The case for the Turbo vs Note4

[kirksucks]

I wanted to go to Costco to get a new phone because they have the best deals but not always the best choices in phones. I opted for the Ballistic Nylon 32gb Droid Turbo. It comes in red or black metallic Kevlar and a Ballistic Nylon 64gb version but neither of these are available at Costco. My other choices were the Samsung Galaxys5 or Note4. Initially I wanted the LGG3 but since it's Costco they stopped carrying it a week before I got there. The Note4 was tempting but I really don't care for Samsung's Touchwiz user interface.

I've had the Turbo for just over a week. It's a beast on paper. The specs are out of control. The turbo charging and battery life are the best I've ever seen. Many of the Moto features built into this phone are really cool too but overall, this phone is not all that spectacular. First of all, and this is kind of nitpicky but, I can't stand the ballistic nylon backing. It catches on lint in my pocket and it's fraying around the edges. It feels weird on my fingers too. I can feel the fabric catching my dry rough fingertips. I know a case can fix this but it's a problem not mentioned much in the reviews of this phone. It's been only days, I can't imagine how it would hold up after 2 years.

I'm coming from a two year old Droid RazrM and since the Turbo is essentially the same Motorola/KitKat operating system and user interface it's just like a bigger, more stable version of my old phone but with incredible battery life. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this but I was hoping for the newest version of Android, Lollipop to have been updated on this already. It's also kind of a bummer that since the Turbo doesn't have an SD memory card slot, I couldn't just put my old SD card in and have all my stuff. I find that I'm worried about filling the internal 32gb with music and pictures. By streaming music off the cloud and viewing pictures from the google plus cloud I've already burned through half my data plan. I've noticed the screen is really dim and hard to see in bright daylight outside. The camera is clearly better than I've had before but I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on it since I'm not printing out hi-res photography or anything. So It's got me considering the Note4. It's on par specs wise and is the next best thing Costco has to offer.

But the rub is, as I mentioned before I hate hate hate hate hate Touchwiz. Thankfully I run Nova Prime Launcher on everything and it will virtually get rid of Touchwiz. I also hate the buttons on Samsung. It's like Touchwiz is part of the friggin hardware. Thanks guys. This you cannot fix. Despite these downfalls, I think for what I use my phone for I might bite the bullet and trade in the Turbo for The note4.



Turbo
Pros:
Battery/Turbo Charge (Note4 has similar tech)
Active Display
Moto Voice Control
Front Speaker

Cons:
Crappy Ballistic Nylon quality/feel
No SD card
As of mid/late Feb 2015 no sign of Lollipop.
No onscreen nav buttons
Bad screen brightness
No Lollipop




Note4 Pros:
Quick Charge/Battery
S-Pen
Multi Window/Multitasking
Screen brightness
SD card
Giant screen
Samsung has loaded this with a ton of stuff which I may find useful

Cons:
Being lumped in with mindless samsung sheeple.
Touchwiz
Physical nav buttons
Iffy rear speaker
Back and recent apps buttons switched
Still no lollipop
Giant screen
Samsung has loaded this with a ton of stuff which will probably be useless to me and take up space.

I'm going to go take a closer look at the Note4 today and weigh my hatred of samsung against the features it offers me. Anyone with either phone feel free to chime in on your experiences.

Kirk's Sloppy Mind Noggins: So. I got a new phone. But...

 

[PowrDroid]

This was the same dilemma I wrestled with--Turbo or Note 4. The specs are very similar. Both have great batteries, slight nod to Turbo. Note 4 has better camera.

But....but....TouchWiz---YICK!! I've read too many posts that read like this, "When I first got my Samsung ___, it was snappy fast, but as I used it more and more I noticed lagging with TouchWiz." There are literally thousands of posts like that. Yes, you can defeat some aspects of TouchWiz with aftermarket apps, but why should you have to try to exorcise the entire user experience from your phone so you can enjoy it?

Physical home button? Seriously? Rear speaker? No thank you.

The Note 4 feel and finish, while much improved over the Note 3 and S5, still feels cheap and plasticky. The Turbo feels like a solid piece of technology.

As you noted the giant screen is both an advantage and a disadvantage. I decided it was more of a disadvantage since I actually want to carry my phone around with me, not leave it on a table or desktop.

I don't think I'd find a use for the S-pen, I dunno, but it might be an advantage. As you said there are a lot of other software "features" that you'd likely never use but they are baked into the software.

Your observation that the Turbo does not have adequate screen brightness is something I've never experienced. I have used it in bright sunlight a couple of times and while not crystal clear bright, it was readable. I don't spend much time looking at my phone in sunlight so it wouldn't be a huge factor for me.

Given Moto's recent reputation with OS upgrades I thought we'd have Lollipop for Turbo by now. It's already out for other Moto devices that span several carriers. It must be the Verizon-only distribution of the Turbo that is slowing Lollipop to the Turbo. I would say it's a done deal that Lollipop will come to Turbo before the Note 4.

If I were you, I'd return the 32 GB version and pick up a 64 GB version somewhere else besides Costco, then slap a Diztronic slim or a Tudia slim case on there and be done with it.

 

[kirksucks]

That being said the whole experience with this phone being essentially the same phone I had, just bigger is leaving me underwhelmed. I was hoping for somewhat of a new experience. I'm torn. I can live with a rear speaker. I have forever. If I'm listening to music I use chromecast, bluetooth or headphones. TBH nothing really sounds good on cellphone speakers.

The physical button sucks. I just dont get what Samsung is thinking. That's my biggest hurdle.

 

[PowrDroid]

That being said the whole experience with this phone being essentially the same phone I had, just bigger is leaving me underwhelmed. I was hoping for somewhat of a new experience. I'm torn.

I came from a Maxx HD, so the Turbo is even more like having the same phone than your Razr M. That's OK, because the Maxx HD was a really good phone. I can appreciate the Turbo's bigger and sharper screen, lightning fast speed, better camera, more features, but yeah, it's not a completely new experience with a learning curve.

I can live with a rear speaker. I have forever. If I'm listening to music I use chromecast, bluetooth or headphones. TBH nothing really sounds good on cellphone speakers.

The physical button sucks. I just dont get what Samsung is thinking. That's my biggest hurdle.

Yes, the physical button is so....2009. I think they have it because it soothes Apple users who are thinking of making the switch to Samsung. For me, I think the worst thing would be the size. I can't see walking around with the Note 4 in my pocket as being comfortable.

Sounds to me like you want a completely new experience. What is Costco's return policy? Can you return the Turbo, try the Note 4, and return that if you don't like it?

 

[kirksucks]

Sounds to me like you want a completely new experience. What is Costco's return policy? Can you return the Turbo, try the Note 4, and return that if you don't like it?

I'm gonna find out today. If I have the option to return the note and get something else after it will be a no brainer. If I'm stuck with the Note I'm going to have to think harder.

 

[doogald]

If you're going to own the phone for two years, both will have at least Lollipop for almost all of the time that you own it. It's coming, more likely sooner than later, but certainly it's not like you're going to be waiting a year. I understand the frustration, but listing that as a con seems unfair if you are committing to a contract with this phone.

However, what I do think should be a con is Verizon's continued slow upgrading of their Droid devices. The updates to the Droid line (with the one exception of KitKat on the 2013 Droids) seems to lag other devices, and I think Verizon could and should do better.

For screen brightness, try the app Lux. You can use it to override the internal automatic brightness control, and I use it to set my phone so that the external levels I typically see indoors will have the screen brightness much lower and when I am outside it will set the brightness to the max, which you may find acceptable.

 

[kirksucks]

I listed lollipop as a con because it makes the Turbo less "new" or different from my old phone.

Whatever tho, I just got the Note4. It's not perfect but I think that's what was wrong with the Turbo for me. It was so perfect it got boring really fast. That's a tough thing to not like about a phone but I guess I'm weird.

thanks for the input everyone.

 

[PowrDroid]

I listed lollipop as a con because it makes the Turbo less "new" or different from my old phone.

Whatever tho, I just got the Note4. It's not perfect but I think that's what was wrong with the Turbo for me. It was so perfect it got boring really fast. That's a tough thing to not like about a phone but I guess I'm weird.

thanks for the input everyone.

Could you post your impressions of the Note 4 after you've had it a while?

 

[Mattsg430]

Since you got 32gb you could have opted for the metallized glass fiber back instead of nylon..

Sent from my Droid Turbo

 

[Ch4dders]

Could you post your impressions of the Note 4 after you've had it a while?

Agreed, I'm very interested to hear what you have to say about the Note 4. I considered the S5 prior to the Turbo and am thrilled with my choice. I have the S4 for work and my wife has the S5 and IMO they're too far from stock Android it's annoying...Touchwiz is too much for me.

Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo

 

[kirksucks]

Since you got 32gb you could have opted for the metallized glass fiber back instead of nylon..

Sent from my Droid Turbo

Not available at Costco. Rtfa

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[kirksucks]

Agreed, I'm very interested to hear what you have to say about the Note 4. I considered the S5 prior to the Turbo and am thrilled with my choice. I have the S4 for work and my wife has the S5 and IMO they're too far from stock Android it's annoying...Touchwiz is too much for me.

Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo

It's not bad. I run nova launcher on everything anyway. There's tons of things you can turn on and off. I'm having fun playing with it. Bottom line the turbo was just too perfect out of the box. I like to tinker with settings and stuff. The ui was identical to the phone I had for 2 years so I just got bored.

If you want a phone that just works without too much fuss the turbo is the way to go.

Posted via the Android Central App