Any good Droid 4 alternatives coming?

[sphere79]

I was excited to finally upgrade my Droid 2 to a 4G Droid 4 - but I absolutely refuse to take a step backwards and get a phone with a non-removable battery. I take long business trips, and like having an extra battery or two with me for swapping. This trend in no way benefits anyone besides the carriers and manufacturers and I refuse to support it. If I wanted less choice and fixed batteries I'd own an Apple product. The biggest complaint about the RAZR (and most 4G phones) is battery life and they go and make in non-removable? It's especially frustrating given you can apparently take the back off and see the battery, so don't give me this "better structural integrity" BS. "Oh well it's 1/16th of an inch slimmer, bla bla bla" - sure and why don't we just remove card slots, the camera and have a smaller screen while we're at it - all of those things gone might make the phone real small.

So that being said, what are my options for a 4G Android phone with a keyboard and a removable battery?
It appears there's hundred's of Android phones and only 2 on Verizon that are 4G and have keyboards? Really seems like slim picking to me, I guess Verizon doesn't want me to re-up my contract and get a new phone anytime soon.

I'm stuck waiting again, and to be honest ever since the update my Droid 2 has been a mess. I know I should root it but that really shouldn't be a prerequisite to getting the phone to work correctly. So maybe I just need to take the hint and get something other than a Motorola product. I would even consider leaving VZW at this point if they can't make the hardware I'm looking for.

 

[RoninX]

While I don't like the non-removable battery, I don't see a lot of other choices for high-end QWERTY phones.

Basically, your choices are:

• Motorola Droid 4 (Verizon LTE, dual-core OMAP 4)
• Samsung Stratosphere (Verizon LTE, single-core Hummingbird)
• Samsung Captivate Glide (AT&T HSPA+, dual-core Tegra 2)
• HTC myTouch 4G Slide (T-Mobile HSPA+, dual-core Snapdragon)

I also have a Droid 2, and I've been pretty pleased with it, so I'm definitely planning to get a Droid 4.

 

[Kmcferrin]

I agree, the battery issue is . I've been sitting on my Droid 2 for what feels like ages waiting for a legit LTE QWERTY slider. Droid 4 looks like the deal, except for the fact that the battery is non-removable and is essentially the same as the one in the original Droid RAZR. I'm hoping (but god, it would be stupid of Verizon to do this) that they will have a Droid 4 MAXX with a 3300 mAH battery like they did with the RAZR. I doubt it, because I think the driving force behind the smaller battery on the RAZR was to make it the thinnest thing out there (basically a gimmick). There is no such gimmick on the D4.

Anyway, I checked my status online last night. I'm due for an upgrade now, so I can ge the D4 at the discounted price. But it says that if I want until April 12th I'll be entitled to a further "loyalty discount" on a new handset, so I'm probably waiting. I figure by that point the D4 price may have dropped some more, I'll get the extra discount, and maybe, just maybe, they will have a D4 with a larger battery.

TBH, I was surprised that the D4 was going to list at $199 w/contract. Normally the new stuff starts at $299, so maybe there's another SKU coming in above it?

 

[HARRENT]

I have been using the Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G on Sprint since the day it came out (same as Stratosphere)...am switching to Verizon since tired of Sprint's bad cellular service where I live and lies about 4G in Long Island, NY since Aug 2010...I too was so excited to see Droid 4 until found out about battery. Who the heck are they kidding?? The more it is capable of...the more quickly the battery will drain. I have multiple batteries for the Epic and have not "plugged a phone in" since the first Palm Treo!!! Some dopey engineer decided thinness made for better bragging rights. Might as well design a new Star Tac (LOL)! ***I am hoping Samsung will take the Stratosphere and merely add the new ports and a dual core killer chip!!!

 

[raremage]

Have you considered an external battery charger pack? I've been looking for a good one, and hear some of them work pretty well in a pinch. You probably wouldn't want to use it every day, but having one along for when you really needed it might work.

I've been in the habit of having a car charger and wall charger in my bag all the time when traveling, so this really isn't a huge deal to me. I am hoping that the battery performance improves a bit as the phone gets broken in.

Anyway, just a thought.

 

[sphere79]

External battery packs are an inconvenience and do not yield the same results. When I take a long business trip I will bring 2 extra batteries, one is always with me in my wallet pocket at all times. It is slim enough to not get in the way, and when I do need it there's no wires to mess with or an external battery as big as the phone to lug around until the thing is charged hours later.

At this point I'll just wait it out, and like I said after my crappy Droid 2 experience I'm leaning towards supporting companies that support the products they release. As a Palm webOS refugee I'm fully aware of what it's like to live with no updates and hardware that has issues.

Another option if no other choices show up is to void the warranty and modify the phone. Seeing as the back cover is removable, it appears I would need to figure out another way of fashioning the battery down (besides the two screws currently used) and connecting it. Of course that's IF I can find a suitable replacement battery.

Sad that I need to modify my phone to have a feature that literally every cell phone I've ever owned has had, and that's somehow "progress". Apparently, just going by what 4G phones the carriers are pushing - one can assume that consumers are all right with non-removable batteries (do I thank Apple?) and have no need for tactile keyboards either (Apple again?). Way to compete and offer me choices by slowly making Android phones more and more like an Apple product. I wouldn't even consider a Windows phone but do we need another OS option just to keep Android on it's toes? It's looking like it couldn't hurt imo.

 

[raremage]

Another option if no other choices show up is to void the warranty and modify the phone. Seeing as the back cover is removable, it appears I would need to figure out another way of fashioning the battery down (besides the two screws currently used) and connecting it. Of course that's IF I can find a suitable replacement battery.

Assuming someone supplies a non-oem battery, I suspect this could be a viable workaround - but you're 100% right, it sucks that this may be necessary. presumably it would be possible for an extended battery, including a new back cover, could hit the market, if the D4 proves to be popular enough.

No idea what the sales numbers look like. I suspect they could be a bit weak at the moment as VZW employees seem to be pushing the RAZR and RAZR Maxx at the moment. When I bought mine they only had sold two, had two left (counting the one I bought) and the salesman had not even seen it until he took it out of the box (I of course had to show him how to close the back cover as he was attempting to jam it on after the lock had already engaged).

 

[Kmcferrin]

I've been in the habit of having a car charger and wall charger in my bag all the time when traveling, so this really isn't a huge deal to me. I am hoping that the battery performance improves a bit as the phone gets broken in.

Anyway, just a thought.

For my D2 I've got the wall charger at home, another one for travel, a data/charge cable for hooking it to my laptop and recently bought a charger for the car as well. It's weird that I never got an extended or second battery.

Anyway, ideally all of these chargers would work with the Droid 4, but I've heard some rumors about third-party chargers not working with it. I know that with the ASUS Transformer Prime tablet (I have one of those) you cannot charge from a PC and you must use the ASUS wall adapter because the others are not able to provide the proper voltage to charge. If the D4 is in the same category I will be even more disappointed.

 

[jcrome04]

Maybe there will be a D4 MAXX? Makes sense... but the DROID line have always been the best sliders. Moto's got great build quality. I wouldn't count on a D5 coming out too soon. IIRC Moto announced they aren't going to release so many phones in 2012.

 

[Rory.Gibb]

> External battery packs are an inconvenience and do not yield the same results. When
> I take a long business trip I will bring 2 extra batteries, one is always with me in my
> wallet pocket at all times. It is slim enough to not get in the way, and when I do need
> it there's no wires to mess with or an external battery as big as the phone to lug around
> until the thing is charged hours later.

I had a Droid 0 and got used to bringing a small rechargeable battery charger made by Duracell because my original droid wouldn't last several hours without going flat. Yeah, it was inconvenient and would have been easier to simply toss in a charged battery but the Duracell thing could be used on other toys too.

So far the Droid 4 battery has lasted far longer than the Droid 0 and I still can use the battery charger if needed. I do agree with you on the inconvenience, but the longer battery life, dual-core, great keyboard and LTE boost I got from upgrading outweighs the non-removable battery and external battery charger.

 

[Kmcferrin]

Sure is quiet in here. I take it that there hasn't been anything announced at MWC yet that could be considered a Droid 4 competitor?

 

[paul-c]

I haven't seen anything with a physical keyboard at MWC.

 

[SharonW]

I haven't seen anything with a physical keyboard at MWC.

Yeah, not a one QWERTY in the Android line, although I think I saw two Nokia's. lol Additionally, all the new phones appear to be taking the skinny version route with non-removable batteries.

However, from what I've read in reviews, the D4 has excellent battery life although 4G presses it like all other phones, but nowhere near as badly. I've read a full day or more on 3G and 8-10 hours with 4G. Don't forget you also have Smartcast where you can alter the usage of the phone to get the best battery usage.

Also, they've identified a four-prong inside the phone that is believed to support a wireless charging card. That would be most cool and really solve any remaining power problems.

So far I'm thinking the D4 is the very best bet for an excellent QWERTY.

If you're renewing a contract you can now get one at Amazon for $149 or only $99 with a new contract.

 

[TC_Mits]

... Way to compete and offer me choices by slowly making Android phones more and more like an Apple product. I wouldn't even consider a Windows phone but do we need another OS option just to keep Android on it's toes? It's looking like it couldn't hurt imo.

I'm kinda waiting to see what B2G has to offer this summer. Mozilla says it'll be a real web OS that'll work with pretty much any cellphone ...
Guess it's time to update the ole sig... lol.

 

[Kmcferrin]

If you're renewing a contract you can now get one at Amazon for $149 or only $99 with a new contract.

Verizon is having a "leap day" sale today, $100 off on LTE devices. That puts the D4 at $99 for me with a renewal. If there isn't another LTE QWERTY coming and the battery isn't an issue, then this might be a good time to bite.

 

[tnt118]

Verizon is having a "leap day" sale today, $100 off on LTE devices. That puts the D4 at $99 for me with a renewal. If there isn't another LTE QWERTY coming and the battery isn't an issue, then this might be a good time to bite.

Cross-posting from the other thread so hopefully people might see this today...

Verizon did refund the difference in price for me. You have to be within your 14 day return window, and you have to do it the same way you bought the phone (i.e. in store, customer service if online/telesales).

 

[fuddster]

Cross-posting from the other thread so hopefully people might see this today...

Verizon did refund the difference in price for me. You have to be within your 14 day return window, and you have to do it the same way you bought the phone (i.e. in store, customer service if online/telesales).

I just got off the phone with Verizon. I upgraded to the D4 8 days ago, and they applied the $100 promotion to my current bill. Thanks to everyone for the heads up!