The BIG Switch

Let’s get this out of the way. I have NEVER owned an iPhone, and maybe never will (we’ll see what happens at WWDC ’14). I’ve been an android user since the Motorola Droid. Since then I’ve bounced around from android phone to android phone. On average I get a new phone every 10 months or so. However, thanks to T-Mobile and their new JUMP! upgrade program, I will be getting a new phone every six months.

A month ago I had my first opportunity to take advantage of this program. I was a little bit hesitant at first since I only had my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 since last October. But after seeing review after review telling me how amazing the HTC One M8 was I couldn’t help but take the plunge. Now it was a frightening idea to give up my huge 5.7″ screen, amazing stylus input, USB 3.0 and 3gb ram multitasking beast. But getting rid of Samsung’s cluttered and overly jam-packed TouchWiz UI was the greatest factor into making the switch to the M8. I tried to do everything I could to stomach TouchWiz, from rooting and flashing custom roms to installing third party launchers. Seeing videos of HTC’s Sense 6 OS made me realize that OEM Android skins can be elegant as they are useful.

For the sake of not turning this into a full blown M8 review I can tell you that I have truly enjoyed the crap out this phone! It’s been fast, smooth, reliable, and overall a great smartphone. But unfortunately, after a month of use I have realized the biggest thing I have been missing is the Note 3’s huge battery. Seriously, I could use my phone all day at work, playing clash of clans, checking Twitter Facebook and Instagram, get home and watch YouTube videos, and do some web browsing. By the time I went to charge it before bed I’d still have about 20% left, with about 4 hours of screen on time. Now, with the M8 I’ve been averaging about 2 hours of screen time before I’m scrambling for a charger by around 9pm.

As we all know battery life is the biggest issue plaguing modern smartphones today. I just found it amazing that (arguably) the “latest and greatest” smartphone out there had just “decent” battery life. Now don’t get me wrong, the M8’s battery isn’t terrible by any stretch of the imangination. But I find it annoying that all day I spend most of my time trying to conserve battery. It’s turned me into this OCD smartphone powersaver. So I have about 5 months or so until I can get my note 4, which will allow me to revert back to using my phone without hearing my battery ticking down like a time-bomb in the back of my head.

Is this something we should still be dealing with in 2014 or should phones be supercharged with batteries that actually let us use our phones the way we want. Chime in in the comments and let me know. Thanks.