(AT&T) Galaxy S2 vs Atrix 2 ?

mzaur · Nov 4, 2011

tylerdurdin said:
Although this is by far the most fair review I have read about these two phone I have to heavily disagree with the build quality first....This is a typical Motorola device. Secondly the video playback from any source is not as sharp or precise as the SGS2. Third I can not look past the fact that Motorola continues to lock down their phone like a Apple product. This is a huge deal breaker for ME...I know some people do not care about this aspect, but it just kills me. Agree 100% though that bang for the buck its a pretty nice phone but I definitely could not exchange my SGS for it.

What do you mean by 'typical Motorola device' ? Is the build quality bad on Motorolas?

Also, are Motorolas unrootable?

I've been using an iPhone and looking for an Android to get and considering GS2 or Atrix 2.

916x10 · Nov 4, 2011

mzaur said:
What do you mean by 'typical Motorola device' ? Is the build quality bad on Motorolas?

Also, are Motorolas unrootable?

I've been using an iPhone and looking for an Android to get and considering GS2 or Atrix 2.

The build quality on the Atrix 2 is on par with any device out there. My Atrix 2 is rooted. My advice would be to get your hands on both of them and play around with them, see which you like the best. Personally, the GSII just wasn't for me, I don't care for TouchWiz, it's too big and not very ergonomic and the pro's just didn't outweigh the cons enough for me to drop another $150 on top of the Atrix 2 to get me to get that device. The Atrix 2 is plenty fast for me, I could care less about quadrant scores or any other benchmarks, the only thing I like about the GSII over the Atrix 2 is the fact that the GSII can be fully modded right now. Roms, themes, etc, it call all be flashed onto the phone. Apparently we can't do that with the Atrix 2 until the bootloader gets unlocked and that's not gonna happen in the near future.

mzaur · Nov 4, 2011

916x10 said:
Personally, the GSII just wasn't for me, I don't care for TouchWiz, it's too big and not very ergonomic

GS2 is bigger than Atrix 2? I thought both were 4.3 inch?

I haven't played with an Atrix 2 yet, but I did play with a GS2 and it felt kind of 'cheap' too much. The back of the case actually came off and I couldn't get it back on. It was very bendy and light, but felt like it could break easily. Maybe that's just my judgment though and the plastic could be high quality. I'm just used to the iPhone which feels very sturdy (though I have seen drop tests where the GS2 does much better than the iPhone, so I doubt my perceptions about sturdiness based on feel)

Hydrated · Nov 5, 2011

tylerdurdin said:
Although this is by far the most fair review I have read about these two phone I have to heavily disagree with the build quality first....This is a typical Motorola device. Secondly the video playback from any source is not as sharp or precise as the SGS2. Third I can not look past the fact that Motorola continues to lock down their phone like a Apple product. This is a huge deal breaker for ME...I know some people do not care about this aspect, but it just kills me. Agree 100% though that bang for the buck its a pretty nice phone but I definitely could not exchange my SGS for it.

This post is a great example of why different devices are great for different people. I've been a hardware/software integration engineer for nearly 30 years, so analyzing technology is my job. And I see the root causes for many of the problems that we experience with our technology. You like the Samsung devices, and I had experiences with Samsung that make me cringe to even consider buying another Samsung phone. But there are reasons that we like the products that we do... so let's break it down.

First, your gripes about the Atrix.
1) "This is a typical Motorola device." What exactly does that mean? I've been dealing with Motorola professionally for decades and have always found their quality to be excellent. And dependable. But we'll talk more about dependability later. I tend to dismiss vague criticisms like this one until you can quantify it for me and get specific.

2) "The video playback is not as sharp or precise." Again, what does this mean? Does the video blur or smear? Does the playback stutter? Or is it just that you like the playback on the Samsung for some subjective reason? Not that subjective is bad... it's just that it is a vague criteria. Again... statements that are purely based on personal preference get discounted until you can be more descriptive and specific.

3) "can not look past the fact that Motorola continues to lock down their phone." Now here is a valid issue. And I can fully understand why this is a dealbreaker for you. I also have a problem with companies who sell a product that doesn't allow you to use it as you please, but when it comes to cell phones... every carrier, manufacturer, and user has their own requirements. It's up to you to decide how far a manufacturer or carrier can push you before you stop using their products. Fair criticism here.

Now, my Samsung gripes:
I owned a Samsung Captivate before I jumped to the Atrix 2... and that phone was the buggiest and most undependable piece of technology that I've ever owned. I understand that sometimes companies make mistakes, but this is what bothered me about Samsung's handling of the situation.

Everyone knows about the GPS being broken at release day for the Captivate. And I find it terribly hard to believe that Samsung didn't know about that problem before release. Either they decided to roll the phone out anyway, or their product test department totally missed a HUGE problem in a major subsystem of their phone. Either scenario is very troubling.

But even worse: The Galaxy S line had a laundry list of other problems that Samsung simply pretended didn't exist. There were both hardware and software problems. OS implementation bugs. Chipset driver bugs. RF chipset problems.

Samsung fixed the GPS problems, but most of these other issues went unacknowledged, undiagnosed, and unresolved.

Specifics:
Call quality and stability. Samsung's call quality is dismal, and (at least the Galaxy S phones) drop calls with frightening regularity... far more than other phone platforms under similar conditions. My phone is often used to conduct business, and it's embarassing when a customer either can't hear me or tells me that it sounds like I'm speaking from inside a kettle drum.

WiFi stability. Samsung has a history of dicey WiFi implementation that suffers poor signal strength and dropped connections. Hundreds of European Galaxy S2 owners have complained about WiFi reception in their new phones, but Samsung continues to deny that there is a problem at all. I was watching these forums carefully on release day for the GS2, and the WiFi complaints began popping up on the very first day of release!

So basically, I don't trust Samsung to fix a problem if they find one. They didn't on the Captivate and I suffered with that phone for more than a year.

Now as for my phone, I want it to work correctly without having to root and load custom ROMs. And I am thrilled with my Atrix 2.

It's fast. It's got a great display. It works the way that it's supposed to... every time.

macgiobuin · Nov 6, 2011

Well, I am no technical expert. However, I AM an expert on what I like. I really LIKE the Atrix 2. I've had mine for about a week, and it is just GREAT! Initially, it wouldn't read the microchip, but that was USER ERROR...not the phone's fault. Once placed in the slot correctly, all my files uploaded automatically.

Call quality is great, pictures and video are great and most importantly to me, it has enough gigs to last for as long as I want to keep this phone. I have had ZERO issues with its performance or with uploading apps, files, pictures, etc. It even connected with my computer flawlessly.

If you want a great phone at a great price, Atrix 2 is the way to go.

One more thing...in my line of work, phones can get "jostled" occasionally and this has caused concern/issues with past phones. I have no qualms taking this phone to work. Adding the Otter Case just made me even less concerned about any damage to the Atrix 2.

kosodigger · Nov 13, 2011

Here's my problem with Atrix 2. I bought my Atrix 2 Oct.17 at the ATT store near me. They set it up using a new PNY 8 GB SD card . My problem started a few days later I reinstalled a lot of the Apps I used on my older HTC ARIA (they all worked with no problems), After a day or two some of the apps disappeared . By disappearing I meen they still showed on the home screen but when I touched them to start I will get the message "APPs not installed on your phone". When I go to the app page they are gone,I have to reinstall them. I thought maybe it was just a one time thing but I have lost 10 apps this way (GOGGLES,Dropbox,Astro File Man. ZumoCast,Verizon Media Manager ECT.) I tried reinserting SD card,Sim card, and battery no difference. So i went back to the ATT store they were no help. After 1 more week I returned the phone for anotherAtrix2 phone. That didn't help the situation,the new phone does the same thing but also when I hook up to the computer then disconnect from the computer I loose pictures and APPs.Or so I thought,I shut down the phone removed the SD card reset it turned the phone back on and everything is back.What is going on if this was just my phone I'ld say it was my fault,because this seems like a good phone other then these problems.As I posted my problem on Motorolas forum it grew to a fairly large problem for others also. So Motorola says it's a software problem so it's Androids problem to fix. So when will they fix or will we just continue to be given work arounds for the problem?

thistransition · Nov 14, 2011

kosodigger said:
Here's my problem with Atrix 2. I bought my Atrix 2 Oct.17 at the ATT store near me. They set it up using a new PNY 8 GB SD card . My problem started a few days later I reinstalled a lot of the Apps I used on my older HTC ARIA (they all worked with no problems), After a day or two some of the apps disappeared . By disappearing I meen they still showed on the home screen but when I touched them to start I will get the message "APPs not installed on your phone". When I go to the app page they are gone,I have to reinstall them. I thought maybe it was just a one time thing but I have lost 10 apps this way (GOGGLES,Dropbox,Astro File Man. ZumoCast,Verizon Media Manager ECT.) I tried reinserting SD card,Sim card, and battery no difference. So i went back to the ATT store they were no help. After 1 more week I returned the phone for anotherAtrix2 phone. That didn't help the situation,the new phone does the same thing but also when I hook up to the computer then disconnect from the computer I loose pictures and APPs.Or so I thought,I shut down the phone removed the SD card reset it turned the phone back on and everything is back.What is going on if this was just my phone I'ld say it was my fault,because this seems like a good phone other then these problems.As I posted my problem on Motorolas forum it grew to a fairly large problem for others also. So Motorola says it's a software problem so it's Androids problem to fix. So when will they fix or will we just continue to be given work arounds for the problem?

I would start a new thread for this problem, this thread is for comparing it to the GS2

kosodigger · Nov 14, 2011

Sorry your right. I'll find the right place

jeffkoe · Dec 15, 2011

Hydrated said:
This post is a great example of why different devices are great for different people. I've been a hardware/software integration engineer for nearly 30 years, so analyzing technology is my job. And I see the root causes for many of the problems that we experience with our technology. You like the Samsung devices, and I had experiences with Samsung that make me cringe to even consider buying another Samsung phone. But there are reasons that we like the products that we do... so let's break it down.

First, your gripes about the Atrix.
1) "This is a typical Motorola device." What exactly does that mean? I've been dealing with Motorola professionally for decades and have always found their quality to be excellent. And dependable. But we'll talk more about dependability later. I tend to dismiss vague criticisms like this one until you can quantify it for me and get specific.

2) "The video playback is not as sharp or precise." Again, what does this mean? Does the video blur or smear? Does the playback stutter? Or is it just that you like the playback on the Samsung for some subjective reason? Not that subjective is bad... it's just that it is a vague criteria. Again... statements that are purely based on personal preference get discounted until you can be more descriptive and specific.

3) "can not look past the fact that Motorola continues to lock down their phone." Now here is a valid issue. And I can fully understand why this is a dealbreaker for you. I also have a problem with companies who sell a product that doesn't allow you to use it as you please, but when it comes to cell phones... every carrier, manufacturer, and user has their own requirements. It's up to you to decide how far a manufacturer or carrier can push you before you stop using their products. Fair criticism here.

Now, my Samsung gripes:
I owned a Samsung Captivate before I jumped to the Atrix 2... and that phone was the buggiest and most undependable piece of technology that I've ever owned. I understand that sometimes companies make mistakes, but this is what bothered me about Samsung's handling of the situation.

Everyone knows about the GPS being broken at release day for the Captivate. And I find it terribly hard to believe that Samsung didn't know about that problem before release. Either they decided to roll the phone out anyway, or their product test department totally missed a HUGE problem in a major subsystem of their phone. Either scenario is very troubling.

But even worse: The Galaxy S line had a laundry list of other problems that Samsung simply pretended didn't exist. There were both hardware and software problems. OS implementation bugs. Chipset driver bugs. RF chipset problems.

Samsung fixed the GPS problems, but most of these other issues went unacknowledged, undiagnosed, and unresolved.

Specifics:
Call quality and stability. Samsung's call quality is dismal, and (at least the Galaxy S phones) drop calls with frightening regularity... far more than other phone platforms under similar conditions. My phone is often used to conduct business, and it's embarassing when a customer either can't hear me or tells me that it sounds like I'm speaking from inside a kettle drum.

WiFi stability. Samsung has a history of dicey WiFi implementation that suffers poor signal strength and dropped connections. Hundreds of European Galaxy S2 owners have complained about WiFi reception in their new phones, but Samsung continues to deny that there is a problem at all. I was watching these forums carefully on release day for the GS2, and the WiFi complaints began popping up on the very first day of release!

So basically, I don't trust Samsung to fix a problem if they find one. They didn't on the Captivate and I suffered with that phone for more than a year.

Now as for my phone, I want it to work correctly without having to root and load custom ROMs. And I am thrilled with my Atrix 2.

It's fast. It's got a great display. It works the way that it's supposed to... every time.

I had Samsung Captivate. Here's the truth, my data usage was up markedly because the Captivate would not automatically lock onto my home wifi when returning, nor other known wifi spots I had set up to recognize! Had updated to latest Android through Kies, but phone was buggy as heck. Didnt hold onto calls reliably. The reason was clear, signal strength was not as good as my iPhone 3GS at home (I checked the signal via dBm, not bars). Made me run back to my iPhone, which was much more reliable with calls and more stable software wise. The original Atrix screen did not impress me. I guess the Pentile Matrix screen was a problem. When I scrolled at all, the text would blink and become unreadable, making it difficult to track. Well, back to iPhone, but this screen size is ridiculously small! I think I'm going blind trying to read on it. I miss text reflow, which would make much better use of the small screen. The high resolution screen of the iPhone 4 helps, but not enough. All that to say that Motorola Atrix (original) had a great wireless radio, but unimpressive in other ways. The Atrix 2 sounds more appealing,looks more appealing in build, bigger non Pentile display sounds great, just wish the tech journalists would cover it better. It's not cutting edge, but still interests many of us.

nonie · Jan 4, 2012

I just found this thread, very interested, as I am debating which of these two phones to get.

I have a couple of questions,

1. What is a Otter case?

2. Someone mentioned, Motorola locking down phone. What do you mean by that. How do they lock phones down and why? Does it not work when locked down?

macgiobuin · Jan 5, 2012

1. Motorola Atrix 2 Cases, Motorola ATRIX 2 Defender Series Case // OtterBox.com

2. Some companies make their phones un-root-able. Atrix 2 CAN be rooted, if that's what you want to do. I have never found "root-ing" necessary. If that is NOT what they were referring to, I'll let someone else expand on this answer.

FWIW, I love my Atrix 2---best phone I've ever owned.

nonie · Jan 5, 2012

So your saying, lockdown is not lettingyou root? Don't plan on it.

And the otterbox, appears to be a case that atrix fits in with a cover on the front as well as the back
That stays on it and front cover opens?

Thanks foryour review. Glad to know how good it is.

Now, what I want to do is find one that is att unlocked and will let me use my att pay as you go sims card that has data on it.

Anyone know if this can be done? And where a good place to buy it?

macgiobuin · Jan 6, 2012

"And the otterbox, appears to be a case that atrix fits in with a cover on the front as well as the back That stays on it and front cover opens?"

The Otterbox has several layers of protection...a hard, rubberized poly back, a protective "shield" on the front that protects the glass, and a rubber "shock-absorber" that hold thos two pieces in place. All this is put over the phone and stays in place. The last line of defense is the hard, poly carrying case that the whole thing fits into. It is very good at keeping phones protected. It also has an excellent warranty.

nonie · Jan 6, 2012

macgiobuin said:
"And the otterbox, appears to be a case that atrix fits in with a cover on the front as well as the back That stays on it and front cover opens?"

The Otterbox has several layers of protection...a hard, rubberized poly back, a protective "shield" on the front that protects the glass, and a rubber "shock-absorber" that hold thos two pieces in place. All this is put over the phone and stays in place. The last line of defense is the hard, poly carrying case that the whole thing fits into. It is very good at keeping phones protected. It also has an excellent warranty.

Thanks.

vral81 · Jan 24, 2012

I just want to thank everyone for this great debate. you know i have been debating myself for last few days between to choose SG2 and A2. Right now I am with verizon and I am planning on to switch to att but before I do that I wanted to choose the phone that is reliable and dependable. Since I was with verizon for so many years I was not keeping up with att phones and which ones better than the other. I have to say that this is a great post and you guys helped me now to come to a decision that I think I am going to get Atrix2 now. I am not a samsung fan anyway(at least in mobile market) but I was told by att sales rep that SG2 is better than A2 but I didn't truly believe him. I have a verizon Droid2 which is made by Motorola and I am very satisfied with it. I have not had a single problem from the day I had it so I knew that A2 had to be no worse that what I currently have if not better. I know A2 has much horsepower than my current Droid2. Anyways I just wanted to thank you guys helping me chhose between SG2 and A2.

TimmyB44 · Jan 25, 2012

vral81 said:
I just want to thank everyone for this great debate. you know i have been debating myself for last few days between to choose SG2 and A2. Right now I am with verizon and I am planning on to switch to att but before I do that I wanted to choose the phone that is reliable and dependable. Since I was with verizon for so many years I was not keeping up with att phones and which ones better than the other. I have to say that this is a great post and you guys helped me now to come to a decision that I think I am going to get Atrix2 now. I am not a samsung fan anyway(at least in mobile market) but I was told by att sales rep that SG2 is better than A2 but I didn't truly believe him. I have a verizon Droid2 which is made by Motorola and I am very satisfied with it. I have not had a single problem from the day I had it so I knew that A2 had to be no worse that what I currently have if not better. I know A2 has much horsepower than my current Droid2. Anyways I just wanted to thank you guys helping me chhose between SG2 and A2.

Good luck, vral. Hope you like your phone as much as most of us do ours!

tim :cool:

JulieSays · Sep 3, 2012

Trying to decide between the two. My main phone functions are photography, social media/web data, and communication...

I am worried about the sturdiness and longevity of the device, but I want the best camera I can get.

mWags · Sep 3, 2012

I can't say re: the Samsung as I've never owned it. However, the Atrix2 camera is very good for outside pictures and down right poor inside, IMO.

rapidturtle · Sep 8, 2012

JulieSays said:
Trying to decide between the two. My main phone functions are photography, social media/web data, and communication...

I am worried about the sturdiness and longevity of the device, but I want the best camera I can get.

GO with the galaxy. I have an atrix2 and my son has the galaxy, and his takes a much nicer picture. Screen is also a lot better on the galaxy.

(AT&T) Galaxy S2 vs Atrix 2 ?

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