ATTN Android users! Droid 2s SUCK! Help me find a new phone!

[E7-S14]

Ok, Android Users, help needed. I've had a Motorola Droid 2 for about a year and a half now, and in that year and a half I'm on my second one. I love android and will stay android but i can't get over how crappy this phone is! I like having a tangible keyboard, as well as a touch screen on an android platform so I've stuck with it through the problems, but I can only take so much!

My question, What's a good android phone that wont crap out on me, that the keys on the key bored wont fall off and that wont freeze, cut off, and that wont do its own thing from time to time.
Are the Droid 3's any good?
And would it be worth it to break down and get the bionic?
my price range is under 200. I also have a 1year upgrade, and I'm with Verizon wireless.

And before you say the problem is the user, not the phone!, I am a Second/third year( sorta in between) CIS major(Computer information systems), I am not an idiot.

I love this phone, but cannot put up with the problems anymore!

[IanS]

Funny. I am posting from a droid 2 right now. Had it since it came out, and I have had no real problems save for a sketchy volume button. My phone lives a hard life. No case, dropped quite a few times, rides in my nasty work pants pocket, or on my toolbox. the speaker is full of metal shavings. Its been great to me, and im not sure what will replace it when i come up for renewel in a few short months.

[E7-S14]

thats weird, i guess its a hit or miss type thing. the first one i had, no serious drops, nothing to bad, screen quit responding, among a host of other problems, and my current one isn't much better. my screen began giving up the ghost a little earlier today. its always super strange weird problems with these things

[4cefed]

A co-worker has a Samsung Nexus II or whatever they just came out with. He's critical of phones and seems to like this one. I have a droid X and it's starting to show it's age. It seems that android, like windows, seems to bloat and bog down with each new revision. Subscribing.

[bundy26]

IPHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MinisterofDOOM]

My question, What's a good android phone that wont crap out on me, that the keys on the key bored wont fall off and that wont freeze, cut off, and that wont do its own thing from time to time.

Basically anything NOT made by Motorola, then. Motorola keyboards are garbage. Unfortunately, with Verizon you don't have much choice. With Sprint, you've got lots of great options with physical keyboards. Same with T-mobile (which is a nice change). Same with AT&T. With Verizon, it's pretty much Droid 3 or bust. Everything else is touchscreen only. The Droid 3's keyboard is a big improvement over its predecessors' setups, but it's still the terrible rubber-membrane-button design rather than higher-quality and -durability plastic buttons like you see on Samsung or HTC phones.

[E7-S14]

IPHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ill be sticking with Android.

and yeah i know im limited with the keybored+touch screen, i just feel like if i go to a touch screen only phone ill grow to hate it, since Ive gotten so used to having both in one package. But i think I'm leaning towards the droid 3, or possibly wait for the droid 4, which is coming out soon and im guessing should be 4g capable.

ill have to check out the nexus as well, when i go into the store. I hate phone shopping..

[BusyBadger]

I've had a couple of friends that were big-time iFans seriouly consider switching after checking out my Galaxy Nexus.

If you're already an Android user I wouldn't recommend any phone other than it or the Droid Razr - unless you want to wait until the Razr Maxx to hit the shelves.

EDIT: Missed where you said $200 or under. My gf got a Droid Bionic from work and really likes it, it's one of Big Red's $200 phones I think.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Haha, same thing happened to my Droid 2 before I finally got rid of it. It started to literally have a mind of its own and go crazy without me even touching it. I loved that phone when it worked though. It was great, I just abused it too much.

I have a Droid Razr currently. Couldn't be happier. In my opinion, the only two phones worth getting are the Iphone and the Razr. Anything else I wouldn't even bother with using an upgrade for. The Nexus is meh to me.

[AppleBonker]

or possibly wait for the droid 4, which is coming out soon and im guessing should be 4g capable.

It should definitely be out soon. And it will be LTE capable. People who have had a hands-on claim the keyboard is much improved from the Droid 3 (and the Droid 3 was a big improvement on the Droid 2).

[IanS]

Here is a question. How many of you guys are rooted?

[Encryptshun]

I still have my first-gen Droid. The only issue I've ever had with it is that the gold paint chipped off the camera button. Since it stuck out like Flava Flave's dental work anyway, I don't miss it. Otherwise, the phone is a tank.

[OriginalWheelman]

I haven't used it myself but I was considering

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/stor ... oneId=5728

It's cheap with a new contract, has a slider keyboard. I have never personally used it, but it got a great review on engadget.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/17/sams ... re-review/

I probably would have bought that one, but I didn't want a slider keyboard. It's still a good deal and cheap for a 4g phone.

[E7-S14]

Here is a question. How many of you guys are rooted?

My first droid 2 was rooted, when it took a crap on me, and i got the second one, i rooted it, then lost my root with the firmware update. just never bothered trying to root it since then.

but i went into Verizon today, and really only looked at 3 phones
Droid 3@ $200
Droid X@ $100
Droid Bionic@ $200.

so im guessing best bang for my buck will be the bionic. since its 4g capable and the newest of the bunch, but i fear ill miss my keypad.
i haven't made a decision yet. but the droid x will save me 100bucks, OR i could use my ins, and get a replacement droid 2 for 100 bucks also. but i feel like its just a matter of time before it will crap out on me too!


**Originalwheelman! your first link brings up the versions home page. not any phone in particular
The only thing about the samsung stratosphere, is the key bored looks horrible to me! but that's my personal opinion.

[zacmil]

The only thing about the samsung stratosphere, is the key bored looks horrible to me! but that's my personal opinion.

I highly recommend that you try and check out a stratosphere. The phone looks almost identical to my Samsung Epic, and the Epic has one of the best keyboards I've ever used. I've got huge thumbs, so I have a terrible time using most keyboards; the Epic's keyboard has plenty of room and I hardly ever have an issue of pressing wrong or multiple keys. Honestly, the only keyboard that I think I liked better was the one on my old Blackberry Bold.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Here is a question. How many of you guys are rooted?

Every one of my Android devices is rooted and very hacked.

[IanS]

DAMN ME AND MY BIG MOUTH!!!!!!!!!

Tried to change my wallpaper on my phone last night, and voila, BRICKED.

I dont know what caused it, but I tried every trick in the book to no avail. Hoping it was not a hardware issue, I pulled a factory reset. I got the phone back up and running, but now what?

I am going to root in the morning, just need to decide on a mod.

MoD, what roms are you running/like? What did you root with? Its been a long time for me, and I am sure a lot has changed. I was running an older Cyanogen distro, I think 5 maybe? It worked great for a long time, thinking about going with the newest stable rom from them, but also playing with the idea of something else.

Not trying to thread jack, I just didnt see this warranting a new thread, and I think this discussion has mostly run its course.

[nissangirl74]

I have a Droid 3 and love it. I've had zero issues out of it. I like having a physical keyboard. I would recommend that if you use the apps on your phone a lot to get the extended battery. I access Words with Friends on my phone, use FB, Twitter, and multiple e-mails so the standard battery drains pretty quick. I haven't had any issues since I upgraded though. Greg has the Bionic and likes it a lot. The 4G is amazing but it isn't enough for me to upgrade any time soon. I tend to keep phones until they die. Good luck!

[MinisterofDOOM]

MoD, what roms are you running/like? What did you root with? Its been a long time for me, and I am sure a lot has changed. I was running an older Cyanogen distro, I think 5 maybe? It worked great for a long time, thinking about going with the newest stable rom from them, but also playing with the idea of something else.

Not trying to thread jack, I just didnt see this warranting a new thread, and I think this discussion has mostly run its course.

I love CM7.1, which is what I'm running on my phone (G2). I don't do a lot of experimenting with ROMs, though, because Cyanogenmod always hits the spot and is exactly what I'm looking for. My old G1 has CM6 on it. My Nook Color has CM7.1 and AOSP 3.1 dual-booting. Root method will vary with device...I'm not fond of universal root methods.

I don't like Honeycomb. At all. Even on my Nook Color, with it's larger screen. It just feels less polished, and less usable than 2.2+

I've got some memory management tweaks (no task killers, which are a joke) going on my G2, along with a 1.1ghz performance-focused overclock (1.5ghz on AC power). And a very finely-tweaked CM7/ADW EX set-up that puts everything right where I want it.
My sister has a stock MyTouch 4G and every time she uses my phone she asks me "how hard would it be to do this to my phone?" about half a dozen different things. Conversely, when I try to use her phone I find myself frustrated with how obtuse HTC Sense is, and miss all the little ease-of-use things that ADW EX and CyanogenMod provide.

[Dattebayo]

"BRICKED" does not mean what you think it does. If it was truly bricked, you wouldn't be able to do a reset.

[4cefed]

I was gearing up to root my Droid X but only because I believed I would be able to adjust my PRL and baseband to get signal on a consistent basis. I have rock solid 3g one week, then next week it goes back to a lonely bar of 1x. I can't seem to find a pattern to it. I thought I had narrowed it down to PRL updates, but then I started getting my good signal back on the same PRL. A co-worker had the same phone and we used to compare. I couldn't find a pattern so I gave up on trying to root. I might sometime just to play around with it though.

Anyone know how to force a 3g connection even though verizon would prefer you connect to a lesser signal?

[Oatmealman]

samsung stratosphere.I love mine,4g lte with nfl mobile(live games) i bought a case for mine since my last droid died a death from leaning over fenders.

[IanS]

"BRICKED" does not mean what you think it does. If it was truly bricked, you wouldn't be able to do a reset.

Says you. For 12 hours I had a phone that was essentially a plastic brick. Hence the term bricked. Initially holding the power button would achieve a single red flash from the notification LED. That was all. I had nearly resigned myself to the fact I was going to have to bring it in and have it replaced. In a last ditch effort I did a dozen or so soft resets. As I was about to give up I got the phone to show the red and white M. It would then hang. It should show the droid logo, then load. I rebooted 10 times, and did a few more soft resets. I also tried booting into recovery mode a few times. I used recovery screen to clear cache, to no avail. Finally I did a hard reset. The first one made no difference, the second hung on the droid logo, and the third finally took.

So forgive me if I my use of the term "bricked" does not specifically fit into your super special constrictive definition.

I love CM7.1, which is what I'm running on my phone (G2). I don't do a lot of experimenting with ROMs, though, because Cyanogenmod always hits the spot and is exactly what I'm looking for. My old G1 has CM6 on it. My Nook Color has CM7.1 and AOSP 3.1 dual-booting. Root method will vary with device...I'm not fond of universal root methods.

I don't like Honeycomb. At all. Even on my Nook Color, with it's larger screen. It just feels less polished, and less usable than 2.2+

I've got some memory management tweaks (no task killers, which are a joke) going on my G2, along with a 1.1ghz performance-focused overclock (1.5ghz on AC power). And a very finely-tweaked CM7/ADW EX set-up that puts everything right where I want it.
My sister has a stock MyTouch 4G and every time she uses my phone she asks me "how hard would it be to do this to my phone?" about half a dozen different things. Conversely, when I try to use her phone I find myself frustrated with how obtuse HTC Sense is, and miss all the little ease-of-use things that ADW EX and CyanogenMod provide.

It was CM7 that I had on the phone. I dont know why I was thinking 5. I really liked it alot and I may go with it again. I have played around with Honeycomb, and I agree, it just, I dont know.......

I thought about not rooting, and just dealing with stock, but just having the phone for today, and I hate it. All the bloatware, and stupid crap that is on there needs to go. Not to mention it just seems painfully slow. Also, my only computer runs Linux, so not being the Superuser just doesn't feel right. Its my device, I should be able to do whatever I want to it. So root it is.

Hahahaha, task killers. I argued with my boss about them for nearly an hour one day, he talked about how much battery they saved him. I laughed at the fact that he owns 3 batteries for his phone, and changes them regularly becuase its always dead. I only charge my phone once a day.

Time to do some research.

[orangeNblue]

just tossing this out there...when the droid razr maxx comes out, the droid razr (first model) will drop in price to $199 with a 2 yr contract. I've been researching for a while now on which phone I'm going to get. I've had the droid x for the last 2 years (1 with water damage as well). I really liked it despite it's problems and from the time I've spent playing with the razr made me want it all the more. When the price drops, I'll be there to get mine. The maxx will have crazy awesome battery life but I have a charger at work and at home, so I could care less about the battery life. I'm also getting a larger microSD card to go along with it. I'm just hoping that the camera turns out to be better than I'm expecting because my phone is my only camera.

The galaxy nexus is probably one of the best phones out right now, but besides the fact that it's out of your budget, it will also become obsolete once Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) hits the rest of the droid lineup.

[RobPaulson]

Switched to att for the Samsung galaxy s2, best phone I've ever owned. I've done the iPhone thing, then hadbought the nexus one, now I'm into this Samsung... I don't think I'll ever deviate from Samsung again.

Plus this add makes me chuckle every time...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVkH9Hgvda4[/youtube]

[E7-S14]

Bringing back my old thread with my update!.

I decided to endure a week, or so, more of the horrible droid 2, but at last I could not take anymore. I broke down and picked up a Droid Bionic. i believe it was a great decision, because I already like it more than my droid 2 when I first got it. No weird qwerks like the droid 2 out the box, and its lightening fast, and not to mention 4G. Not really missing my tangible key bored. I chose the bionic over the new razor because I really don't like how the razor looks and feels in my hand, feels too thin. I like a bit of gearth with my phones, not a feather weight. Another thing I really like about it over any other phone I've had is the camera, its at least 15x better than the droid 2. images are crisper, video is better, sound is crisper in videos. and it focuses fairly quick vs the reviews i read about the sometimes slow focus. I picked this bionic up for 200 even. though I found later I could have gotten it from amazon mobile for 100, but I dont mind, i really like this phone!

So all in all. I give the droid bionic am INITIAL 10/10. i like it a lot. lets just hope its mechanical longevity is as awesome as its initial love.


-- Cornish

[Death Driver]

Bionic is ok, new RAZR is sweet. The phone most of my friends have an love is the Samsung Charge. If you can get past all the Samsung nonsense that comes stock on the phone, like the ugly fonts for example. Also 4G.

I have a Droid X2 and am slowly getting bored with it, but would recommend it to anyone looking for a decent phone.

[themadscientist]

I need a new phone. Looking at the Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I need a new phone. Looking at the Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0.

DO IT. Amazing phone. And ICS (android 4.0) fixes most of the remaining wrongs with the OS. It's very well-put-together and more a more integrated experience than ever.

[orangeNblue]

not the best phone on the market tho...it's great bc it has ICS, but realistically other phones out right now should most likely have android 4.0 by may/june timeframe.

there is a tablet/phone coming out from samsung in the near future called the note (journal for verizon). It's huge and would be kinda awkward to hold for phone calls but the big screen would be nice for just about everything else.....

My contract ends in March but sadly I think I going to wait on the hope that the iphone 5 will come out in June