Intro: Install was fairly painless, wipe data/factory reset, install zip through Clockwork recovery and it booted up just fine...did have a slight issue with apparently Clockwork not clearing ALL of my data as my phone still had my wallpaper from ApeX, as well as remembered all of my wifi network stuff, and it led to a slight problem, but a trip to stock recovery and a second data wipe fixed the problem...
Now...on to the review...ill grade everything on a scale of 1-5, and preface it with what i would have scored ApeX 1.4.1 for some sort of context
Stability: 3.5/5 (ApeX 4.5/5)
I chalk up most of the problems i've actually had to apps not being designed to function with this version of Android. My biggest issues came with Having multiple launchers installed and trying to switch between them with Home Smack. There are lots of quirks, and it actually ends up disabling my home button when trying to use the stock launcher.
I've had a couple of random FC's when going to open apps (Quadrant a couple times, Launcher Pro once), but re-opening the app straight away works every time. I've never had an app FC multiple times in a row, or require a reboot.
For a leaked version that has not been approved this is probably as good as it gets
Design: 4/5 (ApeX 3.5/5)
I can't believe im saying this, but i think Moto NAILED the design here. I still think for slickness, that Sense is the "prettier" UI of the two, but i really quite like what Moto has done with GB. For those that have not seen screens, or can't reall tell. Moto has NOT gone with the stock black/green color scheme, instead they have gone with a dark blue notification bar with blue, and ginger green accents throughout the ROM. I think it is quite nice.
Menus have gone from black, to white, and i didn't think i would like them, but i do.
Screen transitions now have an "elastic" effect to them, and the screen rotation has a nice twirling effect. Window animations are a nice fade in/fade out that i quite like.
I installed all the different launchers that get talked about (LPP, Go, ADW) and honestly i have uninstalled them, there is something about the stock launcher that makes me want to keep using it for its looks...
Performance: 4/5 (ApeX 4/5)
This version of Blur RIPS. my ONLY complaint on the performance front is that Moto still has not been able to match the smoothness of our favorite launchers (LPP, ADW, Go) when it comes to moving between home screens. If they could improve that area i would have given this category a 5/5.
In reference to the rest of the performance Moto has simply nailed it, moving in and out of apps is smooth and quick, the app drawer is smooth and just general performance has increased noticeably.
I don't generally put too much weight into benchmark tests, because they can vary greatly from test to test...
HOWEVER, that being said whatever Moto has done with this build of Gingerbread has it beating up Quadrant. For reference, I was coming from ApeX 1.4.1 and overclocked to 1.15ghz, and prior to that i was on Liberty 1.5 with the same clock speeds. Liberty out benchmarked ApeX on average, with my phone generally sitting in the 1600's on Liberty, and the 1500's on ApeX. The best i can ever remember ripping off was a 1690 on Liberty 1.0.
Now, straight after installing GingerBlur i opened up Quadrant and ran it. And pulled off a mid 1500's score, i was quite impressed considering it is stock, with all the bloatware running. After a few reboots and whatnot messing around with things scores have SIGNIFICANTLY improved, and as i sit here now i just scored an 1870, and my scores have been hovering in the high 1700's. I may see 2000+ scores when we get root and i can overclock this thing. And i am very impressed with that.
Overall im VERY impressed. These are just some of my early observations having had it installed for a few hours now. Obviously way too early to be talking about battery life because ive been messing with it, but over the next few days ill keep an eye on it...I was doing pretty well on Apex, and getting over two days while still having 20-30% battery left, so it will be a good test for GingerBlur to beat that...
OH! another cool feature, in the power off menu there is a "sleep" function that supposedly uses very little power, but also allows for instant on, so you don't have to turn it off and reboot, it also remembers everything from before you put it to sleep. Also says its safe to use on airplanes and such because it disables all data connections (wifi, cell signal etc) while running...its a pretty slick feature
Now...on to the review...ill grade everything on a scale of 1-5, and preface it with what i would have scored ApeX 1.4.1 for some sort of context
Stability: 3.5/5 (ApeX 4.5/5)
I chalk up most of the problems i've actually had to apps not being designed to function with this version of Android. My biggest issues came with Having multiple launchers installed and trying to switch between them with Home Smack. There are lots of quirks, and it actually ends up disabling my home button when trying to use the stock launcher.
I've had a couple of random FC's when going to open apps (Quadrant a couple times, Launcher Pro once), but re-opening the app straight away works every time. I've never had an app FC multiple times in a row, or require a reboot.
For a leaked version that has not been approved this is probably as good as it gets
Design: 4/5 (ApeX 3.5/5)
I can't believe im saying this, but i think Moto NAILED the design here. I still think for slickness, that Sense is the "prettier" UI of the two, but i really quite like what Moto has done with GB. For those that have not seen screens, or can't reall tell. Moto has NOT gone with the stock black/green color scheme, instead they have gone with a dark blue notification bar with blue, and ginger green accents throughout the ROM. I think it is quite nice.
Menus have gone from black, to white, and i didn't think i would like them, but i do.
Screen transitions now have an "elastic" effect to them, and the screen rotation has a nice twirling effect. Window animations are a nice fade in/fade out that i quite like.
I installed all the different launchers that get talked about (LPP, Go, ADW) and honestly i have uninstalled them, there is something about the stock launcher that makes me want to keep using it for its looks...
Performance: 4/5 (ApeX 4/5)
This version of Blur RIPS. my ONLY complaint on the performance front is that Moto still has not been able to match the smoothness of our favorite launchers (LPP, ADW, Go) when it comes to moving between home screens. If they could improve that area i would have given this category a 5/5.
In reference to the rest of the performance Moto has simply nailed it, moving in and out of apps is smooth and quick, the app drawer is smooth and just general performance has increased noticeably.
I don't generally put too much weight into benchmark tests, because they can vary greatly from test to test...
HOWEVER, that being said whatever Moto has done with this build of Gingerbread has it beating up Quadrant. For reference, I was coming from ApeX 1.4.1 and overclocked to 1.15ghz, and prior to that i was on Liberty 1.5 with the same clock speeds. Liberty out benchmarked ApeX on average, with my phone generally sitting in the 1600's on Liberty, and the 1500's on ApeX. The best i can ever remember ripping off was a 1690 on Liberty 1.0.
Now, straight after installing GingerBlur i opened up Quadrant and ran it. And pulled off a mid 1500's score, i was quite impressed considering it is stock, with all the bloatware running. After a few reboots and whatnot messing around with things scores have SIGNIFICANTLY improved, and as i sit here now i just scored an 1870, and my scores have been hovering in the high 1700's. I may see 2000+ scores when we get root and i can overclock this thing. And i am very impressed with that.
Overall im VERY impressed. These are just some of my early observations having had it installed for a few hours now. Obviously way too early to be talking about battery life because ive been messing with it, but over the next few days ill keep an eye on it...I was doing pretty well on Apex, and getting over two days while still having 20-30% battery left, so it will be a good test for GingerBlur to beat that...
OH! another cool feature, in the power off menu there is a "sleep" function that supposedly uses very little power, but also allows for instant on, so you don't have to turn it off and reboot, it also remembers everything from before you put it to sleep. Also says its safe to use on airplanes and such because it disables all data connections (wifi, cell signal etc) while running...its a pretty slick feature
