Maxx HD received, anybody have questions?

[ALurker]

If you install a launcher like apex or nova then you won't have that settings screen. I'm not really a big fan of the settings page. Reminds me of swiping to the left to get to the search page on iOS. I prefer having the settings toggles on top of the notifications pull down menu and keeping my home screens nice and clean. Of course if I do get this phone I'll probably hold off on installing apex and seeing if I get used to it.

 

[Xelios]

Back to reception please........
The best test to me is on comparative signal level on 4G in dbm, not bars or "no drops". You can get at it through settings. So can anyone test the Razr HD next to a different 4G phone at the same time/place ? This can easily be done at a Verizon store. I tested the Razr next to the Razr HD and they were the same (yeah !). I retested the razr M and confirmed it is 10 to 20 dbm lower. Hoping ther Razr HD does not have this problem. Also, the Razr HD did not drop signal level when gripped (like the M does).

Specifically, at this VZW store the Razr showed -74 dbm, the Razr HD -76 dbm, and the razr M -84 to -91 dbm .

I would like to get more confirmation compared to 4G phones. Thanks for the help.

Okay so I just tested it with my brother's GS3. Side by side in hand, the RHD wins by just a bit. His was at -113dBm, mine was at -104dBm. It was fluctuating a bit while I wasn't moving but that's the largest difference it got to. The RHD was always a bit better than it throughout though. I assume the closer the number it is to 0, the better it is anyway. Hope it isn't the other way around haha.

Can you explain this in detail? I have a Droid X on my unlimited family plan. I do not want to lose the unlimited data. I believe there are 3 smart phones and 2 dumb phones on the plan. My phone and another smart phone are due for upgrade. I believe one of the dumb phones is due for an upgrade as well. Thanks!

Sure thing. This is what I did. My phone plan has 2 smartphones and 2 dumphones (my parent's). When I went to the store the rep knew what it was so you might need to find someone who knows about it, so they don't screw it up. I ordered the phone as an upgrade on my mother's line, and the phone was activated with a 2gb/month data plan. Once activated, the rep deactivated the phone off my mother's line, did some voodoo, and activated it on my line. Now this leaves my phone line replaced with the RHD and since I technically didnt use an upgrade, it doesn't affect my unlimited. My mother's line at this point has the 2gb/month but since she has a dumbphone, I went home and reactivated it using *228. Since it's a dumb phone, data plans don't apply, and it gets stuck in contract limbo if you will. Only issue that comes up of this is my mother gets signed on for 2 more years, but we weren't planning on cancelling anyway.

However if you try to use the alt upgrade make sure its from someone who doesn't have a smartphone with unlimited. If unlimited is present on the donor line, it gets cut to 2gb/month. Hope that explains it well, I can elaborate more if you need me to.

I like the new quick setting page on the left end of home screens in new Moto UI.
What happens if you install launcher apps like Nova, Apex? Is it still there and can you access it by swiping to the left end?

Nope, if you use Nova you lose the quick settings. I played with the stock launcher for a bit at the store and it was cool and all, but I preferred Nova to it. The quick settings were definitely cool though, I admit. However from nova's notification bar, if you swipe it down you can access your settings with a gear icon thats at the top, or a gesture.

As for that SD card issue I was experiencing earlier, PlayerPro scanned my card just fine and read the music. Couldn't get PowerAmp to do it though. Just throwing that out there.

 

[SayOw]

I too came from the Droid X, which I thought was a fantastic phone, and picked up a Droid Rzr HD (not the maxx) today...

The battery was below 20% so I've had it on the charger for about 3 hours now and it is almost up to 100% to begin really playing with it...

I do like the new launcher - it is nice having the popular settings available by going to the left screen but I can also see those that don't need to go to their settings that often and it being more of a nuisance.

Definitely keep tabs of the sim tray tool! If there is one thing I am apprehensive about is the sim tray/sd card port. The tray comes completely out and is fairly lightweight and doesn't look to be that durable...if you are going to be swapping sd cards, I can see where that might get damaged fairly easily.

I work at a venue where my work area is in a "bunker" like room surrounded by foot thick concrete and steel doors to get in an out... with my Droid X I would get 1x data and very few bars (even though the data was slow, I would get data and reception for calls) but within 4 hours the battery would be dead from searching for signal...next weekend I will be seeing how this phone fairs in that same environment, I am hoping it is much improved.

I did also pick up the "accessories" pack that had the car and flip dock as well as a dual port "quick charger", HDMI cable and a few other cables and stuff...seems like I have about 5 charging cables now...

I haven't had a chance to make any calls or do much else with it, but will be soon.

 

[Xelios]

Yeah good point, the sim tray doesn't feel especially strong. Kinda fragile to be honest, be careful with it when you're using it constantly, would suck to have it break haha.

Alright so I know a lot of people complained about the screen real estate taken up by the nav buttons. I was just messing around with Android Overclock changing the LCD Density value from 320 to 250, and it looks much better imo. This is the result.

New screen: http://i.imgur.com/d7kdU.jpg

Old screen: http://i.imgur.com/bv8Lp.png

You can see it's squeezed down a bit more. Just a heads up if anybody is interested. Makes icons smaller too. Needs root to change LCD Density though.

EDIT: Grabbed a few more pictures. Here's an album if interested. The sun just started peaking out after a ton of rain so it was still a bit dark outside.

http://imgur.com/a/B4aH1

EDIT: Ok word of warning, you can't go back to 320 LCD Density on Android Overclock. Max is 280, so I don't know if any other programs allow it, but be careful when you do it.

Okay shit, don't set your LCD Density. You still have that problem where apps on the store become incompatible. Even if you set it back to 320 (did it via root explorer). Wish I remembered it, oh well. You can still download apk's though and they run fine.

EDIT: Jeez I'm doing a lot of edits. The market can be fixed using LCD Density Modder Pro. Restores all functionality again.

 

[fullerne]

I am about to ditch my Droid3, and was planning on the non-HD Razr Maxx. But for the same price, I can now get a Razr HD. Any thoughts on which way I should go? It seems the Razr HD has a better display and processor, but not as much battery capacity (still better than many others). I am not an android expert by any means, but am fairly capable and have been trying to read all I can on the forums. I will not be rooting either phone. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[fullerne]

Sorry, just realized this is probably the wrong place for my post, right? Should I have started a new thread? ( I do quite a bit of reading, but haven't posted that much).

 

[Xelios]

I am about to ditch my Droid3, and was planning on the non-HD Razr Maxx. But for the same price, I can now get a Razr HD. Any thoughts on which way I should go? It seems the Razr HD has a better display and processor, but not as much battery capacity (still better than many others). I am not an android expert by any means, but am fairly capable and have been trying to read all I can on the forums. I will not be rooting either phone. Any input would be appreciated.

I'll be honest with you, this might come off a bit biased since I didn't use the regular Razr much and I love my HD, but here goes.

HD all the way. The battery capacity is a bit lower than the Maxx for sure, but the phone will also have support into the future since its a new flagship. It runs on newer hardware too, as well as having a better screen resolution (havent compared the Razr vs RHD so I can't say on quality). I feel like a lot more thought when into this device than the Razr (full kevlar back instead of that almost useless sheet) too.

As far as the battery is concerned though, since I know its a major decisive point nowadays, I say with confidence that I believe the RHD will last you a whole day unless you are torrenting over 4G constantly. With the way my Maxx is going, I don't even have to charge it overnight (I do anyway but still). I still would have purchased the Maxx over the RHD if I could do it again, but I still would recommend the RHD just basing it off this.

 

[ONJFan]

Went to Verizon today and played around with both the Razr HD and Maxx HD. Seen all the videos but its nothing like seeing them in person. I can honestly say as far as the difference in width between the 2, it is hardly even noticable. I could tell it was slightly heavier but width there is very little difference. If price is not an option, the smarter move is the Maxx HD.

Some things I noticed, maybe the OP can address, but I played with the Maxx HD for about 10 mins and about every 2 mins it would pop up a message about using the smartactions and trying it, was this appearing because it was a demo phone or does it always happen until you use this feature, it was a little annoying surfing the web and it takes you out of the web forces you to look at smartactions.

What I really liked about this phone is the screen quality is really nice, I was watching a video on youtube in HQ for 2 mins and it was just amazing, full screen (on screen buttons on side disappeared I like that) the clarity was just breathtaking to me. I am still using my Orig Inc1 (which also has an Amoled screen) but the Maxx HD screen is so nice. I almost bought it just for this.

Another thing I noticed was when your reading an article on the web, I double clicked to make it come in and it wasn't quite enough so I went into setting and I you can choose in increments how far you want pages to zoom in when you double click. I reset it and it was perfect, in otherwords there are so many available increments you will find your perfect spot. My Orig Inc1 only allowed text size of small, normal, large and huge, I keep it at normal because large is too big, but I prefer something bigger than normal but smalled than large. I found the perfect setting on the Razr Maxx HD when viewing web pages and reading articles. Nice feature.

I also noticed the full Kevlar feels super nice, its smoother than I thought it would be, feels nice to the touch.

When I bought my Origl Inc1 2 yrs ago I knew then without a doubt I wanted that phone and bought it right away. Now today I have an upgrade and I don't know if I want the Maxx HD, the Droid M or the iPhone 5. I'm so use to my 3.7" screen and compact size, I just don't know what I want to do.

Thanks for letting us ask questions on your phone, I'll be watching this thread. After playing with it today at the store I know how happy you must be.

 

[ALurker]

You can disable those smart action notifications in the app settings. I agree it is slightly annoying until you turn them off.

 

[Xelios]

I actually didn't even remember about the smart actions until I plugged my phone in at about 20 percent battery life last night. Never had a pop up till then and it was just telling me about low battery rules and stuff. Backed out of it and it hasnt bothered me since. So yeah, it's not nagging me at all in my experience.

 

[Wolfedude88]

I've owned just about every noteworthy android phone, also almost every iphone, I love technology and try to get every device I can. To this day, the Droid X is still one of my favorite phones, so I was excited to get one a Razr Maxx HD.

I will start off by saying build quality is top notch, as expected from Motorola. Signal strength and call quality is great, but I haven't had any issues with any other phone, live/work in a strong signal area.

Battery life, there isn't even a comparison besides to the regular maxx. Seriously love the battery life, best feature by far.

Screen looks great, better than the Galaxy Nexus to me, about the same as the Galaxy S3, slightly worse than the HTC One X.

Camera is probably the weakest part of the phone. The iphone 4s & 5, HTC One X, GS3 all take better pictures, no denying it. But that doesn't mean this phone sucks, I have taken quite a few pics with it already, in all different kind of lighting. I am no means a photographer, but I thought the phone did pretty good in good lighting, and wasn't too good in low lighting. Camera is fine for a cell phone, sure it could be better, but seriously it is good enough for most.

Phone is snappy, I am actually impressed by Motorola's UI, lot better than expected, but still not as good as stock in my eyes. Cannot wait for jellybean, it is seriously next level.

Overall phone is great, Sure the Note 2 is coming out and looks great, or the HTC Incredible looks like a monster phone(heck I will probably pick one up), but this phone is terrific and battery life is amazing, and the quality of the phone feels and looks great!

 

[Munchies72]

I have a question.

I am looking to get the MaxxHD but would like to keep the unlimited data plan we have had since before verizon aquired alltel.

I currently have 2 phones on my plan, an Iphone 4 and a dumb flip-phone. The Iphone is still under contract, but the dumb phone is available for upgrade.
I had, in the past, a 3rd line but my wife and I disconnected it when my mother passed away. (It was a moto droid)

How can I get this new razr and still keep the unlimited plan without paying full retail, which is out of the question. Money is too tight lol.

If I upgrade the flip phone I will be stuck with the 2gb/month plan won't I? Or should I add the old droid back on the plan with the unlimited data? if that is still possible.

 

[Xelios]

I have a question.

I am looking to get the MaxxHD but would like to keep the unlimited data plan we have had since before verizon aquired alltel.

I currently have 2 phones on my plan, an Iphone 4 and a dumb flip-phone. The Iphone is still under contract, but the dumb phone is available for upgrade.
I had, in the past, a 3rd line but my wife and I disconnected it when my mother passed away. (It was a moto droid)

How can I get this new razr and still keep the unlimited plan without paying full retail, which is out of the question. Money is too tight lol.

If I upgrade the flip phone I will be stuck with the 2gb/month plan won't I? Or should I add the old droid back on the plan with the unlimited data? if that is still possible.

So I'll assume you want to upgrade the iPhone to the RHD? Someone has to get screwed with the 2GB plan in the end but the costs can be avoided if you activate the dumbphone on that line. For example, lets say A is the dumbphone, B is your iphone line.

You would order the upgrade on A, and have it activated on A. The Verizon rep would then deactivate the phone off line A, transfer it to line B, and then reactivate the dumbphone on line A. Then you only have to pay for the phone and the data plan costs for the 2gb are avoided since they do not apply to dumbphones.

This is the only method I know of other than purchasing it outright. Don't think that old line can be reinstated with the unlimited, but it wouldn't hurt to call and ask.

 

[Munchies72]

So I'll assume you want to upgrade the iPhone to the RHD? Someone has to get screwed with the 2GB plan in the end but the costs can be avoided if you activate the dumbphone on that line. For example, lets say A is the dumbphone, B is your iphone line.

You would order the upgrade on A, and have it activated on A. The Verizon rep would then deactivate the phone off line A, transfer it to line B, and then reactivate the dumbphone on line A. Then you only have to pay for the phone and the data plan costs for the 2gb are avoided since they do not apply to dumbphones.

This is the only method I know of other than purchasing it outright. Don't think that old line can be reinstated with the unlimited, but it wouldn't hurt to call and ask.

Well, the Iphone4 will stay (My wife's phone). I am using the dumb phone at the moment.
But I have an old droid smartphone that I am no longer using, and that I had disconnected after the contract was up.
Was wondering if I could activate the old droid since it is not under contract (I would then have 3 lines activated), and THEN upgrade the dumb phone to the new Maxx HD..
Afterward I could switch the old droid and the new MaxxHD and get reactivate the dumb phone?

Not sure I understand this correctly. Hope I am making sense lol.

 

[Xelios]

Well, the Iphone4 will stay (My wife's phone). I am using the dumb phone at the moment.
But I have an old droid smartphone that I am no longer using, and that I had disconnected after the contract was up.
Was wondering if I could activate the old droid since it is not under contract (I would then have 3 lines activated), and THEN upgrade the dumb phone to the new Maxx HD..
Afterward I could switch the old droid and the new MaxxHD and get reactivate the dumb phone?

Not sure I understand this correctly. Hope I am making sense lol.

I think I get what you're saying. That sounds like it would work since your dumbphone doesn't have a data plan to get the phone on contract price. However I'm not sure if Verizon will reinstate your unlimited data if you had it on the Droid , because the contract is over and the line was terminated. You cant get unlimited on the dumbphone's line either since it was never associated. However, yes, you will not incur data charges on your dumbphone's line if you reactivate it back to the same number.

That clears it? Sorry if I'm not getting it right, still got some morning grogginess going on haha.

 

[Munchies72]

I think I get what you're saying. That sounds like it would work since your dumbphone doesn't have a data plan to get the phone on contract price. However I'm not sure if Verizon will reinstate your unlimited data if you had it on the Droid , because the contract is over and the line was terminated. You cant get unlimited on the dumbphone's line either since it was never associated. However, yes, you will not incur data charges on your dumbphone's line if you reactivate it back to the same number.

That clears it? Sorry if I'm not getting it right, still got some morning grogginess going on haha.

Yep, that clears it up..
I will give it a shot later today. Will let ya know if it worked lol.

And thank you for info.

 

[Xelios]

Not a problem bud.

 

[GS300]

I was in the Verizon store when their display model was activated. There is a Retail Mode and a user mode. I suspect it did that due to the retail mode.

GS

 

[drkeng]

Q1. My contacts didn't transfer from my inc. I'm sure they transferred from my dumbphone to my inc when I got it. any help?

Q2. Bluetooth. Paired the phone to my car. First time, only the "stock" numbers (like balance, etc) showed in the phonebook. Then I put in a few numbers into the phone. When I got back into the car and hit the phonebook button it said "no entries". However, the phone was paired. How do I get the phonebook to show?

 

[Xelios]

I was in the Verizon store when their display model was activated. There is a Retail Mode and a user mode. I suspect it did that due to the retail mode.

GS

That's true there is a different setup. However when I hit the home button it went to a normal mode, not the demo mode. Unless mine was set up weird.

Q1. My contacts didn't transfer from my inc. I'm sure they transferred from my dumbphone to my inc when I got it. any help?

Q2. Bluetooth. Paired the phone to my car. First time, only the "stock" numbers (like balance, etc) showed in the phonebook. Then I put in a few numbers into the phone. When I got back into the car and hit the phonebook button it said "no entries". However, the phone was paired. How do I get the phonebook to show?

Did you have them sync'd via your google account? I just went logged in and checked the sync contacts. If you may have disabled it, hit settings and it's under the personal section, titled accounts and sync. Tap on your google account and check the contacts section. Other than that, you might have to go to your incredible and do the same to have it sync those contacts to your google account.

As for the bluetooth, I havent gotten to use that yet. I don't have a car nor do I have any bluetooth devices so I can't test that issue, sorry man.

 

[drkeng]

any reason to "condition" the battery, like let it go all the way down to 0% once or twice or is that a "thing of the past"?

and, this seems stupid, as it was rather intuitive on every other phone I've had, but how do you edit contacts? can't seem to find it in the usual places.

 

[1977sjr]

I bought my Maxx HD last Thursday and it's been hard to put down since then. I am coming from a Galaxy Nexus and don't miss it one bit, aside from Jelly Bean, but that will hopefully be coming for us HD owners soon. The screen, battery life, speed, snappiness and build quality are all top notch. I like Moto's new Blur launcher but I still prefer Nova and am running it without any hitches at all. In the first day I got 19 hours of battery life including nearly 9 hours of screen on time. My Nexus died usually after 2 hours or less of screen time. I never have to worry about finding a charger again during the middle of the day. I've only tried a few pictures so far but they are perfectly acceptable to me. There's really very little to criticize about this phone in my opinion.

 

[ben7337]

What is the signal strength on 4g when you get 9mbps down and 12mbps up at home?

Can anyone give speed tests when 4g signal strength is as -100dbm to -120dbm, and post the general results at different strengths in that range?

Signal is -100dbm at my verizon store, and my galaxy nexus and the razr maxx hd both managed 12-17mbps down and 8-13mbps up. The razr maxx was a bit better but I only ran one speed test and saw both broke the 12mbps down 5mbps up limit that verizon advertises. However at home and at friend's places signal is weaker and even a droid razr and other phones drop 4g sometimes in these conditions, while downloads struggle to get 4-6mbps down and uploads can't break 2mbps half the time. I'm trying to figure out if in these weak signal situations, if the razr hd can manage to do better than the other phones I've tested with

Also for what it's worth the razr maxx hd had the same dbm signal strength as my galaxy nexus within 2dbm of each other. I do not see any evidence so far in my testing that shows any 4g phone to get significantly better or worse reception than others except maybe in the galaxy s3.

 

[Xelios]

any reason to "condition" the battery, like let it go all the way down to 0% once or twice or is that a "thing of the past"?

and, this seems stupid, as it was rather intuitive on every other phone I've had, but how do you edit contacts? can't seem to find it in the usual places.

I didn't cycle my battery. Although my battery is pretty inconsistent so maybe I should have. However for contacts, go to your contacts, and tab on the name. On the upper right, you'll see an icon, 3 vertical squares. That's the menu button in the phone, its either on the upper right or bottom right of apps. There's an edit option in there.

@ben: My signal was around -107dBm, but I tested it at around 8pm at night, so I guess there's less network traffic. I tried it again and I had around 6 down, 6 up right about now, which is 1pm EST.

 

[drkeng]

yep. I'm learning the "Moto" symbols. Found the edit contact menu.

also got the phonebook to download to the car. FWIW, after I paired the phone to the car the phone asked "allow car access to phonebook?" and I asnwered "OK" and it kept asking...OK....asking....OK....finally I said don't ask again and that did it. Guess it heard me the first time.

still liking the camera

I'm "proud" to say this is my 3rd Razr. I even paid Cingular (before ATT swallowed them) $500 to have the first Razr on day 1. Was I cool. Then they dropped the price a few hundred bux a few weeks later.
taken with my new Razr (this is Razr #2 from V)