Well I had an S4 and now have a MAXX, so I will weigh in on this. First I will say they are both real good phones. The S4 has lots of nice features like the sensor that lets you do things with out actually touching the phone and the ir remote control, but if you run these nice features they eat the battery alive, and for the most part they are gimmicky features anyhow that just seem cool but don't usually get used in everyday life. The differences in the screen resolution to me at least don't seem to be very noticeable in this size screen. The camera is slightly better on the s4 and does have a lot of nice features including the anti shake to help take clear pictures. The MAXX is slightly heavier but personally I like that as I always felt the s4 was to light and therefore felt like a toy. The build quality on the MAXX is better in that it feels better in your hand I doubt that either one is actually any more durable then the other. The very close to stock version of android on the MAXX is very nice since it means there isn't much need for messing with it to make it work the way it should have all along. So over all I personally feel the MAXX is the better phone, for that matter of all the phones I've owned so far this is my favorite of all time.
please excuse my ignorance galaxy s4 versus droid max
- Thread starter mark5019
- Start date
If you simply look at the specs then the S4 wins, but Motorola has made an incredible phone that far exceeds the sum of its specs.The phone is optimized to get far more out of it than you would just by throwing raw power at it.
As for surfing the web, the Maxx scrolls through any page you want to throw at it, no matter how intensive, without anything resembling lag, I can't say the same about the S4. Some people prefer the S4's screen, some prefer the Maxx's screen. You really need to look at them both to decide which looks better to you.
With texting, on the Maxx you can send a text without ever touching the phone. If you're not doing many texts that may not matter, but once you use the Touchless controls to do that, you may never go back to typing a text again.
If you care about having a microsd card, the S4 has a slot for one but the Maxx doesn't. The s4 also has a removable back so you can sawp out the battery if you want, but with the Maxx's ridiculously long battery life, that's not even an issue on the Maxx.
In my opinion the Maxx is the superior phone overall and I would pick it every time over the S4.
As for surfing the web, the Maxx scrolls through any page you want to throw at it, no matter how intensive, without anything resembling lag, I can't say the same about the S4. Some people prefer the S4's screen, some prefer the Maxx's screen. You really need to look at them both to decide which looks better to you.
With texting, on the Maxx you can send a text without ever touching the phone. If you're not doing many texts that may not matter, but once you use the Touchless controls to do that, you may never go back to typing a text again.
If you care about having a microsd card, the S4 has a slot for one but the Maxx doesn't. The s4 also has a removable back so you can sawp out the battery if you want, but with the Maxx's ridiculously long battery life, that's not even an issue on the Maxx.
In my opinion the Maxx is the superior phone overall and I would pick it every time over the S4.
Going to throw my opinion in here really quick, since I came from the S4 to the Maxx.
I really wanted to love the S4, and part of me did, but the #1 reason I swapped to the Maxx is because of Motorola's radios. I felt like I never had signal on the S4,and I'm in a "high coverage area". By the end of my 8 hour workday, if be lucky to have 5% battery remaining, even if the phone sat in my pocket all day. My cell standby battery usage was always over 50%. I never had signal at work. So the phone would eat up the battery just looking for a signal. I didn't only have signal problems at work, either. Whether home or at work, I would miss calls, text messages, drop calls, etc. Super frustrating to have a beast of a phone, but not be able to use it as a phone. The Maxx gets awesome reception everywhere I've been so far. The highest I've ever seen Cell standby usage at was 5%.
As far as the screen goes, I didn't notice a huge difference. I see the difference between the 1080 and 720 when someone magnifies the image online, but other than that, my eyes cross if I try to get that close to the phone screen
To get away from the S4, I ended up buying the Maxx off conttact, which is something I've never done before (I'm a cheap skate), and I haven't regretted my decision a bit. It's an amazing thing to not have to worry about my battery 4 hours into my day. I love the screen. It's a great size and it looks really sharp to me.
In the end though, it all comes down to what you prefer. As others said, go look at them both in store and see what you think of each one. In all honesty though, the only thing I miss from the S4 isn't the camera or the screen; it's the remote control feature.
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I really wanted to love the S4, and part of me did, but the #1 reason I swapped to the Maxx is because of Motorola's radios. I felt like I never had signal on the S4,and I'm in a "high coverage area". By the end of my 8 hour workday, if be lucky to have 5% battery remaining, even if the phone sat in my pocket all day. My cell standby battery usage was always over 50%. I never had signal at work. So the phone would eat up the battery just looking for a signal. I didn't only have signal problems at work, either. Whether home or at work, I would miss calls, text messages, drop calls, etc. Super frustrating to have a beast of a phone, but not be able to use it as a phone. The Maxx gets awesome reception everywhere I've been so far. The highest I've ever seen Cell standby usage at was 5%.
As far as the screen goes, I didn't notice a huge difference. I see the difference between the 1080 and 720 when someone magnifies the image online, but other than that, my eyes cross if I try to get that close to the phone screen
To get away from the S4, I ended up buying the Maxx off conttact, which is something I've never done before (I'm a cheap skate), and I haven't regretted my decision a bit. It's an amazing thing to not have to worry about my battery 4 hours into my day. I love the screen. It's a great size and it looks really sharp to me.
In the end though, it all comes down to what you prefer. As others said, go look at them both in store and see what you think of each one. In all honesty though, the only thing I miss from the S4 isn't the camera or the screen; it's the remote control feature.
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If Ars Technica is saying the S4 Pro is the same as the 2012 version, then they are knowingly reporting false information. The 2012 version (such as used in the Nexus 4, Sony Experia Z, Droid DNA, etc) had 2 to 4 Krait 200 ARM Processors while the S600 and X8 share 2-4 Krait 300 cores and an Adreno 320 GPU. The one and only thing the Galaxy S4 has going for it in the processing department is that their Adreno 320 is overclocked at 450 MHz, while all other Adreno 320's are clocked at 400 MHz. (The S800 has the Adreno 330 and they start off at 450 MHz.
The S4 Pro the X8 is based on and the S4 Pro (Actually called an S4 Plus) from 2012 that was used in just about everything loosely share a name. That chip was 2 1.5 GHz Krait 200s with an Adreno 225 vs the 2 1.7 GHz Krait 300s with an Adreno 320. The latter components exist only in the X8, the S4 Pro used in the Xiami Mi-2A and in the S600. For context, the S400 share the same CPUs but has a lesser GPU in the Adreno 305.
It's more accurate to think of the X8 as an S600 minus 2 cores plus 2 contextual processors than to think of it as a heavily upgraded S4 Pro of the 2012 variety.
It sounds like the decision has been made, and I'd like to state that I think it's the right one. The more I use this phone - 3 months now - the more I forget about how being tied to a charger used to be, but quite often people around me mention that their battery is almost dead, so they have to put their phone down even though they want to continue using it. I can honestly say, I've never had this inclination. I've never once - period - charged this phone for even a second in the middle of the day. It really has changed the way I use my smartphone and since I use my phone a ton for work, it's changed my life, and removed much anxiety over the thought of being disconnected.
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No one has really mentioned the big factor that Touchwiz is just gross. Motorolla hardly skins the phone at all and lets android be experienced how it should be- clean.
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I know the Maxx is better in terms of battery, but the S4 is certainly not bad.
Mind you that I am running a custom ROM
We don't have to
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No but aside from the better battery, you get a lesser product.
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I've flashed custom roms on phones before. I understand how they work and I can see why you would flash one on the S4. I just really haven't felt the urge or the need to do it on my Maxx. TBH, the only reason I would end up rooting this phone would be for the silly reason of changing my font, and probably to toss out some unused apps.
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Oh I agree. If I had a Moto X, I would not see the need to root it either. I could have gotten a GPE S4 but those are $629 off contract.
That being said I wasn't very interested in phones whn I got my S4 so I didn't even think about skins or anything, I just thought about what the phone had. It was the best phone available when I got it and flashing an AOSP ROM only made it better.
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Now that I'll agree on. As I said previously, I really wanted to love the phone (S4), but the fact that I couldn't use it as a phone didn't change with flashing a ROM, sadly.
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Just went back and read it. Sucks that you couldn't use the phone as a phone but it really depends on where you live. I always have good coverage with my S4. I really like this phone but I'm definitely getting the Moto X 2 next year.
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Westiemom
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- Jul 17, 2013
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I just bought my husband the Maxx and he has had it about 10'days now. He is absolutely in love and can't leave it alone. Last night I asked him when he had charged it last and he said he had let it charge overnight Wednesday night, and it was Friday night last night when I asked him. He still had 40% left last night. Impressive! Plus, the features on these phones (Maxx, Ultra, Moto X) are dang impressive too! They really are the best smart phones out now, hands down. Specs be damned - it's about real life performance. You'll be glad you got the Maxx !!
I wonder if it's possible to help charge up our friends galaxy devices with a otg micro usb to usb host cable lol.
I charge my phone every 2 or 3 days. Nuff said.
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I charge my phone every 2 or 3 days. Nuff said.
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