About to upgrade my phone finally - advice needed...

[KDOG]

After two years its time to upgrade my ghetto Continuum. Verizon has a couple of phones that catch my attention with the features I want at the price I'm willing to pay ($100 or less) The Razor M by Motorola and the HTC Rezound. Both are 1.5ghz dual cores w 1gb ram. Have true standalone GPS abilities (one of the features I want, not that aGPS crap). However the Razor M is $100 and the resound is free (for now anyway). Any real difference with the Razor M that make it worth the money? Thanks for any help...

 

[Chocu1a]

DO NOT GET THE REZOUND. It is over a year old, hasn't had an os update in forever, & probably will never get one.
Razr M is a brand new phone, new technology & has/will get JellyBean 4.1.2, & most likely 4.2. It is better made & higher quality. You will regret the Rezound. I PROMISE YOU.
The Razr M has a better quality screen, better camera, newer os, better radios(Motorola have a solid record for call quality). Also, it is running an almost vanilla Jellybean OS.
The Rezound has a horrible version of Sense, Runs Gingerbread/ICS 4.0.3(not a good version).

 

[shabby]

^ what he said, rezound is trash compared to the razr m.

 

[KDOG]

Hmmm....seems like people are saying the Rezound is crap. LOL. Guess that's why its free....

 

[dagamer34]

When you are spending $2000 on a phone contract, I do not see why people hassle over $100 (5%). If you aren't willing or capable of spending $200 to get the highest-end smartphone, then prepare to be disappointed when you're phone isn't updated regularly with bugfixes and updates.

As such, I'd say either the Galaxy S III or Droid DNA. Don't bother settling for anything less.

 

[Eug]

Out of interest's sake, if you're looking at the Razr M, why not the Razr HD?

The Razr M's 540p screen is only 256 ppi. Decent for a tablet, but kinda low these days for a phone. I'd prefer a ppi over 300 for a phone. The Razr HD's 720p screen is 313 ppi.

Of course, the Razr HD is huge in comparison, which may be a negative for some. The Razr HD also comes with 16 GB and microHDMI if you care.

 

[Spineshank]

Out of those 2 the Razr easily. I have played with the original Razr and the MAXX. Both seemed solid.

 

[NutBucket]

When you are spending $2000 on a phone contract, I do not see why people hassle over $100 (5%). If you aren't willing or capable of spending $200 to get the highest-end smartphone, then prepare to be disappointed when you're phone isn't updated regularly with bugfixes and updates.

As such, I'd say either the Galaxy S III or Droid DNA. Don't bother settling for anything less.

I was going to say something to that effect. Get the DNA. The screen is amazing.

S3 should be $150 or less at this point I would think. Its 6 months old after all.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

When you are spending $2000 on a phone contract, I do not see why people hassle over $100 (5%). If you aren't willing or capable of spending $200 to get the highest-end smartphone, then prepare to be disappointed when you're phone isn't updated regularly with bugfixes and updates.

As such, I'd say either the Galaxy S III or Droid DNA. Don't bother settling for anything less.

This drives me nuts more than anything. Not only that fact that youre spending that much on a contract, but if the carrier is willing to subsidize your phone to get you in, get your money's worth and get whatever theyre giving you the most for.

Back when i was on ATT, id get the newest iphone every time it came out and then sold it. This way i basically made ~600 bucks every time i had an upgrade, and then with that profit, i could use that to get whatever i wanted (usually something more reasonable).

Shouldnt the s4 be coming out soon? Id get the DNA if i had to be on verizon.

 

[bigrash]

Get either the SG3 or Nexus 4.

 

[ImDonly1]

This drives me nuts more than anything. Not only that fact that youre spending that much on a contract, but if the carrier is willing to subsidize your phone to get you in, get your money's worth and get whatever theyre giving you the most for.

Back when i was on ATT, id get the newest iphone every time it came out and then sold it. This way i basically made ~600 bucks every time i had an upgrade, and then with that profit, i could use that to get whatever i wanted (usually something more reasonable).

Shouldnt the s4 be coming out soon? Id get the DNA if i had to be on verizon.

This, you are on verizon and have the highest monthly bill of any of the carriers probably. Yet, you want to save $100 on a phone.

The only phones you should consider now are:
Razor HD Maxx (best battery life, least bloated skin?), GS3, Note 2 (huge phone), iPhone 5 (if you want iOS), Razor M (if you want a 4.3" screen), Droid DNA (1080p 5" screen), or if you want to try WP8 then HTC 8X.

Depends if battery life is important to you. If it is then HD Maxx > all. Note 2 and iPhone 5 have good battery also. DNA reviews say it's decent, but the battery is non-removable.

The Razor M is a nice phone if you want a 4.3" phone. So between the Rezound, and the Razor M I would pick the Razor M.

You may be able to get cheaper phones through amazon wireless, costco/sam's club, etc.
Staples is offering the GS3 for $50 with new contract or upgrade. This seems to satisfy your price critera and be a good upgrade.
http://slickdeals.net/f/5749814-Sam...T-T-Tmobile-Verizon-at-Staples-starting-12-30

 

[MYSTIQLEO]

check galaxy grand

 

[zip1385]

Get either the SG3 or Nexus 4.

Nexus 4 isn't on Verizon and probably will never be.

 

[KDOG]

Well I went with the Razr M. It was the sweet spot for me. I didn't want a really big phone - I have a Galaxy tab for something like that. This thing is pretty nice. Fast, plenty of memory for me, and a nice camera. Still figuring it out. Thanks for the advice though everyone. It may not be top of the line but its light years ahead of my previous phone.

Now if I can just figure out to get that stupid Google search bar off the screen to give me more real estate....

 

[s44]

Nova

 

[KDOG]

Partial to ADW myself.

 

[KDOG]

I prefer ADW myself. Will the stock phone let me do it or is it locked?

 

[benzylic]

In nova launcher there's an option to turn persistent search bar on and off, not sure about ADW.

 

[s44]

ADW was great in the GB days and before, but since ICS Nova is tops.

 

[Chocu1a]

Isn't it just a widget? You shouldbe able to just drag it off Screen?

 

[s44]

Isn't it just a widget? You shouldbe able to just drag it off Screen?

It's actually a permanent feature on the stock ICS/JB launcher... keeps the main area square-ish so the 4*4 fixed matrix looks OK.

 

[KDOG]

No it wouldn't let me drag it off. But I just put Nova on and that works excellent. Thanks for the suggestion.