So I was an iPhone user but was lured by the Moto X last year. At first things were fun, exciting, and I enjoyed finding new apps and the ability to customize things in ways the bad apple wouldn't allow. To be fair, I love the form factor of the phone. I think the size and feel are perfect for me. I don't want it larger, and I don't want it smaller. Of course, now the new Moto X is larger, so I'm out of luck in the upgrade department.
But then strange things would happen fairly consistently. Here's a few of these issues.
1) Programs on my desktop would vanish accidentally.
2) I'd occasionally shake the phone (in anger) and wonder why the heck it was doing things that I didn't expect.
3) Or I'd twist the phone hoping to get the camera working and it wouldn't start.
4) I'd have to shut down apps because it was running so slow.
5) I'd be trying to send a text and no input was being accepted until I killed the sms app and restarted it.
5) Sometimes, the battery would drain very rapidly.
Is my experience unique in the android world?
So now I'm tempted to go back to the iPhone. Specifically, an iPhone 5s, since I paid 400 bucks to have this unlocked phone and I can't see forking over top dollar again just a year later. I don't remember nearly the litany of times with my 4s that I wanted to throw it out the window, outside of the fact that I was on Sprint and Sprint was garbage in my area. I don't need to be aggravated by technology...I need it to work.
It's a slippery slope we are all on with these upgrades and fees, and these phone manufacturers have done a great job of making us believe we somehow need the newest hardware. I'm just not buying it anymore.
I can sort of relate to your story. I had the IPhone 4 and then upgraded to the Galaxy S3. The battery life was wretched, apps would do weird things and overall the phone was a nightmare to use very similar to yours. Six months in, I was ready to go back to Apple. So, I bit the bullet and went to the IPhone 5. I was in Pure Heaven for awhile. Then I started to see glitchy stuff with that phone. The battery life was much better than the S3 and that made me just keep the IPhone. I vowed never to go back to Android and was Apple all the way. I totally invested into the Apple ecosystem. After using the IPhone for awhile, I got bored with the antiquated IOS UI. There were no widgets and the IOS platform was not all that stable.
I had always been interested in the Note series. The size and stylus was intriguing. I spoke to several people who raved about the device which intrigued me even more. One day, I decided to walk into a Verizon store and they started to throw incentives at me to upgrade. I called my wife and told her that I am going to do the upgrade. They offered me the Verizon Edge program which for me, was less risky than opening a new 2 year contract. After all, if I did not like the Note 3 after a month in, I could upgrade with less money out of pocket than breaking the 2 year contract.
Normally, I go through phones every year. The Note 3 to a certain degree is the only phone that I have wanted to keep longer than a year. Its also the only phone that I liked better than the IPhone.
Recently, I am up for an upgrade and with the Note 4 that has come out, I am shipping for a new phone. This time I am not sure I want to stay with Samsung. Maybe the grass is greener with other phone manufacturers and frankly, I never had a Pure Android experience or something closer to stock. So, I decided to order a Moto X and try it out.
The Moto X I had mixed feelings about. I found the Stock Android as being plain and required tweaking and adjusting. To a certain degree, I was reliving my experience with the Galaxy S3 as the battery was not that great and was having to tinker with it more than I would like. So, I returned the device and I have my Note 3 again.
Where will I go from here? Not sure. The Note 4 is intriguing. The Nexus 6 is but, I might keep my Note 3. I do not hate the Note 3. I am just having problems finding something better. I hope that answers your question. Btw, the battery life on the Note 3 rocks and is way better than the IPhone.