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Samsung Stratosphere vs. Motorola Droid 4

These are my two choices (dictated by my company). Tough decision. Both 4G LTE. Stratosphere has removable battery, Droid 4 does not. Stratosphere has better display technology. Droid 4 is larger/heavier, but faster processor and double the memory, newer. Reviews on call quality seem to be generally better for the Droid 4. I just can't understand why a great phone like this locks the battery. I currently have a BB Bold and having that spare battery has really come in handy in some cases.

Recommendations?

Comments

jrh0828

I've had a Stratosphere for several months. It is my first smart phone. I got it because my previous feature phone had a slider keyboard and I thought the Strastosphere would be easier to get used to. As it turns out, I don't use the slider at all. I like the predictive text feature of the virtual keyboard. I feared getting used to an Android smart phone would be difficult. It wasn't at all. I was up and running in a few days. My complaints about the Stratosphere are that it's heavy and thick, and with just minimal use the battery will barely last 12 hours. I'm sure it would be much less if I used the phone more. There are infrequent times when it won't make a 3G/4G connection. I learned from VZW customer service that this issue can be caused be app killing/battery saving apps, which I was using. I have since removed the battery saving apps.

I hope this helps.

stinger

Thanks for your response. If you think the Stratosphere is thick, the Droid 4 is even thicker and heavier. Such is life. Not sure what to say about the battery except the Droid 4 does have a somewhat longer battery life (although the battery is not removable). At least in your case, you can carry a spare battery and replace it.

Am still interested in other replies.

Jax_Omen

I use an Epic 4g, Sprint's version of the Stratosphere. It's a good phone... by 2010 standards.

The Stratosphere is basically a Galaxy S (1). WVGA screen, 1ghz single-core processor, and woefully inadequate 512MB RAM. It will experience slowdowns and hangs in regular use that will never occur on a more modern phone like the Droid 4. Furthermore, touchwiz, while pretty, is AWFUL. Tons of apps don't work with it for no apparent reason except that it's a Samsung phone, mostly involving bluetooth.

I'd spend the extra and get a Droid 4. If battery is a concern, get an external battery charger.

stinger

Thank you.

Price not an issue.

What is an "external battery charger"? That's not the same thing as the charger that comes with the phone?

AZSALUKI

jax is refering to someting like this:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=external+battery+charger&ix=seb&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=909&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9147280510288988222&sa=X&ei=S7JoT4X_C-KtiAKkueynBw&ved=0CKoBEPMCMAU

there are many types of chargers that you can use on the go. that being said, i like the Droid 4. i just played around with a friend's and loved it. of course, i'm not really a fan of samsung either. and the battery is the droid 4 is pretty good.

Dave-in-Decatur

I've had a Stratosphere for over 3 months. The tech specs are as Jax describes, which I assume you knew already, Stinger. I've experienced some slowdowns and hangs, but I'm not sure I can attribute them to the phone rather than to VZW's network or the stock browser. Most times I find it quite responsive when online, assuming a solid 4G or WiFi connection.

As for Touchwiz, both pretty and awful are subjective impressions, and different people will react differently to it. I like interacting with the phone, but this is my first Android device, so I can't compare it with other UIs/skins. If your company lets you try out the phones, you can and should decide which one feels better to you in that respect.

Regarding the battery, it's also possible to get an extended-life battery for the Stratosphere, which does take you into serious thick and heavy territory, but can go a couple of days before needing a charge. Or of course, you can just get a second regular battery and keep it charged to swap in and out.

One last somewhat snarky side note: So if you can't pull the battery on the Droid 4, what do Verizon support reps give out as the default solution to all technical issues?

jrh0828

Respectfully, you don't have all the strat's numbers right. It has 4GB of internal storage, and a super amoled screen. It also has an 1800 mAh battery.

AZSALUKI

4 gigs of storage is not the same as RAM. it has 512mb of ram, which is what jax stated. think of it like a pc.....which may have a 500gb hard drive but only 4gb of RAM (random access memory). the processor along with the ram will dictate how fast or slow a device runs.

stinger

And the Droid 4 has 1GB (double) of RAM.

Jax_Omen

Droid 4 "battery pull" is done by holding volume down + power for 10 seconds, same as Razr and similar to iPhone.

I can confirm based on my experiences voiding my warranty that the issues with the CDMA versions of the SGS1 (Fascinate, Epic 4g, Stratosphere, etc) all stem from touchwiz, as any issues I had persisted with every Touchwiz-based ROM, but the moment I switched to CyanogenMod7 (which is NOT Touchwiz-based), my problems went away.

I do not know if there is any CM7 that works on the Stratosphere, but you should not have to void your warranty to make the phone work correctly. I recommend the Droid 4 for this reason.

Offkltr

Hey Stinger, this question is right up my alley! I bought two Strats (one for mom, one for me). We had SO MANY issues with that phone there's really not enough room to tell you everything that went wrong. We use our phones for everything they can do, or just about. I had problems after my 1st month with the strat, but it was such a hassle to call in every time something went wrong, I messed with both of them for months (plus we moved, my mom got very sick life got in the way, you get it I'm sure). So we lost 4g, 3g, and just went to satellite. Our facebook (fb) app stopped showing photos, but then so did Pinterest and we had issues with the browser that was preinstalled. WiFi stopped working at home and at places that provide free WiFi (which I don't trust much but had to check out to see if it was mine).

I'm pretty strict with our apps and downloads, but when preinstalled apps don't work that bugs me. Backup Assistant (not just the Plus version) refused to work on mom's phone.I did 3 resets on my phone, shut it off at least 2x a day, and took the battery (and I got suckered into buying 2more by vzw) out at least 1x a week. Finally I called Verizon and told them. They sent out 2 certified strats that day. Within 12hrs I was having issues with phones 2 & 3.Apps shutting off, more issues with the WiFi and I couldn't get either phone to sync to my laptop or desktop. VZW sent out 2more phones. Similar issues. Called VZW within a week and they offered us the Droid 4. OMGosh this is SO MUCH BETTER!

Yes it is thicker and heavier, but who cares when it works! I'm getting used to some minor differences, but the D4 is faster and so far has been much easier to count on. Hope this helps!!

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