Droid Turbo vs Samsung Galaxy S6

[STEVESKI07]

Hey everyone, I'm looking into getting my wife and I our next phones within a month. We are currently on Galaxy S3's with massive zero lemon batteries on the back. Needless to say, the regular S3 battery life was horrible after a while and we decided that not having to worry about battery life was worth making the phone a gigantic brick.

Before the S6 was anounced, I was pretty set on the Droid Turbo. I like the massive battery size (will be worse than what I get now though), wireless charging and quick charging abilities. It seemed like the perfect phone for us. I also really like the sounds of some of the Moto Assist features, but I'd have to do some more research on them.

After the S6 anouncement, I was pretty blown away and was set on getting the S6. It has everything I liked about the Turbo (except the battery), but it also added a fingerprint scanner and Samsung Pay, both things that I would use. Also, let's be real, it looks and probably feels amazing. At first I was worried about the battery since it went down in size from the S5, but then there was all this talk about how all the parts in the S6 are way more efficient and battery life should be improved and I got excited again. Well now some reviews are coming out and saying the battery life isn't as good as the S5 and some saying it's actually 20% worse. I'm starting to get worried now. It's a sweet phone, but battery life is anxiety inducing for me. Any time I'm below 30% or so I'm worried that my phone won't make it. I hate having to worry about it. I like the feeling of being able to use my phone all day whether it's a lot or little and never have to worry about it dying or even getting close.

So I know this is a Droid Turbo forum and I know everyone here owns the Turbo and is probably a little biased, but what do you guys think? Is the battery life on the Turbo really almost twice as long as most phones? Those of you that have had the phone since launch or close to it, how is it holding up? Any information you guys can provide would be great.

 

[Murph5150]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Steve, I'll give you an unbiased opinion.

If you do the math, yes, the battery will discharge faster due to pixel density. The screen is very vibrant, but you'll pay for its vibrance through battery life.

But taking this one step further, the Turbo satisfies two huge needs of mine: Battery and signal. Motorola has unrivaled reception because of the ownership of patents Motorola has on radio's. Go to a Verizon store and compare Motorola dBm vs other brands. You're likely to see Motorola producing the best signal strength.

I owned the S4 and I thought the software was solid, but I had to charge it mid day, every day.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[KPMcClave]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

When looking at the specs for the S6 my first reaction was "man, I bet the battery life on this is gonna *suck*."

It has a QHD screen and a smaller battery (compare to fellow newcomer the HTC M9 which has a regular HD screen and a bigger battery). I don't care what they say about the other components of the phone being more efficient, your phone's screen eats the most battery. Now we get some reviews that say the battery life isn't great. Wait until it gets out there in the hands of end users. I think it's going to be a train wreck battery-wise. At best, it can't help but be a disappointment in that regard. Made worse by the fact they also eliminated the ability to swap out a battery.

If battery is that important to you, I'd definitely go Turbo.

 

[dcallan]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Since I have not used an S6, I cannot say anything for certain. I believe that all of these device manufacturers have converged on more, or less, the same solution. The software experience on the Turbo is more "muted" as a result of a more stock android experience. However, the software experience on the S5 with Lollipop appears to be very "colorful." No dirrision intended. It's actually pleasant to look at. It also, likely, drains the battery faster. From a functional standpoint, the intelligent features (assist/voice/etc.) in the Turbo, and it's ability to gently "sip" the battery while using them, is a testament to their engineering. Hardware wise, the turbo is very nice, but not without flaws. I was intrigued by the ballistic nylon backing, but ultimately prefer the smooth backed model, despite the reduced storage. That, of course, is a matter of personal preference. And, it should be noted, that as a tech geek, I simply purchased an OEM smooth replacement back and replaced the ballistic nylon casing on my 64 GB model. I don't recommend this for the uninitiated. The camera could be better in low light. In contrast, it is more than serviceable in good light. There are fewer cases available at retail than I suspect will be available for a Samsung phone. But, a sufficient number can be found online. Turbo charging and wireless charging are excellent. However, the most important aspect of a mobile device, for me, is battery life. Simply put, if I have to concern myself with the battery charge throughout the day, as all of my compatriots with Samsung devices do, then the device is too difficult to use. I can get two days, easily, from the Turbo. To answer your question, yes the battery is that good. With the present Kit Kat software, I find performance to be excellent. For the record, I use a third party launcher called "Smart Launcher 2" and an icon pack and wallpaper package called "Orbit UI." Both are available in the Play Store. The result is an exceptionally easy and intuitive interface that is visually pleasing.

Zack Epstein from the tech website BGR (a fairly competent one) states:

"There are plenty of Android smartphones on the market right now, and they all have good things and bad things about them. If you’re looking for a smartphone that packs a beautiful design, great specs, killer performance and outstanding battery life, I have some great news for you… provided you’re a Verizon Wireless subscriber, or are open to becoming one.

The Motorola Droid Turbo is by far my favorite smartphone on the market right now, and Verizon just slashed the price of the phone on contract by 25% to $149.99 from $199.99. The phone comes in two finishes, and I highly recommend the one with the metalized glass fiber back."

Droid Turbo Sale: Motorola Droid Turbo price cut by Verizon | BGR

 

[STEVESKI07]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Thanks both of you. Battery is definitely very important to me, but there's no denying that the S6 beats every other phone out there in pretty much every aspect. It's hard to not want that. As far as the screen goes, my initial reaction was the same as yours, however it's not true. The screen on the S6 actually uses about 20% less battery than the screen on the S5. There's no doubt the Turbo will have better battery life, but the question is by how much? I guess we'll have to wait and see for more reviews or for the S6 to be released and get some real world data to know for sure.

I have no doubts that the S6 is way more power efficient than the Turbo, but the Turbo has a battery that is 50% bigger. I guess it's still to early to see how the battery life correlates. I don't think the Turbo will have 50% more battery life, but maybe I'm wrong.

I've actually never owned a Droid or any Motorola smart phone for that matter, but I've always heard good things, so I have no concerns when it comes to that. Also, I read a lot of people have disabled the bloat so that's good that it is possible. I'd have to do more research to find out how, but considering rooting it isn't possible at this point and it's still possible to disable the bloat is a good thing.

Really appreciate the comments so far!

 

[STEVESKI07]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Since I have not used an S6, I cannot say anything for certain. I believe that all of these device manufacturers have converged on more, or less, the same solution. The software experience on the Turbo is more "muted" as a result of a more stock android experience. However, the software experience on the S5 with Lollipop appears to be very "colorful." No dirrision intended. It's actually pleasant to look at. It also, likely, drains the battery faster. From a functional standpoint, the intelligent features (assist/voice/etc.) in the Turbo, and it's ability to gently "sip" the battery while using them, is a testament to their engineering. Hardware wise, the turbo is very nice, but not without flaws. I was intrigued by the ballistic nylon backing, but ultimately prefer the smooth backed model, despite the reduced storage. That, of course, is a matter of personal preference. And, it should be noted, that as a tech geek, I simply purchased an OEM smooth replacement back and replaced the ballistic nylon casing on my 64 GB model. I don't recommend this for the uninitiated. The camera could be better in low light. In contrast, it is more than serviceable in good light. There are fewer cases available at retail than I suspect will be available for a Samsung phone. But, a sufficient number can be found online. Turbo charging and wireless charging are excellent. However, the most important aspect of a mobile device, for me, is battery life. Simply put, if I have to concern myself with the battery charge throughout the day, as all of my compatriots with Samsung devices do, then the device is too difficult to use. I can get two days, easily, from the Turbo. To answer your question, yes the battery is that good. With the present Kit Kat software, I find performance to be excellent. For the record, I use a third party launcher called "Smart Launcher 2" and an icon pack and wallpaper package called "Orbit UI." Both are available in the Play Store. The result is an exceptionally easy and intuitive interface that is visually pleasing.

Zack Epstein from the tech website BGR (a fairly competent one) states:

"There are plenty of Android smartphones on the market right now, and they all have good things and bad things about them. If you’re looking for a smartphone that packs a beautiful design, great specs, killer performance and outstanding battery life, I have some great news for you… provided you’re a Verizon Wireless subscriber, or are open to becoming one.

The Motorola Droid Turbo is by far my favorite smartphone on the market right now, and Verizon just slashed the price of the phone on contract by 25% to $149.99 from $199.99. The phone comes in two finishes, and I highly recommend the one with the metalized glass fiber back."

Droid Turbo Sale: Motorola Droid Turbo price cut by Verizon | BGR

I didn't see your post before I posted mine, but thanks! I love seeing positive reviews about devices that aren't the "latest and greatest". Is there any word on when Lollipop will come to the Turbo? I know every phone is different, but apparently the S5 battery life benefiting pretty nicely once they got Lollipop.

This is going to be a tough decision...

 

[teeitupmo#WN]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

To keep the Galaxy S6 slim, to compete with the iPhone 6 and 6+, Samsung had to make sacrifices in regards to the battery size.

People whined about Samsung not including wireless charging in their devices...well now they have...at the sacrifice of battery size.

Goes to show...manufacturers are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. Can't please everyone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KPMcClave]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

To keep the Galaxy S6 slim, to compete with the iPhone 6 and 6+, Samsung had to make sacrifices in regards to the battery size.

People whined about Samsung not including wireless charging in their devices...well now they have...at the sacrifice of battery size.

Goes to show...manufacturers are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. Can't please everyone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have wireless charging on the behemoth Turbo battery. Your wireless charging "at the sacrifice of battery size" comment doesn't make any sense. They don't need a smaller battery than they had to enable wireless charging. Clearly the reason is your first, cosmetic. It does look really nice. It's just likely going to be a problem with battery life.

 

[teeitupmo#WN]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Yes it does..there needs to be a inductive charging receiving coil on the device, this makes the phone thicker. If they keep the 2850mah battery and added the inductive charging receiver coil, the S6 would be thicker than the iPhone 6 and 6+. There is only so much space in the body.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[STEVESKI07]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Yes it does..there needs to be a inductive charging receiving coil on the device, this makes the phone thicker. If they keep the 2850mah battery and added the inductive charging receiver coil, the S6 would be thicker than the iPhone 6 and 6+. There is only so much space in the body.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You are correct and it is too bad that being thinner than the iPhone 6 was a necessity for them, but I do understand it from Samsung's perspective. The Galaxy S6 Active should truly be a great phone and probably would be what Samsung wanted the S6 to be if they didn't have to make it super thin. Unfortunately I don't want to wait another 3+ months and I don't want to switch to AT&T who will either get it exclusively or at least be getting it first.

 

[doogald]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

I think it's too early to tell what the battery life of an S 6 will be until a Verizon version is released.

My biggest concern is the glass back. I thought Apple and LG made an awful design choice to make the back of the phone glass, and I thought we were past that by now. It makes the phone more fragile, heavier, and thicker than it would be using a better material.

That said, I think one advantage you will see is that there will be far more accessories and support for the S 6 than for the turbo, if that matters.

If you can get past the size, the Note 4 seems like a great choice.

 

[KPMcClave]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Yes it does..there needs to be a inductive charging receiving coil on the device, this makes the phone thicker. If they keep the 2850mah battery and added the inductive charging receiver coil, the S6 would be thicker than the iPhone 6 and 6+. There is only so much space in the body.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry, that you were still referring to battery size as it relates to the iPhone 6 wasn't clear to me in your original post. I thought your second paragraph was referring to battery size as it relates to prior Galaxy handsets.

Given that my wife has one of those 3rd party cards to use wireless charging on her S5,and it adds virtually no thickness, I'm not so sure that it's true the battery needs to be noticably thicker. I suspect that's Samsung using it as an excuse to sell their own after market charging backs on earlier models. Cha-ching!

At any rate, the combo of the thinner phone/battery, and no longer being able to swap out a battery mid-day, with the screen they chose, is likely going to be an issue for a lot of folks.

We'll see soon enough.

 

[gdmfsob77]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

I've always been a Motorola fan. Like someone else stated, they have better radios, build quality has always been stout. And I like my experience to be as close to stock as I can. Also not having to worry about my battery is also a factor and the turbo has all these. I'm also coming from a droid maxx. My gf likes the galaxy series. I never could see the appeal of it...maybe its more eye candy to some I have no idea.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[PowrDroid]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Thanks both of you. Battery is definitely very important to me, but there's no denying that the S6 beats every other phone out there in pretty much every aspect. There's no doubt the Turbo will have better battery life, but the question is by how much? I guess we'll have to wait and see for more reviews or for the S6 to be released and get some real world data to know for sure.

Unbiased test site with custom sliders to fine tune the way you use your phone.

According to their tests the Turbo has a battery that will last 90 hours if you do 1 hour of phone calls, 1 hour of video playback and 1 hour of web surfing per day. The Galaxy S6 will last 64 hours. So the Turbo battery is 40% better.

If you do 1 hour of calls, 2 hours of video playback, and 3 hours web browsing the Turbo will last 47 hours, the Galaxy S6 will last 35 hours. So Turbo battery is 34% better in these conditions.

Battery life tests - GSMArena.com

I CAN'T STAND battery anxiety, and I can't stand Samsung TouchWiz (it will get laggy with time) so it's Turbo for me.

 

[STEVESKI07]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Unbiased test site with custom sliders to fine tune the way you use your phone.

According to their tests the Turbo has a battery that will last 90 hours if you do 1 hour of phone calls, 1 hour of video playback and 1 hour of web surfing per day. The Galaxy S6 will last 64 hours. So the Turbo battery is 40% better.

If you do 1 hour of calls, 2 hours of video playback, and 3 hours web browsing the Turbo will last 47 hours, the Galaxy S6 will last 35 hours. So Turbo battery is 34% better in these conditions.

Battery life tests - GSMArena.com

I CAN'T STAND battery anxiety, and I can't stand Samsung TouchWiz (it will get laggy with time) so it's Turbo for me.

Thanks, I knew of GSM Arena's battery life ratings, but I didn't know you could compare side by side and use the slider to adjust personal usage. I barely do any talking on the phone and do mostly web browsing and some gaming. I'm guessing gaming would be similar to video playback so that's how I adjusted my settings. I put in 30 mins for talk, 2 hours of web and 2 hours of video and ended up with 59h on the Turbo and 44h on the S6. I'm sure neither number is accurate because I don't expect either to last multiple days on a charge, but the difference between them is what's important. The Turbo should get me about 34% more battery life. Thanks for that!

I don't mind TouchWiz and supposedly its been toned down a lot on the S6 so that isn't an issue for me. Battery anxiety sucks though.

 

[imafandroid]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

I have the Samsung Galaxy S5. Was not impressed with the battery life before Lollipop came out. When it did come out, batter life got worse, the phone got slower and some tasks doubled in terms of keystrokes needed to finish. This is why I am looking to replace my S5 with one of these other phones, with S6 and the Droid at the top of the list. It is a shame when Samsung has a ton of nice features that Motorola doesn't provide, but we shy away because the phone, and it's features, may die with the battery.

 

[Veteater]

Re: Unbiased opinions about the Turbo after the S6 anouncement?

Thanks, I knew of GSM Arena's battery life ratings, but I didn't know you could compare side by side and use the slider to adjust personal usage. I barely do any talking on the phone and do mostly web browsing and some gaming. I'm guessing gaming would be similar to video playback so that's how I adjusted my settings. I put in 30 mins for talk, 2 hours of web and 2 hours of video and ended up with 59h on the Turbo and 44h on the S6. I'm sure neither number is accurate because I don't expect either to last multiple days on a charge, but the difference between them is what's important. The Turbo should get me about 34% more battery life. Thanks for that!

I don't mind TouchWiz and supposedly its been toned down a lot on the S6 so that isn't an issue for me. Battery anxiety sucks though.

Actually the battery scores that were listed at the time of this post were of a pre production unit, and the final review gs6 posted 73 hours endurance, 1 less than the current mainstream flagship phone with the best battery life (excluding Moto turbo) which is the Sony xperia z3+. That is still a whole 17 hrs less than the droid turbo at 90 hrs. Well a new battery rugged beast was announced (gs6 active) with a slightly smaller 3500 mAh battery. It will probably tie with the turbo or possibly beat it due to the more efficient screen and processor. Am most likely switching from big red to AT&T to buy it. Although Verizon is a superior service company, atnt oddly seems to work better in my area. I predict about a 96 hour endurance from the 3500 mah gs6 active due to better optimization than the droid turbo. Will post pics later.