[Q] Few questions before buying xt890

I will try to answer your questions one by one, where I can.

Furydrone said:

Hello xda-developers community.

I am considering buying Razr i, but there are few things that are worrying me. I hope you could clarify some of it. I've read most of topics here but didn't found satisfying answers.

1. App compatibility.
I've heard that 90% apps are working fine. However, most of informations are quite old, and I dont know about new apps, or these yet to come. So how compatiblity really works? Intel Atom is emulationg ARM architecture, or apps itself have to be designed to work with x86 architecture? It might be a noob questions but it seems important to me, especially when it comes down to not that popular applications, where creators did not think about intel based phones.
Are there alternatives for apps that do not work?

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I think even more than 90% works. On ICS almost all the apps are working, on JB just a little bit less apps. If u count ICS and jb as one, I think around 95%.

Most new apps support x86 natively, built in with the new compiling methods. But not all.

Intel atom does not emulate. It changes codes on the fly from arm to x86. That's also why some apps won't work because of inbuilt library's in the app that are using code that the libhoudini (translate arm to x86) library doesn't know. A good example is TomTom (tested on jb, not ICS, so ICS may or may not work). For TomTom to work, we need an updated libhoudini or updated library's in the app for x86. In both cases we can't do anything, we can only wait.

Furydrone said:

2. Pentile screen.
Is it that bad? I've read some reviews and most of them complained about bad looking fonts and overall uglyness of displayed content.

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In the fonts case I agree about that it sometimes doesn't look well. But you will get used to it. But besides that all other things are being displayed as intended. My opinion of course.

Furydrone said:

3. Mic and speaker quality.
Same as above, supposedly sound quality is poor due to waterproofing?

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Never read about this. Intel/Motorola even included an acoustic module to get sound more clearer.

Furydrone said:

4. xt890 from Singapore.
Allegro.pl (polish ebay) in past month has been flooded with cheap razr i phones from singapore. By cheap I mean about $180 for new one ( Motorola is selling xt890 for about $270 on ebay.de.) Everything is a bit fishy: the price, delivery time, guarantee, customs charge. Do you know enything about it?

I would be gratefull for answering these questions as well as general comments on if it is worth to buy xt890 now. I am considering few other phones (s4 mini, htc one mini, moto g, and few chinesee smartphones) and Razr i is my first choice for now (especially after announcing 4.4 support).

Thanks in advance.

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About eBay I don't know. It indeed sounds fishy when u can get it for $180. Just be cautions.

About the other phones, I know some.

S4 mini. Stock ROMs has random restarts. They fixed it in custom ROMs though. Nice phone.
HTC one mini, dunno
Moto g, big topic somewhere in this forum.

RAZR I, still my phone to get. Big battery live, with moderate use I can get 2 to 2,5 days with it. Camera button. Intel. Snappy. I just like it . Downside, almost no cases, custom ROMs (cm) aren't available or won't work properly yet! X86 undiscovered place for us. And some apps .
But I am exited about the new android version. I hope they upgrade the Houdini files so even more apps will work as intended.

Hazou

Sent from my GT-P5110 using XDA Premium HD app

Furydrone said:

Thank you for your reply, it's very helpful.

How about GPS in razr i? Is it working good?
I heard that qualcom processors are the best when it comes down to GPS, so how is intel doing? It's quite important for me.

It's hard to decide which phone should I get, currently I'm leaning towards chinesee Innos I2 (I can't post link for some reason).
But mostly becouse of price ($170 for brand new one) and 2 years warranty. Motorola virtually doesn't support their phones where I liive and for the same price I can get only used razr i.
Maybe I will switch to xperia z1 compact some time from now or wait for new realeses of 'mini' smartphones.
Anyway, thanks for replying.

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GPS is fine. i can get a fix within less then 10 seconds. Even faster sometimes. also the accuracy is good enough for daily navigation.

ye, it is a hard choice sometimes to get a phone that has all the things u like

No problem!

Hazou

3. Mic and speaker quality.
Same as above, supposedly sound quality is poor due to waterproofing?

In my opinion, the microphone sound quality is very sharp and clear. I can even hear callers breathing. A big improvement from my earlier Defy phone.

However I wouldn't dare to submerge my XT890 to water. For example, there are no covers for usb- or headphone-ports. Compared to my Defy, it had a rubber cover for the ports.
XT890 only has some splash resistant coating on the pcb, but it has no IP certification (like IP67 for Defy). So it is not actually waterproof.