What phone to get: Iphone 4s, Bionic, Razr, Thunderbolt or Charge?

[rcpratt]

After playing with my friend's 4s, I would take my TB anyday over it. That is even if the 4s was free and I was still paying for the TB. The 4s sucks. There may be other phones out there to look at over the TB though, but I am very happy with mine. If you need an Iphone, I would wait until something better comes along. The 4s is a joke. I was terribly disappointed. Her battery life was way worse than my TB and I had to turn off all sorts of services just so she could get any kind of life out of it. It felt really cheap and far from smooth, and I know plenty of people who have broken them from dropping them once. Not my type of thing. I was looking forward to it also, since I will be due a new phone relatively soon myself.

I don't disagree, but it would still be silly to get a TB at this point with the Razr available and Galaxy Nexus available soon.

 

[Pliablemoose]

After playing with my friend's 4s, I would take my TB anyday over it. That is even if the 4s was free and I was still paying for the TB. The 4s sucks. There may be other phones out there to look at over the TB though, but I am very happy with mine. If you need an Iphone, I would wait until something better comes along. The 4s is a joke. I was terribly disappointed. Her battery life was way worse than my TB and I had to turn off all sorts of services just so she could get any kind of life out of it. It felt really cheap and far from smooth, and I know plenty of people who have broken them from dropping them once. Not my type of thing. I was looking forward to it also, since I will be due a new phone relatively soon myself.

I have found the opposite, went from a ThunderBolt to a used iP4, I find the iP4 to be a superior device for my use. And I'm calling shens on the battery life claims, I Could get 4-6 hours out of my Thunderbolt with the stock battery.

 

[BigDaddyD]

I don't disagree, but it would still be silly to get a TB at this point with the Razr available and Galaxy Nexus available soon.

Which is why I kept it between the TB and 4S and said that there may be other phones out there to look at.

 

[BigDaddyD]

I have found the opposite, went from a ThunderBolt to a used iP4, I find the iP4 to be a superior device for my use. And I'm calling shens on the battery life claims, I Could get 4-6 hours out of my Thunderbolt with the stock battery.

You can call Shens on whatever you want. Go Google the 4s and you will see the tons of claims of shit battery life . You have been bitching about the TB from the get go, but have been messing with yours from the beginning. Mine is stock and I have had zero problems with it. I was just in LA for the weekend using the navigation on it and even that didn't put a dent in the battery. You have always been a TB hater. On the other hand, I set out to buy an Iphone and wound up with the TB. I was looking at the 4S for when my contract runs out....I won't be buying it. I will revisit the Iphone when the next one comes out, however, if it is anything like the 4s I will stay far from it and look at another Droid.

 

[MotF Bane]

Galaxy Nexus.

 

[Pliablemoose]

LOL, you can actually watch the battery go down while using the GPS & the stock battery.

And the ThunderBolt is THE fastest phone I've ever owned, the download speeds are obscene, I the there with it the whole time Verizon allowed free tethering. I do think battery life is poor, like all superphones, the screen doesn't compare to current offerings, and you can see on XDA that there are many people unhappy with the radio(s).

As far as the 4S battery life, of course I've heard of the issues, I do find my 4 has nearly double the battery life of the TB.

I'm glad you like your phone...

 

[ab82]

Wow now im really confused. So sounds like the Iphone 4s is very fragile. I will put a case or otter box on whatever I get just because Im prone to drop from pocket height or off a chair, etc. Ummm so now Im seeing the TB is good. Rezound. Razr, etc. Something Im wondering about the Razr is that maybe is it just a glorified TB or even a X2 just 4g and thin? Im buying the phone on ebay. The price difference is a TB is 200 and Razr is 500 - Rezound is about 550 - 600 and same for 4s.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Something Im wondering about the Razr is that maybe is it just a glorified TB or even a X2 just 4g and thin? Im buying the phone on ebay.

Nope. The Razr is a thin Bionic with a MUCH better screen (SAMOLED vs LCD).

The RAZR is heads and shoulders above the TB- it is more than twice as fast (better dual core vs worse single core) with a MUCH better GPU and screen. The TB was the first LTE phone, it really shouldn't be considered now unless cost is the primary decision criteria.

Compared to the X2 the Razr is thinner, has LTE, and a MUCH better screen. X2 is basically a Bionic without LTE and with a worse CPU.

The Rezound is the only decent HTC option. If you like the HTC stuff, get it over a TB. I don't outright recommend it though because it has a 720p screen using an OS not meant for it, and I know from experience that kinda sucks thanks to my Nook Color. But it will get ICS eventually. The Rezound (and the Nexus) IS the phone that will still be worth a damn in 2.5 years thanks to the 720p screen, if that is your decision criteria. Hence the extra cost.

One last thing: any of the phones, even the iPhone, is a tank in an otterbox. If you are getting that case, leave fragility out of your decision criteria.

 

[ab82]

I have never messed with HTC stuff? Is it a lot different than droid interfaces?

 

[Pliablemoose]

There are thinner cases that will work fine for the iPhone and give good protection too.

 

[ab82]

Oh ok - everyone pushes to get otter boxes it seems.

 

[you2]

The razr and rezound are very different. From the specs and personal taste (samoled; thin and light; moto high quality audio and phone reception) I would have sworn I would go with the razr; but after playing with both for an hour or two (in the stores) I will very likely go with the rezound. It just feels better in the hand and the lcd on the rezound is not bad for an lcd. I think I prefer the razor screen (though it has a green tint when viewed from an OFF angle) but the bloody phone just doesn't feel right in the hand (tad too wide).
-
If you have a store with live phones you really should just go there and play with them; every phone is a compromise of some fashion. I have smallish hands and weak ears; so the rezound plays favorable with those traits. I tend to spend a bit of time outside in weather so I really wanted to like the razr (I'm also a sucker for high contrast over saturation) but as I noted it just doesn't feel good to use.

 

[ab82]

ok ive done some rethinking and pricing. there is no reason for me to spend 500 to 600 on a phone when i just want a good phone so super fancy isnt going to make a huge deal to me. im currently using a blackberry curve so anything will be a huge upgrade for me!
So here is what is in my budget:
HTC Thunderbolt OR
Droid Bionic

 

[dguy6789]

Bionic is so much better than the Thunderbolt that a comparison shouldn't be made.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I love my thunderbolt + extended battery, but I have to imagine there's something better at this point.

 

[QueBert]

You can call Shens on whatever you want. Go Google the 4s and you will see the tons of claims of shit battery life . You have been bitching about the TB from the get go, but have been messing with yours from the beginning. Mine is stock and I have had zero problems with it. I was just in LA for the weekend using the navigation on it and even that didn't put a dent in the battery. You have always been a TB hater. On the other hand, I set out to buy an Iphone and wound up with the TB. I was looking at the 4S for when my contract runs out....I won't be buying it. I will revisit the Iphone when the next one comes out, however, if it is anything like the 4s I will stay far from it and look at another Droid.

Do you understand what most iPhone owners think of as "shit battery life" a lot of Android owners would give one of their testicles for? I see iPhone owners bitching about a short battery life that's about the same as the battery life I BRAG about getting on my EVO (after hacking it to holy hell and back)

I ASSURE you, a TB isn't touching an iPhone for battery life, even if it's one of the ones with the "battery problem" HTC phones have the worst battery life of any cell phones I've ever used outside of 1 Audiovox I had ages ago. When you have a normal iPhone without battery issues the battery life will be double that of a TB. I'll take an iPhone even with the issue over my HTC any day of the week thanks. HTC's also a ghetto company, I called them about my EVO battery life when I got it and thought there had to be something wrong. The tech on the phone told me to charge it to 100%, unplug and wait for the charge light to go off, then plug it back in and wait until the charge light goes from red to green. And to repeat this 10x. Great this only ends up taking 30 minutes, oh and I should do it twice a month or so. This is literally a gigantic world wide companies solution to my battery issue? Ghetto as hell, I'll never buy another HTC product again. An iPhone MIGHT have battery issues, a very slight chance. An HTC phone will 100% have more issues than Lindsey Lohan.

 

[you2]

Again personal taste; but on the surface the bionic is much better in large number of ways (better reception; better battery life; better audio; better screen (esp for outdoor viewing); faster; et all. The thunderbolt was a bit of a lemon (esp battery life). Both phones have a few issues but between those two I woudl strongly recommend the bionic.

Bionic is so much better than the Thunderbolt that a comparison shouldn't be made.

 

[Pliablemoose]

V is selling refurb Charges for $99. I'd take that over a TB.

 

[smartpatrol]

Definitely go with the Bionic over the Thunderbolt.

 

[bonkers325]

AmazonWireless is selling all phones for $0.01 this week.

http://blog.amazonwireless.com/penn...izon-att-and-sprint-phones-at-amazonwireless/

 

[swanysto]

I would stay away from HTC devices, their battery life is horrible. People think they get better battery life from ROMS, but it is a myth.

Are you in a 4g market? I have a 4g device and I can't live without it now. 4g feels like being on wifi all the time. However, if you are not in a 4g market, my comment is useless. The thunderbolt is pretty nice, but the battery is bad from experience. The bionic I know nothing about and won't pretend to.

 

[s44]

AmazonWireless is selling all phones for $0.01 this week.

http://blog.amazonwireless.com/penn...izon-att-and-sprint-phones-at-amazonwireless/

Only with a new line, though. And conveniently before the Nexus arrives...

If AT&T had Verizon's 4gb double data LTE offer, a 1c Skyrocket would be a no-brainer. But as it is, it depends on your current state of things.

 

[Red Storm]

I assume OP is on Verizon cause of the phones he listed.

Honestly, I wouldn't even consider the Thunderbolt, Bionic, or Charge. It basically comes down to the Nexus, RAZR, or iPhone. Those are the only ones I would be looking at.

 

[BigDaddyD]

Do you understand what most iPhone owners think of as "shit battery life" a lot of Android owners would give one of their testicles for? I see iPhone owners bitching about a short battery life that's about the same as the battery life I BRAG about getting on my EVO (after hacking it to holy hell and back)

I ASSURE you, a TB isn't touching an iPhone for battery life, even if it's one of the ones with the "battery problem" HTC phones have the worst battery life of any cell phones I've ever used outside of 1 Audiovox I had ages ago. When you have a normal iPhone without battery issues the battery life will be double that of a TB. I'll take an iPhone even with the issue over my HTC any day of the week thanks. HTC's also a ghetto company, I called them about my EVO battery life when I got it and thought there had to be something wrong. The tech on the phone told me to charge it to 100%, unplug and wait for the charge light to go off, then plug it back in and wait until the charge light goes from red to green. And to repeat this 10x. Great this only ends up taking 30 minutes, oh and I should do it twice a month or so. This is literally a gigantic world wide companies solution to my battery issue? Ghetto as hell, I'll never buy another HTC product again. An iPhone MIGHT have battery issues, a very slight chance. An HTC phone will 100% have more issues than Lindsey Lohan.

You would be wrong. My friend was getting 6-8 hours on her brand new, out of the box 4s. I was getting 2-2.5x that on my default setting TB new out of the box. I was pulling close to 30 hours and up on standard battery after I changed the default settings, all on a stock phone. With my extended battery, I can go for a very long time without a charge if I need to. Keep in mind the TB is 4g and has a larger screen. The 4s is simply inferior. That said, I am sure there are better droids out there by now, I just am not in the market for one at the moment. When my contract is up, I will look again.

FYI, I changed a bunch of settings on her 4s and it helped with her battery life. I just think it is funny that when that was necessary on the TB the iphone crowd had much to say about it.

 

[cheezy321]

You would be wrong. My friend was getting 6-8 hours on her brand new, out of the box 4s. I was getting 2-2.5x that on my default setting TB new out of the box. I was pulling close to 30 hours and up on standard battery after I changed the default settings, all on a stock phone. With my extended battery, I can go for a very long time without a charge if I need to. Keep in mind the TB is 4g and has a larger screen. The 4s is simply inferior. That said, I am sure there are better droids out there by now, I just am not in the market for one at the moment. When my contract is up, I will look again.

FYI, I changed a bunch of settings on her 4s and it helped with her battery life. I just think it is funny that when that was necessary on the TB the iphone crowd had much to say about it.

Anand completely disagrees with you

Thunderbolt is consistently ~10-30% less battery life than iPhone 4S. Try again.