Recommend me a Phone!

I'm looking to upgrade my phone. So far I've steered clear of iPhones, and had a wonderful relationship with my HTC Aria before it was tragically broken. My replacement is a Samsung Galaxy Captivate and let's just say I wish this was the phone I broke and my HTC was the replacement.

But I'm in the market for a new phone - our provider is AT&T - so I'm checking out what smartphone would be right up my alley.

The most recent HTC is a bit of a brick, which is unfortunate since I have small hands.

So at the moment, I'm looking at a refurbished 16GB iPhone 4S since I don't really need a "new" phone, I just need a phone whose OS doesn't make me want to beat it into the ground.

Are there any phones out there that you guys would recommend over a 4S that I might have missed?

Unless you really, really want to stay with Android, I would tell you that you'll probably love the 4S. I would just bite the bullet and go for it. After having spent the first two years on the iPhone 1 & 3G, then moving to an Android for 2 years, and now being on a Window's Phone that I just cracked the screen on, I wish I could jump over to an iPhone at a low cost without having to pay a non-contract price for it.

I was on a 3GS for a year before I turned it into a ipod and started using a android phone for the past few months. What I don't like about Android is that the gaming fails hard. I like widgets, and I like using Opera as a browser. But for the iPhone, apps were just better, itunes for podcasts were just better, everything was just more slick and typing and editing wasn't a chore.

I switched to android to cut my phone bill from $70 to $35 a month. But if there was a $35 a month iPhone, I would jump on board.

Unless you care a lot about apps, consider Windows Phone 7. Less expensive, not as fragile, they don't have a two year engineered obsolescence treadmill upgrade cycle (at least not yet) and having set one up for a client a while, WP7 is a gorgeous OS to use. When I can finally financially justify getting off my employer's BlackBerry plan and getting my own phone, that's where I'm going. The app landscape is tepid right now but given that they're having a hard time keeping the Lumia 900 in stock in the US, I'm guessing that will change soon. If you're already heavily invested in Apple or apps are a big deal for you (or Siri I guess though I seriously know many 4S owners and not one of them use it regularly), then the iPhone may be the way to go. But as someone coming from a country that has 3 year cell contracts, having a two year old iPhone rendered almost useless by the latest iOS update it ridiculous in my opinion. The most important thing I can say to anyone when it comes to a phone purchase is buy the phone that gives you the experience you want, not the phone that's cool right now.

I'd try out a Windows Phone 7 if I didn't already have a lot of apps I care about. Getting the iPhone wouldn't be a purchase to get just because it's "cool". I mostly see it as a consistent way to manage my apps and communicate without having such a problem as I do with the Android OS - which has only been since the most recent update. If I decided to make this purchase, this would be my first Apple product ever.

It probably helps that it's at a good price to buy a refurbished one.

My current Razr XT910 (euro version ) is big but it's pretty good ( I would have preferred an SGS2 but couldn't take it) . I got it from work so I barely pay for it(8$ a month for an upgrade from Xperia Arc) .

If you are prone to break your phone you should look at rugged phones like Defy/Defy+ . I looked on the web and there is also an Xperia Active and Galaxy Xcover in that category. Those are usually small , don't have dual core processors (2.3 doesn't use multi core anyways) and are fairly inexpensive compare to flag ship phones.

The Iphone also good if it's unlocked . I know quiet a few people that won't give up theirs . Apple products are too restrictive to my taste. I heard that in the US there is only one provider with Iphones or something like that. In Israel it's much easier to get one because most providers offer iPhones and sim locking is practically illegal (the government removed a lot of competition barriers - and we are turning into an all GSM market).

Android games have much to be desired . I initially played a lot of XCOM on my phone (using a dosbox emulator). Most games are rather simplistic I tried the JA2 but found them harder to control. I got Dead Space on the 0.5$ sale and it works well but my phone heats up when running it. I degenerating to Draw Something and Angry Birds recently. I haven't found a game that's worth my time/money. I also don't like the way "free" games work .

I love my iPhone, but once the app-store sinks its teeth into you, forever will it dominate your destiny.

I just upgraded to a 4s, I considered wp7 and android, but I just can't walk away from the $100+ I've dropped on app-store apps.

Siri is damn nice though. I really like being able to voice reminders, text messages, etc. Of course I the generic midwestern accent which is so easy for voice recognition to get right. It rarely makes a mistake in translation for me.

In this same vein, I am looking at the Samsung Galaxy Note II, but I see some troubling reviews indicating a usage statistics collection portion of the OS. Some people are indicating this affects browsing/usage as well as your monthly data usage. Can anyone offer any perspective on this?

I don't find anything has rendered my 3gs obsolete.

I bought a used iphone 3gs from ebay, and stuck a pay as you go provider's sim card in it. (research carefully about carriers and networks. I used Petro Canada which is on Rogers network, in an iphone originally on Rogers network).

What is sending me looking for a new phone is, after probably six or so years of lifetime, my phone's battery lasts about three hours on standby, and an hour gaming, or a couple of hours browsing. I guess this could be how the newer OS upgrades handle power. It could be optimized for the newer hardware and better battery tech.

I've been considering a Samsung Galaxy S (I think) or a note. Perhaps not the note, I'll likely get a tablet PC convertible, and that would lift the need for any real tablet functionality in my phone.

Google's Nexus 4 is really nice, if it'll work in Canada. But it also has that fixed battery crap.

If you want to avoid that problem, you could go back one gen to the Galaxy Nexus, which is what I have. The screen isn't as good as the Nexus 4's (hard to read in the sun, slightly odd color rendition), but it has a user-replaceable battery, seems to run everything, and is fully hackable, by design, just like the 4. It's really a nice piece of kit.

Both the GNex and the 4 are quite large phones, though; personally, I think they're right at the edge of acceptability. They're still comfortable in a pocket, but if they were any bigger, I don't think they would be. I preferred the form factor in the first-gen iPhone, but like everything else better about the GNex.

My old faithful original Droid Incredible has developed an issue with on ofits touch sensors, where above a certain ambient temp, the sensor starts "randomly" registering touches even if iI set the phone down, localized to one region of the screen.

So I'm on the hunt for a cheap/free replacement on Verizon, ideally without changing my contract, which is a grandfathered unlimited plan.

Been thinking about iPhone 4 range, but not sure. Ideas?

The only way to keep your unlimited is to buy a phone at full price through them or elsewhere.

General Crespin wrote:

The only way to keep your unlimited is to buy a phone at full price through them or elsewhere.

They really want to screw people out of that unlimited data plan don't they. Ugh.

How does the Nexus 4 compare to the Galaxy S3?

I'm up for a new work phone and want to go Android as I already have a personal iPhone. The only choices are the HTC One or the Galaxy S5. Which should I go with?

I've played with the S5 and it feels kinda flimsy. I've also heard that the Samsung software sucks.

On the other hand, I know absolutely zero about the One (hah!). All I know is that it also has custom software.

As a total Android newb, I want to be able to get back to as close to vanilla Android as possible. Is it easier/difficult for either device?