Samsung Galaxy Nexus or Motorola Droid 4

[aliantonio]

Ok Droid users, I need your help. I am thinking of purchasing a new Droid very soon and am torn between these two phones. I currently have a Motorola Droid 2 and running Liberty Rom on Froyo. I don't have too many complaints with this phone, just ready for a new one. I heard the Nexus has terrible battery life but I wonder if a custom ROM could increase battery life. Here are the main reasons why I'm torn. Any suggestions???

Galaxy Nexus	Droid 4
Android 4.0 (ICS)	Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread
$299 with upgrade	$199 with upgrade
5MP camera	8MP camera
bad battery life	decent battery life
removable battery	non-removable battery
no micro-sd chip	micro-sd chip
currently has more ROMs to flash	less ROMs
virtual keyboard	physical QWERTY keyboard

 

[geeyawn]

I was in the same situation as you were just a few days ago. Both phones are great, but i said to myself, i will always want a phone with a physical keyboard because i have giant hands. You can debate specs all you want, but for me I had to try them out for myself. I text a lot so i had to make sure to do keyboard comparisons. The keyboard for the droid 4 felt nice and soft, with the sweet dedicated number row, but it was just too hard to type on. Instead of hitting the letter A, i would hit the tab button on accident. It will take some getting used to. everything is mostly shifted to the right. Just to compare i tried the nexus keyboard thinking id hate the on screen keyboard, but i was able to type more accurately on the screen and real fast. I fell in love right away. In conclusion, Nexus won my heart. The screen was just soo much better and had to pull the trigger. I can't wait til i get it on Wed! Good luck, and make sure to try them out

 

[geeyawn]

oh i forgot, because of the poor batt life i read, i ended up getting a spare battery with external charger. Hopefully that will help me out!

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[adampalooza]

I absolutely say GNex. This is probably the happiest I've ever been with a phone which is tough since I just came from the OG Droid.

I too got the extra battery and charger. I never have the phone hooked up to the wall and with a good rom + kernel (currently running liquid smooth 1.25) I'm getting roughly 24 hours with about 4 hrs screen time before switching battery.

ICS is fantastic too. I could never go back to froyo or gingerbread. Also, if you like to tinker with the phone the nexus blows the D4 away.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[aliantonio]

this helps a lot guys, thank you

 

[tgyberg]

I absolutely say GNex. This is probably the happiest I've ever been with a phone which is tough since I just came from the OG Droid.

I too got the extra battery and charger. I never have the phone hooked up to the wall and with a good rom + kernel (currently running liquid smooth 1.25) I'm getting roughly 24 hours with about 4 hrs screen time before switching battery.

ICS is fantastic too. I could never go back to froyo or gingerbread. Also, if you like to tinker with the phone the nexus blows the D4 away.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

This post has to settle it no?! That's some killer battery life! :icon_ rocker:

 

[adampalooza]

This is with stock battery and you can see I can still get plenty more out of it but I'm gonna swap batteries for the day and wanted to show you it's not so bad. I should note this is with 4g off and a fair amount of wifi but I use a decent amount of 3g too.

View attachment 49039 View attachment 49041

 

[Captmilk]

Get a RAZR Maxx

 

[trestevenson]

I too was debating which of the two phones I would prefer after my D1 became unusable. Two of my friends got the D4, and I got to tinker around with the device on multiple occasions before making my decision. The keyboard is probably the best I've ever used, and there's no denying Motorola's build quality. The phone is solid, and I really couldn't see myself using a virtual keyboard as opposed to a slide-out. That was the main thing I really enjoyed about my A855. But then I thought about how Moto screwed over everyone who bought a D3 by releasing the Droid 4 in such close succession to it. I saw how they released the Razr Developer Edition in Europe, after thousands of requests from their American customers to unlock their bootloaders, and I knew what I had to do. I was no longer going to support a company who would treat their customers so poorly. And honestly, I don't regret my choice in the slightest.

The Nexus may cost more, and the camera may not be the better spec'd of the two, but I have to say that ICS is pretty f'ing sweet! Additionally the amount of support that this device has gotten so far, and will continue to get in the future, from the dev community is overwhelming! I have a desk job where I have access to a wall charger all day, so the non-removable battery isn't an issue for me. I also never got close to filling up the SD card on my Droid 1, so the fact that the Galaxy Nexus doesn't have one was a non-issue as well. The on-screen keyboard took some time getting used to, but I would argue that I'm just as fast with text messages as I was with the physical keyboard after using Swiftkey X for a few weeks. I thought the size of the phone was going to be an issue too, but it actually feels smaller than the D4 due to the lack of a physical keyboard adding weight to it. The build quality of the back cover does seem cheap, I'll admit, but I've only needed to remove it once or twice. I keep a Diztronic case on it almost all of the time.

Ultimately, people have different reasons for why they do things. My reasons for choosing to go with the Nexus may not matter to you in the slightest, and you might determine that the Droid 4 is a better fit for how you will use your device. If you can, get some hands-on time with both and go with what your gut tells ya. Whichever one you like more, buy it!

As a side note, I can't really speak on how the battery life is for the Droid 4. I always leave 4G on, I keep my screen almost on the lowest setting, and I'm running a lean kernel in tandem with the BAMF Paradigm ROM. That being said, I use my phone sparingly throughout the day for calls (less than an hour daily) but quite frequently for text messages (50-100 times/day), and I can make it 12 hours without needing a charge. Like I mentioned earlier though, I have the ability to charge my phone at my job so I don't typically let it run down all the way. Whatever you decide, I think you'll be happy with either one. Both are good devices, and they are major upgrades to your Droid 2.

 

[aliantonio]

that was beyond helpful, thank you very much for that response

 

[GalaxyFlatulence]

Seriously? :icon_eek:

 

[trestevenson]

that was beyond helpful, thank you very much for that response

Glad I could help.