UPDATE TIME on Verizon RAZOR Androids

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hardee

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Sleepy-C
I am getting down to the wire on needing a phone replacement. My tin Can and wire thing has about worn out the tin can. I am looking at going with Verizon (most people I call are there) and I was looking at a rugedized type phone but Verizon folks convinced me that the Razor would do the trick. Then I hear the battery charge only last a few hours, (6-8) and now I'm thinking I will need to carry a charger to be plugged in while I'm at work and a 12 charger to charge on the way to and from.

I am liking the android system because of the input from here about charting and other usable boating aps.

Anyone using the Razor Max and how is the battery time working for you on that?
How do you like the on screen keyboard, (it does flip horizontal or vertical)?
What are the best ways to carry that thing? Seems too big to fit into a shirt pocket. Not sure I can like the idea of carrying it in a pants pocket and the belt clips look like marginally secure.
I will not be on an unlimited data plan. What is the best way to keep from having a run away data bill from aps that are automatically updating?

Help :arrow: :oops: Boy is this going to be a new world :shock: and thanks.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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hardee":1mnz7f2h said:
I am getting down to the wire on needing a phone replacement. My tin Can and wire thing has about worn out the tin can. I am looking at going with Verizon (most people I call are there) and I was looking at a rugedized type phone but Verizon folks convinced me that the Razor would do the trick. Then I hear the battery charge only last a few hours, (6-8) and now I'm thinking I will need to carry a charger to be plugged in while I'm at work and a 12 charger to charge on the way to and from.

I am liking the android system because of the input from here about charting and other usable boating aps.

Anyone using the Razor Max and how is the battery time working for you on that?
How do you like the on screen keyboard, (it does flip horizontal or vertical)?
What are the best ways to carry that thing? Seems too big to fit into a shirt pocket. Not sure I can like the idea of carrying it in a pants pocket and the belt clips look like marginally secure.
I will not be on an unlimited data plan. What is the best way to keep from having a run away data bill from aps that are automatically updating?

Help :arrow: :oops: Boy is this going to be a new world :shock: and thanks.

Harvey
Click to expand...
Harvey,
I have a Droid RAZR, the battery life depends on a lot of things but if left alone without the screen lit up, it's quite long - several days. The screen takes the most off the battery so short battery lives are mostly due to those who spend a lot of time surfing.

The on screen keyboard is excellent, especially once I started using SWYPE. With SWYPE, you simply slide your finger on the screen between the letters of the word you want to type. It works really well. Yes, it flips from horizontal to vertical as you reorient the phone.

It fits fine in a shirt pocket. I often carry it in my pants pocket too. The Gorilla glass is pretty scratch resistant.

I have an unlimited data plan (old grandfathered in) so I can't answer your question about that.
 
There are things you can do to improve the battery life of the 4G phones: it seems that my Bionic eats the battery much faster when it is going back and forth between 3G and 4G service. If you are in an area where that will occur, you can set the phone to stay with 3G and the battery will last much longer. Unless you are talking or surfing all day, I don't think you'll have a problem with the battery making it through a work day. Another big battery user is running the GPS, blue tooth and hot spot feature... just turn those on when you need 'em. I do use the 12v cord when I'm running the GPS feature in the truck (or on the boat). Also, set the screen brightness on auto - no need to run it on full all the time.

Here is a link to a site that tells the specifics of the Bionic and the Razr Maxx:

http://phones.androidauthority.com/comp ... -RAZR-MAXX

They're saying the Maxx has a standby time of 380 hours, talk time of 21 hours. Even cutting those numbers in half, you shouldn't have an issue.

When I updated from the original Droid (3G) to the Bionic, I was disappointed with the difference in battery life, until I learned those ways to conserve battery and not degrade the actual use.

Just to confuse the issue further, Joan really likes her iPhone. Only 3G service on the iPhone4 or 4S. We use our Bionic as our hot spot to connect our laptops and iPad, and the 4G is significantly faster than the 3G.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
For sure don't carry the phone in your shirt pocket anywhere around water!!!

Try that and you will be making an offering to King Neptune!!
 
Larry H":20oo8kg8 said:
For sure don't carry the phone in your shirt pocket anywhere around water!!!

Try that and you will be making an offering to King Neptune!!
Click to expand...

Correct you are!! :thup Even away from "big" water it's a hazard. I was a long way from my pier cleaning a paddle boat when mine fell into a foot well with about 8" of rainwater in it. It's almost recovered (Droid X) but still does funny things without being asked to do anything. My upgrade time is fast approaching and this thread is interesting. I'm on Verizon and use it as a hotspot (2GB/Mo), have unlimited data with 20cents per text msg (I don't use it much) and 450 minutes a month (which I have never gotten near). That costs me about $95/month and 3G is very poor here at the house. Up/down a lot with widely varying signal strength. We have no 4G service (just barely have electricity.... :roll: )

Charlie

BTW, stay away from toilets too, I understand they have water, among other things :disgust in them.....
 
We have a 4g evo from Sprint unlimited data and phone we pay about $200 for 4 phones /mo
The droid uses lots of battery :roll: when running GPS or surfing web Is sprint :roll: an option in PNW?
 
Harvey,

We are faced with a similar dilemma. Our Droids are eligible for upgrade and we are hovering between the new Droid and I-Phones (since we also have an I-pad)

One thing that struck me is if you go to the Verizon site and hit the right buttons to get the service map to show you where there actually IS 4G coverage.... :shock: There is not much around here except downtown Seattle and we don't go there often. For Kitsap, Whidbey, San Juans and local CA it's all 3G.

That said, we don't use them as hot spots, we do like the ability to turn on Canadian coverage as and when we need it and have unlimited data coverage.

Like the auto sync feature of I-Pad/Phone/Pod but life existed before that.

Merv
 
When we were in the PNW for the boat show, we drove around quite a bit, and the phone went between 3G and 4G frequently (it "pings", so you know). The two biggies (Verizon and AT&T) are expanding their 4G coverage areas, because it is more efficient and there is growing demand. At our "edge of the US" home, it was the last place I expected to see 4G; like Charlie, we had crappy, slow, varying service... and then one day, 4G appeared and our data speeds went from .3 mg to 8 mg! Nice, since the phone as a hot spot is our only connection.

If you aren't using the phone (or a data card) for regular data connection, and only occasionally using the phone for data, the difference between 3G and 4G is way less significant. In that circumstance, the 3G phones are definitely more battery efficient. (Joan's iPhone4 goes for days between recharges, my Droid Bionic gets plugged in nightly).

With 4G, I find we do use more data... instead of a page taking 10 seconds to load, it comes up in a blink. It makes a difference.
 
In Canada we don't have as many options on providers but I just switched a 2 year old clunker Blackberry to the Apple IOs5 yeehaw phone. It's battery lasts a couple days and I use it a lot as a hotspot tethered to my IPad. Love it. Will use it a lot in Canadian waters as an additional plotter with Navionics. In US waters I still have to do something about the roaming to use it that way. George.

Just as an aside
Carrying one in a shirt pocket is maybe not the best. My doctor advised specifically against doing this as being a wireless device it is sending and receiving at frequencies that may or may not disrupt heart rhythms. The human heart being an electrically driven pump and as I don't have a backup heart, I don't carry a phone anywhere near my heart. Just a thought and who knows for sure, but we don't need any complications of that nature when we're trying to burn some gas.


I didn't know I knew all that nerd speak. Wow
 
Harvey, I have a 4g android phone and surf quite a lot. I have never used over 2gb of data in a month so the 30 dollar data plan would be plenty for most folks and the one i would recommend first. Cindie uses the razor and loves it but it does get charged nightly and that is a good idea with these devices.

Greg
 
My Droid had a battery upgrade, heavier battery makes the phone a little bulkier, but tripled my battery life. Love the Droid 4g.
 
ghone":2trm8pv5 said:
Carrying one in a shirt pocket is maybe not the best. My doctor advised specifically against doing this as being a wireless device it is sending and receiving at frequencies that may or may not disrupt heart rhythms. The human heart being an electrically driven pump and as I don't have a backup heart, I don't carry a phone anywhere near my heart. Just a thought and who knows for sure
Click to expand...

George, conversely maybe carrying the phone in the pocket next to your heart is a good thing....perhaps it will send a shock wave when your heart goes into Ventruicular Fibrillation and prove to be a poor man's defibrillator. :thup (No more :unlove ).
 
Ha hadn't thought of that Dave. Might improve my dancing too! George
 
Just did an update on my IPhone 4s and after the update it says 4G in the status line now. Not sure if it's real or a bug yet.
 
Thanks for the link Jim I had already ran a speed test and knew it wasn't faster. But I can say its got 4G now says it right on the front.
 
Oh WOW, thanks all for some really good info. The Brats come through again.

Roger, Thanks for the note on SWYPE. I’m thinking I will probably use voice to text for most of the text stuff. Save anybody having to endure my spelling.

Jim, Thanks for the link, and the good practical info. Around here we have 3G, until much later this year, so not much chance of flipping back and forth. The Maxx is the one I will look at now because it has a longer battery life that the others.

Larry H and Charlie, You are SO RIGHT on the shirt pocket thing. I have seen that happen so for any shirt I wear around the water, I have a button pocket – part of the reason I am concerned about it fitting into that, especially after it goes into a case. And Charlie, I carried a beeper for most of 25 years, and never once dropped it into the pot, but I know it can happen.

Jim, Sprint is not an option for me. I will want to use the GPS some though.

Merv, Yup, not much 4G around here either, but they (Verizon) are predicting it by late this fall. “Turn on Canada calling” Hum, I like that idea too.


Jim, Seems strange that the newer system would be less efficient, but then, as you say, you are using more data because it works, makes sense that it eats more power. Is it possible to turn of the 4G and keep it on the 3G even if what’s around is 4G?

Hey George, you are doing the “nerd speak” really well. Thanks for the warning or the hint (See DaveS comment) There may be something to that electrical connection and radio frequency transmission. When they invented the left side breast pocket on shirts, back when I was a kid, the phones were little puffs of smoke coming out from under a blanket held over a fire.

Gregg, Thanks for the tip on the use. Pretty sure you would be using your phone for more web stuff than I would.

Harry, Thanks for the idea, maybe they have that available for the Razr. (BTW, “Howdy” to Logan.

DaveS, Great idea for a retirement income there Dave. Quick patent that and produce a AED ap for that phone. Got a whopping huge market.

George, If you put one phone in each back pocket and turn on the sparkler ap, it will improve your dancing for sure.

Jody, Maybe there is 4G in the area and the phone didn’t recognize it.

Thanks all for all the help, Good ideas, and safety tips.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Hey Harvey,

Seems strange that the newer system would be less efficient, but then, as you say, you are using more data because it works, makes sense that it eats more power. Is it possible to turn of the 4G and keep it on the 3G even if what’s around is 4G?
Click to expand...

The newer systems are actually more efficient, it just takes more power to run all that stuff, and swallowing data faster. Yes, it is possible to turn off the 4G feature on my Droid Bionic; you'd have to check into that with the Maxx.

I've spoken with a couple folks who keep their phone on 3G just so they aren't tempted to burn through a bunch of data and exceed their plan allowance... kinda like having enough power to get on plane when you want, even if most of your cruising is at displacement speed. (How's that for keeping it boat related?) All it takes is a couple clicks on the phone to switch the 4G search feature on/off.
 
Harvey,

The "turn on Canada" bit applies to voice and data and can be done on a monthly basis by calling Verizon a few days in advance. You have to go though a few hoops on the phone menu to turn certain features on/off and since the data allowance is a fixed amount (you can choose how much) it behooves you to turn off the data feature when you are not using it to stop the phone from making new "friends" and glorifying itself at will. Voice is a fixed $ amount / month.

My Droid says "Welcome to Canada" everytime I cross the Deception pass bridge so there is some merit in it having a GPS chip so I can prove I was NOT in Canada.

M
 
Jim, From where I sit, (No 4G around yet) turning off that search sounds like it would be the way to run. I'm not a big web surfer, (mostly follow links I find on this site), and some occasional wild goose chases. Mostly slow cruising will work, and getting up on plane when I'm in Seattle or Portland will do for now.

Merv, Thanks for the "turn on Canada" info. Sounds like it works much like ATT in that respect. Are you keeping the GPS on all the time? Is that an app that is using data out of your data minutes or bank or however they measure it?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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