Need Advice: Should I switch away from my Droid A855?

[jstwinkles]

Hi guys! Long time lurker, new time poster here. I have reached somewhat of an impasse with myself. For almost three years exactly, I have been the proud owner of a Motorola Droid A855, which over the years, I have absolutely fallen in love with. This thing is in pristine condition, and I have modded the crap out of it. Currently, I'm running CM 7.1 with Chevy's 1.25 GHz ULV custom kernel, and I've even done the little straw-in-the-headphone-jack thing to fix the issues with the audio cutting out. So, to put it bluntly, I've gotten really attached to my OG Droid, and the thing runs so well, it's like having a brand new phone every day I unplug it from the charger.

However, for Christmas, my parents set me up with a Droid RAZR, which I know to be a wonderful phone, but I am hesitant to just ditch my A855 since it is in such good condition, and still running strong.

Things I have considered so far:
-From what I've read, the RAZR bootloader is still locked, but then again, it's only a matter of time before someone cracks this thing wide open, if it hasn't already been done.
-The RAZR has a beautiful screen, but I don't like the perceived graininess as compared to the A855's LCD, which I guess is a result of the PenTile display (please correct me if I'm wrong here.)
-I kind of like having the physical keyboard of the A855, but I feel like I could get over not having one.
-The RAZR has substantially more RAM than the A855
-My current phone after overclocking has the same base CPU speed as a stock RAZR, although in the future, there may be the potential to OC the RAZR so it's even faster.
-Higher capacity battery on the RAZR, although this may be offset by the increased power consumption.
-City in which I go to school has 4G service, so that's a big plus for the RAZR.

So, my question to you is: Why do you think I should or should not upgrade to the RAZR?

Thanks in advance!

[sarreq]

when i got my d3, i kept my original Droid. i use it as an alarm clock. i keep the firmware up to date (liquid 3.2 right now), but i don't really use it for much else anymore.

-My current phone after overclocking has the same base CPU speed as a stock RAZR, although in the future, there may be the potential to OC the RAZR so it's even faster.!

there's more to the newer CPU than just a higher (and higher potential) clock speed. it also has a more efficient design, an expanded instruction set and a more powerful GPU. this is not something you should discount versus the OG

-Higher capacity battery on the RAZR, although this may be offset by the increased power consumption.
-City in which I go to school has 4G service, so that's a big plus for the RAZR.

I'm not sure about the Razr itself, but most 4g phones have a 4g toggle. just shut off 4g when you don't need it, or aren't in a 4g area. huge battery savings right there.

[bendystrawboy]

lol i have a tbolt, i held my upgrade for a year before getting it...when i go back to my droid it feels so tiny and strange.

im not fond of the razr but i couldnt imagine using a droid as my daily. hell a d3 has a much nicer keyboard and with a replacement launcher is lagfree...

if anything return the razr and wait for the d4.

[tgyberg]

If you really like flashing roms and kernels I'd say look at the Nexus or the ReZound. That Razr will NOT ever be cracked open as the bootloader is encrypted. Plus both the Nexus and the ReZound have true HD / 720p displays.

[jstwinkles]

Some very good points, thanks. I think I'll go ahead and switch to the RAZR, keeping my OG as a testbed for apps, as I've been wanting to learn the Android API. I may go ahead and root the thing, as my major beef with stock phones is all of the bloatware, and hopefully someday, someone might get custom ROMs and kernels working on it.

[googlelover]

Oh, just thought I'd throw in that the Razr has a Super amoled + screen so no pentile :P, but I would switch in a heartbeat. The CPU and GPU are 10x better than the one in the Droid, the screen is nicer, there is more internal storage, bigger, longer lasting battery (if you don't live in a 4G area that is) much more durable build, gotta love motorola phones they are crazy strong already. I think that the community will find some way to hack together custom roms for it soon. A locked bootloader has never truely stopped it before. Oh and the difference in RAM will be freaken amazing! Even my kindle fire VS OG Droid makes me amazed.

[thaDroidz]

Back & forth here...
Razr vs nexus....


I finally had both in my hands, although at best buy and they were dumb units... (not active) so I just could compare physical aspects.

the razr got my vote as its a much sleeker design and seems durable.

If the nexus was black it would have made if a closer call.

Since I'll be using a case (prolly black) I am back at square one. Its gonna come down to $$ in about 3 weeks which ever I find the best deal on will get my vote.

[jstwinkles]

Gotta say, the RAZR definitely has a polished feel to it, both literally and in the quality of the engineering. About to root as I type this. Say goodbye Verizon bloatware!

[tgyberg]

Gotta say, the RAZR definitely has a polished feel to it, both literally and in the quality of the engineering. About to root as I type this. Say goodbye Verizon bloatware!

Ahh, the bloatware.. I don't miss that! Ok, now I'm off to flash a kernal!

[PatG]

I am also the proud owner of the original Droid. Still works great but it has gotten really slow. I also have to play games with freeing up RAM. I, too, have my eyes on the Razr and am ready to get it. I don't use the physical keyboard. I also don't have it modded; just don't have the time for it. The one hesitation I have is that the Razr - all phones in general - are getting too BIG. But I suppose this is how newer phones are going and I just have to get used to it.

However, I am going to wait to see what the Razr Maxx is going to bring to the table. Rumor has it that it has a nicer displays. Rumor also has it that it will have a 4.5" display which is just way too big for me. But I am hoping 4.3" display, 720 display and Ice Cream Sandwich.