# DX replacement? It's time.



## inswva (Oct 13, 2011)

My DX is starting to show its age and I'm looking for my next piece of hardware. I've been running custom ROMs pretty much since day one and very much appreciate the DX dev community. I'm currently on CM9 and it pretty much kicks ass. However, I'm ready to move on to a 4G phone. My primary consideration is the dev community for whichever device I go with.

It looks like the Galaxy Nexus has pretty awesome dev support and it's only $99 on VZW right now. I'm not willing to spend the bucks on a SIII Galaxy. I have no problem being a year or so behind the hardware curve provided the dev community is pretty strong. So, other than then Nexus, is there any other VZW phone I should be considering based on ongoing ROM development?


----------



## simonbarsinistr (Dec 23, 2011)

I would highly recommend the gnex. It will continue to have good support, and the s3 having a locked bootloader will be an annoyance for someone who likes flashing roms/kernels/mods/radios/etc...


----------



## Infazzdar (Jun 21, 2011)

simonbarsinistr said:


> I would highly recommend the gnex. It will continue to have good support, and the s3 having a locked bootloader will be an annoyance for someone who likes flashing roms/kernels/mods/radios/etc...


Agreed, and the Nexus S getting Jelly Bean officially let's me know that Google will support us Galaxy Nexus owners at least until 4.2.

But if you're not into hard core customization xD the S3 will do you good. It does have development and will get updates. In general it's an all around good phone.

Note: don't consider getting the Incredible 4G, it's bad and it should feel bad.

Then there's the RAZR Maxx, for if you need enough battery to survive an apocalypse (exaggerating of course). As far as I know it has good development and will be supported for a while.. But EEK.. Motorola. 
Note: the RAZR HD will be out soon, but won't have the Maxx battery, and will probably have a locked bootloader.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

simonbarsinistr said:


> I would highly recommend the gnex. It will continue to have good support, and the s3 having a locked bootloader will be an annoyance for someone who likes flashing roms/kernels/mods/radios/etc...


Calling the S3's locked BL a development issue is really a non-point anymore. Auto-kexec is portable to pretty much any kernel code after CVPCS's work, so we can flash pretty much the same as any other S3 out there, we just boot off of recovery partition instead of boot partition. I've been running CM10 now for days and its the best thing I've ran on any Android device, ever (this includes my N7 I have right now running Liquid). Just sayin'. The GNex is definitely a better development platform, but the S3, while not a Nexus, is by far the better device. I've played with plenty of GNexs before and the power the S3 has is incredible compared to the GNex setup, plus better battery life, better screen, better radios... etc.

Also, Moto has blogged they are going to start unlocking bootloaders (and actually given a timeframe) with the first one being the Photon Q. Depending on when the RAZR HD comes out it may be unlockable. We'll have to see.

Keep in mind if you want to keep VZW and unlimited at this point you'll be paying out the nose regardless unless you get an older phone, since you'll have to buy it at full retail/used.


----------



## simonbarsinistr (Dec 23, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> Calling the S3's locked BL a development issue is really a non-point anymore. Auto-kexec is portable to pretty much any kernel code after CVPCS's work, so we can flash pretty much the same as any other S3 out there, we just boot off of recovery partition instead of boot partition. I've been running CM10 now for days and its the best thing I've ran on any Android device, ever (this includes my N7 I have right now running Liquid). Just sayin'. The GNex is definitely a better development platform, but the S3, while not a Nexus, is by far the better device. I've played with plenty of GNexs before and the power the S3 has is incredible compared to the GNex setup, plus better battery life, better screen, better radios... etc.
> 
> Also, Moto has blogged they are going to start unlocking bootloaders (and actually given a timeframe) with the first one being the Photon Q. Depending on when the RAZR HD comes out it may be unlockable. We'll have to see.
> 
> Keep in mind if you want to keep VZW and unlimited at this point you'll be paying out the nose regardless unless you get an older phone, since you'll have to buy it at full retail/used.


Like I said, an annoyance. Not to say it prevented development.

Sent from my Xoomin Unicorn


----------



## TwinShadow (Oct 17, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> Also, Moto has blogged they are going to start unlocking bootloaders (and actually given a timeframe) with the first one being the Photon Q. Depending on when the RAZR HD comes out it may be unlockable. We'll have to see.


Certainly nice to see, but Sprint isn't quite as stingy with the bootloaders like Verizon is. So I don't think we'll ever see an unlocked bootloader on Verizon aside from the Galaxy Nexus that they seem to care little about. (And Google up to a degree since you can't get that off of the Google Play store anyway, and I'm talking the CDMA one, not the GSM)


----------



## TrojanDroid (Aug 13, 2011)

if you like using your phone as a PHONE the gnex is weak. My gnex reception is much worse than my DX & noticeably worse than the razr maxx as well. My reception at home used to be bulletproof (and still is for my wife, who is using my DX) but I struggle understanding phone calls now.

Just saying. it's a slick, beautiful phone other than that.


----------



## bsbabcock (Jun 13, 2011)

I too am considering retiring the old but trusty DX. I had resigned myself a good while back whatever the next one was going to be, it wasn't going to have a locked BL. A "developer"-friendly device. Have no idea these days besides the GNex what's out there or coming in the Verizon line-up. It's enough to make me consider the dark-side iDevice and see if I can stand it. The iMac here just plain works, so I wonder.. The phone that shall not be named version 5 is about to show it's face so I dunno.


----------



## babygetoboy (Jul 6, 2011)

Now that the gs3 boot loader is unlocked that makes it an easier choice

Sent from my Nexus 7 using RootzWiki


----------



## wicozani (Dec 21, 2011)

I made the same determination recently and just received my new Galaxy Nexus direct from the Google Play Store for $359 + shipping/taxes, which is inexpensive for a dual-core 4g unlocked pentaband GSM handset. I've decided to run it on the $42/mo unlimited prepaid route through ATT (or one of its partners - NET10, Straight Talk). No contract, switch at any time, and I'll save nearly $2000 over the next 2 years (compared to the closest alternative - the same phone on Verizon (CDMA version) with a 2-year contract on their new family shared program).

The development community for the GNex is very active, with a dizzying array of ROMs, Kernels, mods and apps. I'm having my long-held Verizon cell # ported over to Google Voice (cost $20), so most of my family and friends shouldn't notice any difference (once I set everything up properly). My wife just got the GS3 from Verizon last week, and my GNex running a custom rom/kernel setup overclocked can trounce her stock GS3 in benchmark testing. Just saying!

Finally, these last 2 years with the DX have been incredible! I thank all the developers, hackers and modders very much for all their phenomenal work and efforts to improve on the DX. For a restrictive locked bootloader, the DX had one of the most vigorous and long lasting development phases of any phone, which says a lot! There are not very many phones today that can capabably run any OS from Froyo to ICS. Major props to my DX for being such a stout foot soldier for these last 2 years!


----------



## electroman6913 (Aug 18, 2012)

inswva said:


> My DX is starting to show its age and I'm looking for my next piece of hardware. I've been running custom ROMs pretty much since day one and very much appreciate the DX dev community. I'm currently on CM9 and it pretty much kicks ass. However, I'm ready to move on to a 4G phone. My primary consideration is the dev community for whichever device I go with.
> 
> It looks like the Galaxy Nexus has pretty awesome dev support and it's only $99 on VZW right now. I'm not willing to spend the bucks on a SIII Galaxy. I have no problem being a year or so behind the hardware curve provided the dev community is pretty strong. So, other than then Nexus, is there any other VZW phone I should be considering based on ongoing ROM development?


 What Rom are you using on your DX? I was running CM) and had some functionality issues.


----------



## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

wicozani said:


> The development community for the GNex is very active, with a dizzying array of ROMs, Kernels, mods and apps. I'm having my long-held Verizon cell # ported over to Google Voice (cost $20), so most of my family and friends shouldn't notice any difference (once I set everything up properly). My wife just got the GS3 from Verizon last week, and my GNex running a custom rom/kernel setup overclocked can trounce her stock GS3 in benchmark testing. Just saying!


lol that's cuz its stock versus custom kernel/ROM and massive bloated TW. TW ROMs are 500+ MB even when stripped, compared to AOSP which is 100-150 MB typically. Also benchmarks =/= real world performance.

Load up an AOSP JB ROM on there and set the SoC 1,900 just for awhile and tell me how you feel about it then (even with development still being very rough around the edges as only released ~ 1 month).  My SIII destroys my N7 in feeling as far as speed and lag-free-ness, and the N7 is a quad (S4 chip is more efficient dual and most apps don't utilize the quad architecture).

Don't get me wrong, the GNex is a very nice phone, and it was my second choice (it was turning into my first choice due to the whole bootloader situation on the SIII - until we got the leak) I've played with one extensively running custom firmware and it was very speedy and its nice having a Nexus device. But the comparison you are doing is like a cherry to a watermelon, lol. Considering the extremely massive bloat that comes with TW on the GSIII, its amazing there is no lag at all on that device. Once its stripped free of that it is ridiculously fast.


----------



## bsbabcock (Jun 13, 2011)

electroman6913 said:


> What Rom are you using on your DX? I was running CM) and had some functionality issues.


I'll tell you on mine Wizard0f0's latest GB MIUI has been the single-most stable and solid rom of any I've run. Battery life is fairly good also for a 2nd Init rom. I keep trying others but continually head right back to it. In fact it would be hard for me to go back to a NON-MIUI interface. I've gotten spoiled by it which is why I still have the DX.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


----------



## bsbabcock (Jun 13, 2011)

Well I just realized my DX battery is bulging. Looks like its telling me tomorrow is retirement day sadly. If the old DX was still continuing development I'd consider an extended battery but I guess its S3 time.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


----------

