Im with verizon and plan to stay there. I currently have an older Droid RAZR Maxx. Been fairly pleased with it but its showing its age and the most recent OS update left it a little buggy.  I'm up for an upgrade so I'm gonna get the latest and greatest. A nice big screen and battery life are my top criteria so I've narrowed it down to the new Droid Maxx or the Samsung Galaxy Note 3

From my research the droid has a slight edge in the battery life department but slightly smaller screen. The Note 3 obviously has an amazing display and reportedly excellent battery life. Word is the note is pretty much top of the line in computing power and speed. Its huge though. I don't mind a big phone but the note is huge.

The LG G2 supposedly has stellar battery life as well and great reviews but I gotta do some more research on that one.

Anyway I'm leaning towards the Note 3 just because I know I will love the big display but I'm still undecided:

Questions:

If you own the Maxx are you happy with it?

If you own the Note 3 is its size an issue?

And on the Note 3 will the change to touchwiz from stock a droid be a challenge? Do you like touchwiz?


Thanks guys.

PS: absolutely no interest in an apple product so please don't bother recommending an iPhone and turning this into an android vs iPhone thread.

Of just those two options... the Maxx without hesitation. The active notifications are nice as well as the awesome battery life. The biggest benefit IMHO is that you have nearly stock Android vs. the Note that's infested with hideous Touchwiz.

The Note II is hands down the best phone I've ever owned. The size will be odd for a day or two and then you will never.go.back.ever.


battery life is allll day long,  screen is awesome.  the Note III is even better.

don't sweat the size,  I got used to it in a day and now any other phone feels like a tiny, hard to see toy.  If you use your phone as more than a phone,  movies, work, email, browsing, the Note phones are killer.

for comparison, have owned:
iphone 4, 4S, 5
Motorola Atrix
Samsung Galaxy SIII



Edit: to address the previous poster's comment about touchwiz,  the launcher is completely replaceable with any launcher you like, and it's easy to do. I am running a custom ROM (cleanROM ACE 5.0 that took about ten minutes to install, allows for different launcher than touchwiz, and removes all factory loaded add-on software. It's pure android.  It's very easy to do, I've never done it before and it took about twenty minutes of reading directions, and about maybe 10 to do including copying the ROM over to the memory card on my laptop.

The launcher itself is only a part of touchwiz. As for ROMs, sure the guy could unlock the bootloader and install a new ROM to basically undo all the bullshit Samsung crams on their phones or he could just get the Maxx and have essentially stock Android to start with and a few cool (and actually worthwhile) features.

Love my Droid Razor Maxx

I have the Maxx. I switched from an iphone, when I went into the store I had my mind made up that I was going to






















 

I'd go with the maxx

I have the Razr Maxx HD.  I fucking hate mine. Damn thing bogs down like crazy. I ditched the facebook app and that helped, but I know it hates some other stuff I have on the phone that I love. The picture quality isn't that great. The Droid X I had previously took just as good pics.
I bought a Samsung Note 10.1 tablet earlier this year (2013 model) and love it My next phone will be a Samsung. I'm stuck under contract till October which sucks, but I think I'm going to figure out a way to get a new phone once the S5 comes out in Feb. If I had to get a new one right now, it would be the S4.  The Note 3 is cool, but to damn big unless you have ape hands. Get a tablet for doing tablet stuff and a phone for phone stuff.

I will give it to Motorolla. Their phones are built awesome compared to everyone else. Rumor is the S5 is going to be aluminum.

Good feedback so far guys.

Bummed to hear the camera ain't too good on the Maxx. Y'all were starting to make lean towards the Max until then but I do take a lot of pics so id prefer a decent camera

The touchwiz thing worries me though. Why is it "hideous".  I hate all the bloatware on these phones but at least on my current phone I can disable and avoid all the shit I don't want.

I really have no desire to attempt to root the thing either. Its risky and I ha e no desire to learn enough about it to mitigate those risks. Plus I value having a warranty. So if I go with the Samsung I'm gonna have to learn to deal with touchwiz.

My G2 is decent and does indeed have nice battery life.

Make sure you are ready for the tap on screen and the weird position of the buttons.

If you don't like Touchwiz, you can download another launcher from the play store.  I like Nova launcher, but there are other good ones out there.

Touchwiz is more than just a launcher, it infests everything. You can only mask some of it with a new launcher.

Oh, well it works for me. I don't really notice anything negative about the Touchwiz infestation.

Same.



 

My brother has a note 3 and I cannot wait til I can upgrade to one in February.
I've played with it quite a bit and it is the best phone I've ever seen.

This. I'm a heavy phone user (industrial contractor). I can pull up blue prints and schematics to work off of. I have 35 guys so i'm on the phone all day, when i'm not talking i'm reading email or using it as an mp3 player when i'm driving or riding my bicycle in the evenings. I could get about 6-9 hours out of one charge which is unheard of for me. My gzone commando, and my iphone 4 would only get 3-4 hours.

I bought a bigger battery from zero lemon and can go 1.5-2 FULL days on a charge. Battery was only 40 bucks.

I am also in the market. I have a Galaxy Nexus (the original one from 2 years ago.) and it is starting to show its age.

I am pretty set on getting the Note 3. Now just to figure out taking the Upgrade price, or buying it off contract and keeping my unlimited data.

Let me know what you end up with OP.

I was Moto hardware for last 3-4 years. OG droid,DII, X,aX2, RAZR,RAZR Maxx until I checked out the Note 3. My tired 43 year old eyes thank me, daily. The battery life is good for such a massive screen.

For those on unlimited like me, if you have a regular phone on your plan, it is your path to upgrade for cheap.