Ever since the release of the Note 3 I have anticipated getting the Note 4 as soon as it was available. The Note 3 was one of my favorite phones this past year’s time. If I am not mistaken, I ended up going back the Note 3 about four different times to be used as my daily driver. I chose it over the HTC One M8, Galaxy S5, and Moto X (2013). Each of the mentioned devices are great, but never lived up to the Note 3. Along comes the Note 4.
Tomorrow is the big debut for Verizon customers. Other carriers have made their version available sooner than us Verizon users. I could get on a rabbit trail on how late Verizon is with releases, but I’ll let that one go for now. For about month I was with T-Mobile rocking the OnePlus One, pre-ordered the iPhone 6 Plus, and assumed I was going to pre-order the Note 4. Well, I ended up sticking it out with Verizon as my carrier and was glad I did not pre-order any Note 4 from any carrier. Here’s why…
1. Nexus 6
I could just leave it at that, but for the sake of argument let’s dive in a bit deeper. Ever since I got into the whole rooting, modding, and hacking scene with mobile devices I developed the idea that it would awesome if Motorola made a Nexus phone, but not stop there, and add it to Verizon’s lineup. This time period was the Droid X days and in my opinion Motorola at that point in time was top dog as an Android manufacturer. Let’s just say they took a little dip for a while in a quality handset. Fortunately, they have made a great comeback with the Moto X (both new and old models). Moto has taken the company in a great direction with simply creating a great device for the user experience.
Verizon did have a Nexus device for a little while, but totally jacked it up for one reason or another. This time around they are back providing the new Nexus phone on their network. Granted I am a bit nervous about Big Red adding the new Nexus 6 to their lineup of flagships because I want a true Nexus experience, which means complete stock Android and OS updates with no delay from Google.
Back to my perfect scenario about Moto making a Nexus on Verizon as my dream device. This truly is an awesome opportunity to fulfill my techie heart’s desire to have a Nexus device on Verizon. Not too mention I am on a grandfathered unlimited data plan. The setup seems pretty damn nice if you ask me.
Not only is the setup nice, the device alone is a beast. Specs wise it is rocking 3GBs of RAM, OIS camera sensor, front facing speakers, 5.9″ full HD screen, and other manly features to make your jaw drop. What’s interesting is this thing pretty much matches up right next to the Note 4. Only major difference aside from hardware, is the Android skin involved.
2. TouchWiz versus Stock Android
While the Note 3 is a great device with a ton of features I still tried my best to make my Note 3 look like stock Android. My attempts were made through Xposed Framework mods, Nova Launcher, and removing bloat. The Note series provides some practical features with the S-Pen, but like many users I never really used the pen as much as I could have. I did use it, but not enough justify saying that it is a must have feature set.
I recall an old Honda ad on TV that basically called out other car manufactures of how they would literally state in their ads “compared to or like Honda” while listing off features of a car. So, Honda just plain out said, why not just get Honda? The principle applies to the Nexus. If I spend so much effort to make my phone look like a stock Android device, why not just get a stock Android device?
As a fellow YouTuber wwjoshdew has said many times in his videos that Note devices might rock 3GBs of RAM, but half of it GONE because TouchWiz uses it up. If you ever wonder why the Note 3 has a lag here and there, TouchWiz plays a factor in that problem. The Moto X 2013 in many performance tests will out do the Note 3, which is mind blowing to me. So imagine with me another phone made my Motorola with 3GBs of RAM with nothing holding it back? Yeah…
3. Price
For the last few Nexus releases Google has priced the handsets on a budget friendly cost. This time around the Nexus isn’t so friendly on the wallet, but it is still cheaper than the Note 4. The Nexus 6 set at $650 for 32GB or $700 for 64GBs versus the Note 4 Verizon.com variant priced at $700 for a 32GB device. The Nexus isn’t that much cheaper than the Note 4, but savings is savings, and I’ll take what I can get. At this stage of the game I can only sport one daily driver and can’t collect devices. Therefore, I must go with one top choice and rock it out!
Final thoughts
The decision to go with the Nexus 6 over the Note 4 has actually been a difficult choice. I know for a fact that I will like the Note 4. They have increased the build quality, specs are on point, and just from my Note 3 history – it’s safe to say the Note 4 will be Bane Tech approved. However, as mentioned above a Nexus made my Motorola on my unlimited data plan with Verizon is a (hopeful) picture perfect situation that I am willing to take a chance with. After listening to the Google’s representatives at the Big Android BBQ speaking about Android Lollipop and Nexus 6, I was sold on giving the new Nexus out before getting the Note 4. I am not ruling the Note 4 out, but I am not getting it right away. It feels weird I am not getting a device like the Note 4 on release day.
