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Everyone wants a high-end smartphone that comes equipped with unique features, such as Samsung galaxy s3’s Smart Stay feature which will not let the screen turns black as long as you’re staring at the screen. LG Optimus handset lets you run apps in tiny windows on top of the desktop, while Motorola RAZR devices can perform key tasks according to a schedule. These features are really innovative.
Fortunately, you don’t need to buy a particular brand of phone to get an enhanced Android experience. There are a number of third-party apps available through the Google Play store can replicate the best custom features that Samsung, LG, HTC and Motorola have to offer.

Samsung Pop-Up Play/ LG QSlide Alternatives
LG’s QSlide feature lets you put one or two small windows on top of your work running the browser, video player or calculator apps. Samsung’s Pop up play is the ability to watch video at the same time as you text, email, browse the web or do just about anything else on your phone.

Alternative Apps:  There are a lot of third-party floating apps in Android Market that will put windows on top of your work even though it is not as attractive as QSlide or Pop-up Play. Floating Browser Flux is a resizable browser in a window that has tabs and can be activated from the notification drawer. Super Video, Floating & Popup plays local video files in a window and support re-size, move window, two multi-windows play-back, while Floating YouTube plays streaming videos.

Floating Mail and Floating Chat promise the ability to put email or IMs on top of your work, but neither app was able to connect to our accounts. AirCalc provides a floating calculator, complete with a see-through screen. Unfortunately, none of these floating apps allow you to adjust transparency like the LG and Samsung solutions do.

Samsung Smart Stay Alternatives
It is really annoying when you’re reading something intently on your phone and suddenly the screen turns black and goes to sleep because you haven’t tapped the glass in a while? Samsung’s Smart Stay feature uses your phone’s webcam to determine that you’re still staring at the screen and reset its timeout.

Alternative:  The app called SmartStay Ex provides the same functionality, with more options than Samsung offers. SmartStay Ex keeps your screen from turning off while you are using it by scans the front camera for faces at regular intervals. If a face is found, it will keep the screen from turning off. There are many advanced options available and many more planned!

Samsung Motion Gesture Alternatives
Samsung provides an easy way to deny an incoming call by just flipping the phone over to silence it. Other Samsung motions include Direct Call, which starts dialing the phone number of a contact as soon as you lift the phone to your ear.
Alternatives: Flip Silent is a very simple free app that silences your ringer as soon as you flip your phone over in either direction. Easy Answer, which is also free, provides a host of other motion control features, including the ability to answer the phone by lifting it to your ear. However, if you want to silence a call in Easy Answer, you’ll have to shake the phone rather than turning it over.

HTC People Widget Alternatives
One of the more attractive features of HTC’s Sense UI is its optional People Widget, which displays social updates from your friends right on your device. There are several free alternatives in the Google Play Market.
Alternatives: Taptu allows you to create custom widgets with streams from Facebook, Twitter and various news feeds. BlingBoard also provides an attractive 4 x 4 widget with Facebook, Gmail and Twitter updates, along with missed calls and SMS messages.

LG QuickMemo/Samsung S Pen Easy Clip Alternative
Both LG and Samsung provide the ability to take screenshots, draw on them with your stylus or finger and share them. LG’s QuickMemo stands out, because it lets you scribble a note on top of the screen (example: “Buy milk”) and keep them there even as you continue to use your desktop and apps below.
Alternative App: Floating Draw lets you scribble on your screen and either save the results as an image file or leave your drawing as a layer on top of the screen as you continue to use your phone. When running, the free app puts a small pen icon in the lower right corner of your screen. Just tap it, and you’re ready to scribble.
LG Live Zoom Alternative
Even the largest phones only provide between 5 and 6 inches of screen for watching HD movies. So what if you want to get a closer look at the skier slaloming down the middle of the display rather than seeing the whole mountain? LG’s Live Zoom feature lets you pinch-to-zoom in on offline videos just like you can for Web pages and photos.
Alternatives: BSPlayer Free also lets you pinch-to-zoom in and out on offline videos. Like Super Video, the free app can also float its video player on top of other apps. The app even supports gesture controls and screenshot captures from within a video.

LG QTranslator Alternative
LG’s QTranslator app can convert foreign language writing to English (or your native tongue) in real- time via the device’s camera. More advanced than Google Translate.
Alternative App: CamDictionary also allows you to translate words in real- time just by rolling your phone over them. Available in a free trial version that unlocks more vocabulary features for $1.99, the app also has several downloadable offline dictionaries that can translate text even when you don’t have an Internet connection.

Motorola Smart Actions Alternatives
Motorola Mobility may not get any love from Google, but we’ve always been fond of the Smart Actions phone automation app Moto puts on its RAZR phones. Using Smart Actions, we’ve been able to configure our phone to automatically go into silent mode when we’re in a meeting or stop syncing data at night when we want to save data.
Alternatives: For$6.49, Tasker allows you to schedule changes to your phone based on your calendar, time of day or location with a much attractive UI.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx has been the one of the best selling smartphones at Verizon Wireless, with just iPhone 4S to beat. The smartphone is well known for its Kevlar design, gorgeous display and monstrous battery. And, after the Android 4.0 ICS update, the Droid Razr Maxx is nothing short of a beast.

However, the recent arrival of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone - the Galaxy S3 - has posed a strong challenge to Droid Razr Maxx sales. Samsung is taking the game to the next level this time. Galaxy S3 has overtaken iPhone 4S in terms of popularity and is targeting the next iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5, which is expect to arrive this fall (possibly in October).

Here is the detailed comparison of the two Android giants - Motorola Droid Raz Maxx and Samsung Galaxy S3

Design and Display

Design-wise, the Droid Razr Maxx is no different from the original Droid Razr. It has the same Kevlar backplate and same arrangement of ports and buttons. The design is at least better than that of Galaxy S3. However, the 4.3-inch PenTile qHD display is a real letdown for the device - not a 2012 flagship smartphone standard. The Galaxy S3 also has a PenTile Matrix display, but it is bounded so finely in AMOLED panels that there is no negative impact on user experience with the HD display. Galaxy S3's display yields better clarity, sharpness and vividness than Droid Razr Maxx's.

Processor and Memory

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx runs on dual-core 1.5 GHz Cortex A9 processor fitted on TI OMAP 4430 chipset, with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. For expandable memory options, it supports microSD card up to 32GB, with 16GB memory card included in the package. Samsung Galaxy S3 has a clear win with dual-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB of RAM, 16/32GB of build-in storage and microSD card support up to 64GB.

Connectivity

Both - Motorola Droid Razr Maxx and Samsung Galaxy S3 - will benefit from Verizon's super-fast LTE network. Most of the connectivity offerings are same in both these smartphones. The unique connectivity feature in Droid Razr Maxx is dedicated HDMI port; while in Galaxy S3, the unique feature is NFC connectivity for apps like S Beam.

User Interface

Both the smartphones run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich - Droid Razr Maxx with OTA update and Galaxy S3 out of the box. Motorola' skin has SmartActions software on the top. Webtop app is also there. But still, there is nothing cutting edge in the software. Samsung takes a lead here with a lot of innovative software features like S Voice, S Beam, Smart Stay eye tracking, Direct Call, Pop-up Play, AllShare, etc.

Camera

The two smartphones in action come loaded with 8-megapixel rear camera, accompanied by LED flash, which can do 1080p video recording at 30fps. In case of the Droid Razr Maxx, the camera sensor is identical to its predecessor, while Galaxy S3's camera sensor is a huge liftoff from the Galaxy S2. Razr's camera still struggle in low-light conditions and indoor image are a bit contemptible. Video quality is just above average. On the other hand, Galaxy S3 has one of the best snappers in the market.

Battery Life

Batter life is the section, where the Droid Razr Maxx has a clear win over most of the smartphones, inducing the Galaxy S3. The 3300 mAh unremovable battery lasts quite a long time. For talk time, the handset is rated at 21 hours. Galaxy S3 packs 2100 mAh battery, which is rated at 15 hours of talk time.

Conclusion

Samsung Galaxy S3 is overall a better smartphone in both hardware and software offerings. However, features only cannot decide a winner. Pricing also plays a big role. Unfortunately, pricing is also a big letdown for Motorola. The Droid Razr Maxx is priced at $299 on two-year contract with Verizon Wireless. On the other hand, the Galaxy S3 costs just $199 (for 16GB version) on a similar contract.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx is one of the best selling smartphones at the Big Red. But, comparing it with the mighty Galaxy S3 seems to be an unfair as Droid Razr Maxx is capable of surviving barely a few rounds. If Motorola wants to defend its position at Verizon Wireless, it needs to slash the prices of Droid Razr Maxx to competitive levels and launch a new smartphone on Verizon, something like the AT&T's Atrix HD, which boasts updated Snapdragon S4 processor, HD display and is priced at just $99.

From: mobilenapps