• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Galaxy Nexus or Droid Bionic?

O

oOMavrikOo

Android Expert
I'm about to buy new phones from either Amazon or Wirefly and need to make a hasty decision. I've been given extra time to opt out my Sprint contract and port over my numbers. I've decided on either the Galaxy Nexus or the Droid Bionic. Both websites have the GNex at $99 and the DB at "Free" or $.01 respectively. My wife is getting the DB and I THOUGHT I was getting the GNex (I've used ICS on my Evo 3D and really like it), but free sounds pretty good for the DB. Can someone enlighten me on my decision?
 
Well the Bionic is a bit long in the tooth now. I didn't like the Galaxy Nexus. The camera is lacking compared to other high end devices and battery life is atrocious. the speaker, ringtones etc is also very low and weak. I ended up returning it after 10 days.

Now if you like to root and rom your devices, then the Galaxy nexus IS the device for you.
 
I would look at the Razr or Razr maxx before the bionic personally. The bionic is a lot closer to end of life for VZW than the Gnex.
 
I looked at the RAZR because it's only $50 on Amazon and Wirefly. Now I'm considering either two RAZRs or a GNex and the Bionic.
 
I'll say this, if you like a strong signal inside buildings and consistent everywhere else, go with a RAZR ot bionic. I love both of my phones but when i go to work and need signal i take my bionic. When I'm going to be out and about and signal isn't an issue or i need my camera, i use my nexus.

it's not just that they represent signal differently, it's that the signal sucks. In the break room at work i get a solid 4g signal with my bionic. With my nexus, i get a weak 3g.

Either way though, there all awesome phones.
 
The signal for the razr should get more like the bionic signal. As for the nexus I don't think sammy used radios that were as good as moto's so while it will get better it likely will never be as good as moto. I personally like to root/rom and the nexus is perfect for that.
 
I have a Bionic. No real problems aside from the networking issue, but that was more programming & VZW LTE then hardware. As far as it being old.... well it is a whopping 6 months old.... No phone is perfect, they all have their quirks & MOTO & co. spend more time on the next best thing rather then fixing the old phones...
 
timelord65 said:
I didn't like the Galaxy Nexus. The camera is lacking compared to other high end devices
Click to expand...

I haven't had much interaction with the Gnex, but the camera is one thing I can say is amazing. I have two friends with the phone and they started snapping pictures while we were sitting in a very dimly lit bar. I was emailed a picture and the quality was outstanding. Looked like it was taken in full light with a decent camera, no way I'd guess it was a cell phone. I'd say it was on par or better than taking a picture with my 10MP canon elph.
 
dcorn said:
I haven't had much interaction with the Gnex, but the camera is one thing I can say is amazing. I have two friends with the phone and they started snapping pictures while we were sitting in a very dimly lit bar. I was emailed a picture and the quality was outstanding. Looked like it was taken in full light with a decent camera, no way I'd guess it was a cell phone. I'd say it was on par or better than taking a picture with my 10MP canon elph.
Click to expand...

I didn't like the galaxy nexus camera at all. It was average at best. The t-mobile Galaxy s2 and the iPhone 4s takes much better pics and videos than the Gnex.
 
dcorn said:
I haven't had much interaction with the Gnex, but the camera is one thing I can say is amazing. I have two friends with the phone and they started snapping pictures while we were sitting in a very dimly lit bar. I was emailed a picture and the quality was outstanding. Looked like it was taken in full light with a decent camera, no way I'd guess it was a cell phone. I'd say it was on par or better than taking a picture with my 10MP canon elph.
Click to expand...


I've seen plenty of people rag on the camera for being not so good. Yet they have never provided an image that is supposedly flawed and point out what's wrong with it. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. It seems a bit ridiculous to critique a camera, but not provide a visual example. For example, "I thought the colors were poor". Okay, what does that mean? That may mean oversaturated or undersaturated, or improperly balanced. Or they may look perfectly fine, but your so used to the photos from a different device that actually does take flawed pictures, you just think it takes flawed pictures (I've seen many devices actually oversaturate photos, and just a hint, more colorful=/=better picture). Photography is a very hard medium to describe through words.

The only real criticism I do have is with video, where if you don't hold it very steady, you get that weird jello effect (appears to have no vsync). For all I know though, that can be fixed with software, but its not a big deal unless the video is shaky anyway.
 
People harp oh the camera because it is smaller MP than many phones but that doesn't really matter IMO unless you are using the phone for professional quality pictures and if you are doing that you should have a dedicated camera IMO
 
Yeahha said:
People harp oh the camera because it is smaller MP than many phones but that doesn't really matter IMO unless you are using the phone for professional quality pictures and if you are doing that you should have a dedicated camera IMO
Click to expand...

In my opinion, 8 MP is really pushing it for cell phone cameras. I'm no camera expert, but from what I know, a larger sensor (physically), means you get a higher quality photo, since it can capture more light. However, cell phones have extremely tiny sensors, even compared to a point and shoot. So we could have a 40 MP sensor for all we know, but its still going to take mediocre photos due to the fact that there isn't as much physical space for the light to hit.
 
Demache said:
In my opinion, 8 MP is really pushing it for cell phone cameras. I'm no camera expert, but from what I know, a larger sensor (physically), means you get a higher quality photo, since it can capture more light. However, cell phones have extremely tiny sensors, even compared to a point and shoot. So we could have a 40 MP sensor for all we know, but its still going to take mediocre photos due to the fact that there isn't as much physical space for the light to hit.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you hit the nail on the head...the people I know who are into photography don't shoot on phones they use dedicated cameras with interchangeable lenses for different conditions...but we live in a world where the average consumer believes it is bigger so it must be better after all 8 is more than 5
 
when you print them it does count (at least for me, it may be my printer) when i print pics from my nexus vs my bionic, the bionics come out better
 
I would like to let everyone knows that after careful consideration, I've chosen the RAZR. I did alot of research for the GNex, Bionic, and the RAZR and felt like the RAZR was the all around better device.
Even without ICS, it just seemed like it had a better build quality.

Btw, I've tested the camera on all three and can personally say that I feel like the RAZR's was better if only for the iPhone like quickness that it shoots.
 
oOMavrikOo said:
Btw, I've tested the camera on all three and can personally say that I feel like the RAZR's was better if only for the iPhone like quickness that it shoots.
Click to expand...

Okay that part I don't understand the gnex camera is lag less if you are talking about speed between you telling it to take a pic and it taking the pic...also the panorama setting on the gnex is superior to the panorama setting on the RAZR...i've tested both as well :D
 
Yeahha said:
Okay that part I don't understand the gnex camera is lag less if you are talking about speed between you telling it to take a pic and it taking the pic...also the panorama setting on the gnex is superior to the panorama setting on the RAZR...i've tested both as well :D
Click to expand...


Panoramic is better, but as a whole I felt the RAZR was producing better quality shots. I'm not big on taking pics, but I can tell the difference between good and bad ones. I would also like to add that I really wanted to buy the GNex, but it just felt cheap compared to the other phones.
 
oOMavrikOo said:
Panoramic is better, but as a whole I felt the RAZR was producing better quality shots. I'm not big on taking pics, but I can tell the difference between good and bad ones. I would also like to add that I really wanted to buy the GNex, but it just felt cheap compared to the other phones.
Click to expand...

Okay I can't say otherwise as the only camera feature I have "tested" on the RAZR is speed and panorama both because my co-worker had questions about it. It wouldn't surprise me if once upgraded to ICS the panorama function on the RAZR is better than the gnex either. Since I haven't compared the actual ability to take pics on the two...nor do I feel I am qualified to ;) I am not a photophile
 
At the risk of looking like a dumbass haha, here is a pic from a Gnex, taken in a dark bar. Friend was showing me how fast the phone would taken multiple pictures in sequence, and this was one of them. Of course it's shrunk down by photobucket, the full pic is 2592x1944.

IMG_20120309_221415.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom