Verizon upgrade eligible NEXT WEEK! Need help!

[MikeC01]

I don't think I've ever had such a hard time deciding what phone to buy before in my life! I'm currently using a Droid Charge which was my first Droid (former iPhone user). I love many things about the Charge, but the two things I hate the most are the signal strength and the batter life. I'm a real estate agent so I use my phone fairly heavily and today it was nearly dead by 2 PM. My car charger doesn't work all that fast so decent battery life is important. I also hate dropped calls and live/work in a town where signal can be "thin" in places. So, a phone that can maximize a weak signal is important. I will not be rooting the phone, but I like gadgets and enjoy having the latest and greatest (plus it's awesome when you can show all these crApple fanboys how much better your Droid is). I always keep my phone until my contract is up so something that will last the 18 months or so and will feel competent during that time is important. I always felt my Charge was out of date (except for the LTE and screen) from the day I bought it.

I like the Samsung GS3, but I'm concerned that staying with Samsung will mean continued poor signal quality. Also, this phone has been out for a while already. So, two years from now I imagine it will feel extremely dated.

I also like the Razr Maxx HD. My lone concern with this phone is that the hardware seems like it will not stand the test of time and will feel dated rather quickly. Love the long batter life and the reputation Moto has for excellent cell radios.

The last phone I'm considering is the DNA. Love the quad core, the screen, and all the high tech bells & whistles of the phone. However, I'm concerned because I've never had an HTC phone before. I read bad things about Sense all over the internet and I'm concerned about their cell radios as well. I keep my music on my phone so the 16G capacity also scares me. I could put the music up in the cloud but wouldn't want to waste my soon to be limited data pulling it back down to listen to it. This is the one phone though that I don't think would feel dated quickly though.

I briefly thought of the Note II but had the same concerns about this phone as the GS3 plus I don't think it would fit in my pocket which is important as well (haven't said that about a phone in YEARS).

What do you guys think?

 

[jhawkkw]

I remember when I had a droid charge. Was glad I got rid of the phone when I did. If you're concerned about signal strength, then you can't do any better than motorola in the world of android when it comes to radios. Combine that with the battery in the maxx hd, and you have the polar opposite of the charge. If you feel you can wait, Google/Motorola are cooking up this mysterious "XPhone" that little detail is known about, but has the chance of being something epic. There are also a lot of really happy DNA owners around here, and HTC's radios are generally as good and probably better than Samsung's. I can tell you flat out that the S3's radios are better than your charge's, but not as good as any Motorola. You can't go wrong with either the maxx hd or dna, but a lot will come down to what you prefer more, beautiful display vs lots of battery life.

 

[you2]

The S3 has signal issue (3g) in weak areas; in strong areas it is fine (much better than the driod charger). the razr hd has fantastic battery life but is a bit 1/2 generation behind (compare to the htc dna and note 2) - on par with the s3 but better signal reception. I'm personally will likely bite on the note 2 - it is wider than I would like but other wise meets my critera (good battery life, loud ear piece, good reception, very smooth). I'm tempted by the htc-dna which I think is a fantastic device but would have prefer a larger battery. All reviews I've read indicate it has respectable battery life (unlike - for example the nexus 4) but after owning a razr (non-max) I want something with a larger battery. I'm not real happy with the razr hd on screen button (though that is the direction google prefers) which is why i'm leaning towards the note 2. I would go with the dna had the battery been larger. I prefer the form-factor and the screen is fantastic.

 

[MikeC01]

The S3 has signal issue (3g) in weak areas; in strong areas it is fine (much better than the driod charger). the razr hd has fantastic battery life but is a bit 1/2 generation behind (compare to the htc dna and note 2) - on par with the s3 but better signal reception. I'm personally will likely bite on the note 2 - it is wider than I would like but other wise meets my critera (good battery life, loud ear piece, good reception, very smooth). I'm tempted by the htc-dna which I think is a fantastic device but would have prefer a larger battery. All reviews I've read indicate it has respectable battery life (unlike - for example the nexus 4) but after owning a razr (non-max) I want something with a larger battery. I'm not real happy with the razr hd on screen button (though that is the direction google prefers) which is why i'm leaning towards the note 2. I would go with the dna had the battery been larger. I prefer the form-factor and the screen is fantastic.

I pretty much like everything about the Note II except for it's size. I saw one the other day and I don't think it would even fit in my pocket comfortably. If I was wearing cargo pants/shorts maybe it would fit, but I rarely wear cargos and certainly can't do so at work.