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Pros/Cons of HTC Rezound vs. Galaxy Nexus

He certainly didn't. I have the nexus now. But I also like the Rezound. Problem I have with the Nexus is the radio and low signal strength. So I'm gonna let this play out for a week and see how it goes. I like ICS and have no trouble adjusting since it is an an evolution of Honeycomb which I have on my Xoom. But bad battery life and poor data/phone quality is not something I'm crazy about.
 
Hello guys, I am new here to this Forum and I am also in the same boat i.e. Nexus vs Rezound. Currently use an iPhone 4S and it is wonderful, but I just want more screen to watch my NFL app and read emails and news, which I spend a lot of time doing. I would be keeping the 4S for when I travel to Europe since I need a world phone.

The more I have played with the devices the more I am torn. ;)

The Nexus ICS was quite neat in some areas, and the Rezound, at least the display models in the Verizon store, seemed a bit sluggish. The HTC Sense layer has some nice touches (the clock and weather widget are slick), but the fact that all that bloatware is installed and not removable is pretty lame.

The salesman informed me that he personally has a Rezound and that his was not as sluggish as the display model, possibly due to the demo software or the theft cable that was attached to the screen. I found the lack of a dedicated search button on the Nexus a bit frustrating, compared to the Rezound.

But, after reading some feedback on this and other forums, it seems there could be very real hardware issues with the Nexus in terms of signal strength for cell and wi-fi, build quality, and volume.

The Nexus display model had the NFL app installed and it would launch, asking for credentials. I had read on some threads that the app does not work at all on the Nexus. Can anybody confirm that they have logged into their NFL app on the Nexus?

Also, another important factor for me is that the Nexus syncs via Bluetooth with my new car. The salesman was nice enough to take his personal Rezound to my car and it did indeed sync to my car, and all his contacts showed up on my car screen. Anybody here been able to sync their Nexus to their car via Bluetooth?

Also, can anybody confirm if there is a way to root/flash/etc the Rezound to get rid of Sense or at least remove the bloatware? And if so, is there a step by step guide somewhere for someone who is tech-savvy but not necessarily an Android expert? Only experience I have is jailbreaking an iPhone and that was easy.

If I am going to take the $700 plunge I would prefer to be sure about some of my concerns with either phone, but I guess I could return the device and only suffer a $35 restocking fee and some wasted time if I change my mind.

I appreciate the feedback folks!

Cheers,

Kurt
 
I came from a jailbroken iPhone 4. Got a little tired of the small screen. I was using android before the iPhone. The nexus wasn't out at that time, so I checked out and bought the Rezound.

I had a Moto DX for about a year. Phone was ok. Hated the size of it after a while. That and the screen were the 2 most deciding factors why no rzr for me.

I waited with Rezound in hand for the Nexus to be released, with the intent of swapping the rezound for the nexus. I spent some time with the nexus after the release. Nice phone, not so nice build quality, reception, speaker volume. Those are all high on my list of deciding factors about what phone I want to buy.

The Rezound has all of those, plus a super nice display. Word is ics will be coming to the HTC.

There is temp root and de-sense from my understanding here:
Rezound Android Development - xda-developers
 
macpilot said:
Hello guys, I am new here to this Forum and I am also in the same boat i.e. Nexus vs Rezound. Currently use an iPhone 4S and it is wonderful, but I just want more screen to watch my NFL app and read emails and news, which I spend a lot of time doing. I would be keeping the 4S for when I travel to Europe since I need a world phone.
Click to expand...

Hey macpilot, great post. I'll try to give some answers, but you'll get more definitive info from the individual threads about your questions, esp. in the Root forum here and at XDA.

I think all Android phones (including Nexus and Rezound) will be perceived to have slight lags by someone coming from the iPhone. There's a long piece on G+ explaining the reasons (mainly that Apple's UI runs on a separate real-time priority thread) that I can find if you like. And the iPhone 4S indeed has spectacular 3D graphics performance. But I think you'll find overall that both of these Android phones have excellent general performance.

There isn't currently S-Off or permanent root or the ability to remove Sense (and no estimate of when the devs may discover how to accomplish them), but there is a way to deactivate many parts of the default software (including Sense!) so they don't load into RAM, don't occupy any CPU time, and don't perform background synching (which is really all that matters).

The Nexus does have a disconcertingly long list of issues that seem to be afflicting a significant number of users, but it's possible that most of the more serious ones will be fixed by OS updates, which are coming in very quickly from Google/Samsung. IMHO the screen issues are way overblown, but connection problems and low speaker volume are hard to accept.

Stupid question: Maybe what you really want is to keep your iPhone and just get a small Android tablet for NFL / email / news? Also maybe consider the Galaxy Note, which I think is coming soon to AT&T. Just beware that it has a lot of custom handwriting/scribbling software, which might or might not be hard for them to port to ICS (Android 4.0) in the future.
 
macpilot said:
But, after reading some feedback on this and other forums, it seems there could be very real hardware issues with the Nexus in terms of signal strength for cell and wi-fi, build quality, and volume.

Also, another important factor for me is that the Nexus syncs via Bluetooth with my new car. The salesman was nice enough to take his personal Rezound to my car and it did indeed sync to my car, and all his contacts showed up on my car screen. Anybody here been able to sync their Nexus to their car via Bluetooth?

Kurt
Click to expand...

I am experiencing poor signal strength at home. However, I haven't had any dropped calls. While I was in Charlotte yesterday signal strength was strong. It was also strong at church this morning in yet another bordering town which is larger than the one I live in. I think it all depends on where you are. With that said, I had a better 3G signal at home on my DX. My battery life was horrible until I turned on wifi yesterday. I used wifi at home and 4G while out shopping. I got 10 hours out of it.

I was able to sync my Nexus to my vehicle's Bluetooth.

I am still considering returning this for a Rezound, but I really liked that phone a lot and would have bought it had I not wanted to wait on this one.
 
Went into my corporate store today to see the Nexus. Handily, it was right next to the Rezound. The screen was gorgeous. THe colors just popped. Rezound is a great screen too just not as flashy.

I checked the signal, my Inc was at -62, the Rezound -60 and the Nexus was -75. That for me would be a big issue. I work in an office with horrid signal. I barely get signal as it is, keep wifi on for data and get enough signal for texts. With the Nexus I doubt I'd get anything in my office.

The cameras on both were great. That Nexus camera really has zero lag. The Rezound did have nearly no lag on the first photo then you'd have to wait a sec or two. Not a big issue and much much improved from my Inc.

I think that on Dec 28th, I will be picking up a Rezound.
 
Just returned from my THIRD visit to my local Verizon store. I have been waiting to pull the trigger on the purchase of either the HTC Rezound or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but have been completely unable to decide. I have read and watched just about every review posted on both phones, hoping that something would sway me toward one or the other. Both phones have their bright spots, and both phones have their flaws. Basically, it seems to boil down to one thing: Personal preference. (Obvious, right?) I have an HTC Droid Incredible now, and I have LOVED this phone. Fantastic build quality, smooth operation, etc. So I naturally leaned toward the HTC Rezound from the beginning. But I wanted to wait for the SGN to compare. After all my research and several visits to Verizon for some hands-on playtime, I think I'm about ready to pull the trigger and purchase the HTC Rezound. And here's why: 1) I simply CANNOT get past the flimsy, cheap feeling of the SGN. The build quality of the Rezound is so much better (I couldn't get the back of the SGN to stay on while playing with it at the store). The HTC build feels solid, without being overly heavy, and I have had ZERO issues with the build quality of my HTC Dinc. 2) While I would LOVE to have the latest and greatest operating system, I have to admit, there was nothing about ICS that I just can't wait for. The HTC Rezound will eventually get ICS, and I will be thrilled to get it. However, it's just not something that I can't live without for a couple of months. 3) Memory. Yes, I know the SGN comes with enough memory to satisfy most users, but I really like the idea of adding additional memory (via micro SD) to my phones. I also like the idea of swapping out my micro SD cards. I would rather have way too much memory than I need than to EVER worry about not having enough. And lastly, 4) Did I mention build quality??? I JUST CAN'T GET PAST IT! So I am excited to order my new HTC Rezound, and I am sure I will be THRILLED with it. Again, though, it's all personal taste and opinion. I have no reason to believe that I won't be every bit (and more) thrilled with my HTC Rezound as I currently am with my HTC Incredible.
 
I dont get how you say the back kept falling off. I have a GN and i have zero problems with the back. I have taken it off over a dozen times. There is like ten tabs to push in so maybe somebody was ******ed and didnt push them in. The backing falling off is not a problem with this phone. We may have other problems, but that isn't one.
 
Mormonstang said:
I dont get how you say the back kept falling off. I have a GN and i have zero problems with the back. I have taken it off over a dozen times. There is like ten tabs to push in so maybe somebody was ******ed and didnt push them in. The backing falling off is not a problem with this phone. We may have other problems, but that isn't one.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, the fact that your phone's back stays secure says exactly diddly about all of the other users who've reported about their phones' loose backs. Sort of like the owners who have great signal connections and declare all of the other bad connection reports to be imaginary.
 
The one i saw at the V shop had the back fall off too. I thought it was an isolated case. I was actually admiring the battery/back/inside. Pretty neat :)
 
I decided on the Rezound. Bought it today.

So far it is pretty nice. 4G is amazing. My iPhone 4S got a decent 3G signal in my home, and would sometimes drop to 1x, but this Rezound is blazing along at 4G in the same home. As fast as my home internet which is nice.

Was a bit worried about the speaker volume from reading the forums, but it seems adequate (not as good as the iPhone 4S, but it works). Very tinny sound though. Still have to try the earbuds, but will probably just use my Shure pair. There is definitely a lag to certain UI operations. Wish I could turn off the mostly-silly Sense stuff. About the only things that I like are the weather/clock widget and lock screen weather animation. Could do without the launcher.

Got most of my apps from the iPhone over to this phone, but still trying to figure out a few things.

For my iTunes, I bought that iSyncr app to transfer iTunes and it works over USB, but the wifi version only syncs a limited number of tracks. Not a big deal.

Best way to transfer photos to it? I was considering Picasa albums and I viewed some that I already had on Picasa on the phone but what is strange is you cannot download those photos to the phone, only view them. I am not too familiar with how the folder structure is set up on these things. If I want to drag and drop photos and PDFs to the phone, which storage location should I pick, and how? They show up as UNTITLED and HTC STORAGE. Do I create a folder on the card?

Also, what is the deal with bookmark syncing to these phones? Why can't I sync Chrome bookmarks to the phone? Strange.
 
I was just looking at a tweet from the Verge and estimated release dates for Ics on 3 devices. So I am optimistic for first part of year as hTC anounced when they released the Rezound.
Htc Sensation Feb 2012
Htc Raider Mar 2012
SGSII April 2012
 
leroybrute said:
I was just looking at a tweet from the Verge and estimated release dates for Ics on 3 devices. So I am optimistic for first part of year as hTC anounced when they released the Rezound.
Htc Sensation Feb 2012
Htc Raider Mar 2012
SGSII April 2012
Click to expand...

Guess what? The HTC Sensation, Raider, and Rezound are all based on versions of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 SoC, so one can guess that all three are sharing the same development effort (and maybe similar release timelines). :)
 
TheXFactor said:
All the display nexus phones I saw at verizon stores had the backs taped on.
Click to expand...

When they did hands on at work with the nexus almost every unit had the back falling off. Its not like employees were throwing them around or misusing them. I was shocked by the lack of build quality on that device.
 
rogue_slc_vzw_rep said:
When they did hands on at work with the nexus almost every unit had the back falling off. Its not like employees were throwing them around or misusing them. I was shocked by the lack of build quality on that device.
Click to expand...

Did they have security devices attached to the battery cover? I got to spend an hour with one at a VZW store that hadn't put the display unit out yet and actually struggled to get the battery cover off.
Tape a huge hunk of plastic to the cover with an elastic cord tugging on it, and I imagine it would be a difference story.
 
SamXp said:
Tape a huge hunk of plastic to the cover with an elastic cord tugging on it, and I imagine it would be a difference story.
Click to expand...

Exactly, the person above didn't specify if unit they were using had the security device on it. The one at my store had the big clunky security device stuck to the battery door, then with a zip tie around the whole GN. It takes 2 hands to use the phone, one to keep the tension of the cord. However, right beside it, they had a tiny device on the Razor, which would work better on the GN. VZW doesn't have their priorities straight.
 
macpilot said:
Hello guys, I am new here to this Forum and I am also in the same boat i.e. Nexus vs Rezound. Currently use an iPhone 4S and it is wonderful, but I just want more screen to watch my NFL app and read emails and news, which I spend a lot of time doing. I would be keeping the 4S for when I travel to Europe since I need a world phone.

The more I have played with the devices the more I am torn. ;)

The Nexus ICS was quite neat in some areas, and the Rezound, at least the display models in the Verizon store, seemed a bit sluggish. The HTC Sense layer has some nice touches (the clock and weather widget are slick), but the fact that all that bloatware is installed and not removable is pretty lame.

The salesman informed me that he personally has a Rezound and that his was not as sluggish as the display model, possibly due to the demo software or the theft cable that was attached to the screen. I found the lack of a dedicated search button on the Nexus a bit frustrating, compared to the Rezound.

But, after reading some feedback on this and other forums, it seems there could be very real hardware issues with the Nexus in terms of signal strength for cell and wi-fi, build quality, and volume.

The Nexus display model had the NFL app installed and it would launch, asking for credentials. I had read on some threads that the app does not work at all on the Nexus. Can anybody confirm that they have logged into their NFL app on the Nexus?

Also, another important factor for me is that the Nexus syncs via Bluetooth with my new car. The salesman was nice enough to take his personal Rezound to my car and it did indeed sync to my car, and all his contacts showed up on my car screen. Anybody here been able to sync their Nexus to their car via Bluetooth?

Also, can anybody confirm if there is a way to root/flash/etc the Rezound to get rid of Sense or at least remove the bloatware? And if so, is there a step by step guide somewhere for someone who is tech-savvy but not necessarily an Android expert? Only experience I have is jailbreaking an iPhone and that was easy.

If I am going to take the $700 plunge I would prefer to be sure about some of my concerns with either phone, but I guess I could return the device and only suffer a $35 restocking fee and some wasted time if I change my mind.

I appreciate the feedback folks!


Cheers,

Kurt
Click to expand...

Just as an fyi, if you pick up either phone now you get until mid january to return or exchange the phone. Verizon has had this extended return policy in place since November. I picked up a Rezound and was not aware of this until I read the receipt a couple of days after picking up an HTC Rezound. After I saw that I figured great when the GN comes to market I can pick one up. Now it turns out there is no way I would return the Rezound. I tried the RAZR for a few days and the pixelation problems are a major drawback. The Rezound is the first Android phone that exceeds the display quality of the 4S retina display, this phone has the best display I have ever seen on a portable device. Also the sound quality is excellent when listening to music even at high Volumes there is no degradation of sound, most of the time I have to turn down the volume when using the included headphones. Call quality is great on both ends, clear with no distortions or buzzing or tin like qualities. For someone who never considered the Rezound as a long term phone, I am happy to say this one is a keeper, no decision to make....Cheers
 
luckybadback said:
macpilot said:
Hello guys, I am new here to this Forum and I am also in the same boat i.e. Nexus vs Rezound. Currently use an iPhone 4S and it is wonderful, but I just want more screen to watch my NFL app and read emails and news, which I spend a lot of time doing. I would be keeping the 4S for when I travel to Europe since I need a world phone.

The more I have played with the devices the more I am torn. ;)

The Nexus ICS was quite neat in some areas, and the Rezound, at least the display models in the Verizon store, seemed a bit sluggish. The HTC Sense layer has some nice touches (the clock and weather widget are slick), but the fact that all that bloatware is installed and not removable is pretty lame.

The salesman informed me that he personally has a Rezound and that his was not as sluggish as the display model, possibly due to the demo software or the theft cable that was attached to the screen. I found the lack of a dedicated search button on the Nexus a bit frustrating, compared to the Rezound.

But, after reading some feedback on this and other forums, it seems there could be very real hardware issues with the Nexus in terms of signal strength for cell and wi-fi, build quality, and volume.

The Nexus display model had the NFL app installed and it would launch, asking for credentials. I had read on some threads that the app does not work at all on the Nexus. Can anybody confirm that they have logged into their NFL app on the Nexus?

Also, another important factor for me is that the Nexus syncs via Bluetooth with my new car. The salesman was nice enough to take his personal Rezound to my car and it did indeed sync to my car, and all his contacts showed up on my car screen. Anybody here been able to sync their Nexus to their car via Bluetooth?

Also, can anybody confirm if there is a way to root/flash/etc the Rezound to get rid of Sense or at least remove the bloatware? And if so, is there a step by step guide somewhere for someone who is tech-savvy but not necessarily an Android expert? Only experience I have is jailbreaking an iPhone and that was easy.

If I am going to take the $700 plunge I would prefer to be sure about some of my concerns with either phone, but I guess I could return the device and only suffer a $35 restocking fee and some wasted time if I change my mind.

I appreciate the feedback folks!


Cheers,

Kurt
Click to expand...

Just as an fyi, if you pick up either phone now you get until mid january to return or exchange the phone. Verizon has had this extended return policy in place since November. I picked up a Rezound and was not aware of this until I read the receipt a couple of days after picking up an HTC Rezound. After I saw that I figured great when the GN comes to market I can pick one up. Now it turns out there is no way I would return the Rezound. I tried the RAZR for a few days and the pixelation problems are a major drawback. The Rezound is the first Android phone that exceeds the display quality of the 4S retina display, this phone has the best display I have ever seen on a portable device. Also the sound quality is excellent when listening to music even at high Volumes there is no degradation of sound, most of the time I have to turn down the volume when using the included headphones. Call quality is great on both ends, clear with no distortions or buzzing or tin like qualities. For someone who never considered the Rezound as a long term phone, I am happy to say this one is a keeper, no decision to make....Cheers
Click to expand...

I am pretty happy with it so far. Probably will keep it. Calls and data connection have been great. I am still just amazed at 4G. I do hear a buzzing/feedback sound with headphones plugged in though. Some radio interference must be the cause because when I enabled Airplane Mode it went away. That is one of my few problems so far. Yes the display is nice, just as clear as the iPhone, but not quite as bright outdoors.
 
rogue_slc_vzw_rep said:
When they did hands on at work with the nexus almost every unit had the back falling off. Its not like employees were throwing them around or misusing them. I was shocked by the lack of build quality on that device.
Click to expand...

I am shocked by how many people think the Galaxy Nexus feels cheap. I think the phone feels excellent and I have had zero issues with the battery cover coming off. The phone feels solid all the way around.
 
XFistsClenched said:
I am shocked by how many people think the Galaxy Nexus feels cheap. I think the phone feels excellent and I have had zero issues with the battery cover coming off. The phone feels solid all the way around.
Click to expand...

I think many people think it feels cheap because they are coming from Moto or HTC phones. I've own three android phones, the DX, D3 and now, the rezound. All of them feel like they are made of higher quality material. Even the parts that are plastic feel like higher-end composite. Since you're paying the same price, there's nothing wrong with expecting the same quality in exterior build. But like I read somewhere, the material used on the GNex feels like it belongs on a $100 phone.
 
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