Thinking of buying the Razr HD, have some questions

[unity04]

I've been debating between this device and the upcoming LG Optimus G, so I'm hoping to get some of my questions answered so I can make a better decision.

#01. Speed and Performance

1. Generally, is the phone fast?
2. Do you ever notice any lag when scrolling between home screens, or launching applications?
3. While browsing the internet, do you ever get checker boarding while pages are loading?
4. How is the browsing experience? Is it fluid or laggy? A web browser's performance is a deal breaker for me.
5. Do games run smoothly? I know when I tried playing Scramble on some Android devices it was really laggy.

#02. Display Quality

1. Do you notice any pixelation due to the pentile display?
2. I know that on a lot of AMOLED displays, the phone tends to turn the brightness down on large areas of white. Does the Razr HD do this when there's a lot of white on a page? (makes the white look grey)
3. Following the previous question, do whites look bright or dull? I know AMOLED makes blacks look deep, but the white brightness is my main concern. When I had the Galaxy Nexus, the phone made whites look really grainny and grey.

#03. Music and Sound Quality

1. Do you notice any static or noise coming from the headphone jack when you have headphones plugged in?
2. How's the sound quality when using headphones?
3. How's the sound quality when using the speaker?

I know I'm asking a lot of questions, so any responses are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[SayOw]

From my experience, here are my answers, I came from a Droid X:

#01. Speed and Performance

1. Generally, is the phone fast? Yes. Considerably faster than any phone I've every had.
2. Do you ever notice any lag when scrolling between home screens, or launching applications? No. Very quick and responsive. Apps load very quickly - I'm still using the stock launcher.
3. While browsing the internet, do you ever get checker boarding while pages are loading? I use Chrome and it is extremely fast - I am usually on wifi, but 4G is very quick as well.
4. How is the browsing experience? Is it fluid or laggy? A web browser's performance is a deal breaker for me. Using Chrome, very fluid. Only lag I have experienced has been on the server side.
5. Do games run smoothly? I know when I tried playing Scramble on some Android devices it was really laggy. I've played a few games and all are very fluid and smooth. Temple Run was a little herky-jerky on my X, now, no lag and very smooth.

#02. Display Quality

1. Do you notice any pixelation due to the pentile display? No. Unless you get out a magnifying glass, I don't think you'll notice pixelation.
2. I know that on a lot of AMOLED displays, the phone tends to turn the brightness down on large areas of white. Does the Razr HD do this when there's a lot of white on a page? (makes the white look grey) Yes to some degree.
3. Following the previous question, do whites look bright or dull? I know AMOLED makes blacks look deep, but the white brightness is my main concern. When I had the Galaxy Nexus, the phone made whites look really grainny and grey. The whites are a little grey but not grainy.

#03. Music and Sound Quality

1. Do you notice any static or noise coming from the headphone jack when you have headphones plugged in? No. I noticed the jack seemed very "tight" and the headphone jack is very "snug" when plugged in making sure there is a tight connection.
2. How's the sound quality when using headphones? Very good. I would say overall the sound quality of this phone is very good, including in call.
3. How's the sound quality when using the speaker? I haven't done enough of this to properly respond, but as good as you could expect for a cell phone speaker, imo.

 

[tatootie67]

Quite simply, this is the best phone I've ever owned. Had iPhone 4 before this. DROID before that. I've missed androids customizations. Sound, screen, battery life especially. Build quality of this got me far away from the gs3.

 

[msimanyi]

I agree with the prior responses. I tried an iPhone 4S when my DroidX screen died a slow death about a year ago.The DX hung on, waiting for the RAZR and Galaxy Nexus to be released, so I checked those both out and hated the screen quality, color problems and build quality of the Samsung phone. That led to trying the iPhone, holding out for the release of the Razr HD Maxx.

I am very picky about screens, and this one is almost as good as the iPhone in my opinion. Whites are white when you look straight in, though there is a blue cast at an angle. In comparison my iPad 3 shifts to yellow at a similar angle.

The smallest letters I can read on the iPhone are not sharp enough to read on this phone, but they're so small that it's just a test of resolution, not a normal reading mode. Case in point, go to the desktop version of Google News and display it in portrait mode. I can read the smallest text there, without zooming in. It isn't *convenient*, but I can do it. On the iPhone 4S, it's a little sharper, but at normal font sizes and reading distances, there isn't any material difference.

One feature I am floored by is the battery life. I had a 4.5 hour conference call in the evening, and used the phone for my normal use throughout the day without any charging. I still had 54% battery life remaining. With the 4S, I had a charging unit in my office so I could make it through the day and have sufficient charge on the phone for the evening. For that same monthly conference call, I had to charge the 4S both during the day and during the call.

Another nice feature vs the 4S or DX: simultaneous data and voice. I'm betting that's the case on all Verizon's LTE phones now, but it's new to me and *very* much appreciated.

The build quality is fantastic, the phone is attractive, it works wonderfully and I can customize it to suit my preferences. It does everything I want it to do well, and I'm not persistently frustrated by the little things that so detracted from my iPhone experience.

I'm not bashing the iPhone. They're a great product too, but they just aren't for me.

 

[jroc]

I would also add the speaker on this phone is nice n loud. Only problem I found out this morning.....the back is so flush laying the phone on its back, the speaker can be muffled.

And you might wanna get louder alarm ringtones. Like with the G Nex, this phone comes with some wimpy ringtones.

Ppl that would complain about this screen are either extra picky or just dont wanna like it as far as Pentile is concerned. I also have a RAZR from last year and had G Nex....and I still see Amoled screens can have a blue tint looking off angle. That may add to the dull whites.

Another pet peeve.....no Motocast so far. I do hope that changes. And some ppl might have to use the manual or look up online how to find the sd card folder. Its under mnt/externel1 or something....very odd.