old botched Droid X, I will be taking my money elsewhere until Motorola gets their act together. Hopefully the Galaxy Nexus comes out this Thursday like the new rumors are saying, if not I’m sure both Stacy and I will be having a communal brain aneurism and we will begin planning our Coup of local Verizon stores. What about you guys? Are you having better luck with your Razrs?

» See more articles by Jack Holt

Categorized as Android Phones, Android Rants, Android Software, Unique

Comments

  • Steve

    Such a pointless read…

    • Scott4nola

      You should’ve gotten the Rezound. In the long run it is going to be a better phone than the Nexus. It just didn’t receive all the hype at launch.

  • Anonymous

    I feel like this article should have been three words long;

    Ice, Cream, Sandwich. 

    /end

  • http://twitter.com/FryeDaddyTN James Frye

    Good thought process….don’t have the Razr but have it’s ugly stepsister the Bionic. Had the original Droid as long as I could stand. I was holding out for the Bionic and the S2 and was going to likely take the first one that Verizon released. Bionic had already been delayed at that point by at least 6-months when it was announced the Galaxy S2 was not coming to VZW.

    There was not even a rumour of the Razr at the point I HAD to get the POS Bionic. It was obvious that Moto kept the Razr quiet so as to not effect the sales of its knowingly flawed, contractually obligated Bionic.

    This whole process has left my opinion of Moto at an alltime low. The 36-60 day promised fix to serious Bionic issues now looks like it will be 59-1/2 days as neither Moto or VZW are in any hurry to make their customers happy.

    My best friend has the original Sammy Galaxy w/ VZW and the only problem I saw with this phone was the ridiculous long wait for OTA OS upgrade. Sure the UI sucks but it is no where near as flawed as Moto “Blur-esque”

    With Android we have three layers of design. Google, The manufacturer and VZW. Google can create a flawless OS and the next 2 layers will screw it up w/ childish UIs; bloatware, and long delayed OTA.

    I wish Google, Microsoft and Apple would cut out at least one of the middlemen and start buying their own spectrum and run a wireless carrier together. Perhaps they could buy the arse-up-their-heads AT&T wireless together and start increasing coverage.

  • Twophat

    Jack, you are my ice cream sandwich

    • Jack Holt

      Thank you sir, your comments are what keeps me going.

  • Ctsamados

    Im contemplating dropping a massive load of cash on the Galaxy Nexus but theres that one nagging suspicion that 16gb will not be enough room. Im really caught in two minds and may plump for the Galaxy S2.

  • Jack Holt

    From what I understand we will only see the 32GB model. Of course until we see the thing, all points are valid :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678969321 Rohan Juneja

    Why are either phones better than the Galaxy S2 though? I understand the Galaxy Nexus has ICS but the screen on the nexus is very ordinary as it only has 2 subpixels while the galaxy has 3. Admittedly the screen is probably better but ICS will be out soon for galaxy so what’s getting consumers to buy the Nexus which is far more expensive?

    • Jack Holt

      My guess would be features like NFC, Hardware built for ICS, While ICS will come to other devices, there’s the gray area of optimization, hardware acceleration, etc. Plus this is a ICS right now phone, not ICS when the update gets around to being pushed out. Not to say it won’t be speedy, but it is still in the hands of manufacturers to push out.

      • Ctsamados

        Also the Galaxy Nexus is a Google Experience device meaning that it will instantly get any new updates.
        BTW i live in England and we only seem to have the Galaxy Nexus 16GB version available here. Which is why i’m having serious concerns whether to purchase one.

    • Jack Holt

      While I agree the SII is a great phone, there are a few things that the Nexus has that the SII doesn’t. One, I’m on big red’s network with an unlimited plan, so I will stick with them until they get rid of that. Two, from what I have read, the Omap processors are somewhat more optimized than the Snapdragon processors, although most of those are opinion over actual facts. Finally, like you said, the screen, the Nexus, has a higher resolution and is also a SAMOLED, so I think it will look a lot more crisp.

  • restontechwiz.com

    Droid razr is a great phone….I had the bionic before that and it was a lil heavy and awkward. The razr is amazing fast super light.

    I’m just not convinced that ICS is going to be as smooth as everyone thinks right out of the not….

    • Jack Holt

      It probably won’t be. ICS will have its own quirks and problems but I think the Galaxy Nexus will be quicker to fix those than when Motorola, HTC and other phones getting updated to ICS would fix. Of course, by the time ICS comes out for these phones ICS should be patched up pretty good. 

  • Andy Bush

    I picked up the Droid RAZR from Amazon Wireless during their $.01 sale. It’s been a couple weeks now, and haven’t had a single glitch. Overall, I’m very satisfied. I too was waiting on the galaxy nexus.. but in the end the aesthetic appeal of the RAZR won me over. I really commend Motorola on the overall build quality. To me the battery not being removable isn’t a problem. The phone was built the way it was to keep it thin. Besides, the battery actually IS removable and can be replaced if the day ever comes, you just have to take the back of the phone apart to get at it. It’s really not all that hard. Now, as far as ice cream sandwich goes… yeh, it’s too bad us RAZR owners will have to wait for the update, but in my opinion, I’d take the build quality of the RAZR over the Nexus any day. I’d rather have a phone that’s built to last.    

    • http://androidtidbits.com Guillermo Martinez

      Well there are reasons why you can’t easily take off its battery. First is RAZR’s kevlar coat which protects it from scratches. Second, it has splash guard to protect your phone from water. Lastly, if you unprofessionally open your device, chances are you’re gonna break its protective barriers. 

      I love the RAZR over Galaxy Nexus base on the stability and sturdiness of the device. Samsung’s phone are made of plastic, which really doesn’t ensure its overall protection. 

      I also heard rumors that Google bought Motorola. Chances are all the major updates from Google, such as Android Jellybean, will be coming first on a Motorola device.

      • Jack Holt

        I understand the reasoning, but one of the things I like about Android phones is that unlike their apple counterparts, you don’t have to send the phone in should you need a new battery. Given that the Nexus is a Google Experience phone, the nexus may not be the phone that first gets Jellybean but it will get it pretty quick afterwards. 

        I’m not sure on Motorola getting everything so quickly because they are apart of Google, as Google as clearly said that they will be keeping Motorola seperate as to not “play favorites.” But we will see.

        • http://androidtidbits.com Guillermo Martinez

          An advantage for Samsung phones is that its battery is replaceable,  however, with Galaxy Nexus, you will be needing a special kind of battery which allows its NFC capabilities to operate. 

          • Jack Holt

            Yeah, that is a negative mark for the nexus. Hardware pairing may be an issue down the road, we will have to wait and see. 

            • http://androidtidbits.com Guillermo Martinez

              Well, I certainly hope VZW won’t make us wait much longer.

    • Anonymous

      It’s funny that people talk about the build quality of the Samsung phones, yet I haven’t read anything about them really falling apart or not surviving a drop. I’ve had several other brands, besides my iPhone4, they well seem to to just fine with the occasional drop. EVO also plasticky, is still rocked by a few million Peeps. High end phones, that were considerd high end then, like the Trio, most Motorolas, Nokia, etc, were all plastic. They were some of the most robust phones to date. even the iPhone was plastic for the 3 and the current 3g. No one complains about those either. My Nexus, although plastic, still feels as premium as any of those phone to me. Feels light, and has done great on the occasional drop. I think the most common problem with plastic phones are the talks and mental picture of itself. Not the actual phone. Just my opinion of course.

  • http://twitter.com/JZAHN1 J Zahn

    Why were the points against the Rezound?  my wife has the HTC EVO, it runs well and is not buggy, after 1 year of full service. it is a wicked battery killer though. i like the HTC rezound, and HTC’s reported promise to slim down their UI during the Ice Cream upgrade. 

    i have the original Motorola Droid (slider) and am waiting  for the Nexus. i originally was going to do a RAZR after reading about it and playing with, but futher review showed the screen to be less sharp than my two year old droid. otherwise i found the device to be pretty snappy. 

    i also like having a large screen as i read alot on the phone. so the nexus seems to have the advantage. i don’t like the fixed storage associated with it.

    • Jack Holt

      To be honest, there isn’t any negative points for the Rezound, other than it being heavy. I like how sturdy it feels but I don’t like the weight. The Beats audio is great, the screen is clear and the phone is solid. I base my waiting because I would order it online and it would get here in the same amount of time as the nexus, So I figure I will just wait for the Nexus if it’s rumored to come out Thursday. I see the fixed storage the same way as I do the Xoom’s internal storage, I have yet to put a dent in it, and with all my music in the cloud with an unlimited plan, storage isn’t an issue for me.

  • Spangy123

    I have the Droid RAZR and love it. None of the problems you experienced. It must be one of the 150 apps you have that is not compatible with Android 2.3.5. My guess is that quite a number of your apps will not be compatible with ICS right away. Sorry about your troubles, but you should not bash Motorola or the best looking Android phone to-date just because of your bad luck. If you want a trouble-free experience, you might want to try an iPhone.

    • Jack Holt

      While I wouldn’t disagree, I have used all of these apps on one Android OS variation  or another. 2.3.3-2.3.7 and 3.0, no issues. Also the phone did the exact same thing after a factory reset, with no apps installed other than what comes pre-installed. As for bashing Motorola, I didn’t think I did. I base my opinion on what I’ve seen, read, and experienced. Look at the X, the bionic, and now the Razr. Like I said, others may have had better luck, but from my experiences, I was not impressed and I love Motorola products (I own a Xoom, and loved the original droid). If I didn’t love the Android OS and ecosystem I would maybe consider an iPhone ;)

  • Anonymous

    I got the Nexus unlocked. Best decision ever. It blows away the soon to be forgotten RAZR on so many levels. Believe me, the RAZR needs as much stalling as possible from its much hotter cousin. When this finally releases, you will not be disappointed at all, and the RAZR will have to given away just to move it.

    • ajf1174

      Wow, you’re far too proud of your nexus. Put the phone down and read a book our hang out with some friends. It’s just a smart phone and it’ll be yesterday’s news in no time just like all the others.

      • Anonymous

        Not really. I actually have owned about 25 Androids and this is the first phone I actually want to keep more than 3 months. The only phones I’ve kept for a yr are the iPhone, the Focus, and it looks like the Focus S is going that way too. I was born and live in Alaska and probably get to enjoy the outdoors and appreciate nature more than most. I also do set aside time to read a book every day. I’m surrounded with tons of friends and family as well. I am just really happy with the phone (first time since owning any Android) and its quality. It’s not my life.

  • Beaubarre

    I wonder if your problems come from your 150 apps compatibility and not from the Razr. That means with the new ICS phone you will have far more problems as it is a twice updated OS.

  • Beaubarre

    Oops Spangy123 was 7 hours faster …

  • frankandernest

    I’m just the opposite… the camera means A LOT to me (even though I have a 16 MP camera, I don’t always carry it and having a phone that takes pictures that don’t look like crap is important to me) and I use my phone as an MP3 player quite often. I NEVER use it for serious gaming other than angry birds and solitare (and I wouldn’t call that serious gaming). I’ve watched movies on my phone, yes, so we have that in common.

    But I still consider the Galaxy Nexus a compromised, botched up phone thanks to Verizon’s meddlesome ways. I am extremely dubious that the nexus is going to be that great thanks to that fact, and seeing’s google’s past screw ups in their initial releases of software updates, I don’t relish the idea of my phone being their testing platform for the latest android updates all the time.

    I’m sticking with my “botched” Droid X for now, but will most likely be forced to be an iphone user when my ‘new every two’ is up in February.

  • Gplayer72

    Ive had the RAZR for a week now and I love it! The battery life is incredible! I streamed the ESPN radio app continuously for 5 plus hrs. I also purchased the new Motorola portable charger, that’s smaller than any smart phone and it fully charges the RAZR as fast as the wall charger. So that is 10 plus hrs of data usage if desired. I have had no issues at all so far, fingers crossed! Motorola will undoubtedly be better after the Google acquisition. I could not be happier with my phone and future updates!

  • Bennystan

    I just signed up for a new T-Mobile UK contract today from Tesco Shop. I was the last person before they closed the shop, and they quickly made my credit check and gave me the new Razr and the papers. I took them and went home full of confidence. When I tried to start it – nothing! it wouldn’t start!!! I thought the battery might be empty. I put it to charge for half an hour and tried again. Nothing. This is sooooo frustrating! At least you had your chace to play with it for a while. Me - not even one minute. Who should I blame!? I will now have to go to the in the morning or tomorrow evening after work and see what is wrong. But when I got it, I was like a child. Soo glad for getting it and so anxious to play with it the whole evening and bring it to work tomorrow. F**K!!!

  • Fthomas0227

    I am one of the lucky ones that hasn’t had any problems with my RAZR, besides gowns acting quirky. I always had to restart my incredible, so an occasional reset isn’t a big deal.

  • Meeshou78

    I am just as unlucky as the author!  I bought a Droid Razr in the beginning of Dec.  I installed all the apps I had on my old Droid “brick”.  I DO have quite a few apps as I too own/run a business with 5 people that rely on me, also 5 kids I like to spend time with and this phone allows me to do both I take it to the beach and can WORK from the phone.  When IT works that is!  Before you chime in with pithy comments about the # of apps on the phone, After talking to Verizon tech support they had me start the phone in “safe mode” meaning only the OS and the drivers for the base operations load up, it got caught in the fatal boot loop from Safe Mode also (NO 3rd party apps are operational in this mode).  THEY stated it was a hardware or OS problem not me at all and safe mode kills proved it.  I am on my second Razr and my 3rd is in the mail.  I have had to do a factory data reset 5 times in 4 days and at this point have no desire to touch the damned thing.  I hold my breath every time I get a call with fear that it will restart and I’ll have to reset it again.  I WAS against the Galaxy for lack of removable storage, if for example you DO have to do a factory data reset and have no sd card do you lose the whole phone?  that would be even worse!  If I could afford to upgrade to an iphone for the first time in my LIFE I would seriously consider it!  I wish I were joking.  I am not tech-tarded at all, I repair computers as a hobby for friends and family, I write software in my spare time.  I also did a root on my OG Droid after my warranty was up and changed the OS along with  the kernels.  So, I usually know what I am doing and getting the answer of it must be me is unacceptable, and Motorola, Google nor Verizon will even recognize there is an issue when you look at any of their websites there are people all over them complaining of my same problem.  Shame on them for now narrowing down what seems to be a relatively common problem.  and if it IS an app (doubt it) then we need to find out which and they need to figure that out and inform their customers…I would and do if there is an issue in my business!  This is ridiculous.

  • http://www.facebook.com/xxbrgxx Kenneth Morris

    all phones bought from third party sellers are crap or always turn out to be crap. i got my droid razr directly from verizon. works perfectly. had it for over 4 months now. places like best buy and radioshack often give you phones that have already been used, bugged, and with other crap done to them we don’t know about. It’s best to just get the phones from Verizon.