About two months ago I upgraded to a Galaxy SII Epic 4G and I’m very happy with it. It still doesn’t run Flash, but then hardly anything does; Flash support is a moving goal post that always remains beyond the capability of most smartphones. Otherwise, though, it’s been excellent. What made it even better was that it came with more RAM than was reported in the available online specs.
I don’t have any personal experience with the stylus apps on the Note, but stylus support is one thing I really do miss from the otherwise mostly miserable Windows Mobile phone I had a couple of years ago. It’s nice to be able to jot down things like grocery lists; I like to listen to music or other audio content while I’m in the grocery store, so having my list on the same device was very convenient.
ETA: I heartily recommend www.gsmarena.com, where you can get copiously detailed technical specs along with user reviews, and you can compare devices side by side. Of course, as I said the specifications may not be entirely up to date.
Hey, hey Mama! Heh. I’ve been wanting to say that to you like forever. Finally got it out of my system. Whew!
Anyway, I recently switched my Droid X, which I was in love with, to the Samsung Galaxy Note II which, if I were a female cell phone, like, say an iPhone, I would marry. Seriously, I love, love, love my Galaxy Note II.
The Galaxy Note II runs Jellybean 4.1.1 out of the box, and although I didn’t think I’d ever get used to Multi Window, I have; I love being able to browse the Internet and draft and respond to emails at the same time all on the same screen, and with a screen so large, I don’t have a lack of real estate problem.
Yep. You remain in a dwindling select group. I am so envious.
Unlike the Droid X, the Galaxy Note II, and the Galaxy S3 and S4 have front and rear-facing cameras. You get a lot of DSLR functions as well.
The screen is large, and I love that. People complain that the phone is too large, but I don’t find that at all. Yes, it is a large phone but, contrary to what others have said, even in this thread, I don’t have a problem putting it in my pants or jacket pockets, and as someone who is only 5’7" I’m not exactly a big guy. The phone fits into the pockets of even my tightest jeans, and that’s with the case on.
I don’t use the S-pen as much as I could, but I do use it.
If you’re going for a phone the size of the S3, then yeah, I would wait for the S4. It has better cameras than the S3 and the Note II. I traded my wife’s HTC Incredible for the Galaxy S3 last month. She loves it, but admitted that she would have preferred the S4.
Yep, best phone I’ve ever owned.
I am not in love with bluetooth headsets. Not only are they just about impossible to keep from falling off, they make me feel like I’ve time-warped back to the year 2005. I just use the wired earbuds, which have better reception and fidelity than bluetooth anyway.
I have the Zenus Prestige Bohemian M Diary Wallet Case. It doesn’t have a window for my drivers license, which I would have loved, but it does have slots for credit cards, my license, medical insurance cards, business cards, and space for folded cash that I use for receipts; who carries cash anymore?
Best of all, the case has saved my phone the two times I’ve dropped it. And last but not least, the case fits in my pocket.
Perhaps it wouldn’t fit into a small breast pocket, but that shouldn’t be a reason not to get such a fantastic phone.
You’re probably just not seeing the people who do listen to music on their android devices. You can sync your iTunes playlist to an Android phone. I did this on my wife’s Galaxy S3, and her HTC Incredible before that. Switching to an Android phone, and especially the Galaxy series, gives you more versatility and functionality than an iPhone does, not less.
If your game’s database is in local storage, then yes, but you have to know where that is, and transfer it over to the new phone after installing the game there. I’m not a gamer, so I’d just start from scratch.
One thing that is important to note is that many games designed to run within specific screen dimensions, and look great on your Droid X, may not scale properly on your new device, which will probably have a larger screen, with different dimensions than the Droid X.
Me too - mine arrived yesterday. Haven’t activated it yet, but it seems really nice.
If I had stayed with Android, I’d probably have gone for the LG/Google Nexus 4 - as one of the things that was annoying me about Android was the manufacturer - specific crapware that you get layered over the top of vanilla android.
I have the nexus 4 and I love it. No bloatware, as having that stuff gets me irrationally angry. I use T-Mobile 100minutes, unlimited data and text for ~$35/mo.
Heh - yeah, the Veridiots have put several apps that I have never used (Blockbuster? some kind of game? and a few Verizon-specific ones), all of which CANNOT BE DELETED short of rooting the phone. The one manufacturer-specific thing that mine has, that I love, is the Emergency Contacts. In Contacts, you can select up to 3 contacts that can be accessed even when the screen is locked.
Two co-workers who have Samsung phones looked in vain for something like that on theirs. No dice. They looked for an ICE app, but everything they read suggested that those only worked if you disabled the security lock feature which they weren’t willing to do. I looked in vain for a way to customize the lockscreen wallpaper (where you could at least add a phone number as part of the graphic) but that too was not easy to do.
No, no, don’t hold back, you can tell me what you really think of it
Yes - I’d bet you use Doubletwist. Someone here (maybe you?) told me about that a couple years back. One current annoyance with the desktop portion of that is that it comes bundled with White Smoke toolbar which from everything I read is just short of being a trojan. Do not install that when you install DoubleTwist.
I actually still prefer a regular iPod Nano (the older style with the wheel) for music playing, because it’s just easier to navigate. No need to unlock the phone (or iPod Touch) to navigate.
I’m actually seriously considering going back to a “dumb” phone.
I got a Galaxy S 4G about 2 years ago, and at first the games and internet and apps and all that shit was fun, but I recently realized I don’t really use any of that crap at all. I’ve got an iPod Touch if I want to do any of that kind of thing; I only use my phone to make calls and text.
About two months ago I switched out my Droid X for a RAZR HD MAXX. I did a lot of research first and I absolutely love my choice.
It is blazing fast, running as many apps at once as I care to. The screen size is about the same as the Droid X, but the phone itself is smaller, lighter, and more conveniently shaped. It also has an astonishingly good battery life. I believe it is the best currently out there. You could literally watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy extended editions without recharging. I find I need to remember to plug it in every few days or so with regular use. If I drop it in the Motorola car dock on my way to and from work, I never need to charge it anywhere else.
Speaking of that car dock, if you use it you can use the single best and easiest car finder app out there. Every time you undock it blips on the gps for a second to get a position and then turns it off without you having to do anything, so you never need to record the position of your vehicle to use it.
The phone is international ready. The screen itself it gorgeous and highly responsive. The case and glass are very strong. I go caseless and screen protectorless and have had not trouble at all.
This model is the first to come out from Motorola since Google bought them out, though development started before that. The end result is a device that is closer to straight up android than any other Motorola, and second only to the nexus phones. There is very little bloatware, and almost all of that can be frozen out and made invisible like you can do with Titanium Backup without having to root it. There is no need to worry about the apps taking up space as the phone has 32g memory before you even put in a card.
I have found the camera and video camera to be excellent.
One of the biggest reasons I bought the Droid X originally is that it had the best voice quality of all the smart phones at the time. The RAZR HD MAXX actually improves on it, and is one of the few smartphones that do. People forget sometimes that these are phones and there is a significant difference in how good of a phone they are.
Lastly, if you care to root it it is a fairly simple procedure with easily available tools on the internet.
It is a bit pricey, but this phone is not going to become obsolete any time soon, so I think it is worth the investment.
The only downside it has is that the battery is not removable. That is the only negative for this phone I have been able to find.
Yep, I think that was me. I didn’t install anything other than the core desktop app, so no problem there. DoubleTwist was heaven-sent for my wife as she was quite concerned about losing access to all her music once she switched. There are now new apps that do what DoubleTwist does.
There are so many music players available for Android at this point, even a few that transform your screen into the classic wheel-type iPod interface. I personally don’t find this as awesome as other’s apparently do, then again, not being a music guy, I never cared for the iPod anyway.
As far as unlocking the phone, just turn off the lock screen in Settings. You can even have your phone open in the music app right out of sleep, so you don’t even have to click the desktop icon to start it. I’d hate that, but it is possible to set up.
Not being able to change the battery in the RAZR MAXX was the murder death kill for me, and the main reason it didn’t make my list as the otherwise logical upgrade from my Droid X.
As I stood in the Verizon store with my temples pulsating, I found myself stunned in rapt dumbfundity wondering who in the world, (well, other than iPhone users, which is a whole 'nother kettle of fish) would possibly want a phone that has to be sent for repair if the battery needed replacing.
Yeah, I’m not in love with this either, but it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would, especially since I changed the launcher on my Galaxy Note II from TouchWiz to GO Launcher EX, which gives me a surprising amount of control over the environment. I’ve customized my phone to work the way I want it to, without having to root it which, after doing that once, I swear I will never do again.
Yes, the bloatware is still there, but it doesn’t impact my experience as it’s now all hidden.
By the way, for those who are interested, here is a YouTube tutorial on how to use the GO launcher to do some pretty wild UI customizations. Note that this is just a small sample of the features and functionality, not to mention the virtually unlimited number of skins and themes available for GO Launcher EX.
The phone can look nicer. This is subjective, of course, but being able to make a solid case without a removable back plate leads to cool options, like the solid milled aluminum of the iPhone or HTC One.
Size. A removable battery means it has to be at the very back of the phone, and everything else designed around that. By not making it removable, if you can make the phone thinner by putting the battery between the screen and main circuit board, then go ahead and do it.
Durability/toughness. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped my phone, even on soft surfaces like a carpet, and the battery panel has come off, and the battery came out.
Obviously, get what you like, but there are legitimate reasons. And the manufacturers and carriers want you to get a new phone when the battery on the old one gets to the point it can’t hold a charge anymore, which is typically 18-24 months, right around the time you get a new phone upgrade.
Quick update: I just ordered the Samsung Galaxy Note II. Decided that it wasn’t worth waiting for the S4 especially as my Droid X has been behaving even more sluggishly lately, I also liked the large screen. Yeah, that puppy is huge - I took my Droid into the Verizon store and saw that it was most of an inch longer than my current phone, ditto wider. I’ll probably have to get a new car mount for it, LOL (I have a great iOttie mount that holds anything… except not whole elephants, I suspect).
Prolly won’t get it til Friday - they don’t offer in-store pickup. Boo. Oh well, the cases I got from Amazon will be here then as well.
I did think about the Motorola models. Partly (and this is a little silly) for their built-in emergency-contacts designator - I was able to flag my husband and 2 brothers and someone finding the phone could reach any of them - also have access to a note with emergency information. Third-party apps may offer some of that functionality but apparently not all short of replacing the lock screen or eliminating security.
Replaceable battery was a biggie for me. The battery-cover issue (when you drop it) shouldn’t be an issue with a case on the phone, and that’s something I always have. And I don’t want to replace it every 2 years.
I did pay full price. Interestingly, they marked it down 100 bucks from the price I saw the other day (and that I saw today at Best Buy). Either a loyalty thing for not using the upgrade, or they just like me, or something random. But with the new phone I figure I’ll be using more data, and will be happy to have the unlimited data. Plus this way I could give the upgrade to my son if something happened to his phone.
I think you will love it! The anticipation of delivery would be making me nuts, and I’ll be doing that next week. My upgrade is eligible on Monday and I’m getting an S4 and will be on pins and needles until it arrives.
Come back and tell us how you like it after delivery!
I again recommend an aCase Superleggera case. Best of all worlds. Oh, and Anti DT for loss recovery, and WiFi Analyzer to find and manage wiffy data connections.
Interesting - in all the noodling around I never found that particular case - and they have it in my color (bright blue). Phooey. I ordered several others from Amazon to try out, none too expensive.
I have SeekDroid already, seems to be similar to Anti DT - any advantages you know of for that vs. SeekDroid? Will definitely check into WiFi Analyzer - that sounds useful!!
