Upgrade to Note 3??...

[4shlr]

So with VZW's new "more everything" plans my family account now has the ability to upgrade to the Edge program regardless of upgrade eligibility. I've been really happy with my HD Maxx but this is a pretty enticing offer. I was most likely going to jump to the Edge program anyway when I'm eligible for upgrade in November. The way I see it is the only phone that might be worth upgrading to right now is the Note 3 for the size & specs. I have until the end of March to decide so I might wait on the GS5 to see if it's all its been supposedly cracked up to be. Any thoughts on this? Is it worth it?

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[4shlr]

So with VZW's new "more everything" plans my family account now has the ability to upgrade to the Edge program regardless of upgrade eligibility. I've been really happy with my HD Maxx but this is a pretty enticing offer. I was most likely going to jump to the Edge program anyway when I'm eligible for upgrade in November. The way I see it is the only phone that might be worth upgrading to right now is the Note 3 for the size & specs. I have until the end of March to decide so I might wait on the GS5 to see if it's all its been supposedly cracked up to be. Any thoughts on this? Is it worth it?

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[BigMcGuire]

I was in the same position as you except I had a Moto X. I had an iPhone 5 before that. The biggest problem I had with the Moto X is the camera. The Note 3 - I've always wanted it - loved the idea of a big battery big screen. I figured that being able to get a new phone every year also made it worth it (my plan is 10+GB/mo so I'd get $20/mo off on the Note 3 costing me only $9/mo). I've had the phone for 3 days and I'm absolutely loving it. My wife got the 5s and I spent many days wondering if I should have gotten one too. I don't regret the Note 3 and I think it's the best phone I've had so far. Camera, battery life, I can actually READ on it without feeling cramped like my Moto X. I don't think I can go back to a small phone.

 

[4shlr]

I think that's actually what I'm leaning towards. I feel like I'm sitting in a pretty good position right now with having my Razr HD Maxx as a backup device if I don't like whatever I upgrade to. Since the Edge program requires you to trade in the phone.... The biggest hesitation I have is I absolutely love my battery life on my HD Maxx. I see the Note 3 has a 3200mah battery compared to the 3300mah my HD Maxx. But with the bigger screen I'm worried about battery life. Out of curiosity, did you root?

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[BigMcGuire]

I have not rooted. One reason why I left Android back in the day (Motorola Droid 1, HTC Thunderbolt) for iPhone was because I had to CONSTANTLY root again and again to fix a ton of small problems which usually caused more problems - I just wanted a phone. After the iPhone 5 I saw that Android 4.4 was an attempt at a PURE ASOP Android experience. So I got a Nexus 7 (2013) and LOVED it so much I got a Moto X. The ability to Turn Off apps I didn't like was heaven.

Now, yeah, there's a few adware apps I can't turn off on the Note 3 but they don't bug me and they stay off unless I open them. The OS is smooth and after a few days of configuration and turning off some 15+ apps - I have the phone right where I want it. I haven't been able to test the battery fully yet as today was a holiday for my work (got Note 3 2 days ago) - will test battery tomorrow. But the battery usage I do see is 2x what I got on my Moto X.

I hear that there's a flash trip wire in the Note 3 that reports back when you root the device - making it so they know if you've rooted. Some roots claim to leave that trip wire untouched but ... I like having the security of knowing I can return it if I need to. That and, after 2+ years of rooting almost every week back with the Motorola Droid 1 and HTC Thunderbolt - I'd rather just use my phone. I'm getting good battery, I am actually enjoying TouchWiz?, and some of the Samsung apps are very useful.

I am still open to rooting, especially, as I've seen, some claim 1.5x battery life. But because I've come from the Moto X where overnight it would use 20% battery (Note 3 used 4% battery overnight last 2 nights) ..... I don't see the need - and I think that's the only reason why I'd root - to increase battery life and uninstall adware (which makes me very mad).

Sorry it's long but I REALLY love this phone.

I'll unplug it tomorrow morning and give you some real world usage tomorrow night. - Making a Google Keep note now.

 

[4shlr]

Thanks McGuire! I don't mind the length of the post cuz it tells me what I wanted to know! We've had almost identical paths. I went from OG Droid 1 to the Thunderbolt (which is why I'll never own HTC again)... Like I said, battery life is the most important thing to me at this point in my device. I can easily go 2 days on 1 charge with my current set up. And I'm running KitKat. I appreciate the testing you'll be doing for me, anxious to see how it performs! I didn't know that about the trip wire, so I'm glad you told me! Not sure it would completely deter me from it tho. I really like as pure AOSP as I can get. But I could always play around with the other launchers. My wife has the GS4 & I've played around with it a little bit but not enough to know much about TouchWiz.

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[4shlr]

One big difference in our similar paths is I would never go iOS... Have never liked Apple devices. Wife had an iPhone 4 for a couple years & I always hated it lol.

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[daimien]

I'm waiting for note 4

 

[4shlr]

When is the Note 4 dropping?

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[daimien]

Hopefully in August which is my upgrade date so we'll see. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll come out later.

 

[4shlr]

Yeah I'm eligible for upgrade in November, but with this "bonus" upgrade it's real tempting to jump onto Edge now. I like the idea of being able to upgrade more.

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[BigMcGuire]

Yeah I'm eligible for upgrade in November, but with this "bonus" upgrade it's real tempting to jump onto Edge now. I like the idea of being able to upgrade more.

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This... This... This... -- THIS is why I upgraded now even though I got my Moto X in 11/11/13. With the edge program I can get a new phone every year. Yeah I pay a little more for it but I'm happy lol.

 

[BigMcGuire]

https://plus.google.com/photos/106023929328438184913/albums/5981938515590652321 --- here is a public link to the screenshots I took of my Note 3's first day out in the real world. Note: I work within a block of a Verizon tower - not sure why Mobile network signal was empty - it's usually green on my Moto X. Anyway, I had Power Saving Mode ON the entire day. My usage was medium heavy for what I normally do - took a handful of pictures, a few calls, and lots of showing off to coworkers. I do have a black background to maximize battery on an OLED screen with no lock screen.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on turning off Power Saving mode and doing a similar test to compare the two.

Individual Pictures for those who can't access above:

View attachment 69789

View attachment 69790

View attachment 69791

 

[huskur]

https://plus.google.com/photos/106023929328438184913/albums/5981938515590652321 --- here is a public link to the screenshots I took of my Note 3's first day out in the real world. Note: I work within a block of a Verizon tower - not sure why Mobile network signal was empty - it's usually green on my Moto X. Anyway, I had Power Saving Mode ON the entire day. My usage was medium heavy for what I normally do - took a handful of pictures, a few calls, and lots of showing off to coworkers. I do have a black background to maximize battery on an OLED screen with no lock screen.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on turning off Power Saving mode and doing a similar test to compare the two.

Individual Pictures for those who can't access above:

View attachment 69789

View attachment 69790

View attachment 69791

Likely the mobile signal was empty because of upgraded Verizon bandwidth. Run a test on 4G and see what you get. Mine was black "empty" as yours is showing and my speeds during that time were off the hook!! over 70 MBPS download and over 30 MBPS upload.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Likely the mobile signal was empty because of upgraded Verizon bandwidth. Run a test on 4G and see what you get. Mine was black "empty" as yours is showing and my speeds during that time were off the hook!! over 70 MBPS download and over 30 MBPS upload.

Yep, I think you're right. I was looking at my old LTE speedtests and I got 14-19mbps down with 10+mbps up. Now I'm getting 43+mbps down and no cellular reception showing in the battery usage. Interesting!