Galaxay Nexus vs Droid Razr

[HTTR]

To those who have owned both phones: Take the specs, the numbers, the tests and all the math and throw it out the window. Done? Good. Now think about both phones and how they feel data wise. Is it a significant difference (Dont go digging outside the window for numbers, I see you ) or is it all just hoo ha? I have used SEVERAL different smart phones on a 3G network and ALL felt the same data speed wise. I never used any tests or numbers or specs. I just used the device and they all felt the same, regardless of weather one was actually faster than the other. Is that true here too or is it very noticeable to those who simply graze the interwebs from time to time? What im saying is: I could care less weather the numbers or tests say one thing, if it feels as fast as it should and is performing as well as it should, then there should be NO quabbles from me.

Agree, the numbers mean little if the actual performance does not match. My experience was not one of running a quad or comparing signal bars, but real usage of the phones. (both, from the exact same spot with greatly different results).

For me, the choice was a clear one, but everyone needs to take a test ride for themselves. The 14 day deal with Verizon was great for me as I tested the devices and came to a conclusion based on that.

It is nice to have choices on smart phones...as opposed to being stuck with only one.

 

[redraptor]

Agree, the numbers mean little if the actual performance does not match. My experience was not one of running a quad or comparing signal bars, but real usage of the phones. (both, from the exact same spot with greatly different results).

For me, the choice was a clear one, but everyone needs to take a test ride for themselves. The 14 day deal with Verizon was great for me as I tested the devices and came to a conclusion based on that.

It is nice to have choices on smart phones...as opposed to being stuck with only one.

Agreed...I'm just scared because I took the razr as the test run and now I want to try the nexus. If it doesn't work, I can't return it back for the razr...so I need to make sure the nexus is truly the right phone.

 

[Bodycount]

A friend of mine bought the nexus the day it came out. It's a nice phone but I like the thin profile the razr has more.

Yes the nexus has android 4.0. But the razr will have it soon too (hopefully). Once the razr has it then both phones will basically be the same thing, except some minor differences. He will be stuck with that phone while I still have a super thin phone.

Software can be upgraded and made to be the same. The hardware of the phone can't. That's why I like the razr over the nexus.

 

[HTTR]

Agreed...I'm just scared because I took the razr as the test run and now I want to try the nexus. If it doesn't work, I can't return it back for the razr...so I need to make sure the nexus is truly the right phone.

Good luck! Here is a site with a lot of info.

Galaxy Nexus Forum - Samsung Galaxy Nexus Community

I did the reverse and had the same concerns. Doesn't the 14 day start over with the new device? They usually charge a $35 restock fee, but I got it waived. I took screen shots at varoius times showing no connectivity (data) and non loading web pages. My arguement was that they gave me a device that did not work and they agreed. (after trying a new sim card).

I hope it works out for you. I love the Razr so far, the connection is lightning fast. ICS is nice, but will eventually get here.

I am not a tech, by any stretch, but I still think that there may be a hardware problem (antenna) with the Nexus. Check out the forums above...great info

 

[redraptor]

Good luck! Here is a site with a lot of info.

Galaxy Nexus Forum - Samsung Galaxy Nexus Community

I did the reverse and had the same concerns. Doesn't the 14 day start over with the new device? They usually charge a $35 restock fee, but I got it waived. I took screen shots at varoius times showing no connectivity (data) and non loading web pages. My arguement was that they gave me a device that did not work and they agreed. (after trying a new sim card).

I hope it works out for you. I love the Razr so far, the connection is lightning fast. ICS is nice, but will eventually get here.

I am not a tech, by any stretch, but I still think that there may be a hardware problem (antenna) with the Nexus. Check out the forums above...great info

I shall do that!!! Thanks. I have been floating between the two forums on here and I'm still very lost. Honestly the biggest things that draw me into the nexus is the screen size, resolution and on screen buttons. The camera also seems to take comparable oR better pictures. All those are relatively big points. But on the other hand I can not get over how amazing this phone feels. I love how solid it feels ans the over all look(I have it in white). And essentially its the perfect phone. Its just the non HD screen, hardware buttons ans camera that is giving me concern. When the new phones start rolling out in 6 months, I don't want to start feeling like I made the wrong choice. And ics makes no difference since it's coming to every device eventually anyway(by root or otherwise).

 

[HTTR]

When the new phones start rolling out in 6 months, I don't want to start feeling like I made the wrong choice.).

..I have just resigned myself that this will happen no matter what or when I get a phone. Like a computer..as soon as you but it and get home it is out dated..

 

[Trooper]

I use the free version and works great for speaker and 3.5mm

Sweet.

Do you have any recommended settings?

Thanks!

 

[rushmore]

Volume at four for headset and speaker

Bass at three for speaker and no bass for headset. I use Poweramp, so already using EQ for that.

 

[Kelmar]

Is she like JRoc's daughter and likes the curves?

Lol, I think it was just because it didn't awkward in her hands (and because the iPhone didn't have the free NHL mobile app that 4g phones have).

 

[Tim K]

A friend has the nexus; I have the razr and we had this conversation. For him he can't live without the ability to install custom roms and he loves the 'free' tethering (he has an old unlimited plan). 4G for him is also wicked fast (we tested them side by side and I saw around 10Mb/s while he saw a bit over 20Mb/s).
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However he dislike that it often looses 4g for no reason (beyond verizon wireless outage) and the speaker is very soft.
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I'm not really into custom roms per sey though I would like to dump some of the verizon crap (like a backup manager that can't be turned off). And I wouldn't mind a removable battery.
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Then again it is nice having a speaker loud enough to actually use the phone as a speaker phone when I'm cooking.
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Its hard to comment on battery life because his battery life is very good when the signal is solid but when it is searching for a signal his battery life goes down the drain.

I've had a GN for about a month and my wife just got a Razr yesterday.

I can assure you that a couple of side by side speedtests are NOT an accurate measure. I did one where the Razr wall pulling almost 21mbps and the GN 11. Then another where the GN was a touch higher, then another about even, then another where the GN was a touch higher.

Can't comment on Razr battery or 3g/4g handoffs or data connections as she just got it yesterday.

Signal strength "APPEARED" better on the Razr (4 bars vs 2), but checking the dbm, the razr was reporting -87 and the GN -90, so pretty similar.

Build of the Razr is solid, like you'd expect from Moto. GN is pretty plasticy but that's doesn't bother me. Razr is noticeably thinner and lighter than the GN. Also, all the ports are on the top of the Razr vs the bottom of the GN - if that matters. I usually keep my GN top down in my pocket so having the headphone jack at the bottom works for me.... but when I want to plug it in to charge or into the audio jack in my car I don't like that the phone has to be upside down but I can live with that.

What bothers me is the bloatware on the Razr. My god. There must me 30 apps on that phone from verizon and moto, and some of the verizon crap (backup assistant - I'm looking at you!) can't be removed without rooting. I am so thankful I finally got a Nexus device.

The Moto UI I don't really like either, and I felt like it was a challenge to move shortcuts around the screen - in particular from one screen to another. Seemed very jumpy. If it was my phone, I'd root it and get rid of it. At a minimum I'd install a replacement launcher with a central apps button and 4 shortcuts. I hate the stock moto launcher with only 3 app slots and the app tray button all the way to the right.

Its too early, and not my phone anyway, to review the Razr, but for me, having ICS NOW was big. No bloatware (though some people complain that VZ put 2 apps on there both which can be disabled (backup assistant and my verizon - which is actually useful IMO). No Moto skin / UI. And a direct, rapid, update path from Google. All these make the GN the phone for me.

However, the GN has its flaws - battery life isn't great as there appear to be some issues - but I think they are software and can be resolved by google. Speaker volume is VERY low, but "there's an app for that". Volume+ takes care of that problem.

 

[Podivin]

... At a minimum I'd install a replacement launcher with a central apps button and 4 shortcuts. I hate the stock moto launcher with only 3 app slots and the app tray button all the way to the right...

I agree with that.
When I first got the phone I though "eh, I'll get used to it". After several days I decided that I just couldn't do it, and installed the Go Ex launcher. In the past I've always been a Launcher Pro fan, but I thought I'd try something a little different. So far (a couple of weeks) I'm liking it.

 

[jroc]

Tim K, I wanted to thank your post, but I like the RAZR and the UI, launcher n all...so I couldnt on principle...lol

I agree about not comparing them for speed tests side by side. Its in weaker areas where the difference can be seen tho. Like just now...I had my G Nex on the window sill since 9 this morning, no 4G yet. My RAZR...just put it on the window sill, forgot it was on CDMA, set it back to LTE and right now its showing 4G. Took about a total of 3-5 minutes to go from 1X, no signal, 1x, 3G, 4G. My G Nex can go from no signal, 1X, 3G...but thats as far as it goes in my apt.

Toggling Airplane Mode, network settings on the G Nex hasnt changed anything. Right now data reception in weaker areas is the only thing I see wrong with the G Nex. Build quality, phone reception is nice. Speaker...the RAZR is louder. I think right now whats making me lean towards keeping the G Nex is:

I dont like Sense UI, even tho I feel the Rezound might have better reception than both the RAZR and G Nex.

I like running my phones stock, so Sense UI, I would have to change things.

The ROM, mod itch is there for me and the G Nex is the fix. I know most everything else about the G Nex and ICS I dont like can be changed....the data reception is the only wild card. I plan on keepingthe RAZR ...still havent decided on the G Nex. It might go down to the wire, I got til the 14th.

 

[elitegamer]

Tim K, I wanted to thank your post, but I like the RAZR and the UI, launcher n all...so I couldnt on principle...lol

I agree about not comparing them for speed tests side by side. Its in weaker areas where the difference can be seen tho. Like just now...I had my G Nex on the window sill since 9 this morning, no 4G yet. My RAZR...just put it on the window sill, forgot it was on CDMA, set it back to LTE and right now its showing 4G. Took about a total of 3-5 minutes to go from 1X, no signal, 1x, 3G, 4G. My G Nex can go from no signal, 1X, 3G...but thats as far as it goes in my apt.

Toggling Airplane Mode, network settings on the G Nex hasnt changed anything. Right now data reception in weaker areas is the only thing I see wrong with the G Nex. Build quality, phone reception is nice. Speaker...the RAZR is louder. I think right now whats making me lean towards keeping the G Nex is:

I dont like Sense UI, even tho I feel the Rezound might have better reception than both the RAZR and G Nex.

I like running my phones stock, so Sense UI, I would have to change things.

The ROM, mod itch is there for me and the G Nex is the fix. I know most everything else about the G Nex and ICS I dont like can be changed....the data reception is the only wild card. I plan on keepingthe RAZR ...still havent decided on the G Nex. It might go down to the wire, I got til the 14th.

Maybe your not good enough have the top of the line phone ? really its not the nexus as much as well you use your phone. My nexus blows away razr in speed so whats that tell you ? nothing just like all these post.

I mean you guys/ rezounds are only people dissing the phome why ? besause its the hottest phone on market look at feedbacks on vzw and that tells you everything close to 5, razr only 4 in ratings lol.

 

[rushmore]

How do you define "blow away"? Emulators are faster on the Razr, due to the higher res display on the Gnex and the chips and ram are the same. If anything, the Razr is zippier' sure to the display.

Benchmarks are barely in favor of the Gnex.

If clocked at 1.5GHz, the Razr would be beat for sure, but the Gnex battery life would plummet.

 

[HTTR]

Maybe your not good enough have the top of the line phone ? really its not the nexus as much as well you use your phone. My nexus blows away razr in speed so whats that tell you ? nothing just like all these post.

I mean you guys/ rezounds are only people dissing the phome why ? besause its the hottest phone on market look at feedbacks on vzw and that tells you everything close to 5, razr only 4 in ratings lol.

I had the Nexus for a couple days..it was great except for call quality, data connection and speed... Bottom line is that the phones have different experiences for diff folks...luckliy we have choices and are not all stuck with the same one.

 

[jroc]

Maybe your not good enough have the top of the line phone ? really its not the nexus as much as well you use your phone. My nexus blows away razr in speed so whats that tell you ? nothing just like all these post.

I mean you guys/ rezounds are only people dissing the phome why ? besause its the hottest phone on market look at feedbacks on vzw and that tells you everything close to 5, razr only 4 in ratings lol.

how is my post a nexus diss? I have both and i'm posting side by side experiences. Maybe the nexus I have is bad..well one could counter and say maybe the RAZR you had was bad....then we back to square one.

Perfect example of what I posted earlier...

Doing a speed test right now, the nexus is constantly beating my RAZR by about 5 - 6 mbps. but when I load Android central on both phones.....it loads faster on my RAZR.

That's why you can't go by just side by side speed tests. maybe you are upset that its not perfect, or don't wanna believe its not perfect..... FWIW..... I can get every top of the line phone if I wanted to, i'm in a position now where I can have 3-4 phones just for me.... so it not about being jealous.
Its about providing hopefully unbiased insight for both phones. Sorry if what I post about the nexus upsets you...

And I thought me constantly mentioning that my decision on keeping or getting rid of the nexus getting harder would be enough to tell some ppl its a decent phone.

 

[Trooper]

Eh pay him no mind. He's just picking up where BubbaNexus left off.

 

[jroc]

Maybe this will make some ppl feel better..

what I like about the g nex better:

Screen
Feel in hand
Location of volume button in relation to the power button
has ics

What I like about my RAZR better:

data reception in weak reception areas
Speaker volume
Phone dialer
Notification light

Things that's a wash to me:

UI
smoothness of UI
Phone reception
lte speeds in good to great reception areas
Notification light could also be a wash because I like that the light is bigger on the g nex, but overall I like it better on the RAZR

Never really compared battery life except for stand by times for an 8 hour work day. It was a wash.

About ics, faster updates and custom roms.. I didn't include it up top because i'm trying to compare out the box use of both phones. ics n faster updates is nice, but something like having my banking app fc means I need to still use GB as my daily OS right now. Having the lock screen get stuck, taking a few swipes on the nexus at times means I need to have GB as my daily driver. Most of the times it happened when the battery was low. There were issues when froyo and GB launched, so I'm sure there are some with ics right now.

 

[Bogeyjoker]

Even though my signal meter may show -100 to -120 dB signal, I still can make relatively clear calls on my Gnex...however, as HTTR noted, the data signal is basically non-existent unless I'm sitting in a hammock under a tower.

I'm sitting in my office right now with -120dB signal. I just received a voice call that , although not crystal clear, was fairly decent. However, I have absolutely zero data connectivity without being on Wifi. I just upgraded from an old Eris which had nearly perfect reception in the same exact seat.

Because of the lousy signal, my battery life is horrendous. I'm lucky to get 4 or 5 hours between charges. I'm in a strong 3G, no LTE area and have my network setting on CDMA instead of CDMA/LTE in order to conserve battery life.

I'm about to jump ship to the Razr, but will definately miss ICS.

 

[you2]

Its weird; the diversity of reviews make one wonder if there aren't two phones out there. I know at least one professional review found the evod (3g) reception lacking; but several people locally who use the phone claim is it very strong. Oddly the only real reason I would consider switching from razr to nexus is verizon (and their crappy software).

Even though my signal meter may show -100 to -120 dB signal, I still can make relatively clear calls on my Gnex...however, as HTTR noted, the data signal is basically non-existent unless I'm sitting in a hammock under a tower.

I'm sitting in my office right now with -120dB signal. I just received a voice call that , although not crystal clear, was fairly decent. However, I have absolutely zero data connectivity without being on Wifi. I just upgraded from an old Eris which had nearly perfect reception in the same exact seat.

Because of the lousy signal, my battery life is horrendous. I'm lucky to get 4 or 5 hours between charges. I'm in a strong 3G, no LTE area and have my network setting on CDMA instead of CDMA/LTE in order to conserve battery life.

I'm about to jump ship to the Razr, but will definately miss ICS.

 

[jroc]

Its weird; the diversity of reviews make one wonder if there aren't two phones out there. I know at least one professional review found the evod (3g) reception lacking; but several people locally who use the phone claim is it very strong. Oddly the only real reason I would consider switching from razr to nexus is verizon (and their crappy software).

to be honest, reading some pro reviews and user reviews, every phone sucks and every phone is great all at the same time....lol. Hopefully whatever phone a person gets be as trouble free as possible.

 

[Sandroidfan]

Both is good phone but will serve different folks and needs. 3G/4G radio switch-over seems similar on both phone. But Razr seems to hold 4G connection in weak areas better right now. My Nexus holds 4G fine at work and window side of my home, but will drop to 3G deep inside home. I'm in medium 4G area with speed about 6~9Mbps. Just hoping update will improve data connectivity like Charge received.

Battery claims on Nexus seem to vary very widely on nexus though. My moderate usage is giving me about 23 hours 3G, 11 hours 4G. But I saw from 5 hours 4G to 50 hours 3G, lol.

 

[jroc]

Both is good phone but will serve different folks and needs. 3G/4G radio switch-over seems similar on both phone. But Razr seems to hold 4G connection in weak areas better right now. My Nexus holds 4G fine at work and window side of my home, but will drop to 3G deep inside home. I'm in medium 4G area with speed about 6~9Mbps. Just hoping update will improve data connectivity like Charge received.

Battery claims on Nexus seem to vary very widely on nexus though. My moderate usage is giving me about 23 hours 3G, 11 hours 4G. But I saw from 5 hours 4G to 50 hours 3G, lol.

I was just getting ready to post another anecdotal experience I witnessed today and recently. This one is interesting....

Went from a good reception area to a bad one. The RAZR dropped the connection entirely, G Nex didnt, it held at 3G. The RAZR did go back to 4G eventually, but the G Nex was still on 3G. It too went back to 4G, but after the RAZR.

The other day I was on Wifi in my apt. Went outside, turned wifi off and the switch to no signal, 1x, 3G, 4G was lightening fast on the G Nex. Did the same thing with my RAZR one time and the switch over was slow, probably with my having to toggle Airplane mode, networks to get any data back.

What in the world does all that mean? lol.

They both seem to have issues with data switch overs. The fact that the G Nex has yet to see 4G in my apt and the RAZR has at least 3-4 times I actually looked for it means somethings up. Hopefully software can fix some things. For both phones.

 

[Sandroidfan]

It's interesting test result. I feel like overall radio switch-over performance is similar. But Nexus seems to pick up 3G faster than going from 3G to 4G. And Razr seems to be behaving opposite way, faster to 4G but slower to 3G.

I don't think this is as bad as when Tbolt first came out and will probably get better with updates. But right now, Rezound seems to be clear winner on smooth 3G/4G transition from what I see. Honestly I didn't expect HTC would have done this good job on it, or maybe Qualcomm MDM9600 LTE chip is that good.

 

[Tim K]

Just compared signal strength, and though the Nexus seems to be "faster" the Razr always shows a stronger signal. And I don't mean the bars but the actual dbm numbers.

Razr has between 15-20 dbm better signal when right next to each other.