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"Niche Phone!"
on by Jeremiah-StpierrePros See bottom in summary
Cons See bottom in summary
Summary I have had the droid 4 for two months now. My first smartphone was a Blackberry Curve; the phone after that, my last phone was a first-generation Droid Incredible. I have been around iPhones and other smartphones but the Blackberry and Incredible are really my only basis for comparison.
Size- My first impression of the phone is that is was a brick. It felt thick and heavy in my hand. I am very comfortable with the size and weight now.
Keyboard- my first impression was that it was too wide. I felt like my fingers had to stretch to reach the center keys. A week or two into using it I felt comfortable. The individual keys have a really nice feel. I don't know why but I get some weird pleasure out of typing on this thing and then slapping the keyboard shut like I used to get from closing my flip-phones to hang up.
Screen- I saw that a couple of people mentioned "wash out" from looking at it in the sun, for me this phone's screen is an improvement in that aspect (over the Incredible). Maybe my old Incredible was really bad though. The resolution is 20% better but the screen is 20% larger in dimension so it doesn't really look any sharper (I.e same "pixel density"). I recommend researching pixel density if you are looking for a phone that looks sharper than an iPhone. There are very few phones with equal or greater pixel densities to that one.
Battery life- again I see a lot of complaints about this but I see an improvement. This phone holds like 40% more charge (based on mAh) than my Incredible did and it seems to last almost twice as long with similar use. It has a cool battery management program that you can use to "teach" the phone how to shut down functions you don't use under certain conditions (I.e. dim the screen and turn off wifi/gps when battery gets to >25%). I pay for the ability to use the phone as a 4g wifi hotspot and this seems to kill 10-15% more battery per hour, just FYI. Unless I turn on the 4g hotspot the phone has no problem being unplugged in the morning and re-charged at night (for me).
Verizon 4g- this is my first 4g phone and I am never going back. The slowest download speed I have tested so far was 3.5Mbps in the middle of the Atlanta airport. I have seen 27Mbps where I live. I put my wifi-only iPad on the 4g hotspot and it works great. FaceTime is flawless and seems to use about 6-7 megabytes of data per minute or 200Mb for a thirty minute video chat (again, just FYI so you can guess at your data plan needs). I pay for 6Gb/ month and I am burning about 4 up. I use the 4g hotspot in lieu of hotel Internet 3 nights a week (I travel a lot). Oh, and I have been pretty impressed with the 4g coverage too. I was getting 17Mbps down in Davenport, IL the other day. Like an idiot I didn't look up 4g coverage maps before buying the phone. I recommend doing that. I have had a handful of times that I had to re-name the hotspot and turn it off/on for the iPad to detect it.
Miscellaneous- it has a multi-color LED above the screen. I set different colors for different notifications and get a lot of use out of the function when it's on silent (red light for texts, green for emails, etc.) The power button is a little annoying. It seems almost recessed into the phone. I guess the designers wanted to prevent accidental bumping while using the keyboard. I don't bump it much when I am typing but it has happened.
Overall impression- it's a 4g smartphone with a good slide-out keyboard. The network and the keyboard are the only things that stand out for me. I hated typing on a touch screen. This phone is what I was looking for and I am happy with the purchase.
P.S. for best deal of the Motorola Droid 4, if you're will buy it, I suggest you have to check before you decide at: Androidphonedeals.wordpress.com/motorola-droid-4/
Hope this review helpful. -
"Perfect phone for work and internet"
on by jhildner1Pros Keyboard
Internet Speed
Processing Speed
Big Pretty Screen
Call Quality
Ease of Use
Solid Build
Attractive DesignCons Battery life isn't "Maxx," but good enough
Flimsy-feeling power button, but, honestly, big dealSummary I've been in smartphone hell for years. When my firm issued my first Blackberry about ten years ago, I thought it was the most amazing thing ever. It had a Pong-like internet experience, sure, but, back then, we were just amazed you could send e-mail from a phone. When I played with a friend's early iPhone some years later, I was blown away -- a real, honest-to-goodness, usable internet, right there in your pocket. But my firm's security requirements meant that the iPhone and, later, the Android phones, were verboten. So I was stuck with Blackberries, up to my most recent -- a Blackberry Bold. The internet experience wasn't Pong-like anymore, but it still stunk -- slow, glitchy, barely usable for anything but the most simple things on mobile sites. Then, the manufacturers and software designers figured out how to make the fancy phones in a way that would satisfy my firm's IT department, and I had my pick of all the amazing products that had since come onto the market.
p.s. Just between us, the phone fell into a (clean) toilet once, and being dunked amazingly had no effect. The water beaded and rolled off every surface, including the rubber keyboard. Some drops lingered in the crevice between the sliding halves of the phone, but a paper towel fixed that easily. The touch screen also appears to be tough -- no scratches or dings without the use of any sort of cover.
My first thought was that I would obviously just get an iPhone. But that would have meant doing a lot of typing on a screen. I might have been able to get used to it in time, but when I tried it with a friend's phone, I just hated it. For someone used to Blackberries, I really missed the tactile feedback. And I do a lot of typing on the go, including formal things for work that demand using all the letters in a word, and punctuation, and capital letters on occasion. Besides, 4G isn't yet available on the iPhone. Then, right about when I was shopping for a new phone, this one came onto the market. Awesome speed, awesome keyboard, bigger screen. Perfect!
And it's turned out that way. I've been using it on a daily basis for work (and everything else) for a few months, and I have no real complaints. When I first got it, I played with it constantly. It got a little warm, and the battery drained quicker than I thought it would. I was worried at first. (I had heard that both issues were the downside to 4G.) But then I started using it normally, not constantly, and it continues to last the whole day with moderate use and battery to spare -- about like my Bold, maybe better. Your results may vary, of course -- it all depends on your definition of "moderate." I guess if you're an intensive user, you would want the Maxx instead. But, if you're a keyboard person, as I am, there's nothing better than this phone, and it does everything else very well too.
Updated on Apr 17, 2012 -
"Good phone to make the jump from blackberry.."
on by Rassilon26Pros Great keyboard, big screen, not as heavy as it looks, solid build, great 4G connection, nice internet browsing, and very good as an actual phone..
Cons Battery is okay but it will drain under heavy use.. Not a deal breaker but keep an eye on it.. For this type of phone the battery is pretty good.. Don't compare it's battery to the Razar Maxx.. You'll you cry.
Camera is nothing to write home about.Summary I've been on blackberry's since 2006.. This is my first touch screen phone.. I so badly wanted to get into virtual keyboarding but I can't do it.. I need a physical keyboard for the heavy typing I do on the go.. So comparing the Droid 4 to my recently given up Blackberry bold was my first step.. Droid 4 easily out does the Bold. The keyboard is actually better than the bold which I couldn't believe.. I didn't think I needed a bigger screen until I had one, but wow does it make a difference especially when editing and reading documents on the move..
Internet wise there is not contest between my old Bold (2011 version) and the Droid 4. The connection is so much better, the pages load so much faster, it is a wonderful step up.. The speed for downloading is great and the coverage is great also.
The Blackberry isn't as big, so at times it was a little easier to dial and switch to speaker phone but the difference hasn't been much to overcome..
I've seen a lot of reviewers complain about the Droid 4's screen.. I'm sure the screen is probably not as good as a higher end phone, but you know what I don't really notice.. I came from a blackberry so everything seems to look fine on the Droid 4. I've put the phone through its paces downloading apps, watching movie trailers, hitting various websites, even was able to look at a nice power point presentation.. I use my phone for business and as long as the phone delivers there I am fine. The other entertainment features are there if I'm standing in line, stuck at the airport or whatever.. The screen is just fine for somebody using the phone for business and casual entertainment use..
If you are a keyboard person like I am, you really have two choices.. Blackberry or a phone like this and I would go for a phone like this.. I've had the thing for about a week now so we'll see how things go in a month..
About the battery.. Yeah it is not removable and when the thing is flying on 4G it can start to drain.. I would have given this thing 5 stars if it had a Maxx battery. The screen, the music player, the navigator, and basically anything will ultimately attack the battery.. Then again I had similar battery issues with my Bold and that was smaller and had 3G.. While the battery on the Droid 4 is not bad, keep a car charger handy.. I think I have made it through the day without battery anxiety 50% of the time.
Software wise it is loaded with a bunch of garbage you don't need. Most of it can be uninstalled or hidden so it is not a problem.. The thing really wants you on Google Plus but Facebook connects easily enough.. Although the Smart Actions function is a good idea, so far I find that it only offers a limited range of potential smart actions.. For example, I would love a smart action that doesn't require me to input my security pin to unlock my phone once I am listening to music via headphones, but I can't seem to get that phone to agree to such an action.. (But the music will pause when I remove the headphones, so that isn't bad..)
Wrapping it all up.. Very solid phone, very good for business while providing nice entertainment, internet, and other distractions. Huge improvement over a blackberry, and the keyboard and 4G are actually quite awesome.. If this thing had a maxx battery it could rule the world.. Oh well, maybe that can be handled by the sequel, Droid 5: The Quest for More Money. The battery is not a deal breaker, but it is a concern. -
"Best phone I've ever owned"
on by ashobe83Pros 4GLTE, Fast, Solid, Slide out keyboard with backlit, Display dwarphs iPhone and just as clear, camera quick key from front screen (upgradable to ICS - hopefully)
Cons Keyboard has a caps lock,
Summary The phone is a great device and I was blown away by the speed. The display, although smaller than a RAZR, has the same resolution so the icons are crisper. Keyboard slider is very smooth.
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"Moved from longtime Iphone user to Droid 4!"
on by jrubyazPros 1. 4G LTE speed. Compared to my iphone 4, the speed is blazing fast..my phones with apple always took forever to buffer
2. TWO Keyboards, one physical,touch.
3. SIZE of phone. Not huge like Maxx. Fits comfortably.
4. Voice Quality. ExcellentCons Screen RES: Not quite as crisp as Apple, but certainly good.
Battery: Buy a battery saver app, mine went from draining by 5 or 6pm and needing a charge to lasting all day..not a problem with right apps.Summary In summation,
I rarely give a phone five stars, but am doing so here. Some people grump about battery life, but reality is on any smartphone it is going to suck up the battery. If this bothers you, get the Maxx but be aware if you upgrade to ICE CREAM SANDWICH upgrade you may lose that edge-I researched this and after ICS update many Maxx users not getting great battery life. The apps for battery savers do the trick.
If you like a huge phone and bigger screen get the Maxx..this screen is plenty big for me.
I DO NOT have a problem while texting like some state on these reviews with hitting the power button.....it is really not an issue.
The 4G LTE makes it a super fast phone...check coverage in your area, of course, works on regular network for Verizon as well.
This phone is fast, fluid, and has two keyboards with lightning fast speed. A Winner!
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