Getting this phone

[argedion]

I will be getting this phone on Monday. What are some of the things I should be aware of? Whats good about it and whats not good about it? Is it easy to root? what ROMS are available for it?

TIA

 

[ArmchairBear]

I think this a great phone. However, it's also underrated. It doesn't get the attention it deserves.

I've had this phone for 3 months now, here's the good and bad:

Good:
- Size, fit's well in the hand, while still has a generous 4.3" screen
- Battery life, at 2000mAh paired with the efficient s4 processor, it has good battery life. I easily get 20 hours. This is a HUGE plus.
- Fast. The S4 is a really good processor, same one that's in high end phones.
- Build quality. This phone feels solid.

Bad:
- Screen resolution. At qHD, it isn't quite up to par with current phones for a 4.3 inch screen. If the screen was only 4", it would have been fine. But it's something you can get used to. But, I suspect that the low res helps with battery life.
- Below average camera, shutter speed is slow, and video recording is low quality. The HDR mode is actually really useful in low light conditions.
- Very little dev support, there are very few roms for this phone

Subjective:
- UI is very close to plain AOSP style. This helps it cut down on bloat and improve speed.


I've had 3 htc phones previously, and this is my favorite phone by far. Razr M is a joy to use because it's so fast and smooth. In fact, it works so well, I wasn't in a rush to root it, I usually root my phones right away.

I've been getting a new phone almost every year, but with the RAZR M, I think I'll be happy with it well beyond that.

 

[saptech]

I have been thinking about getting this phone, but not available for an upgrade until around August. Either this one or maybe a Nexus 4...

 

[bigbadwulff]

Don't Disable Google Search(to remove it from your screens). It disables all voice input, requiring factory wipe to get things back to normal. Ask me how I know
Camera is a bit lacking in dim light conditions but nothing too terrible otherwise.
Battery life is pretty darn good. Phone is quick, especially on 4G. If you get to a place where you are stuck on 1X your life will come to a screeching halt

 

[rsisley]

I like the phone, particularly the size. I did disable Google Search, as I don't use voice commands. I set up Smart Actions to turn off the data and wifi at night, so that the notifications didn't wake me up. I did away with the circles and set up my own time, battery and weather widgets.

Overall, I'd buy the phone again.

 

[bigbadwulff]

The size is about perfect. Essentially the same size as the i-Phone 5 although the screen on the M is a bit larger yet. My biggest beef with the i-phone was the screen size. The 5 is about right now.
I tried the Samsung Galaxy S111. Besides the Ui being clunky, the size was a little too much.

 

[ArmchairBear]

I have been thinking about getting this phone, but not available for an upgrade until around August. Either this one or maybe a Nexus 4...

Buddy of mine has the Nexus 4. With it's quad core processor it is very fast and smooth. The screen is nice. The only downsides to Nexus 4 is it's size (subjective) and battery life. It averages 12 hours for my friend, and the battery is the same capacity as the RAZR M. If you've got the money, you can get the RAZR M new at ebay for close to $300, and you can keep you unlimited data if you have it.

Also, Nexus 4 is limited to 16gb (or 8gb if you buy the cheaper one).

 

[davidchsw]

This is a good size phone. It is a nice looking phone. The sound is louder than any other phone I've had. Call quality is good. The screen is very bright. The camera is poor in low light. The flash is of no help. LTE isn't much help because voice or texts don't use it. Smart Actions didn't impress me at first, but it can do some impressive things. I do use NFC a little. Very good price.

 

[argedion]

Thanks sounds like I should be happy with the phone. I don't really use the camera so that shouldn't be an issue for me. I currently have the Lucid and its horrible for battery life other than that it seems to be a decent phone. I just need something with decent battery life and this sounds perfect for me.

 

[bigbadwulff]

There are some things you can do with the camera to help it in low light conditions. Using HDR helps and using the flash only if your subject is within 10 ft helps a lot. Other than that, you are better off disabling the flash.
Overall it's a very good phone.

 

[ArmchairBear]

There are some things you can do with the camera to help it in low light conditions. Using HDR helps and using the flash only if your subject is within 10 ft helps a lot. Other than that, you are better off disabling the flash.
Overall it's a very good phone.

Yeah, at first, I thought the camera was really crappy, but I wasn't using HDR. After using HDR a little while, it turns out it does a good to decent job in low light conditions.

 

[fatrusty]

Just picked up one and retired my Incredible.. very happy so far!

 

[ArmchairBear]

Just picked up one and retired my Incredible.. very happy so far!

Wow, from the Incredible to RAZR M? That's almost a quantum leap. I would never have had that kind of patience. Glad you're enjoying your new phone.

 

[smankins]

I went from a LG Optimus V to the RAZR M and it was a quantum leap for sure. I also went from Virgin Mobile to Verizon service and it was another quantum leap. Unfortunately I also went from Virgin Mobile pricing to Verizon pricing which was a double quantum leap!

 

[bigbadwulff]

Every time I get my Verizon bill I go %^&*!!. Every time I stop and figure out how much I use my phone for so many different things I am amazed it costs so "little".
-phone
-camera
-PDA
-GPS; car, bicycling, fishing locations, etc.
-weather, weather, weather
-web surfing, price-checking
-videos
-music(although I do very little of that)
-games
-keeping up with fiends and making new ones.