Galaxay Nexus vs Droid Razr

[confused droid]

Hello, I recently just bought a Droid Razr and can't tell if I made the right decision. The store clerk told me the nfl mobile was never coming to the nexus and stuff like that kind of turned me away without really looking into it... My second guessing found that information to false, but I also found nice things about the razr. If you guys could shed light on me, I would appreciate it. I have never had a smart phone before, so I don't really know what rooting or using a kernel is, and don't know really what motocast which seems like a huge plus for the razr. Also im using smart actions to save battery, and it has worked tremendously, but I feel like the nexus has it own version. Another concern is the signal strength. I live in the middle of nowhere. I had terrible reception with a samsung before, but that was on tmobile. I have great with this Razr and was wondering how the nexus compares cause i hear it is worse. It is a concern, but I go to school at Drexel University in Philadelphia, so reception is not my biggest worry. Also just wondering how ICS might compare on the nexus vs the razr, is the nexus's screen really that much better, and is the nexus volume really that soft? I appreciate all of your responses. I still have a week to exchange if I want, but i just don't know!

 

[bryan.allen]

The age old debate apparently. I think theyre both great

 

[Kelmar]

My advice is to pick the HARDWARE that you like and works best for you.

If you prefer the Nexus, get it. I think it's advantage is instant updates from Google.

If you prefer the Razr, get it. I think it's advantage is hardware and radio quality. I've easily owned over 30+ phones and I've never had a phone with such clear calls!

 

[330D]

You want a phone that is a good phone and you don't care to have a bunch of custom roms, then the razr is a great choice. If you want to flash a new ROM every day, the gnex might be the choice. Both good phones, for different reasons.

 

[confused droid]

Perhaps this might help me decide more. What exactly do you mean by flash a new rom everyday? I know that is what the nexus is known for cause it is pure google or something, but I don't what it means. Thanks

 

[the gig]

I spent the better part of a month with the Razr, and just swapped it 2 days ago for the Nexus. The Razr was nice, but IMO the Nexus is just a bit nicer. My Razr loved to sit in limbo as it switched from 3g to 4g and vice versa. During which time I had no data connectivity. I also had to reboot a couple times just to get a signal back. The camera on the Razr is weak. I know it's supposedly better than the Nexus, but in real world conditions that's just not true. Low light pictures were horrible and it takes way too long to take a flash pic. The battery was the low point for me. Wouldn't last a full work day. This is day 2 with the Gnex and I'll have plenty of juice left when I leave work- and I've been using it quite a bit since it's the new toy.
I'm sure I'll have complaints with the Gnex eventually, but ICS is so much nicer in day to day use than you can realize standing in the verizon store playing with the 2 phones. I thought I had made the right choice with the Razr, but so far I like the Nexus more. No radio problems, my wife thinks I sound clearer on it, bluetooth works better, wifi signal picks up better- what's not to like??
Believe me- I tried to convince myself the Razr was better and I was so smart for not falling into the nexus fanfare, but I think I may have been wrong.

 

[Trooper]

So the Nexus is better at the 3G to 4G handoff? Strange, considering the weak radio. I know I have data drops on my Razr with the handoff. Which can be annoying when you are using GPS while driving.

Camera on the Razr is not bad, but I agree in low light conditions not so hot.

How is reception and call quality for you on the Gnex though?

To the OP, sounds like you just need a phone that works. If that is the case, imho, stick with the Razr. It does its job and has better call quality and reception than the Gnex for sure.

If you are new to rooting and rom'ing, unless you want to get into that, Id stay away from the Gnex for now.

 

[the gig]

So the Nexus is better at the 3G to 4G handoff? Strange, considering the weak radio. I know I have data drops on my Razr with the handoff. Which can be annoying when you are using GPS while driving.

Camera on the Razr is not bad, but I agree in low light conditions not so hot.

How is reception and call quality for you on the Gnex though?

To the OP, sounds like you just need a phone that works. If that is the case, imho, stick with the Razr. It does its job and has better call quality and reception than the Gnex for sure.

If you are new to rooting and rom'ing, unless you want to get into that, Id stay away from the Gnex for now.

The Nexus is light years ahead on the handoff issue- to the point where it's NOT an issue. You would expect the opposite due to the hardware differences. Reception is perfect. Call quality is great. I don't really "talk" on the phone all that much. I'm more interested in text/email/web capabilities. My RAZR had data drops while sitting on the couch that lasted so long I opted to reboot the phone. That's not acceptable for me. The Razr was nice- I like the build quality and form factor much more, but that's not enough to make me want to deal with data drops for 2 years.
I'll agree the camera is not bad, but the shutter is sooooo slow. I had a IP4 previously, which had a better cam than both. Try taking pictures of a squirming newborn with that RAZR camera. Good luck getting the shot you think you're getting.
I'm not being negative on the RAZR or anyone who has one. Hell- I almost didn't return because I liked it and thought I'd have the same issues with the Nexus-or worse ones. Diff. strokes and all, I just feel like the Nexus has more polish- which is weird-because ICS it's still very new.

 

[Trooper]

The Nexus is light years ahead on the handoff issue- to the point where it's NOT an issue. You would expect the opposite due to the hardware differences. Reception is perfect. Call quality is great. I don't really "talk" on the phone all that much. I'm more interested in text/email/web capabilities. My RAZR had data drops while sitting on the couch that lasted so long I opted to reboot the phone. That's not acceptable for me. The Razr was nice- I like the build quality and form factor much more, but that's not enough to make me want to deal with data drops for 2 years.
I'll agree the camera is not bad, but the shutter is sooooo slow. I had a IP4 previously, which had a better cam than both. Try taking pictures of a squirming newborn with that RAZR camera. Good luck getting the shot you think you're getting.
I'm not being negative on the RAZR or anyone who has one. Hell- I almost didn't return because I liked it and thought I'd have the same issues with the Nexus-or worse ones. Diff. strokes and all, I just feel like the Nexus has more polish- which is weird-because ICS it's still very new.

Crazy man. I guess you are in a good 4G area I assume?

I hear you to each h/h own. The Razr is a great device, Im just kinda shocked that the Gnex is handling the hand off better than a Moto device.

 

[jroc]

I have both, 2nd day with g nex. Had the RAZR since 11-11. The g nex takes a longer time to reconnect coming out of a weak, no signal area. I am on 4.0.1, and refusing some update that's popping up.

But....it is surprising me with phone reception. Data reception is probably the bigger issue with the g nex. And reestablishing a connection.

I would say so far after two days....they are almost evenly matched for phone reception. Reconnecting in weak areas seems to go to the RAZR so far.

Trooper, Verizon is counting the date shipped, not the activation date. So either me write up will be quicker, or it will be like this... me chiming in here n there.

I still will say that after 2 days I feel safer using my RAZR for phone use so far. But the g nex isn't as bad I thought it was gonna be. And I think either Verizon did some upgrades to the network.. or they both have decent battery life.

They both did good in my locker at work. No networks disabled, no airplane mode. I did do some tweaking to the g nex tho wifi bug and disabled nfc and something else, can't remember.

If you are in a bad reception area, or spend lots of time in one... I would recommend the RAZR.

Also...my RAZR had an update, my g nex hasn't. And there is some screen rotation lag on the g nex compared to the RAZR. Again...my g nex is on 4.0.1

The speaker is louder on the RAZR. The screen difference is more noticeable the closer you hold the phones to your face..for me anyway. At my normal viewing distances..they are practically identical. The biggest differences is the fonts and color schemes.

 

[FragDroidX]

Stay with the Razr. You have the best device currently out. The Razr is particularly better in the radio/reception area to the Nexus on 3G or 4G. Its not even close. Enjoy what you have and don't worry about your choice. It was the right one.

 

[the gig]

Crazy man. I guess you are in a good 4G area I assume?

I hear you to each h/h own. The Razr is a great device, Im just kinda shocked that the Gnex is handling the hand off better than a Moto device.

At work no- on the fringe of 4G- which is why the switchoff on the Razr pissed me off so much. Not once have i picked up the GN and not had a data connection. Happened a few times a day with the Razr.

I guess we'll see. and to Jroc- I'm on 4.0.2- maybe there's a difference and maybe not.

 

[FragDroidX]

I have both, 2nd day with g nex. Had the RAZR since 11-11. The g nex takes a longer time to reconnect coming out of a weak, no signal area. I am on 4.0.1, and refusing some update that's popping up.

But....it is surprising me with phone reception. Data reception is probably the bigger issue with the g nex. And reestablishing a connection.

I would say so far after two days....they are almost evenly matched for phone reception. Reconnecting in weak areas seems to go to the RAZR so far.

Trooper, Verizon is counting the date shipped, not the activation date. So either me write up will be quicker, or it will be like this... me chiming in here n there.

I still will say that after 2 days I feel safer using my RAZR for phone use so far. But the g nex isn't as bad I thought it was gonna be. And I think either Verizon did some upgrades to the network.. or they both have decent battery life.

They both did good in my locker at work. No networks disabled, no airplane mode. I did do some tweaking to the g nex tho wifi bug and disabled nfc and something else, can't remember.

If you are in a bad reception area, or spend lots of time in one... I would recommend the RAZR.

Also...my RAZR had an update, my g nex hasn't. And there is some screen rotation lag on the g nex compared to the RAZR. Again...my g nex is on 4.0.1

The speaker is louder on the RAZR. The screen difference is more noticeable the closer you hold the phones to your face..for me anyway. At my normal viewing distances..they are practically identical. The biggest differences is the fonts and color schemes.

I can echo most of what you are experiencing. I am however on my second Galaxy Nexus and the reception and data on both are crappy. The Razr grabs, maintains, and switches networks so much better. I have noticed that even on wifi the Nexus has trouble holding signal. Other than that and the horribly cheap plastic build the Nexus is an OK device but the Razr is going to stay my daily device.

 

[Trooper]

I can echo most of what you are experiencing. I am however on my second Galaxy Nexus and the reception and data on both are crappy. The Razr grabs, maintains, and switches networks so much better. I have noticed that even on wifi the Nexus has trouble holding signal. Other than that and the horribly cheap plastic build the Nexus is an OK device but the Razr is going to stay my daily device.

So its really that noticable between the the two huh? Damn. Guess my only reason to get a Gnex would be to go back to being a flash a holic. Hmm.

@jroc No problem at all man. I appreciate the input you have given so far, keep it up man!

Cheers!

 

[edstewbob]

There is an excellent comparison review by rushmore http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-razr/465036-razr-vs-gnex-mini-review.html with further discussion mostly validating that you probably made a good decision as long as you are OK to stay behind a little bit on the software and let others work out the bugs.

 

[you2]

A friend has the nexus; I have the razr and we had this conversation. For him he can't live without the ability to install custom roms and he loves the 'free' tethering (he has an old unlimited plan). 4G for him is also wicked fast (we tested them side by side and I saw around 10Mb/s while he saw a bit over 20Mb/s).
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However he dislike that it often looses 4g for no reason (beyond verizon wireless outage) and the speaker is very soft.
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I'm not really into custom roms per sey though I would like to dump some of the verizon crap (like a backup manager that can't be turned off). And I wouldn't mind a removable battery.
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Then again it is nice having a speaker loud enough to actually use the phone as a speaker phone when I'm cooking.
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Its hard to comment on battery life because his battery life is very good when the signal is solid but when it is searching for a signal his battery life goes down the drain.

 

[tom108]

Having the razr has been a nice vacation from flashing 3 Roms a day.

 

[DeeMat]

I agree, I have regained a lot of my time by not needing to flash ROMs!

 

[confused droid]

Okay, so I think the big. Reason I don't know what to get is because I don't know what it means to flash roms. Could someone shed some light for me?

 

[redraptor]

Look at it this way: Android is the very basic operating system that most phones (Other than Apple, Blackberries, and WP7) run on. The Razr, Galaxy Nexus, Rezound ect. ALL run on Android. Now if you look at each manufacture (Motorola, Samsung, HTC ect.) Each one has its own "skin" lying on top of android. For the most part it still feels and looks like stock android, but there are some differences. Each one has different animations, widgets, apps ect. here is a list of the big manufactures and the skins that they use.

Motorola-Motoblur (Used to be called this, now its just a skin done by Motorola)
HTC-Sense
Samsung-Touchwiz

Now the only exception to this is the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus is the absolute stock version of Android. Google demands that a Nexus phone is released unskinned and untouched by anyone other than Google, regardless of the manufacture. Samsung made the last 2 Nexus devices, HTC made the first.

Now flashing Roms...The term flashing essentially means that you are taking your phone and putting a different "skin" on it. It takes the base Android operating system and makes it run similar but unique. The catch is that all, or most roms are free and community based. Some popular ones include MIUI, Cyanogen Mod (Stock android that adds a few tweaks to make it run SUPER smooth) and various other phone specific roms.

Roms can do small things like remove bloatware (Any carrier specific apps that can't be manually removed) and kernal (What makes the rom operate, sort of like the engine in a car) enhancements. Others do significant changes like lack of an app drawer, and even complete UI overhauls.

The biggest catch though is that you have to "root", or hack, your device. This can be a bit tricky to the not so computer savvy. But is often a LOT easier on a Nexus device since there is no manufacture skin, its just stock (Or vanilla, for your term nazis) Android. That is why the Nexus is better for "Flashing" roms. Its simply easier to over come the hacking process.

So to answer your question: flashing roms essentially means hacking your phone and installing cool things on it.

 

[jroc]

At work no- on the fringe of 4G- which is why the switchoff on the Razr pissed me off so much. Not once have i picked up the GN and not had a data connection. Happened a few times a day with the Razr.

I guess we'll see. and to Jroc- I'm on 4.0.2- maybe there's a difference and maybe not.

I updated to 4.0.2 yesterday...no difference. I posted on another thread how the G Nex would pick a server in PA or MA when I tried speed tests. I live in the DC, MD, VA area.

The difference is with me...in my apt....doing speed tests I'm lucky to get 200....kbps....down...lol. So when I say bad reception area....I mean BAD reception area. Of course outside its alot better. But near my house doing speed tests I can barely crack the 10Mbps down. It mostly hovers around 6-8Mbps down. Most other ppl see those kind of numbers inside buildings.

This happened on both 4.0.1. and 4.0.2. Just based on phone reception....I dont think I will be holding it against Samsung that much anymore. Again....its surprising me in that dept. And something that has me thinking about keeping the G Nex. So my dilemma is do I want 1 or 2 upgrades available when the new phone start rolling out this year...I have an old Droid 1 waiting to be added to my line. And we hear data drops, switching with both the RAZR and G Nex reading the forums. So really it could be a crap shoot for that. But in bad reception areas....I would feel more better with the RAZR. Cuz neither phone I have is switching back n forth between 1x, 3G and 4G. And I just checked...my RAZR is picking up LTE while my G Nex is on 3G.

 

[rushmore]

I spent the better part of a month with the Razr, and just swapped it 2 days ago for the Nexus. The Razr was nice, but IMO the Nexus is just a bit nicer. My Razr loved to sit in limbo as it switched from 3g to 4g and vice versa. During which time I had no data connectivity. I also had to reboot a couple times just to get a signal back. The camera on the Razr is weak. I know it's supposedly better than the Nexus, but in real world conditions that's just not true. Low light pictures were horrible and it takes way too long to take a flash pic. The battery was the low point for me. Wouldn't last a full work day. This is day 2 with the Gnex and I'll have plenty of juice left when I leave work- and I've been using it quite a bit since it's the new toy.
I'm sure I'll have complaints with the Gnex eventually, but ICS is so much nicer in day to day use than you can realize standing in the verizon store playing with the 2 phones. I thought I had made the right choice with the Razr, but so far I like the Nexus more. No radio problems, my wife thinks I sound clearer on it, bluetooth works better, wifi signal picks up better- what's not to like??
Believe me- I tried to convince myself the Razr was better and I was so smart for not falling into the nexus fanfare, but I think I may have been wrong.

I find both devices suit specific wants from a user, but found the reception of the Gnex around where I live and work to be weaker for wifi and 3g/4g to the point of no comparison with the Razr. Ditto on the call quality, but cool you like your choice

The 3g/4g issues are impacting different devices and it is like a combination lock of issues, depending on where you are and what radio used (this is per VZW). The migration to a 4G network is more complicated than they expected.

We are looking at least (probably) another six months of rolling issues, due to the network migration, but hope it is not as silly as lately.


Added:

As far as custom kernels and roms, I saw a need on the G1 and Incredible, but do not on the Razr. ALL radios work fine (sans the network issues), fast, good battery life and I use Launcher Pro for a simple UI. Razr is also rooted, so no bloat and have the Volume + app, which works GREAT to improve volume for both 3.5mm and the speaker. Volume + does a great job on the Gnex too.

The reasons I would add kernels and roms are not an issue on the Razr.

 

[elitegamer21]

I think nexus has the better build feel and the nexus has the better call quality been proven over and over. And i think razr build isnt that great. Nexus wont have no phone near it till mid 2012.

My advice is to pick the HARDWARE that you like and works best for you.

If you prefer the Nexus, get it. I think it's advantage is instant updates from Google.

If you prefer the Razr, get it. I think it's advantage is hardware and radio quality. I've easily owned over 30+ phones and I've never had a phone with such clear calls!

 

[rushmore]

I think nexus has the better build feel and the nexus has the better call quality been proven over and over. And i think razr build isnt that great. Nexus wont have no phone near it till mid 2012.

Joking? Agree the Nexus feels better in the hand, but the more than vast majority of users and reviews concur the call quality and build is better on the Razr.

Perhaps you need to edit to "proven over and over- by me(eilitegamer)"

 

[tom108]

I think nexus has the better build feel and the nexus has the better call quality been proven over and over. And i think razr build isnt that great. Nexus wont have no phone near it till mid 2012.

Your joking right? The razr is like a tank compared to the fischer price feel of the gnex.