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Pros/Cons of HTC Rezound vs. Galaxy Nexus

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The Rezound was not half the phone it can be when it is first purchased. It had a lot of bloat on it and needed some definite tweaking. But all of that effort has been well worth it....

Can you give a quick run-down of what you did?

I'm on the cusp of rooting mine, but I have little experience with such things.

And I have to admit, things like hotspot will be awesome once in a while- like when I'm traveling- but I just don't need at this moment, or on a daily basis.

OTOH, if people are seeing noticeable improvements in "performance and handling" it makes me much more interested in delving into the rooting clean-up...
 
To get a permanent root I used the directions found here

How To Permanent Root HTC Rezound

After that I used Titanium back-up to freeze the apps I didn't want running. These included a lot of the verizon apps, NFL, footsteps etc.

I replaced Sense with Launcherpro. I like sense but I am a little OCD and could not handle the dock bar's inability to be customized. The personalize button on the bottm right is more than useless imo after you have customized the phone. If there is a way to change the Dock bar shortcuts that I am not aware of I would go back to Sense.

As far as the wireless tethering I use the built in Verizon version and pay for it. I do not have an issue with this since I use it as my home network also and consume up to 15-20gb of data a month. I do a lot of downloading and play Warcraft through the phone with no noticable issues including using ventrillo (voip) at the same time. I actually am able to game a little better than on my previous cable connection since there are no lag (or none that are noticable) spikes. I believe that BArnacle and a few other apps may work on a rooted rezound without the service. I avoid this due to personal conviction however I don't presume to impose those on anyone else.

I did have an issue with 3g stopping on me. I was able to correct this issue through the instructions here.

Rezound (and Tbolt) owners... no data today? Do this and you should get 3G back... - RootzWiki

The only agravation I currently have is that I must go into the Hotspot settings (one touch through a home screen shortcut) to toggle on the hotspot. There are several market apps that should do this but are not currently working correctly. I was able to toggle the hotspot with the sense ui through a widget if anyone knows of a way I can do this through Launcherpro on the rezound I would love to know.
 
Because its a discussion about what this thread is intended for. Not a big deal, and actually, the point of these forums existance.


I'm mostly referring to the contention that the Rezound's browser was set up for optimal performance where the other two weren't.

But as far as I'm concerned the advantage the Nexus poses on the Rezound based on screen size is lost by the poor battery/poor reception issues that seem to be plaguing the Nexus. It's like having a 10000 horsepower car that sits on 14" snow tires, or like having a girlfriend with a hot body and an STD, or like having the fastest computer gaming machine with Mac O/S installed, or like having rain on your wedding day, the free advice that you just didn't take a macho online persona but uttering Alanis Morissette lyrics.... sigh....
 
I'm mostly referring to the contention that the Rezound's browser was set up for optimal performance where the other two weren't.

But as far as I'm concerned the advantage the Nexus poses on the Rezound based on screen size is lost by the poor battery/poor reception issues that seem to be plaguing the Nexus. It's like having a 10000 horsepower car that sits on 14" snow tires, or like having a girlfriend with a hot body and an STD, or like having the fastest computer gaming machine with Mac O/S installed, or like having rain on your wedding day, the free advice that you just didn't take a macho online persona but uttering Alanis Morissette lyrics.... sigh....

was
 
To get a permanent root I used the directions found here

How To Permanent Root HTC Rezound

Thanks for the plug! I'm glad my directions worked for you. You can also use the script I have posted there to freeze all the bloat if you don't feel like downloading TiB to freeze each one individually.
 
OK, I bought and loved the Galaxy Nexus...Gorgeous screen, awesome design...It even felt great in my hand. BUT, the reception quality and consistency was impossible to live with. Sure it was great in the Verizon store but spotty elsewhere. At my home in Bellevue, WA I would alternate from no bars ("connection problem"), or one bar of 3G or one of 4G. My son with his LG Revolution would be on the couch next to me rockin' two 4G bars and I would have no service. When service happened I would get 250 to 600kbps up and 200-400 down. Dropped calls, sometimes no cell or data at all...in the middle of a metro area.
Finally gave up, turned it in for a Rezound...Consistently two 4G bars at home but more importantly 9285 kbps down and 5427 up. I clocked 39,000 down and 12,800 up in a snowstorm today.
I will get used to the smaller screen and know that I will have good reception. Afterall it's a phone and data device....not an ipad. Perhaps I'll root it and get rid of some of the junk apps. Galaxy Nexus has SERIOUS reception issues.
 
OK, I bought and loved the Galaxy Nexus...Gorgeous screen, awesome design...It even felt great in my hand. BUT, the reception quality and consistency was impossible to live with. Sure it was great in the Verizon store but spotty elsewhere. At my home in Bellevue, WA I would alternate from no bars ("connection problem"), or one bar of 3G or one of 4G. My son with his LG Revolution would be on the couch next to me rockin' two 4G bars and I would have no service. When service happened I would get 250 to 600kbps up and 200-400 down. Dropped calls, sometimes no cell or data at all...in the middle of a metro area.
Finally gave up, turned it in for a Rezound...Consistently two 4G bars at home but more importantly 9285 kbps down and 5427 up. I clocked 39,000 down and 12,800 up in a snowstorm today.
I will get used to the smaller screen and know that I will have good reception. Afterall it's a phone and data device....not an ipad. Perhaps I'll root it and get rid of some of the junk apps. Galaxy Nexus has SERIOUS reception issues.
 
I spent 30 days trying to accept the reception issues and inability to hold a signal....but afterall I need a phone that I can depend on....traded for the Resound and find solid 4G two bars where my Galaxy Nexus couldn't keep a 3G signal. Resound is blazingly cater than GN.

I will look again when they fix the reception....bad antenna or radio. sorry Samsung...I tried to love ya.
 
I spent 30 days trying to accept the reception issues and inability to hold a signal....but afterall I need a phone that I can depend on....traded for the Resound and find solid 4G two bars where my Galaxy Nexus couldn't keep a 3G signal. Resound is blazingly cater than GN.

I will look again when they fix the reception....bad antenna or radio. sorry Samsung...I tried to love ya.
Glad you found a solution that works better for you Grant33! I hope you really like the Rezound already, and before too long you'll have a full-blooded ICS machine like the Nexus you had to give up. :)
 
I spent 30 days trying to accept the reception issues and inability to hold a signal....but afterall I need a phone that I can depend on....traded for the Resound and find solid 4G two bars where my Galaxy Nexus couldn't keep a 3G signal. Resound is blazingly cater than GN.

I will look again when they fix the reception....bad antenna or radio. sorry Samsung...I tried to love ya.

That doesn't look normal. Seems like you had a bad one. Did you try resetting or exchanging SIM or phone? Though I admit Nexus is not best one for reception now, it's not so terrible like your experience for many folks either. Glad that Rezound is working well for you though.

Wow, Nexus seems to be the phone on cross fire on every other forum. Over at Nexus forum, we rarely make threads to compare and bash others.
 
There have been a number of posts showing dbm measurements of Nexus vs. Rezound. I've done them myself. In strong signal areas there is very little difference in reception. When the signal becomes weak the Rezound performs much better. I saw this not only on my phone, where I performed numerous tests at home and at work, but also Nexus/Rezound phones side by side at a Verizon store. I'm convinced the Nexus does poorly on the weaker signals which results in loss of signal (I measured up to 30% when looking at signal loss in cell standby on my Gnex) and battery drain. By now this is a tired subject. BTW, I am not ruling out a bad batch of phones in the early release of the Gnex....that is a possibility, but the numbers don't lie.
 
That doesn't look normal. Seems like you had a bad one. Did you try resetting or exchanging SIM or phone? Though I admit Nexus is not best one for reception now, it's not so terrible like your experience for many folks either. Glad that Rezound is working well for you though.

Wow, Nexus seems to be the phone on cross fire on every other forum. Over at Nexus forum, we rarely make threads to compare and bash others.

I don't think the threads are meant to bash but a lot of people, as myself, were debating between the two. Then, as the reply you replied to, people shared their negative experiences after switching to the rezound. Helped me pick the phone I'm glad i picked and its not like we are in the gn forum discussing this. Though, sometimes it feels that way with a lot of gn people over here trying to defend the phone against others first hand experience. Your gn may work. Others didn't, so they got a phone that did. Without tricks.
 
Wow, Nexus seems to be the phone on cross fire on every other forum. Over at Nexus forum, we rarely make threads to compare and bash others.

I don't think that's it at all. I actually would prefer to have a Nexus over my Rezound, but after going through two of them, both with unacceptable by anyone's standards reception issues, I needed a reliable phone. The Rezound has been excellent for me, but if I knew it would be mostly issue-free, I'd go back to the Nexus. I'm just not convinced anything has been actually addressed or fixed, and Verizon's statement that "there is no issue" does not inspire any confidence whatsoever. There most definitely was a real, tangible issue with two Nexuses I tried, issues that simply aren't repeatable with a different phone from another manufacturer. Kind of hard to ignore that. If it was just me, ok...bad luck on a couple of rotten apples. But this same story is being repeated many, many times by distinctly different users and sources.

Those that haven't experienced any issues with their own Nexus are probably thinking the rest of us must be pretty silly or very picky, or out to "get" the Nexus...we're really not. (Or even worse, that we just don't "understand".) But the vast number of people on this and other forums reporting these issues makes it extremely hard to pass off as just a handful of isolated issues. Also, not all of us are 19 year old kids with chips on our shoulders regarding whose phone is "best". Some of us are reasonably intelligent grown-ups who aren't complete noobs when it comes to these things.

Of course, there's always the argument that only those that have issues are vocal, so it skews the perception, but I honestly believe there is in fact an issue and be it hardware or software, it has to be addressed before I'd consider another Nexus as a reliable, practical, day in and day out device.
 
I don't think that's it at all. I actually would prefer to have a Nexus over my Rezound, but after going through two of them, both with unacceptable by anyone's standards reception issues, I needed a reliable phone. The Rezound has been excellent for me, but if I knew it would be mostly issue-free, I'd go back to the Nexus. I'm just not convinced anything has been actually addressed or fixed, and Verizon's statement that "there is no issue" does not inspire any confidence whatsoever. There most definitely was a real, tangible issue with two Nexuses I tried, issues that simply aren't repeatable with a different phone from another manufacturer. Kind of hard to ignore that. If it was just me, ok...bad luck on a couple of rotten apples. But this same story is being repeated many, many times by distinctly different users and sources.

Those that haven't experienced any issues with their own Nexus are probably thinking the rest of us must be pretty silly or very picky, or out to "get" the Nexus...we're really not. (Or even worse, that we just don't "understand".) But the vast number of people on this and other forums reporting these issues makes it extremely hard to pass off as just a handful of isolated issues. Also, not all of us are 19 year old kids with chips on our shoulders regarding whose phone is "best". Some of us are reasonably intelligent grown-ups who aren't complete noobs when it comes to these things.

Of course, there's always the argument that only those that have issues are vocal, so it skews the perception, but I honestly believe there is in fact an issue and be it hardware or software, it has to be addressed before I'd consider another Nexus as a reliable, practical, day in and day out device.


Yeah...ditto here too. 30 days with the wonderful Nexus...loved it except for the lousy voice reception, non-existent data connection and poor battery life. I got 11 hours max on the Nex...I'm at 29 hours now with 18% left on my 'Zound. I depend on my phone to put food on the table and the Nexus couldn't cut it. The Rezound is just about perfect, but I'll be happier when ICS arrives.
 
Wow, Nexus seems to be the phone on cross fire on every other forum. Over at Nexus forum, we rarely make threads to compare and bash others.


Well, you can make the argument that some people made the Nexus out to be the "Jesus" of the cell industry and the fanaticism of the phone started to come across like the iPhone cult following. Thus, if you're going to talk a big game, you need to also perform big. Those of us that jumped onto the Razr and the Rezound had to hear about how great the "pure google experience" was going to be and how the phone was going to do this and that much better than the current offerings.

The same can be said for the Thunderbolt when it came out. I actually jumped on the Thunderbolt's bandwagon when it first came out and was completely let down. Any and all criticisms of that phone were warranted, and hell I was even one of its biggest critics that actually owned one.

It's not a bad phone and if it came out before the Razr and the Rezound, I probably would have owned one, but considering some of its problems, it hasn't lived up to the hype IMO.
 
Is the screen really bigger on the Nexus?:

razr-nexus-rezound-screen-brightness.jpg


Nexus in middle, Rezound right, Razer left. It is a bit wider. But there is alot of wasted space IMO, including both screen and entire phone itself. Expecially the soft buttons on the bottom when you get back to the home screens. I went from the Nexus to the Rezound and felt like I had more screen space with the Rezound.

my experience as well.
 
^ re: pix.
The Rezound on the right side.... has an extra half-a-picture at the bottom of the page of somebody holding a tool trying to fix the gnex phone :D
 
^ re: pix.
The Rezound on the right side.... has an extra half-a-picture at the bottom of the page of somebody holding a tool trying to fix the gnex phone :D


It's going to take more than a pry-tool to fix what ails the Nexus. :D
 
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