Ice Cream Sandwich for the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX hands-on

11. Droid_X_Doug posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:52 0 0

Count me as one of the happy campers. I have been using ICS for a little more than 24 hours. E-mail integration is way improved over 2.3.6. With 2.3.6, the e-mail client would hang and not receive pushed e-mails (even from gmail.com...). It got to the point where every day, I would start the day off with a hard reset (power down followed by power up). So far, ICS on my RAZR is getting all of the e-mails.

The only meh would be with the stock sms app - composing a text message results in displaying white text on a black background. Apparently my eyes don't see white on black as well as black on white. I have tried to reset the text display to black on white, but so far, no joy. Any solution would be appreciated.

17. Femto posted on 02 Jul 2012, 00:30 1 0

No problem. Use Handcent SMS instead of the stock messaging application. Then, you can set the font and the background colors to whatever colirs you would like; including black text on a white background.

18. Droid_X_Doug posted on 02 Jul 2012, 00:37 0 0

Thanks for the suggestion. I was looking at third party SMS apps on the Play store. What is special about Handcent versus the other SMS apps? There seem to be about 4 apps that are rated 4.5+ and they seem relatively similar. How to choose A vs. B vs. C vs. D?

• This comment is posted in response to #17 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #17 Hide

21. Femto posted on 02 Jul 2012, 01:07 0 0

Honestly, I've only tried Handcent and Chomp. It was close to 3 years ago, which is probably why I don't remember what it was that I didn't like on Chomp. I have been a loyal Handcent user since. It is incredibly customizable. I've been so happy with it that I had never felt the need to shop around for something else. I would just recommend giving it a shot. The fonts, font sizes, font colors, incoming and outgoing text backgrounds/bubbles, as well as the general backgrounds are all customizable in terms of appearance and color. Color choices are infinite. Notification appearances and manner of notification are customizable, as well. Customizable photos of yourself and your contacts can be set to appear in the text string. There are also numerous animated and non-animated attachments that you can play with if you are so inclined. AND it's all free. like I said, I would give it a shot and if there's something you feel is missing and you cannot unearth it within the settings, then you are always free to try another app. I would just say that this seems to be a very good one.

• This comment is posted in response to #18 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #18 Hide

25. KingKurogiii posted on 02 Jul 2012, 02:00 0 0

i remember seeing a comment on a youtube video that if you set HandsetSMS as your default that it'll even replace the default sms app shortcut on the lock screen. o:

• This comment is posted in response to #18 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #18 Hide

29. Twashbush posted on 02 Jul 2012, 03:52 0 0

You can change the SMS and the camera app on the unlock screen you just have to go to manage apps and disable the stock app and it will then replace it on the unlock with whatever replacement app you have for said function.

• This comment is posted in response to #25 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #25 Hide

12. nnaatthhaannx2 posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:52 2 0

I'm hungry for my Jellybeans

22. Femto posted on 02 Jul 2012, 01:12 0 0

I was feeling pretty pumped to get my galaxy S3 that I have pre-ordered. That was until I saw jellybean running on a galaxy nexus. I think I am going to cancel my galaxy S3 order and go with the jellybean nexus. Any guess as to when we will be able to run jellybean custom ROMs on the galaxy S3, Razr Maxx, or even the droid incredible 4G? With jellybean I am wondering if even phones with inferior hardware can perform well and smoothly. Sort of the way Windows phones can survive and even perform admirably with mediocre hardware. Any thoughts?

28. KingKurogiii posted on 02 Jul 2012, 03:19 0 0

just stick with your SIII. there's already JB ROMs floating around for it. if not, then you could always go for the upcoming Droid Razr HD. C:

32. Femto posted on 02 Jul 2012, 08:07 0 0

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a far as I've seen the nexus is the only phone that has a fully functioning jellybean ROM currently. The GS3's running JB that i've seen have some significant bugs an limitations. I'd rather run it on a phone with superior hardware (GS3), but I don't think that's an good option until these bugs are straightened out. Hopefully soon.

The new voice features (offline capabilities and improved search) plus the results of project butter make it tough for me to go with a phone not running JB.

• This comment is posted in response to #28 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #28 Hide

36. KingKurogiii posted on 02 Jul 2012, 11:39 0 0

well with the development backbone that the SIII has that will just be a matter of weeks, maybe even days. getting a Nexus just for JB at this point would not be able to justify itselfif you're okay with flashimg custom ROMs.

• This comment is posted in response to #32 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #32 Hide

40. Femto posted on 02 Jul 2012, 14:45 0 0

Valid points, as usual, Ser. I'm feeling a little too excited about JB to wait. So, I'm probably going to go with the nexus until a fully-functional JB ROM is available on the GS3. eBay will love me for it :) Thanks, for the input.

• This comment is posted in response to #36 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #36 Hide

41. KingKurogiii posted on 02 Jul 2012, 15:23 0 0

yeah, if money is no thing definitely get a Nexus as a backup. i might would do the same thing. anytime sir. c:

• This comment is posted in response to #40 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #40 Hide

4. KingKurogiii posted on 01 Jul 2012, 18:49 0 0

nah, there's been leaks of this since before that went through. the first leak came out like 3 months ago.

just how have they done badly compared to everyone else? xD

43. nyuvo posted on 04 Jul 2012, 03:32 0 0

It's all personal opinion of course, but Samsung and HTC overlays just don't do it for me.. I like the stock ICS set up. Could be a totally different opinion for you or anyone else tho and that is the beauty of android.

You get slightly different looking Manufacturer overlays which cater to all sorts of people.

44. KingKurogiii posted on 04 Jul 2012, 12:26 0 0

oh no, i agree with you about it being the best. i was talking about the influence Google had on it.

• This comment is posted in response to #43 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #43 Hide

14. nnaatthhaannx2 posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:55 0 0

yeah but i hate that it is slow and has no rotation!

The preview app from the camera is terrible! Pinch-to-zoom is gross in that app!
I think the camera app needs lots of work! The actual camera isn't really good in the first place.

15. KingKurogiii posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:58 0 0

it might be done with the HD since it has a larger 13MP Camera apparently. o:

31. vitosever (banned) posted on 02 Jul 2012, 05:16 0 2

The gallery is just a bad copy of Apples Cover Flow.

13. Droid_X_Doug posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:54 1 0

JB isn't available for even the Nexus. Hopefully Google's ownership of Moto results in a quicker release schedule for JB to the RAZR. Although VZW also plays a part in the release roll-out....

10. KingKurogiii posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:39 0 0

it shouldn't for too long.

19. mas11 posted on 02 Jul 2012, 00:43 0 0

I'm betting a month maxx. I'm just disappointed they didn't release it at the same time as the RAZRs.

33. cthunder posted on 02 Jul 2012, 10:20 0 0

And what is too long? JB will probably be out before we get our update.

37. KingKurogiii posted on 02 Jul 2012, 11:41 0 0

like 2 months maximum. i doubt it. they are so far along with the ICS update that they'l probably just push it so they'll have that while they wait for JB.

• This comment is posted in response to #33 Show
• This comment is posted in response to #33 Hide

9. KingKurogiii posted on 01 Jul 2012, 21:39 1 0

well too many people were complaining about the Blur aspects sooo oh well. the universal inbox is still present though.

16. nnaatthhaannx2 posted on 01 Jul 2012, 22:03 1 0

Yeah, I would agree.

They have no reason to take away what you can't get back. If they got rid of pre-installed apps, fine by me, because you can get them back.
These kinds of things, not okay, you can't get them back, and "3rd party" apps usually don't cut it.

Anyways, do you like the new notifications bar? All of the icons are now so small, it's insane! And did anyone notice that the screen is now actually BRIGHTER at 100% and DARKER at 0%? Anyone notice that? No joke, I tested it!

Also, I wish that the unlock screen was like 40% unlock, 20% for each other thing so it is easier to just swipe right across like before!

The new keyboard wasn't mentioned, and its great, SwiftKey has NOTHING on that! For some reason, SwiftKey is SOOO small at full size!

The new app drawer is lag free now (yay) but adding widgets is a little wierd. Does anyone else get the icon-only widgets display when long pressing to add one? It shows the icon, but not the text, if you press it, it shows up!... wierd... any work around?

Thanks to Motorola, Google, and (last + least) Verizon!

23. mas11 posted on 02 Jul 2012, 01:42 2 0

Definitely the best Android skin, Touchwiz and Sense can't compare.

26. KingKurogiii posted on 02 Jul 2012, 02:03 0 0

yeah, that could definitely be a 4.1 project of theirs tbh..
xD

38. nnaatthhaannx2 posted on 02 Jul 2012, 11:59 0 0

Its here as well... or should be