Considering Aria

[Kerbion]

i am looking to get an Android phone on AT&T, I still have a year and a half on my contract with 2 phones on my plan would be too expensive to switch to Verizon sadly, so right now I am debating between the Aria and X10. I like the X10's larger screen, and I faster processor, but there are a ton of various issues with it.

How is the Aria standing up to day to day use?

What are your favorite and least favorite features/perks?

Why should I choose the Aria over X10?

Thanks for any responses, trying to figure out which one to get before I lay down $400.

 

[jmreed97]

i am looking to get an Android phone on AT&T, I still have a year and a half on my contract with 2 phones on my plan would be too expensive to switch to Verizon sadly, so right now I am debating between the Aria and X10. I like the X10's larger screen, and I faster processor, but there are a ton of various issues with it.

How is the Aria standing up to day to day use?

What are your favorite and least favorite features/perks?

Why should I choose the Aria over X10?

Thanks for any responses, trying to figure out which one to get before I lay down $400.

I love the Aria (I got it after taking back the Captivate because of it's GPS issues)and with the X10 having Android 1.6, that is a deal breaker for me.

 

[bbtheory]

Had a Captivate with GPS issues and it was also randomly shutting off... got the Aria and by that evening was running FroYo on it, rooted, performing wonderfully etc.

It is small but that is actually nice. I find the onscreen keyboard to be very usable and I have fat fingers . The phone is standing up to day to day use exceptionally well, no case needed. I carry mine in my pocket.

Least favorite feature would have to be the optical trackball. It works fine but I just don't use it. Not sure what you need it for, the touchscreen is so responsive!

Favorite feature would have to be the screen... Small as it may be it is super responsive touch-wise and looks great. I haven't been dissapointed coming from the captivate at all.

Dealbreaker on the X10 for me is also 1.6! I was making a compromise on Android 2.1 with the captivate. Love that I have Froyo on my Aria.

 

[thejdubb02]

I love the Aria personally. I sell all 3 of these devices and for me and many of my customers its all that is needed and works perfectly. Its surprisingly fast for its lack of a 1ghz processor. The X10 is awesome, but won't be buyable (or sellable for me) until its at least 2.1.

Oh, and once you get Swype on your Aria... its even awesomer.

 

[Kerbion]

I love the Aria personally. I sell all 3 of these devices and for me and many of my customers its all that is needed and works perfectly. Its surprisingly fast for its lack of a 1ghz processor. The X10 is awesome, but won't be buyable (or sellable for me) until its at least 2.1.

Oh, and once you get Swype on your Aria... its even awesomer.

Do you believe that once it get the upgrade that most of the issues people are currently having with it will be solved?

At lunch today I went played with both the Aria and X10 for about 30 minutes, and in that short time I could see how bad the X10 is currently, After I power cycled the phone, it was still laggy, the first noticeable lag happened when all i was doing was checking the settings and software versions. Where-as the Aria was snappy and smooth and just ran great.

My only issue with the Aria is the small screen. but I guess I would get used to it. It's not like I have much choice with AT&T.

 

[thejdubb02]

Do you believe that once it get the upgrade that most of the issues people are currently having with it will be solved?

At lunch today I went played with both the Aria and X10 for about 30 minutes, and in that short time I could see how bad the X10 is currently, After I power cycled the phone, it was still laggy, the first noticeable lag happened when all i was doing was checking the settings and software versions. Where-as the Aria was snappy and smooth and just ran great.

My only issue with the Aria is the small screen. but I guess I would get used to it. It's not like I have much choice with AT&T.

When the X10 finally gets updated, I would imagine a lot of the issues that are there will be fixed. The main issue is just the software version, anything above 1.5 is way better.

If you but it now, and they update it, you shoud be good to go. I still like the Aria better, but thats just my opinion.

 

[kpdroid#1]

I am also looking into getting an Aria, and have read several people mentioning the volume issue. Is there really an issue, and if so can you get around it? Also I get what the rooting the phone does, but what are the pros and cons of it for just your average user who is not that techy with the phones? I do like the size of the phone and that is coming from someone who is 6'7". The volume thing is what really is getting to me for I like to be able to hear who I am talking to for when I am at work which is some what construction so to say. Thanks

 

[anika200]

The volume thing is what really is getting to me for I like to be able to hear who I am talking to for when I am at work which is some what construction so to say. Thanks

I have not read much about the volume issue so I am not sure what it refers to but my Aria is plenty loud on phone calls, voice mail etc... I do not use the speaker phone much so I can not vouch for that. I use mine mostly outside in noisy environment. Go to an att store and try one out if you have doubts.

 

[Griffeycom]

I feel like my phone is quiet too when talking on it. I usually am at a point where I can plug my headset that came with the phone in when talking on it though so it hasn't bothered me much. But it definitely could be louder in my opinion.

 

[bikedogrun]

I am also looking into getting an Aria, and have read several people mentioning the volume issue. Is there really an issue, and if so can you get around it?

I do like the size of the phone and that is coming from someone who is 6'7". The volume thing is what really is getting to me for I like to be able to hear who I am talking to for when I am at work which is some what construction so to say. Thanks

The Aria is great, so surprisingly fast and smooth... even compared to my Moto Droid much less the laggy, embarrassing X10.

Volume on calls (through the earpiece or headsets is fine, no issues at all. The one place volume comes into play is if you use the speakerphone to hear callers or to listen to music/podcasts. This is my absolutely "only" criticism of the Aria... the speaker is designed so it is flush with the back of the phone so if you place your phone down on a flat surface, it muffles the sound. The work-around is easy enough - just press power once to place your phone in Standby mode and then turn it over so the screen is down and speaker is now facing up.

Makes it a 4.5 stars (for me) instead of a 5 star phone...

/BD

 

[carmendiva]

i am considering an aria
since im on at & t

and i would say definitely get the aria

the xperia needs a lot of work
and the gimmicks of the blue and timescape wear of quickly

the aria reminds me of a mini htc incredible/evo
and aside from being htc phones
they are lovely devices!

 

[trego]

Read most of the reviews and today purchased my Aria. Am coming from an android phone running 1.5 so I am expecting some improvements but will use my 30 days to throughly check out the Aria for my use.

 

[trego]

New aria arrived this AM via USPS. placed sim card in called AT&T customer made the necessary changes to my plan from blackberry to aria and was up and running within 15 min. used setup routine on aria to setup WIFi email etc easily done Aria is faster than my old blackberry and feels snappier also. with both processors being close in speed my feeling is the android software is much faster than blackberry. Very pleased so far with the aria.

 

[Thefoodman52]

I have a few things to ask about it (friend is very well going to get either this or the captivate)... I know with AT&T they like to lock down their Android phones and usually ruin them in some way through that process... is side-loading stuff on the Aria still possible, and is the market still fudged like on the Backflip? (missing half the stuff that AT&T decides that you don't need)

As for my main concern... how's the lag on it?

 

[xti14]

I really like my Aria and as far as your post about the apps foodman, I have seen no restrictions. The backflip to me was a bust for the first android phone on the AT&T network. Did much better the Aria release. Phone is so sick....just waiting on that froyo update!!! ETA???

 

[ls377]

The market is fine (as far as I've seen), but you are not able to install non-market apps straight from the phone. If you want to be able to do this, you can use the SDK or the The Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine

 

[bikedogrun]

As for my main concern... how's the lag on it?

No lag at all (for me)... this Aria is smooth & fast!!!

/BD