Compared to a Droid 1, any downsides?

[sglfx]

The camera icon is in the APP tray, The button is on the display like the D1 was. D1 you swiped your phone open one way turned off sound the other. D4 the other way R > L opens the camera (which I thought was pretty cool) I previously had droid 1 as well. The pictures come out better larger with the 1080p all the HD stuff. Zoom doesn't look as fuzzy as the D1. a facing camera as well and some extra's; effects, panoramas, timer multi-picture taking several pics at once The video you can actually turn on the light now. Video also has a stabilizer haven't tried that yet. And again opening up the key board you can press and hold the OK button.

[TC_Mits]

Vzw considers the D4 to be like a rechargeable flashlight -- disposable when the battery wears out. There is no vzw / Moto option to replace the battery. Bootleg work-arounds will surely emerge, just be aware that they're not sanctioned:

Folks...I need to pull the trigger on either a Droid 4 or a Maxx pretty soon. However, the non-removable battery seems like a source of pain in the future.

Let's say I go for a Droid 4. Sixteen months into the contract the battery starts to crap out. If I put it on a Amex card, they'll pay UP TO the initial cost of the phone ($300). But Verizon tech support tells me today that the phone battery can't be replaced, you have to replace the entire phone ($600?+).

Has anyone yet tried to replace a battery in any of these non-replaceable battery phones? Any thoughts on how to get around the possibility of having to shell out big bucks just because of a bad battery in 18 months?

thanks!

Mike Nassour / Austin TX

From a HoFo thread.

Two years, give or take, from now this battery issue will impact the resale value of the D4 (ditto RAZR. & MAXX). Consider that, too, when making your purchase.


ALSO: The regular USB chargers you keep as spares probably won't work well with the D4. So if you aren't sure if the 1.8amp battery will last the whole day, factor in an extra charger or two -- at vzw accessory prices -- when you figure the cost of the phone.

Perspective instantiates reality.
( By DX w/DF app. )

[B-Unit]

...


ALSO: The regular USB chargers you keep as spares probably won't work well with the D4. So if you aren't sure if the 1.8amp battery will last the whole day, factor in an extra charger or two -- at vzw accessory prices -- when you figure the cost of the phone.

Perspective instantiates reality.
( By DX w/DF app. )

How do you figure? OG Droid and D4 came with identical chargers (Not just physically, I compared the specs)

[Sohcahtoa]

ALSO: The regular USB chargers you keep as spares probably won't work well with the D4. So if you aren't sure if the 1.8amp battery will last the whole day, factor in an extra charger or two -- at vzw accessory prices -- when you figure the cost of the phone.

Not sure where you get that idea from. I just compared the charger that came with my D1 with the one that came with my D4. The D4 charger says it outputs 5.1V @ 850 mA, while my D1 charger is 5.0V @ 500 mA. Sure, the D1 charger is a little less power, but so what? Its still enough juice to go from a dead to a full charge in under 3 hours.

My whole two cents on going from D1 to D4...

Its TOTALLY worth it. The keyboard will take some getting used to, since the whole thing is transposed 1 key to the right because of the positions of the Shift/Tab/Capslock keys, and a few of the various punctuation keys are in different locations. But the thing is BLAZING fast, and if Verizon's 4G LTE network is just jaw dropping. I like to run speed tests whenever I'm somewhere new, and the lowest I've ever gotten was 5 mbps on a 2 bar signal, usually averaging 11 mbps, with my fastest test being 27 mbps.

People like to complain that the battery is non-removable and that the battery life is ****, but I'm not to worried about it. Get yourself a good external battery and you're golden. Root it and run SetCPU to have it clock down the CPU when inactive. I find myself getting battery life that is certainly worse than my D1, but that's to be expected, and its not so bad to be a deal breaker. Going from a 550 Mhz single-core, 3G phone to a 1.2 Ghz dual core 4G? What do people expect?

This thing is a processing beast. I watch Netflix on it while riding the train to university. About an hour of Netflix will drain the battery from full to 40%, but again, that's why I have that external battery. It'll give it a full recharge 3 times before needing a recharge itself, and with the 1000 mA output, it does it in under 2 hours.

As for the locked bootloader, I'm not really that concerned. The thing got rooted within two days of it being released, despite people thinking it couldn't be done. Give it more time, and certainly people will find a way. Until then, I'm just fine running a stock ROM with root.

TL;DR: I upgraded from a D1 to a the day the D4 came out and never looked back.

[B-Unit]

Hmm, weird, mine are both 5.1V 850ma.

[TC_Mits]

Not sure where you get that idea from. ..

. http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-droid-4-review

"As for battery life, we've been pleasantly surprised. The 1785 mAh battery is a respectable size. Standby time has been excellent (that isn't always the case with Verizon LTE devices), and the Droid 4 holds its own in actual use. LTE data still eats through a battery, but things are getting a little better in that respect. As is always the case, your mileage will vary. But we didn't have any real issues to report, except that phone didn't like to charge on a lot of the USB chargers we have just laying around. You'll likely need to use the included one."

In the D4 you have a $550 phone that its retailer considers worn out, 'totaled', when the battery wears out. By the vzw definition, the life of the battery *is* the life of the D4. If I owned one I'd want to be extra careful about such things as charging regimens...

Perspective instantiates reality.
( By DX w/DF app. )

[TC_Mits]

Disregard

[pcpilot309]

I recently went from the OG to a Droid Pro. Very happy. Rooted and flashing ROMs. I like the physical keyboard. Available SBF files to revert to stock, if needed. The price was right, 2 PROs for free.
Web only deal from Verizon.

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk

[Sohcahtoa]

Droid Pro? Eww. I'd rather have the OG. While the OG might have a slower CPU and less built-in storage, it has a bigger, higher resolution screen, and a bigger keyboard. The Droid Pro essentially looks like a Droid 2 designed for people that actually wanted a Blackberry.

[Wrigley25]

One thing I miss is being able to read a preview of a text in the notification bar.