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So I started my android life with a G1, then eventually got a Mytouch. Now I am considering getting a Nexus one, I have the money saved up but I am not 100% sure... I want some experienced users (mainly the people who's root) and tell me, does the battery last good? And are you truly happy with it? Because I can't make up my mind rather to get the Nexus, or the Droid..Or some other new android phones coming to t-mobile soon..(rumors)
But then again I hate the fact that every time I buy a phone a new one comes out.. lol.
Side note: If anyone is selling a nexus, let me know.
G1-evolve said:
So I started my android life with a G1, then eventually got a Mytouch. Now I am considering getting a Nexus one, I have the money saved up but I am not 100% sure... I want some experienced users (mainly the people who's root) and tell me, does the battery last good? And are you truly happy with it? Because I can't make up my mind rather to get the Nexus, or the Droid..Or some other new android phones coming to t-mobile soon..(rumors)
But then again I hate the fact that every time I buy a phone a new one comes out.. lol.
Side note: If anyone is selling a nexus, let me know.
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Tough situation. You have to realize that at some point, the trigger has to be pulled and when it is, another device will be coming out. That is just how it works. Look at Apple users...they buy a laptop to find out 6 months later something even better is arriving. Technology never waits, so when you want something, jump on it.
If you are on T-Mobile, you can look at the Desire. If you are interested in Verizon, the Incredible is landing soon which is basically a Desire with a boost.
The Nexus is a very open platform with amazing community support and having owned two, I regret nothing. This phone is amazing.
deprecate said:
Tough situation. You have to realize that at some point, the trigger has to be pulled and when it is, another device will be coming out. That is just how it works. Look at Apple users...they buy a laptop to find out 6 months later something even better is arriving. Technology never waits, so when you want something, jump on it.
If you are on T-Mobile, you can look at the Desire. If you are interested in Verizon, the Incredible is landing soon which is basically a Desire with a boost.
The Nexus is a very open platform with amazing community support and having owned two, I regret nothing. This phone is amazing.
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+infinity!!!!
I have good battery life now with some setting changes in custom rom I run. I have the extended battery so the feeling is comfortable for 1 hand texting. I still have and toy with my G1 but when I leave the house the I have the N1. I wouldn't trade my N1 for any phone out. It took me a few days to get adjusted to not having the physical keyboard but the size of the screen really make it easy. I just didn't get it when I had a mytouch. These are just a few of my options.
Definitely get a Nexus. Like deprecate said, technology will keep moving. You just gotta take the plunge. Battery life has been decent for me but that is most probably cause mine is still a brand new battery. Once it's broken in a little, it should be good.
The processor is ridiculously amazing. Things just work, and work very fast. Trust me, once you use the Nexus for a day and try to go back to G1/Dream, you will wonder how you lived all this time. The HTC Desire Rom for Nexus is actually very good if you like Sense. It also has Flash Player Lite if you're into that. Cyan's Rom, of course, gets better all the time. Honestly there aren't a lot of Rom options yet but that's because there isn't very much that could be improved at this point. Everything just works.
All in all, I say go for it.
the desire seems ok, idk I really might get a nexus I just don't want the battery to suck for a $500+ phone.
Well you gotta be reasonable. It has a 1ghz processor. The thing is gonna be a bit of a juice monkey no matter what. There are undervolted kernels available that help with battery life though.
After a month playing with my rooted N1 (previously had a iphone 3g) i can only say: Wow, this beast is fast. You can multi-task, load custom ROMs, browse fast and soon we will have flash support. Battery life is accetable, so great performance with a so thin design is acceptable. And android is a powerfull and flexible OS. Im very happy with my nexus1.
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
I went through the same thought process as well before buying my Nexus One. The thing that really sold me was the fact that I have a few friends with Android phones and they all seem pretty frustrated that they see all these new Android releases coming out and their phones remain stuck at 1.5. Since the N1 is Google's showcase phone it's pretty much a given that it will always get timely updates to the latest version of Android. I don't think you can say the same for ANY other Android phone (a lot even have boot loaders that can't be unlocked like the Milestone and Rogers HTC Magic) and I doubt any that might come out in the next few months will be that lucky either. Plus this thing is just mind blowing fast.
I came from an iPhone 3G so initially I was slightly disappointed with the touchscreen (it doesn't reject spurious input from fingers and palms that might wrap around the phone) and the less than stellar reception. Every time I put my hand on lower part of the phone and see 2-3 bars of reception disappear I feel shame.
Coming from a Magic I doubt I would ever notice this because these problems exist in those phones too as I believe it uses the same touchscreen and the radio placement is identical.
As for battery life, I actually get pretty good life now that my usage has settled down.
For the Battery if you run one of the UV kernels as well as setcpu with profiles. Also do some of the main things you do with your Mytouch like turn off wifi, GPS, screen brightness to low, only use 3G when you need it other wise leave it on Edge, as well as the many other battery saving ideas. You should should get great battery life. I can go about 16 hours of ok usage and have about 50 to 60% battery life left. Check my Sig for what i am running. Over all i paid full price for my N1 and i am love with phone in every way.
I am about to upgrade my phone. Currently on a Touch Pro 2 and Xrom. This will be my first Android phone and obviously I am considering the Bionic. I know nothing about Android and since Microsoft seems to have abandoned the smartphone world and very few phones are on 7, it seems like a good time to make the move.
I have read the reviews, scoured this forum and it looks like the Bionic is everything it is supposed to be. I am a noob, just an old one, this phone is my b-day present to myself, will be 48 in a few days. I do have a few questions...
Is the Bionic really the shiznit phone or should I wait for a while for a better phone on the horizon?
I can get this phone for $220 bucks through Amazon or $250 through Verizon. Is there any reason to not get it from Amazon?
I am not quite ready to get into flashing new rom's on Android as I have a lot of learning to do first, but I hate bloatware. With the TP2 getting off the stock rom was a good thing, I can go two days on a battery charge, but is it as important with Android? I know the Bionic can be rooted and bloatware removed, but does it slow the phone down if it is left there?
Thanks in advance, this forum rocks!
I upgraded from the TP2. Couldn't be happier. Didn't have many problems with the TP2, but it's old and outdated. This thing is just a beast. You could wait for something better, but I decided that it was time. If something else comes out and I want it, I'll just use a different upgrade.
Thanks, actually I have had zero issues with my TP2 that I got right after it's release. I wasn't sure I wanted to give it up, but I will have it as a backup phone so that works out. My only apprehension is the Motorola phone, I swore I would never have another after the MotoQ that got replaced 4 times in 4 weeks before I demanded a Touch Pro 1 and Verizon coughed it up to keep me happy.
I like new and learning Android will be fun. I just don't want to go through what I did with the MotoQ, what a pc of crap that was. Motorola used to be awesome, but I haven't had a good Moto phone since the StarTac.
Regarding buying it thru Vz vs. Amazon....a couple things come to mind
1) Who has a better return/exchange policy? Vz has 14 days to return and $30 restocking fee. If the phone is defective in the 1st year I believe Vz would give you a Factory Refurbished Phone. How does Amazon stack up to that? Brick and mortar store gives you same day service, pretty important if you can't live w/out your phone.
2) Are you planning to get any accessories? I don't know if it's still going on but when I bought my Bionic with the HD Dock, the dock ended up being $54. Normally I get a corporate discount of 25% on accessories, but this must have been some other promotion. So you may want to shop your complete purchase and get a total out the door price.
I had some buyer's remorse initially with the Bionic but overall I love the phone. I came from the HTC Incredible. The colors were more vibrant on the Incredible, but the Bionic looks OK. Reds, blues, and greens all reproduce nicely, yellow and orange leave something to be desired tho. But if you spend any time at all outdoors, the screen on the Bionic is amazing...it's very visible outside, something I'm not used to with my Incredible.
So far my only serious complaints with the phone is the issues it has switching networks, this is a known issue as you're probably aware and should be fixed with an OTA. Also, I haven't heard this from anyone else so it may be an issue specific to my location, but I exchanged my 1st Bionic b/c the voice quality over 4g was horrible. I could hear fine, but others couldn't hear me very well. The new phone had the same issues so I leave 4G off unless I know I need it. It very well could be an issue with my being on the outer fringe of 4G reception but I'm not sure. When doing speed tests over 4G I was getting 20Mbps down and around 6-8Mpbs up...so it would seem like I have OK signal.
Testing the demo at the store the pentile screen was very noticeable for some of the things I wanted to demo on the phone. I still see it from time to time, but it doesn't bother me, the text is clean and crisp and easy to read so that's good enough for me.
I have a little heartburn over the HD playback capabilities. Being that the phone comes with an HDMI output and offers an HD Dock to connect to your HDTV, I expected a little more with HD playback. I was hoping to throw a bunch of 720P movies on an SD card for when we travel and be able to play back the movies at the hotel. However the only HD playback I've seen from the phone that's smooth is video shot thru the onboard camera. Now I'm trying to figure out how to convert my existing movies to playback better on the Bionic.
None of these issues were dealbreakers for me. I keep in touch with what's on the horizon as far as other devices and aside from 720p resolution screens coming out, there's nothing that's really going to make the Bionic seem outdated. The only other phone I considered holding out for was the Nexus Prime. I like the idea of a brick phone that's just a large touch screen and the function buttons are built in to the app instead of being phsyical buttons...but I'd rather wait until we have a plethora of Ice Cream Sandwich O/S phones to choose from...I didn't want to put all my eggs in Samsung's basket only to be left disappointed.
Also something else to consider regarding 1280x720 screen resolutions...all of Verizon's 4G phones have struggled with battery life, I'd have to imagine a 1280x720 screen is only going to eat that up faster.
I would recommend against the Bionic, but only because of the locked bootloader situation. Not being able to load what I wanted was the reason I left the iPhone -- I don't want to settle for a half-baked solution with a rooted-but-unlocked Bionic.
Overall, the phone performs well (with the exception of random data connection loss and battery drain). But, for $200 or more, I ought to be able to do with the phone what I want.
There is no difference in buying from Amazon or Verizon directly, except with Verizon you have 14 days to return it for a 30% restock fee, Amazon will let you have 30 days. After 30 days you get a refurb from Verizon for the remainder of a year.
I understand battery life, the TP2 I had to charge after about 8 hours until I went with a custom ROM. I don't see much that it can do that I want to do that I can't already do with my TP2, except a better camera and movie playback. I do take pics with my TP2, but I am not sure I would take or play many movies with the Bionic, so that isn't much of an issue. I have a real camera and blue ray players all over the house. I know I would miss my physical keyboard, and every new phone I have touched with a physical keyboard feels like lightweight junk and nothing has the solid feel I am used to. The current Droid phones from Verizon leave little to be desired, with the exception of the Bionic. At least I can say the Bionic has a good feel, I will just have to learn to type on the touchscreen. The screen is large enough that my fat fingers can, I demo'd the phone at a VZ brick and mortar. I will miss my Bing Navigation but can adapt to Google, my old 7 series BMW is not BT capable, but does have Navigation that works, though I am so used to my Bing voice app that I rarely use it. I may get the Nav cradle for the Bionic, it has some appeal.
As far as unlocked phones go, the current trend from Moto seems to be locked bootloaders. I do believe that the awesome people here will crack that code or Motorola will give it up. Though I don't really see much reason to upgrade, my phone is getting old and I am a tech junkie at times. I think the time is now.
I am still interested in other peoples opinions, your experience has value, at least to me.
Ok so right now am looking for a phone to buy.
And had the droid x
And droid charge.
So my question is would anybody recommend the d3?
And how is the development for the d3 look in the future?
I heard about motorola unlocking the bootloader but when the day comes, will they only provide it with the new phones? Or would it be like an update?
Absolutely would recommend!
I wholeheartedly recommend the D3 - especially if you are looking for a physical keyboard.
Development is well under way and there are now at least 2 full working ROMs. I've tried both Steel Droid and Monster and both are great - i find monster to be faster and thats my preference.
When I first got the phone, I was pretty bummed that the locked bootloader had put a huge damper on development. Ever since root has been acheived, however, things have been much better and you could not pry my D3 from my cold dead hands.
I hear that Blur is much better than previous iterations, but I use launcher pro so I don't use blur at all.
heres a link to the ROM, Mods and Themes thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1289611
As much as I like my D3, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to get a new phone. unless you absolutely need a keyboard, I would wait for either the Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus. Both will have better hardware and FAR better screens and will be LTE.
I got a D3 yesterday, after having the D1 the last two years. After about 20 hours using it, I love it. I really dig how fast it is, and the larger screen is nice too.
As soon as I got it home, I rooted it and ran the scripts to remove the VZW apps. I really don't see a need to flash a ROM since this D3 runs so smoothly already. I'd like to edit some PNG files here and there, and that will probably be about it for me. I remember the constant flashing of ROM's, SBF files, and themes on my D1. This time around, I'm really not looking forward to that. It feels to me like VZW and Motorola did a great job with the device as is once you skim off the bloatware.
Like SrulDog, I switched to LP immediately. I've been using LP since about the time it was released, so I am very comfortable with it. It runs great on the D3 too.
I say go for it. I don't know how it compares to the Droids you have owned, but I know it is much better than the D1.
-Mike
kishin14 said:
As much as I like my D3, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to get a new phone. unless you absolutely need a keyboard, I would wait for either the Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus. Both will have better hardware and FAR better screens and will be LTE.
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Sure the screen looks crap sometimes. But I'm standing in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather right now and I can see every detail on it. Try that on an AMOLED.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
I have had this phone for a couple weeks and I am enjoying it. I had an OG Droid that the screen crapped out on me so this was nice because it works! I am used to the hardware keyboard on a Blackberry Tour/Bold 9650 but that's personal preference. I am getting used to this one though and I can fly on it so I guess it's pretty good for a keyboard.
A couple things I have done are root, freeze a few apps like VCast and run Autokiller at Strict, and the phone is as smooth as butter now. It has the same hardware as the Bionic really so I mean it's as high end as you can get. If you want 4G then as mentioned you should wait, but I have been getting great 3G speeds and yes I have to wait for the Market apps to download a little but it's a lot faster than it has been in the past with my OG Droid.
Well 4g isent really a biggy for me.
More like.batterry life and great rom features really
Androidsims said:
Sure the screen looks crap sometimes. But I'm standing in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather right now and I can see every detail on it. Try that on an AMOLED.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
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+1
/droid3
Great responses here! This is why I love XDA! To answer the question…yes, I would definitely recommend getting a DVD for all the reasons given above. Dev work is going well, CM7 is on the way, and we MAY have an AOSP rom by the weekend (permissions to port pending). The physical keyboard is outstanding, and the screen is good. Even though colors are a bit washed out, being able to view the screen in direct sunlight, with no issues, is a massive bonus. If you don't need the keyboard, and can wait a little while, I would jump all over the Nexus Prime/ galaxy Nexus/ whatever they're calling that 4.65" piece of sexiness! Either way, you'll end up satisfied imo.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
The biggest bugger for me is the lack of RAM. Phone would have been a whole lot better if it had 1GB ram instead 512MB only. The screen is a letdown IMO, but indeed is great in the sun and also better on the battery.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk
Aside from the occasional issues from being in Australia, I must say I recommend the Droid 3. It's excellent!
I still fail to see what the lack of ram is holding us back from. But I've already convinced pne person to buy this phone, and they text me damn near everyday to thank me.
sent from my MONSTERDroid3 from the XDA app
Two years ago the Milestone was an awesome terminal for its time.
Nice design, perfect size, one of the best display ever seen, incredibly good audio quality and decent CPU power.
The only drawbacks were the horrible battery life, the cheap keyboard and the crap camera.
The D3, although can't be considered a bad phone, is the shadow of what the MS1 was.
The performances (I mean the real ones, not the benchmarks) aren't on par with one years old phones, the crap camera and the poor battery life are still there, the keyboard is improved but is still built like a toy, while the phone grown more than the display, the display went from the best available to the worst ever seen, the signal sensitivity went from the top to the "below the average". The audio quality, while better than the HTC phones is not on par with the motorola ancestors.
As I already said, my Desire Z (aka G2) was a better phone in any area, excluding the audio level and the lack of the numeric ROW.
From my point of view was a boring phone, everything worked from the beginning, good battery life, great photos, super stable system, good keyboard, and fantastic tethering capabilities.
The display was also good, not as the one on the Milestone 1, but light years better than the Droid 3's one.
All in all I suggest to buy the D3 only if you can get a very good deal.
If you like a ready to go smartphone, a DZ/G2 is still a way better choice, especially considering its today average price.
gravenimage said:
I still fail to see what the lack of ram is holding us back from.
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x2.
i think people come from older phones and get hung up on the numbers when with a better processor and other amenities a 'low' RAM really isn't a factor and can actually make the phone faster with everything cached and saved to the system memory. I don't even check the RAM since i've never had an issue with slow or choppy speed.
Also i go a whole day with my phone and end with 30% battery at the end of the day. i use it heavy while im out, not as much when home from work but even then i come home with 50-40% battery. I'm not sure what you guys are doing to get poor battery life.
kern417 said:
x2.
I'm not sure what you guys are doing to get poor battery life.
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Usually just using it on modern networks.
The motorola basebands are usually poor (especially on the erly releases), and the power drain has a lot of variation depending on the generation and the make of the BTS/node-b, whatever.
Just for example when I got the milestone 1, with the initial firmware tha battery lasted less than six hour with a vodafone SIM, and almost a day with a three SIM.
The Solutor said:
Usually just using it on modern networks.
The motorola basebands are usually poor (especially on the erly releases), and the power drain has a lot of variation depending on the generation and the make of the BTS/node-b, whatever.
Just for example when I got the milestone 1, with the initial firmware tha battery lasted less than six hour with a vodafone SIM, and almost a day with a three SIM.
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Idk I hear people on Verizon say the same thing and we get pretty good service just about everywhere. sure at my old job where I was tucked in the basement my phone would die quickly but I couldnt blame that on the phone or the software, like you said it's the radio trying to get signal. I think it more depends on the user and how they use the phone/what services they run.
I had installed Juice Defender originally because i thought it would increase battery life, but i turn my screen on and off so much that it actually drained more battery from turning data off and on all the time, so now i only use it to automatically enable wifi when i'm home and turn off data while i'm asleep. maybe something like that could help you out?
All in all I think the D3 is one of the best Android options out. Plus i'm petty and like the fact that not everyone around here has one since it didn't seem to get a bunch of publicity...people still ask me 'What phone is that???"
kern417 said:
I had installed Juice Defender originally because i thought it would increase battery life, but i turn my screen on and off so much that it actually drained more battery from turning data off and on all the time, so now i only use it to automatically enable wifi when i'm home and turn off data while i'm asleep. maybe something like that could help you out?
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When I bought the MS1 "wi sync plus" was the program that saved the ms1 form a jump out of the window.
Btw i never tried any wi sync+ clone, like juice defender.
I'm about to purchased D3 today. Too bad it's hard to find one here. Already ask the seller to check with the supplier if there is any. I only found Motorola Atrix at one single shop here.
This is definitely my choice right now. In my opinion, 512MB RAM is enough for a dual core 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC processor. PowerVR SGX540 is just nice, too bad that it only support OpenGL 2.0 and not DirectX as in Playstation Vita with PowerVR SGX543.
QWERTY keyboard has improved a lot this time. It had HDMI Type-D, Physical Button for Camera & Sound Volume & Micro-USB. I really hope it will get ICS update when it release and capable of USB Host. Another thing is that Motorola had been bought by Google, I believe Motorola will have latest update every time new Android version released. I hope so
One thing that make me stay away from Samsung Galaxy S2 is that it had one single port Micro USB for everything(HDMI through MHL, USB data, USB Charging, USB Host)
If i use HDMI output, then I cannot use USB Host at the same time. I wonder if the USB Host adapter connected to USB Hub, can it handle and recognize multiple device such as keyboard, mouse,game controller,USB Pendrive etc?
Yeah, but the way I understand it, even the phones that have 1gb of RAM right now (Atrix, Bionic) dont really have 1gb because 512mb is locked to be used with Webtop. And so far as I have been able to find, no other phone has more than 512mb right now. Can anyone confirm?
This mattered to me because I have an Atrix right now on AT&T and I absolutely love the phone, but can't take the ****ty service everywhere anymore, have to switch to Verizon. I had basically three phones I was looking at in the Amazon penny sale, D3, Bionic and the new Samsung qwerty, Supernova or something. So, if the above is right, the D3 I'm getting is essentially the same phone as my Atrix now without Webtop (don't care) or 4g (not here for years, boucou wifi) but with a physical kb, which actually makes it way better. I actually really, really like Gingerblur, and if it's slow I dig Launcherpro, so I should be good, yeah?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
This. Coming from an Atrix getting HDMI mirroring will be a big deal to me; I didn't buy any docks and haven't rooted or reflashed other than official 2.3 update, so the only thing I ever get over HDMI is the media player interface. Which is cool, but I want something else.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Recovering flashaholic, recently went back to original Galaxy Nexus so I could avoid renewing with Verizon, on an old grandfathered (true unlimited) plan.
Missing a QWERTY and looking at picking up a used Droid 4. What are your thoughts, is the radio stable for tethering?
DNak206 said:
Recovering flashaholic, recently went back to original Galaxy Nexus so I could avoid renewing with Verizon, on an old grandfathered (true unlimited) plan.
Missing a QWERTY and looking at picking up a used Droid 4. What are your thoughts, is the radio stable for tethering?
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Click to collapse
If you miss a qwerty you'll love the D4. Keyboard is great and CM11 has made me fall in love with my phone all over again. The only thing to really complain about is battery life. When I'm home on wifi I can make it through a day. Otherwise plan on charging it at least once during the day. Unless you pick up the extended battery that FINALLY came out about a month or so ago. Tethering has worked fine for me the few times I've used it.
Droid 4 - CM11
I just bought a used d-4 to replace my old d-4 mainly because i wore some of the keys off after 2.5 yrs. I could have used my upgrade for a fancy new device but I am sticking with the d-4 . Of course 2 weeks after I purchased it, the promise of a d-5 came out. But who knows how long we will really be waiting for the d-5. / extended battery??????? Whaaaaaat... I will have to check that out. My batt does last a full day with medium use.
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
ricpdjrr said:
I just bought a used d-4 to replace my old d-4 mainly because i wore some of the keys off after 2.5 yrs. I could have used my upgrade for a fancy new device but I am sticking with the d-4 . Of course 2 weeks after I purchased it, the promise of a d-5 came out. But who knows how long we will really be waiting for the d-5. / extended battery??????? Whaaaaaat... I will have to check that out. My batt does last a full day with medium use.
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
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I think the biggest reason my battery doesn't normally last a day is because I have such a crappy data connection at work. Always switching between 2 bars of 3G or 1 bar of 4G. See the thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541577 for more info and links regarding the extended battery.
kwyrt said:
I think the biggest reason my battery doesn't normally last a day is because I have such a crappy data connection at work. Always switching between 2 bars of 3G or 1 bar of 4G. See the thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541577 for more info and links regarding the extended battery.
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Good info, thank you both! I'm assuming rooting and all that is simple enough, I would probably root and stick with STOCK unless CM11 is really worthwhile. Any major bugs/flaws w/ this guy?
I've been running stargos cm11 since release and honestly it is almost flawless. He has been constantly updating and fixing wakelocks, along with other minor issues. Stock is.... well I was happy to get rid of all the bloatware crap and have my phone run faster. As for rooting and such, extremely easy.
Sent from my XT894 using xda app-developers app
I LOVE QWERTY Phones. I bought a used Droid 4 recently because the keys were falling off my old droid 2 and I didn't want to lose my unlimited data plan with Verizon. I have been going between Stock/CM11 and now SlimKat using SafeStrap so you can essentially dual boot your phone and keep the Stock rom there to always load as a failsafe.
I had waited 3-4 months for the possibility of a droid 5, and then almost went for the new Nexus 5 phone but of course Google had to release it for every carrier EXCEPT Verizon. Lame.
My phone MUST have a QWERTY keyboard. Likewise, I probably won't upgrade for another several years, since QWERTY phones seem to be dead, nowadays. I'm sticking with my Droid 4 until the community gives up on it, or it explodes.
I absolutely believe that it's worth it. I can type with the same speed and precision as I can on a regular computer keyboard, and I prefer that over relying on auto-correct, auto-fill, word prediction, or many of the other replacements for letter-by-letter typing. How I type on a computer - syntax, spelling, lack of shorthand - is how I type on a phone, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. I'm of the mindset that phone manufacturers have sacrificed the keyboard for a slimmer phone, and come out with virtual keyboards that try to emulate what was already there in the past.
EDIT: I would like to point out that the custom ROMs aren't perfect. They can be used as daily drivers, but MMS is a hit-or-miss (working on some uptimes, and not working on other uptimes), GPS works at random, and you'll experience the Sleep of Death more than a few times. Typically, if you have Touch Sounds enabled on your phone, and you suddenly hear the sound "die", you do NOT want to turn off the phone's screen or do anything involving media playback - if you do, you won't be able to turn it back on without doing a hard reset. Just reset until the sound works, again - of course, then you'll need to make sure that MMS works with that specific reboot. A good way to test that would be to send an MMS to somebody; if it sends, it works. If not, you'll need to reset the phone until it does, keeping in mind the (common) sound bug, as well. GPS is the same; if it works on a specific uptime, it'll work for the duration of that uptime.
If you're willing to put up with these three rather annoying bugs, the features of the custom ROMs more than make up for it. I'd choose CyanogenMod over Stock any day of the week.
My iphone4 is crapping out on me and its time for something new. The only current phone with a slide out is the lg enact, and reviews on it arnt good. The specs are about the same as the d4 which appears to be a better phone. My work phone is a samsung s5 and while i love it, i hate digital keyboards and i dont really need this big of a powerhouse. All I use my phone for is webbrowsing, facebook, spotify/pandora, gps, email, snapchat and call/txt. Is the d4 capable of these things? My i4 isnt capable of running facebook or spotify without loads of lag/freezing.
droid 4 can do some multi tasking but ive never used spotify/pandora so i cant really comment on how thatd work however i do usually torrent stuff while browsing the web on firefox and maybe listen to music at the same time with everything going fairly smooth. obviously it wont be as good as an s5 but should be alright
D4 actually performs pretty reasonable as long as you keep the bloat out. CM11 and Slimkat are the most upto date rom options, both are stable for daily use I've been using Slimkat 8.8 (4.4.4) with apex launcher and a few background services like skype/kik/snapchat installed with only 320/838mb RAM usage on boot. Battery life isn't great because the Droid 4 only has a 1785mAh battery, but generally I have enough battery to get through the day.
Hey elanzer. Thanks for the feedback! Do you have any experience running music applications such as the ones i listed? Also, is the bsttery removable? Ive seen mixed things in regards to this. If so Id be interested in seeing if there is a upgradable battery option to get a little more juice in there.
apmorgan93 said:
Hey elanzer. Thanks for the feedback! Do you have any experience running music applications such as the ones i listed? Also, is the bsttery removable? Ive seen mixed things in regards to this. If so Id be interested in seeing if there is a upgradable battery option to get a little more juice in there.
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The battery is labeled non-removable by motorola but you can still remove it with tools and install a replacement battery, there's an extended battery by mugen available too.
Since the Droid 4 has a MicroSD slot, I don't use anything like pandora/spotify because I just put my music on a 32gb SD card and play it with Apollo, but I can't see why it hasn't worked. I've used some streaming audio in the background while doing other things without issue.
Ive had my Droid 4 since it come out, Ive recently starting using iheartradio/slacker/di.fm music apps with only the occasional glitch/lock up, i think most of them were caused by too much crap running, im looking at updating to slimkat or cm11 to see if there are any improvements over stock, i hate to get rid of this phone because i cant find any new phones with a tactile keyboard as i too dislike touchscreen typing, only thing that is holding me back from updating to custom rom is ive read that 4g lte isnt working and thats a no go for me
im using cm11 (4.4) and i have 4g lte with verizon that works just fine
from my understanding lte wont work with any other carrier so just verizon so i say its pretty safe to use 4.4
as for the battery you can get a slightly extended one (gold) for 14-15 dollars or the mugen brick which is about 90 dollars the model of the battery is eb41 so you can search for that
if you buy gold or mugen they should come with the screwdriver required to make the change since there are 2 screws holding the plates on the phone
additional stock batteries probably wont have the tools with them