First Thoughts

This phone is a long time coming! Long time! In April it was supposed to be coming, May, June, July.. whatever. Finally it came out recently and I wondered if it was a few months too late. It was supposed to be the first super phone, but will it hold up? With other phones already out, will it still be the super phone?

The Looks

The phone kind of looks like a droid x. The phone is not as flat as it could be, however, it is pretty flat. The screen is nice and big! The camera is centered and that is a good thing.

The Hardware/Screen

A dual core android phone, it is 1ghz and so it is a bit behind in that aspect, still very powerful and fast. It rocks 1024 MB of RAM and it can also support up to 32 gigs of sd memory. It has an HDMI out and that is nice for your bigger screen TV’s.

The screen is 4.30 inches, it is nice and big. It allows me to see and access everything I need in good color. I like screens this big. This is as big as they should get though. In the opinions of some… it is not as great as it could be, I noticed that other phones are better but it still wasn’t bad.

The Battery

The battery is 1735 mAh and ends up kind of beefy. Always searching for 4G can be a bit of a problem. The bigger screen is also a battery drainer. Dual core can do it as well. However, with the changes they have made since this phones inception, it has come a long way and will last 6 – 8 hours for me, which is average and that is a good thing. All phones I review last that long and that is not bad because I am a power user. I tweet and leave comments and facebook and google+, uploading photos etc etc.

The Operating System/Software

You get 2.3.4 to start, it’s nice. It comes with the new talk app. The video talk app! YAY! It is motoblur or whatever they call it now, it is still un named, but it is motoblur. It is like the droid x2 or droid 3 on terms of UI. I am not a huge fan of it, but it is defintely better and has been better over the last few months. 2.3.4 is very nice, it is fast.

The Browsing, Camera and Video

The internet is the internet, it is fast on verizon. The motoblur browser is, hard to find. It is labeled as browser but is square, kind of confusing. Of course it works, everything loads like you would want it to.

There is a very good rear camera, 8 mp. It is powerful and takes great photos. Motorola or at least the droid series, makes great cameras. A friend of mine, +robert headley swears by his droid x camera and I am a big fan of my old droid 1 camera. This does not fail to disappoint.

The video is a very crisp 1080p, it records very well and is up to par with many cameras, including that of the galaxy s II which comes in at a similar level of HD and crispness.

The Call/Data Quality

Calls were always nice as was the speed of the 4G/3G. I tended to have 4G in most areas I went to, including to Salt Lake and surrounding areas.

Summary

Pros:

The screen is QHD (540 x 960 pixels)
Front and rear cameras
HD Video is nice
Dual Core 1ghz

Cons:

I Miss the Dedicated Camera Button
I Think It Came Out A Bit Too Late
MotoBlur, no no no

Conclusions & Final Thoughts

Over all I really like this phone. It isn’t bad and I have recommended it to quite a few people. It can do video chat and yes it can do hangouts on Google Plus. I am a big fan of that as I have been there quite often from the phone. Everything loads faster on a good 4G network. The calls were clear, never had many issues. Sure the screen has its minor issues, but for me, that is all they are. If it is a toss-up between this and waiting for the next big thing, for some people I would say go with this. It would meet your needs and I predict it will get Ice Cream Sandwich.

Finally, with a bit of self promotion… circle me on Google+

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