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The large extended battery for the Nexus looks like it almost doubles the thickness of the phone.

Interesting on the bloatware. The recent reviews of Samsung S4 or Note 3 versus the Droids seem to indicate less bloatware or maybe "custom ware" on the Motorolas than the Samsungs.

Portable chargers, spare batteries and separate chargers, etc. are an option but the goal is to keep it simple. Battery lasts a looooong full day with tons of use and gets charged every night with no worry until end of contract when the battery may be "end of life". Keeping in mind that the battery in the portable chargers are going to wimp out after 2 or 3 years even if they are rarely used. Darn batteries are like people . . . they get old and frail.

The fact that you can't remove the battery is one of my biggest gripes with the Maxx phones, but it lasts so long I've learned to live with that fact and having a big battery that doesn't cause the phone to have some weird bulge in in like most of the aftermarket extended batteries in my experience have, is nice.

I've got no qualms with the Nexus phones, if I were planning to leave Verizon a Nexus phone would certainly be on my list of contenders. However, I think your opinion of Motorola phones is perhaps a bit outdated, particularly the latest line. Keep in mind also that Google bought Motorola Mobility over 2 years ago, so a Droid Maxx is a Google phone. My current phone, the Doid Razr Maxx HD was the first phone that was co-developed with Google and sold officially as a Google phone. Much of the bloatware has been eliminated, a Droid Maxx is mostly a stock Android phone now. I think the "Smart Actions" are pretty much all that remain of the Motorola "bloatware" and the smart actions are pretty cool, certainly worth keeping around. My early Motorola phones were pretty flaky, as was my one and only Samsung phone. They aren't perfect, but they are pretty darn good with the latest versions of Android. The Motorola phones have always worked pretty darn well as phones though, even if they were a bit flaky on the smart phone side of things. And I personally like the solid feel that the Motorola phones have when compared to the Samsung phones that feel kinda flimsy, a couple extra ounces in my pocket is okay with me too. I like the Kevlar used in the Motorola phones too compared to the cheap feeling regular plastic on the Samsung phones.

Just in case you haven't looked lately, the Nexus is considered by CNET to be an excellent phone: http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/goo ... 28372.html

But the Driod Maxx is outstanding: http://reviews.cnet.com/motorola-droid-maxx/ - it was pricey, but prices are coming down and will continue to do so.

Of course the Galaxy S4 is as well: http://reviews.cnet.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/

If you want long battery life, I highly recommend the Galaxy Note II (and probably the Note III, but I don't have any experience with it).

Les,

How does Motorola 'treat' the developer/tech-nerd community? What I mean by that is Samsung/Google basically gives you the keys to the castle when you buy their products in terms of ease to unlock the bootloader and root and work well with custom ROMs. I know when Zach rooted my DroidX he wanted to light that thing up in a burning inferno it was such a PITA. HTC is good with this too.

Les,

How does Motorola 'treat' the developer/tech-nerd community? What I mean by that is Samsung/Google basically gives you the keys to the castle when you buy their products in terms of ease to unlock the bootloader and root and work well with custom ROMs. I know when Zach rooted my DroidX he wanted to light that thing up in a burning inferno it was such a PITA. HTC is good with this too.

This is actually a good point, the Galaxy Notes do have excellent battery life. I generally don't compare them as I consider them a different category as a phablet. I have given great consideration to one as my phone because the reality is I use my phone as an internet device far more than I use it as a phone and it would be great for that. But they are just a little too big I'm afraid. I've determined 5" screen is about as big as I'm willing to go for a phone as I cannot reasonably use anything larger one handed.

Hmmm (again). Other than during calls I never use the phone "one handed" and do use it mostly as an internet device. The saleswoman indicated that despite the size many people consider it to be pocket friendly. They had a non tethered dummy sample for playing with but by then I didn't do anything except put in in/out of my pocket once. Maybe a need to make my own pocket test unit.

Only one day when it was new? Mine is now one year old and I can make it two days with heavy use and three with less useage. I generally charge mine every other day, but never daily.

Here you go Dick :

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/16/smallbu ... l?iid=Lead

I think the middle one would suit you well!

I have a note 2. It is ridiculously awesome. The note 3 is cool as well adding a few bells and whistles. The battery will run two days on power saver mode and the screen turned down.

It is pocket friendly I carry mine in my back pocket. I even put it in my front pockets and ride my bike to work in skinny jeans. I've dropped it, sat on it a hundred times and not broken it yet, so when people say Samsung has bad build quality I can't understand what is the problem.