Android phone recommendation

[cemper93]

Hi all,

I've owned my good old HTC Dream for quite some time now, and really liked it. Unfortunately, it has come the time where I have to search for a replacement: the Dream's small RAM makes using modern Apps a pain (even with abusing the SD card as swap memory), and mine is in fact a little bit broken physically (major scratches, dying battery, etc.).

So well. I've already made my decision to stay with Android, and now I have to decide on a phone to buy. I like the Samsung Galaxy SII that I saw an acquaintance using, but there are so many new phones out there that I'm not yet certain whether I want to buy exactly this one.

Most important points:
- UMTS/HSDPA
- WiFi (bonus points for being good enough to have internet in my garden in summer)
- no stuttering (better than the Dream, at least)
- usable internet browser (if I have to download it from the Market, that's okay, but CPU/RAM have to be "enough")
- some camera (I don't need a 20-megapixels-super-modern-high-quality-sports-action-cam, but just something to take simple pictures with)
- battery life (should last for a day, which my Dream sadly doesn't do anymore)

Bonus points for:
- physical keyboard
- not too heavy/large
- can play some games
- super bonus: cheap!

So, what's the fora's recommendation?

[EvanED]

This:


At around 100 kg it violates your bonus requirement of not being too heavy, but you don't have to actually carry it.

[asye288]

Go for the Samsung Galaxy IIs, I got mine like 3 months ago and I like it very much. It does all the job that you required and light in weight. The only concern a fully charged battery will only last for 2 days.

[AvatarIII]

Go for the Samsung Galaxy IIs, I got mine like 3 months ago and I like it very much. It does all the job that you required and light in weight. The only concern a fully charged battery will only last for 2 days.

I agree with this, it's a good phone, although you can get bigger batteries on ebay, I charge mine every day but I also browse on it quite heavily, it can last well with little or no browsing, it's worth getting a decent battery management app.
Camera is 8 megapixels which is pretty good, it has 3G, HSDPA, 4G and HSDPA+, and wi fi obviously, and it'll run any app you throw at it.

[Endless Mike]

If you're buying Android, there's exactly two phones to consider:

Samsung Nexus S
Samsung Nexus Galaxy

The latter is a better phone in every way (except maybe battery life and size), but also costs significantly more being brand new. In both cases, they're Google's developer phones, and will always have the most up-to-date software (except for a brief window while the older phone's software gets finished) and are maintained directly by Google.

[asye288]

If you're buying Android, there's exactly two phones to consider:

Samsung Nexus S
Samsung Nexus Galaxy

The latter is a better phone in every way (except maybe battery life and size), but also costs significantly more being brand new. In both cases, they're Google's developer phones, and will always have the most up-to-date software (except for a brief window while the older phone's software gets finished) and are maintained directly by Google.

Depending on your data carrier as well as where are you located, we may not be able to take full advantages of the Samsung Nexus.

[Endless Mike]

If you're buying Android, there's exactly two phones to consider:

Samsung Nexus S
Samsung Nexus Galaxy

The latter is a better phone in every way (except maybe battery life and size), but also costs significantly more being brand new. In both cases, they're Google's developer phones, and will always have the most up-to-date software (except for a brief window while the older phone's software gets finished) and are maintained directly by Google.

Depending on your data carrier as well as where are you located, we may not be able to take full advantages of the Samsung Nexus.

If you can't take full advantage of it, you won't be able to take full advantage of anything else, so this isn't a concern. I guess the only exception is that there's no Galaxy Nexus that works on Sprint (and its related carriers) in the US, and in that case, used Nexus S 4Gs are apparently really cheap at this point.

That said, it might require buying an imported GSM Galaxy Nexus (which will work on AT&T and T-Mobile) if you're not on Verizon. If you're on Verizon but there's no LTE coverage in your area, it's still the best option since pretty much anything that's not already free on contract is an LTE phone.

[zed0]

I've had an Xperia Mini Pro for a few months and I'm finding it great.

I think it fills all your criteria including the bonus ones.

The screen isn't as large as on most Android phones but it is pretty high quality and does have a slide out physical keyboard.
My main complaint about it would be the battery life, although this is still about 2 days with reasonable usage (using it as an mp3 player to work and back, a few calls and about 15 text messages a day).
Main upside: can stream HD YouTube. <3

[dubsola]

I've got an HTC Desire HD, and am very happy with it. Fast, nice screen, excellent camera, pretty great microphone, very few bugs that I've noticed. Only downside is, like the other phones being recommended, the battery life. I charge it once a day, but I use it all the time for music, browsing, and navigating. GPS is probably the quickest way to drain the battery - leave a map open for an hour and you'll use up all the battery.

[Arariel]

I've been using one of these: http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-p ... T839HABTMB

- UMTS/HSDPA

I think so.

- WiFi (bonus points for being good enough to have internet in my garden in summer)

Yep

- no stuttering (better than the Dream, at least)

Not sure what you mean by that.

- usable internet browser (if I have to download it from the Market, that's okay, but CPU/RAM have to be "enough")

Yep.

- some camera (I don't need a 20-megapixels-super-modern-high-quality-sports-action-cam, but just something to take simple pictures with)

Yep.

- battery life (should last for a day, which my Dream sadly doesn't do anymore)

It lasts me through the day.

- physical keyboard

Yep.

- not too heavy/large

Probably not. 13.5cm X 6.5cm X 1.5cm. Still fits in my jeans' pocket, with my wallet in there as well, though.

- can play some games

I love Go for Android. But yeah.

- super bonus: cheap!

Around the $200 on Craigslist. I got mine from a Yakety Yak listing on Craigslist, and it was about $200 to $300.

[lalop]

Not sure if you've already bought it, but to follow up on one of the comparisons above:

Bonus points for:
- physical keyboard
- not too heavy/large
- can play some games
- super bonus: cheap!

So, what's the fora's recommendation?

The SGSII satisfies all except maybe the super cheap bit (even in a contract, it's still fairly expensive, I guess because demand is high). Galaxy nexus can be cheaper, something like 99$ with a verizon contract* (not GSM), has a worse-than-normal camera (5 mpix, not sure if that's good enough for you), and is somewhat less clocked (though it probably makes little difference unless you're planning on running super-high-end games) but of course the software is where it's at (Note: I don't have experience with verizon-bundled software). GN also has quite a large screen, which could be a curse or a blessing depending on who you ask (and depending on how often you'll be gaming).

Battery life on the GN is supposedly better, but I guess this could depend on network and how you're using it.

Other than that, both phones are about the same. There's also HTC Rezound/Amaze whose specs are about the same as SGSII but are quite heavy and are not as popular (I don't know why). I'm afraid I know even less about the Droids and other series, so can't really comment on that.


*Contracts don't actually save you much (if any) money in the longterm; you should do the calculations before deciding whether you want to buy unlocked.

[Endless Mike]

Contracts save you $0 over non-contract with the exception of prepaid plans. There's not a single post-paid, off-contract plan that is cheaper than a contract plan in the US. As such, you should always accept the subsidy unless you have a compelling reason to believe you will be moving out of country during the following two years.

[lalop]

Contracts save you $0 over non-contract with the exception of prepaid plans. There's not a single post-paid, off-contract plan that is cheaper than a contract plan in the US. As such, you should always accept the subsidy unless you have a compelling reason to believe you will be moving out of country during the following two years.

Spoiler:

It depends on how much the discount on the original phone is. In some cases*, especially during certain "promotions", the discount is sufficiently high to offset the plan cost (when you compare it with an equivalent non-contractual plan) very slightly, say by $20. $20 is not really worth the vendor lockin, in my view, but that's for you to decide.


*When the discount is computed out of the stock price of the phone. If you're able to get a better price somewhere else, then the low margins almost certainly mean you'll get a better deal without a contract.

I misread (earlier reply in spoiler); the flipside, I guess, would be that while some discounts + plans do save you a small amount of money compared to prepaid, there are also others that don't. You have to actually do the math on a case-by-case basis to make sure. Even if you save, it's probably only a minimal amount (unless you've gotten some insane discount on the phone) and at the cost of limiting your own future options.

One last thing to note is that cheaper-than-stock unlocked phones can throw all your calculations awry. Maybe instead of $700 you can buy one for $600, or even in a special promotion, $500. You can expect to save (though numbers, of course, vary) about 20/month for taking a prepaid instead of a contract plan: that's already $480 accounted for. Maybe buying the phone would still cost an additional $100 with the carrier, and so you would actually be saving $80. The main disadvantage, I think, is that you'd need the $500 now, rather than over 2 years. Of course, this is just a (contrived) example, but it should demonstrate most of the details you'd have to take into account.

Edit: I may have misread again, but I don't see any reason to prefer postpaid over prepaid. You're still paying each month; the only issue is whether you're paying for the next or the previous month.

[Endless Mike]

Well, the main reason to choose post-paid over prepaid is that post-paid are typically cheaper than prepaid, but not really by enough to make up the difference over a phone subsidy, especially when you factor in data costs (looking at Verizon, a prepaid plan is about $5 more than equivalent post-paid one). There's the exception of smaller prepaid carriers like Cricket and Metro PCS, however, they're essentially buying bandwidth from the larger carriers, and are given lowest priority meaning slower data speeds and more loss of connection, without the option to roam (and usually with not very good phone selections). I mean, evaluate your needs, of course, since there's some really good prepaid plans if there's certain features you don't need (for instance T-Mobile has a $30/month "unlimited" data and texting and 100 minute plan which is pretty fantastic if you don't make many calls and can find a phone that works on their network that you like), but in general, they're not always the best choice.

[rajonmestra]

Hi all,

I've owned my good old HTC Dream for quite some time now, and really liked it. Unfortunately, it has come the time where I have to search for a replacement: the Dream's small RAM makes using modern Apps a pain (even with abusing the SD card as swap memory), and mine is in fact a little bit broken physically (major scratches, dying battery, etc.).

So well. I've already made my decision to stay with Android, and now I have to decide on a phone to buy. I like the Samsung Galaxy SII that I saw an acquaintance using, but there are so many new phones out there that I'm not yet certain whether I want to buy exactly this one.

Most important points:
- UMTS/HSDPA
- WiFi (bonus points for being good enough to have internet in my garden in summer)
- no stuttering (better than the Dream, at least)
- usable internet browser (if I have to download it from the Market, that's okay, but CPU/RAM have to be "enough")
- some camera (I don't need a 20-megapixels-super-modern-high-quality-sports-action-cam, but just something to take simple pictures with)
- battery life (should last for a day, which my Dream sadly doesn't do anymore)

Bonus points for:
- physical keyboard
- not too heavy/large
- can play some games
- super bonus: cheap!

So, what's the fora's recommendation?

Of course samsung has the advantage when it comes to android phones. The nexus is one of them. I was actually tempted to own one because of the features it had shown on commercials. on the other hand, if you are looking for better imagining then the xperia arc s has better navigation and excellent stuff inside. I have read a review of 4s and it says, the camera it was using was actually made by sony, one of the best imaging companies in the world. On top of this whatever android phone you choose, it is always best to consider your budget and best is that see if it fits on your personality.....