Mobile Phone - Iphone vs Motorola Atrix

Submitted: Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 19:52
ThreadID: 92180 Views:2355 Replies:11 FollowUps:8
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Ok guys, whats the latest. Do I upgrade from a Motorola Defy to a Motorola Defy+ or to a Motorola Atrix or go all out to an Iphone. AND do you have favourite apps for when you are doing the big lap. Heading around from Brisbane in about 6 weeks.
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Reply By: get outmore - Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 19:55

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 19:55
Favourite app on my ATRIX is ozi explorer
AnswerID: 478942

Reply By: skulldug - Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 20:02

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 20:02
iPhone. Oz weather.

Although I do remember my first Motorola fondly. You could make a call and then take the back cover off and go fishing in it

:) Skull
AnswerID: 478944

Reply By: Member - Krakka - Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 20:16

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 20:16
Atrix and Defy+ are both blue tick, I upgraded from Defy to Atrix and the Atrix camera is way better, screen is also better by far. Defy is more "rugged" water resistant, dust proof etc.

IPhone is yuppy stuff for me.

Peter
AnswerID: 478945

Follow Up By: Member - Wayne N (QLD) - Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 22:18

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 22:18
The iPhone 4S also has the Telstra Blue tick for regional areas
Crossing the Wenlock

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Follow Up By: Member - Paul B (WA) - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 00:07

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 00:07
Bull bleep ! If the iPhone is up to blue tick standard then blue tick means nothing. I reckon iPhones are absolutely hopeless outside of the cities. They might be all shining & wonderful but if they won't connect, you might as well not have one.

My twopenneth worth.
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Reply By: david m5 - Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 22:21

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 at 22:21
I have a motorola atrix and my wife has an I phone 4s . No comparison I phone every time just don't drop it without a cover.
AnswerID: 478952

Follow Up By: workhorse - Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 at 15:31

Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 at 15:31
Get the Otterbox cover it is very strong. there are some interesting videos on U tube dropping an iPhone in these cases from heights.
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Reply By: Kate - Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 at 18:16

Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 at 18:16
I got the Defy+ for Christmas and happy with it, took me awhile to set up but it is my first smart phone
Why I got it
*waterproof,
*dust proof and
*least expensive with the blue tick

We travel for about 4 months a year in remote places so do like to have access at times. I also like to be able to tether it to my netbook with only the click of 3 buttons on the screen.
AnswerID: 478986

Reply By: MUD - Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 at 19:37

Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 at 19:37
Have you guys owned an iPhone before?
AnswerID: 478992

Reply By: ross - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:11

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:11
In regards to using Iphones in rural areas,the blue tick has been removed from the Iphone advertisments this month(feb).
Im a little annoyed as I purchased an Iphone a month ago with the blue tick being a strong selling point
AnswerID: 479061

Reply By: Pebble - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 00:30

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 00:30
Wow I didn't know IPhone had the blue tick removed!

We live rural so we barely get enough coverage here, so we generally go sit outside to actually talk on the phone as less chance of drop outs. We have just enough signal for the phone to ring inside though.

At the moment I have a Defy+ it's my first smartphone. My Husband has one also but he has had a couple of different ones through work....namely HTC Desire and Iphone 4 (not the new 4S).

He didn't like the HTC that much and it didn't cut the mustard at his worksite for signal reception (hence he ended up with an iphone...well until he changed jobs). He purchased the Defy+ because his new employer gave him a Blackberry which he found difficult to use.

Anyhow both iPhone and Defy+ seem to have similar reception where we live. Hubby reckons the Defy is quite similar to the iphone and easier to use than the HTC Desire was.

A reason why you might get the iphone is that the battery is likely to last longer particularly when using 3g data. That is the biggest negative I've found with the Defy+, if you're using 3g data it will suck the battery to nothing within hours, well especially at our place I guess because the phone has to work pretty hard to acquire signal, however I've found even in town where signal is perfect 3g still sucks the life out of the battery.
My Husband found the iPhone seemed to have longer battery life in that regard.
Don't get me wrong the Defy+ battery lasts really well on standby and at least a few days with normal use, as long as 3G data is turned off when not in use. Using the wireless internet on the phone at home doesn't seem to have a big impact on the battery either.

I'm quite happy with the defy+, the only real reason I'd go for an IPhone is because I quite like listening to a few podcasts. I can sync itunes to my defy without problems but I have to remember which ones are new and which I've heard etc. So I find myself still using my old ipod nano as I don't have to worry about keeping track, just sync and play the latest unheard ones.
Battery life would be another consideration, but really it's not that much of an issue, I reckon most smartphones would need charging every day with medium to heavy use anyway.

The other thing I really like about the Defy+ is the size, it's just less bulky than an iPhone. And the water resistant thing is a real bonus especially when traveling!

I guess the other contributor to your decision is what sort of computer you're taking with you, or weather you might use an ipad or android tablet etc. For example is it as easy to pair an iphone with any laptop compared to pairing it with a Mac etc.

It's a hard choice mainly because an IPhone is so much more expensive than a Defy+, but keep in mind the Defy+ will never be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, that's what Moto themselves said. In which case it's probably fairer to compare the likes of Atrix with the IPhone or go for the Defy+ if you're after something durable, affordable and that doesn't matter as much if it gets dropped / lost / stolen etc.
AnswerID: 479144

Follow Up By: Member - Krakka - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 11:25

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 11:25
Hi Pebble, you can buy a bigger capacity battery and a back cover to suit for the Defy +.

Cheers
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FollowupID: 754645

Follow Up By: Pebble - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 13:40

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 13:40
I'm not sure if there are genuine ones but I imagine there is a reasonable chance you can find something on ebay. I've never done such a thing with any phone before so not much help sorry.

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FollowupID: 754653

Follow Up By: Member - Krakka - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 14:12

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 14:12
I am informing you that you can buy a bigger capacity battery for the Defy if the current battery life is causing you a concern, plenty on Ebay.
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FollowupID: 754656

Follow Up By: Pebble - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 17:23

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 17:23
ooops I misread that and thought it was a question! Thanks for the info.

It's not a big concern at the moment, if we lived somewhere with good signal I'd probably use 3g data more and then would probably contemplate a bigger battery. Currently I'm lucky to use 5% of the 500mb as I mostly have the wifi on at home. Really have to go outside to use the 3g which is a pain.
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FollowupID: 754673

Reply By: Member - Mark (Tamworth NSW) - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 07:18

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 07:18
Choice Magazine (web site) in late Feb released their review of Smart Phones, with reception being one of the parameters they measured and scored. I didn't look into how they measured reception.

Though it doesn't talk about specific apps, I would think it would be one of the best objective smart phone comparisons you could find.

Me I don't have a smart phone, but I know I Phones just aren't as good for signal strength as my 5 year old T165 Telstra Country brick in side by side comparisons. They probably give you another 10-20km of reception from a tower I've found.
AnswerID: 479152

Follow Up By: Pebble - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 13:48

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 13:48
I think the problem is that the bars that phones show for signal reception aren't exactly the best indicator of the reception strength.

On my Defy+ I've installed the app calle OpenSignal, it tells me which direction the tower is (the tower isn't that far it's just that the topography here leaves us in almost a black spot) and it will show the signal strength in dBa.
So it's hard to make a fair and accurate comparison with the old Samsung A411 and even old Ericsson W508A because all I can go off on those is the bars showing, which isn't anywhere near as accurate. Reading the dBa's showed me how much the signal can fluctuate from inside to out and how marginal the reception really is when the phone would normally show 3 bars signal strength.

The strange thing is that here the reception is always worst at night and often there is no reception inside in the evening when there may have been during the day!
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FollowupID: 754654

Reply By: Holden4th - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 22:13

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 22:13
I own and love the Defy+

To conserve battery power without affecting performance you click in the bottom left hand four squares icon/Settings/Battery and Data Manager/Data Saver - turn it on. It makes a huge difference to the battery unless you want to constantly receive e-mail updates etc which you can actually check with the touch of a button.

Then go back one click and select Battery Mode and choose 'maximum battery saver'.

I've doubled my battery life doing this.

The Defy does work well in rural areas.
AnswerID: 479238

Reply By: get outmore - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 22:34

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 22:34
i like my atrix but found a real weakness with it today

I walked home in the rain and despite it being tucked up safely in jy pocket the whole time it got what I can only imagine was a tiny bit of water in it which must have gotten in waaaay too easily

i thought it was dead but after a couple of hours with the battery out and back off it has sprung back to life
AnswerID: 479240

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