Tried the Note 4 at VZ today and was astonished by how glitchy it seemed. Disabling Samsung's keyboard and switching on the Swype one definitely helped, but it still seemed to be distracted by something. I trust that something was the Verizon demo, but the Droid Turbo on the next display was handling the demo as well without getting caught up in it. And the trace typing on the Droid Turbo blew the Samsung away.
The display on the Note is really impressive, but after seeing all the Samsung phones in the store (and LG ones, by the way) with screen burn-in, I wonder if it would stay that way. The Droid Turbo display is great in the Chrome browser but way oversaturated color on the UI and most other apps. You'd think they could get the color right system-wide . . . as Samsung at least have with the Note.
Question on the Note 4; I'm one of those rare people who really has liked Samsung's "plastic fantastic" build, as I believe it helps lower the risk of shattering the screen as well as making the device lighter. What does the aluminum edge of the Note 4 mean for the phone's durability?
On one-handed use, the Droid Turbo seems to be the limit for my hands. I'd still go with the Note 4, especially the developer version, if the glitches are short-term and not deeply built into the phone. But the Droid really is more ergonomic.
Pluses for Note: OIS camera, color profile consistency, color balance, separate channels for CDMA and LTE (as opposed to requiring VoLTE to handle voice and data together), developer edition should allow complete control over LTE bands, very low SAR, loud earpiece.
Pluses for Droid: battery, design looks more durable, trace typing, speed of operation, one-handed use, stock version supports forthcoming LTE Band 2 on Verizon as well as European roaming bands, water resistance, price includes one zero-deductible glass replacement. (Note, stock Samsung should be upgradable to Band 2 if Verizon bothers to push a firmware update)
Which to buy? Or wait for the Nexus? I'd never imagined myself buying a tablet and using it as a phone, but I can't rule it out at this point. Can the Droid's earpiece be made louder? Can the Chrome color profile be extended to the rest of the phone? Can the Note's UI run smoothly and can the trace typing be improved? Which one in real world use is more likely to survive a drop?
