Choosing a phone: keyboard and swappable battery

[AFlyingGideon]

I notice that there are groups here for discussion of specific phones, batteries, accessories, but nothing about choosing a phone. Pity.

I've a Samsung Stratosphere. I've had the original Motorola Droid before (and I think another phone between, but I'm not sure). All have had swappable batteries and physical keyboards. These are features I'd like to retain.

The Stratosphere 2 fits, but it looks a little "long in the tooth" compared to the newer phones. The Motorola Droid 4 has the keyboard, but someone in a Verizon store told me that they don't have swappable batteries.

Is there anything newer than the Stratosphere 2 that fits?

Thanks.

...Andrew

 

[pc747]

sadly oems and carriers are going away from keyboard phones in favor of larger and thinner devices. As of right now there are not many choices to choose from as far as keyboard phones are concerned.

 

[dezymond]

Moto hasn't made a phone with a swappable battery for a long time now and they're moving away from that direction. The only OEM that seems to be sticking with that is Samsung. No OEMs (at least that I know of) have any phones planned with a physical keyboard.

 

[picturelights1]

It can be a major pain to get through half a day's work and then have your battery conk out, but using your phone for work can put a major strain on its battery, so make sure you pick a phone with good battery life.

 

[JohnCtheMP]

Outside of the dredded Q10 (non-android), the stratosphere II is just about the only qwerty keyboard worth a damn anymore!