Can you recommend me an android phone to try?

[jzmtl]

The specs of the nexus phones look great, but the 2 deal breakers for me are no micro sd and no replaceable battery.  With those requirements there isnt much option (especiallly supported in north america) besides samsung.

That's what bugs me, I'm running with 2 GB of free space left on internal memory and 20 GB used on sd card, I like my expandable storage very much thank you. And if your phone goes kaput, there's virtually no way to recover data/pic/video on internal memory whereas micro sd is extremely easy.

1080 videos take up over 130 MB per minute so it's good to have extra space on hand.

Google is trying their hardest to kill micro sd, and Samsung is one of the few hold outs who still insists on including one.

[Syph007]

The specs of the nexus phones look great, but the 2 deal breakers for me are no micro sd and no replaceable battery.  With those requirements there isnt much option (especiallly supported in north america) besides samsung.

That's what bugs me, I'm running with 2 GB of free space left on internal memory and 20 GB used on sd card, I like my expandable storage very much thank you. And if your phone goes kaput, there's virtually no way to recover data/pic/video on internal memory whereas micro sd is extremely easy.

1080 videos take up over 130 MB per minute so it's good to have extra space on hand.

Google is trying their hardest to kill micro sd, and Samsung is one of the few hold outs who still insists on including one.

What does google want us to use for removable storage?  Or they want you to use online storage?  At least micro sd is a standard, unlike sony pushing proprietory stuff like their memory sticks.  My son has a PSP that takes memory sticks, but luckily you can buy adapters that take micro sd, so all my mobile devices can use micro sd.

I bought a high end 64gb micro sd card I use on my current s3.  I have that filled with movies and tv shows and kid videos so I plan on using that on the next phone.  I dont care much about app data stored on internal, but all stuff I want to keep like photos/video taken by the device I want on removable media.

I see the S6 is due out in april.  If it was sooner Id just wait for that as Im sure it will have the fast charge and good battery life the note 4 has.  But right now I want the note and then I'll know one way or another if its for me.  I like the case options I searched for already though so I havent seen a downside yet.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Take what's available now. If you wait for the S6 to come out then you'll see in another few months the Note 5 will be out and you'll wait for that and so on and so on. 

Bite the bullet, get what you want now.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[jzmtl]

What does google want us to use for removable storage?  Or they want you to use online storage? 

None, they want internal storage only, hence my earlier comment on files on internal storage is irrecoverable if phone dies.

Like Grant said, don't wait for new phone unless it's less than a month away, with S and note you have two new every year, so the better one is always around the corner.

[Syph007]

What does google want us to use for removable storage?  Or they want you to use online storage? 

None, they want internal storage only, hence my earlier comment on files on internal storage is irrecoverable if phone dies.

Like Grant said, don't wait for new phone unless it's less than a month away, with S and note you have two new every year, so the better one is always around the corner.

Ya for sure.  It feels like I get less ripped off if I dont buy in to each new version and skip at least one generation too.  So S3 to Note 4 skips a few.    The note 4 already has things I dont need. I mean blood oxygen level sensor is neat, but its not exactly on my need list for a phone.   Ironically making phone calls is low on the list too.    Texting, email, mobile internet and watching videos is 90% of what I use it for.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yes, buying a phone for a deaf person used to be a cruel joke.  The current generation will never understand that as it is now a very thoughtful gift for anyone. 

Def

[N_N_R]

I got a Pretigio 5300 Duo yesterday. This is my first real Andriod phone. It's relatively cheap and offers everything that I'll ever need.

Given my old Nokia was twice the price four years ago and can't do much now, I'm really happy with the Prestigion

[AimlessWanderer]

I agree- phones are at the point where there's really no bad ones.  Even the Windows machines are pretty good nowadays. MS may have been late to the party but they have the resources to catch up.

As much as it pains me to say it, even BlackBerry isn't that bad.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

I'm stuck with Blackberry, as it's the only "smart" phone system that I'm prepared to carry. They're not the best phones in the world, but I just don't trust the others one iota. If I ever lose trust in BB, I'll have to go back to the old fashioned basic type

Have you tried their Passport model?

No. I have a work one and a personal one. I think the personal one is a Bold 9790, and I think the work one is a Q5

Hey, Rex. I've just signed up on a new contract today with a different network provider (the other one was really smurfing me off  ), and I've chosen the Passport as the phone for the contract  I'll be keeping the 9790 as a spare in case there's any problems, but I'm kind of used to having a BB now, and looking forward to trying this one out 

[Higgins617]

I agree- phones are at the point where there's really no bad ones.  Even the Windows machines are pretty good nowadays. MS may have been late to the party but they have the resources to catch up.

As much as it pains me to say it, even BlackBerry isn't that bad.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

I'm stuck with Blackberry, as it's the only "smart" phone system that I'm prepared to carry. They're not the best phones in the world, but I just don't trust the others one iota. If I ever lose trust in BB, I'll have to go back to the old fashioned basic type

Have you tried their Passport model?

No. I have a work one and a personal one. I think the personal one is a Bold 9790, and I think the work one is a Q5

Hey, Rex. I've just signed up on a new contract today with a different network provider (the other one was really smurfing me off  ), and I've chosen the Passport as the phone for the contract  I'll be keeping the 9790 as a spare in case there's any problems, but I'm kind of used to having a BB now, and looking forward to trying this one out 

BlackBerry was the best for quite some time, and while they may have fell a bit behind on innovations and such, they didn't mess with a good thing. My most reliable phone was still my blackberry curve. Though I eventually ran it over with my Durango...... Oooops.

Now I stick to HTC as they've treated me very well. Only time I had problems was when I got the Evo Shift, which had the slide out keyboard. That extra feature was it's undoing for sure. Went through probably 8 in a few months all due to manufacturer defect. Voiced my displeasure to Sprint after being given endless waves of refurbished phones(read as flipped out a bit) and they gave me the Evo 4g as a swap. 2 years of flawless function, my favorite phone to date. I only switched to the M8 because I was due for the upgrade and I got the Evo a bit wet so it was slowly acting up.

[AimlessWanderer]

I agree- phones are at the point where there's really no bad ones.  Even the Windows machines are pretty good nowadays. MS may have been late to the party but they have the resources to catch up.

As much as it pains me to say it, even BlackBerry isn't that bad.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

I'm stuck with Blackberry, as it's the only "smart" phone system that I'm prepared to carry. They're not the best phones in the world, but I just don't trust the others one iota. If I ever lose trust in BB, I'll have to go back to the old fashioned basic type

Have you tried their Passport model?

No. I have a work one and a personal one. I think the personal one is a Bold 9790, and I think the work one is a Q5

Hey, Rex. I've just signed up on a new contract today with a different network provider (the other one was really smurfing me off  ), and I've chosen the Passport as the phone for the contract  I'll be keeping the 9790 as a spare in case there's any problems, but I'm kind of used to having a BB now, and looking forward to trying this one out 

BlackBerry was the best for quite some time, and while they may have fell a bit behind on innovations and such, they didn't mess with a good thing. My most reliable phone was still my blackberry curve. Though I eventually ran it over with my Durango...... Oooops.

Now I stick to HTC as they've treated me very well. Only time I had problems was when I got the Evo Shift, which had the slide out keyboard. That extra feature was it's undoing for sure. Went through probably 8 in a few months all due to manufacturer defect. Voiced my displeasure to Sprint after being given endless waves of refurbished phones(read as flipped out a bit) and they gave me the Evo 4g as a swap. 2 years of flawless function, my favorite phone to date. I only switched to the M8 because I was due for the upgrade and I got the Evo a bit wet so it was slowly acting up.

The thing I like about Blackberry, is it's not forgotten it's a phone  It does phone type things like a phone should, and doesn't do things it shouldn't (like record your biometrics, place your contact details online, or spying on every single thing you do for profit/marketting). So it's not the phones themselves, although I am a big believer that phones should have buttons  but more that the operating system is respectful enough to allow you to make our own decisions about your own privacy/security, rather than taking liberties with your personal details.

I don't need apps and social networking and all the other malware and privacy scams, I just need a phone I can browse the internet and access my emails with. Blackberry provides that service respectfully, whilst that respect seems to be absent from all other smart phones

[N_N_R]

I just read an HTC here and wanna ask a question: my sister's phone got... blocked she says, any idea what that is? The phone just won't turn on ever. All of a sudden. They've taken it to the service, but there's no news from there yet. She said the phone had already gotten itself.. blocked once before, too. No idea what that means.

[Higgins617]

I just read an HTC here and wanna ask a question: my sister's phone got... blocked she says, any idea what that is? The phone just won't turn on ever. All of a sudden. They've taken it to the service, but there's no news from there yet. She said the phone had already gotten itself.. blocked once before, too. No idea what that means.

That's a real headscratcher honestly. If it's the same phone it could be a bad connection to the battery? That or a faulty battery are the only things that would cause it to do nothing at all right? I've never heard that before to be honest.

[derekmac]

The IMEI can be blocked if the phone is reported stolen, but that's the only "blocking" I can think of.

[Syph007]

Maybe bricked?  Bad updates can do that and make the phone unusable.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Maybe bricked?  Bad updates can do that and make the phone unusable.

I remember when you started this thread you were kinda clueless about this stuff now you are helping people.

It is pretty strange how much they way we use our phones, or I should say mobile internet devices has changed. I still remember my first mobile that could only make calls and tell me what time it was.

Where micro SD is concerned it seems you are fully invested so it is a deal breaker for you. I still am a fan of removable storage but have learned to back up my data to a computer ever once in a while and live with out it. It helps that my LG G2 has 32G on board.

Something else that you could look into is this wonder of science.

http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/flash-drive/

A wireless thumb drive with up to 64G of storage that will work with all of your wireless devices. Storage that can be shared between all your stuff and it works great, very seamless.

[AimlessWanderer]

Maybe bricked?  Bad updates can do that and make the phone unusable.

I remember when you started this thread you were kinda clueless about this stuff now you are helping people.

It is pretty strange how much they way we use our phones, or I should say mobile internet devices has changed. I still remember my first mobile that could only make calls and tell me what time it was.

Where micro SD is concerned it seems you are fully invested so it is a deal breaker for you. I still am a fan of removable storage but have learned to back up my data to a computer ever once in a while and live with out it. It helps that my LG G2 has 32G on board.

Something else that you could look into is this wonder of science.

http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/flash-drive/

A wireless thumb drive with up to 64G of storage that will work with all of your wireless devices. Storage that can be shared between all your stuff and it works great, very seamless.

That's a cool little gadget that's almost so obvious it should have been thought about a long time ago

You're right on the evolution too mate. My first phone was one of those Motorola bricks with the pull out aerial. The phone I should be picking up tomorrow will not only be my phone, email, internet, alarm clock and who knows what else, but also my modem for my desktop and laptop. I don't have a broadband connection at home, and have been working off a dongle for the past few years. With this I'll get unlimited 4G data and be able to get rid of the old dongle, at no increase in cost over my previous 3G phone

[anditsgone]

Used Apple for a while, then went to Android due to more customize options. Then went back to Apple.
Reason: Android bugs and glitches driverd me crazy, pictures disappearing, one day normal battery life, other day battery empty within 2 hours.
Phone restarting without a reason.
All sort of small bugs that made it a no goer for me.
So I switched back to the iPhone because everything works flawless. The apps work great, great support from Apple, working responsibly with my information.
Android is a major part of Google because they can track everything, your contacts, your locations, your browsing history.
Although you will not notice it it just bugs me that that information is sold to advertise products and services to me.

[Whoey]

And you somehow think Apple doesn't do the same?

I am admittedly biased towards Android, but I have experienced it on good, well developed hardware as well as cheap. I had a budget tablet that TBH was garbage and barely usable, it got replaced with my Nexus 7 that was not exactly expensive, and I had a good run with it up until the Lollipop update.

I consider my Nexus 4 to be a midrange phone price wise, with pretty good hardware. It has a couple failings, but restarting/crashing is not one of them. The battery is decent, but of course depends on what I'm doing with it. I can hardly complain if I've been using it a lot during the day and the battery dies. That being said I'm really over the "thin wars"... stop making phones so thin, put a bigger, better battery in and make it sturdy without a case/cover so we don't need to buy a skinny phone and wrap a thick case around it to protect it from normal use.

Also if you're comparing a $100 android phone to a $600 iphone it's hardly fair.... It's like complaining your Ford Fiesta doesn't perform as well as a Ferrari.

[derekmac]

 

[Whoey]

I don't think that's stock hardware... 

[derekmac]

I don't think that's stock hardware... 

It may have been rooted....

 

[N_N_R]

Higgins, Derek, Sypho,

omG, only now did I see your replies

She took the phone to some service, they told her it couldn't be repaired. I don't remember what exactly had happened to it.

[Whoey]

I don't think that's stock hardware... 

It may have been rooted....

 

yes, they slapped a $250k upgrade kit on a $15k car... 

[anditsgone]

And you somehow think Apple doesn't do the same?

I am admittedly biased towards Android, but I have experienced it on good, well developed hardware as well as cheap. I had a budget tablet that TBH was garbage and barely usable, it got replaced with my Nexus 7 that was not exactly expensive, and I had a good run with it up until the Lollipop update.

I consider my Nexus 4 to be a midrange phone price wise, with pretty good hardware. It has a couple failings, but restarting/crashing is not one of them. The battery is decent, but of course depends on what I'm doing with it. I can hardly complain if I've been using it a lot during the day and the battery dies. That being said I'm really over the "thin wars"... stop making phones so thin, put a bigger, better battery in and make it sturdy without a case/cover so we don't need to buy a skinny phone and wrap a thick case around it to protect it from normal use.

Also if you're comparing a $100 android phone to a $600 iphone it's hardly fair.... It's like complaining your Ford Fiesta doesn't perform as well as a Ferrari.

Gathering and selling data is Google business, Apple says dat they want to earn on their hardware, not your personal information.

If i download google maps on my iphone it asks if i would log in with my google account and give clearence to seek in my contacts and use GPS even when i am not using the app, where is that good for? i just want to see which route i have to take.

All my android phones worked flawlesly on the stock android, but as soon as the first updates came the problems started.

My dad's iPhone 4 from 2010: works flawless altough it does get a bit slow.
My previous Samsung Note N7000: unuseable, restarting, battery empty within two hours crashing all the time.

600 euro phone vs 600 euro phone

I agree on the thin wars, iphone 6 could been made a bit thicker, huge battery that will last for days and no portruding camera

I tought on buying a nexus 5 due to the stock android so it is not ruined and has all sorts of bugs, but after reading the reviews i switched back to iphone, i heard that the screen breaks extremely fast and the battery is just to small.

I think that if your'e buying a 600 dollar iphone 6 vs 600 dollar galaxy s5
The iphone will serve you longer and better without problems

[Grant Lamontagne]

Honestly, I don't really see Apple as any better than Google, or vice versa.  I prefer Android myself, while my boss prefers iPhones.  We do pretty much the same job, working in the same conditions, both investing big money in the toughest/best cases we can, and to be honest, they both need replacing at about the same rate.  I'd like to say that because he's the boss, I probably end up being exposed a slight bit more than he does, and maybe my phone gets a bit more exposure to the cold and rain than his iPhone, and that if it weren't for my S3 going all squirrelly on me, I'd be one phone better than he is.... but the reality is that it is still close enough to being even that it's not really worth fighting over.  I'd also point out that my phones have largely been cheaper than his, but then I probably spend more in cases than he does, so again it all comes out in the wash.

Just like multitools, you have to pick the one that works best for you.  Honestly, if I didn't mind spending several times as much for a laptop, I'd have seriously considered going to Mac out of convenience.  If I had a Macbook then I'd have an iPad and an iPhone, but when I looked at new laptops I realized I could have four entry level PC's for the cost of the entry level Macbook and that just wasn't worth it- not even close.

Def

[Cupboard]

I've just got a Moto G2 and I'm finding it works very well. I've finally been able to ditch my second phone as it has two SIM slots and it just works.
It's the first time in a while I've had a phone that's relatively mainstream, the last one I had that wasn't a bit of an oddball was my K750i from year ago!

[Whoey]

I wasn't really unhappy with my Motorola Defy which I had before my Nexus 4. Most things it had were good enough for my needs, plus being a somewhat rugged phone without a case. Where it failed for me was software updates and CPU/Ram. Otherwise I'd probably not have replaced it at all yet.

[Syph007]

So since I converted to android I wanted to update this original thread.

It was August 13, 2013 when I bought that S3 and I definitely got my money's worth.  Worked great for daily use until I dropped it face down and it landed on a rock shattering the screen about a month ago.  I considered a repair, but honestly I couldn't be bothered so I laid it to rest.

Aug 13, 2013 - Apr 12, 2016 isn't bad at all for the S3.  I bought it new on ebay for 3-400 I think at the time.

I replaced i the S3 with a brand new S5 G900V for 250 CAD, which is peanuts.  That is a Verizon model with all kinds of garbage on it.  But there is a root method which I followed and removed all the junk and it works fine with my carrier LTE and I'm super over the moon happy.  This has double the battery life of my S3 and feels like a big WIN!  I also bought a second official samsung battery and charger and could not be happier with mobile goodness.

Now, due to the dumb ass new models (s6, s7, note 5) not having removable battery, I have decided to acquire one or more 'backup' phones to use when/if I break this one.  I went through withdrawal when I broke my s3 so I want to have a spare.  Im currently eyeing a samsung mega 2 (big phablet) for about 250 USD, and a brand new Note 4 for 400 CAD.  The mega is a curiousity for me even though its somewhat oldish and has less support.  The note 4 is likely what I will lean towards though after I have some spare money.

Its funny I originally thought I wanted something small... now I want the biggest screen I can fit in my pocket.   

[Whoey]

I'm still using my nexus 4.

I feel no need to replace it yet, but maybe if it suffers a catastrophe like your s3 then I'll consider it.

I'll likely go with something from the Spanish brand BQ's line, as they are cheap and pretty well equipped (better than most for the money)

The oneplus line has my interest, but price wise on a budget they aren't even close to the Flagship killer they claim to be. They are nice looking though...

[N_N_R]

Lol. When I replace my phone, I'll also want as big a screen as I can hold (I have a bit of a trouble with my current phone with that). Mine's Prestigio Multiphone Duo 5530 OR something. In comparison to my previous Nokia, which was Symbian, this Prestigio (android) is VERY cheap and has a lot more stuff I like and need. It's already 16 months old. I've got a leather case for it, which helped it endure the numerous drops The only annoying thing it does is it heats up for NO reason i.e. when not in use / when not having been in use / out of the blue and therefore the battery starts dropping. But given I'm mostly in civilization with electricity and given the money I paid for it ($160ish back then), it's been awesome.