Smartphones

Well, I am in the market for a new phone as my contract is up this month. Currently have Sprint and I am not opposed to go to another provider. I hate the cell service I get with it. I have a galaxy S3 and I dont know whats trending in smartphones now??? my phone is rooted and I love to tinker with mods... recommend me a phone and provider... central mass east of worcester!

Galaxy S5 is the hot ticket in Android apparently. There's also the Nexus

iPhone 5S is the current "it" phone from the fruit company

Both companies are likely to come out with new devices closer to November in time for Christmas.

As for carriers, Verizon and AT&T seem to have the market cornered on coverage and they know it. All of the carriers suck, much like cable or ISP's, etc. Choose the one that has the best coverage/deal that works for you and get on with life.

Im waiting on the nexus 6. My 4 is pretty badass out of the box. I dislike the gs5 GUI but that's me- rooted and booted phones won't matter much. Wife seems to like it. Eff apple.

SWMBO is an Iphone lover and wants me to follow suite but I prefer andriod. I just dont want to get into a new phone tomorrow and have a another "NEW" phone come 2 months down the road, is the best option to wait and see what fall time has to offer?

Nexus 5 is also a rather good phone, and you don't end up with all the crapware that the providers load on their phones. GSM only though, so you're looking at T-Mobile or AT&T, plus their respective virtual carriers.

If you can afford it, buy a phone outright and go no contract, that tends to work out noticeably cheaper over the usual contract lengtn of 24 months.

BoxheadTim wrote: Nexus 5 is also a rather good phone, and you don't end up with all the crapware that the providers load on their phones. GSM only though, so you're looking at T-Mobile or AT&T, plus their respective virtual carriers. If you can afford it, buy a phone outright and go no contract, that tends to work out noticeably cheaper over the usual contract lengtn of 24 months.

care to elaborate? whats GSM only and why is it cheaper to go without contract?

GSM is one of the radio technologies used by cellphones. As noted, it's available through AT&T and T-Mobile - as well as the rest of the world outside the US. Verizon uses CDMA.

As for pricing, check the carrier in question. It's no less expensive to buy a phone outright from Verizon, for example. At least, not that I can find in their pricing scheme. You're just not tied into a two-year contract if you do.

Android side: Whatever the current Nexus is, the HTC One M8, Galaxy S5, and i'm pretty intrigued by the LG G3 that i've been seeing commercials for.

Also see: OnePlus One phone if you can wait a little bit.

I currently have a GS3 as well, and i'm holding out for the OnePlus One.

Going to throw a vote against HTC handsets. Every one I've ever had has been E36 M3. I'll never own another, and I am not hard on my phones. Except I might have fried the GPU in this one a little.

I have a Nexus 5 and it's great. Bought from Google play store, originally on TMO but moved to AT&T due to my desire to have network availability.

If you can wait a few months, new apple and android will come out. That also result in the current top line dropping in price. The amazon fire has some good specs and perks for a dedicated amazon user. No clue on windows phones.

neon4891 wrote: If you can wait a few months, new apple and android will come out. That also result in the current top line dropping in price. The amazon fire has some good specs and perks for a dedicated amazon user. No clue on windows phones.

Well, a new iPhone will come out in a few months. New Android phones come out every few weeks. The current top tier of Android phones is the GS5, HTC One M8, LG G3, and Sony Xperia Z2. All have pretty much equal specs, they vary in size, hardware like screens and cameras, and software "skins". Phones like the Nexus 5 and Moto X are a (small) step behind, hardware-wise, but offer a "cleaner" Android experience. Both are likely to be replaced before the end of the year with models that will match the hardware of the other flagships.

I picked up a G3 last week and I love it. It's huge, but that means it's easier to read the screen with my increasingly crappy vision. It has a removable battery and an SD slot, and the camera has laser focusing, so it's really fast. I don't mind LG's skin at all, it's a big improvement over Samsung's Touchwiz crap that I had on my previous phone (GS4).

tjbell wrote: care to elaborate? whats GSM only and why is it cheaper to go without contract?

As Keith said, GSM is the radio technology used for cellphones by most of the world. With a GSM phone you get a chip (called a SIM card) that is your tie to your provider. As long as the phone doesn't have a carrier lock, you can stick in a SIM from pretty much any provider and the phone will work. Sprint, Verizon and virtual carriers on their networks use a different technology called CDMA that doesn't use SIMs and the phones aren't interchangeable between Sprint and Verizon, for example. So you can't take your paid-for phone and use it on the other carrier.

With contracts you normally get a subsidised phone (like a $200 iPhone when retail is $799). The carrier needs to make that money back and then some, so the monthly subscription fee is pretty high compared to a carrier that doesn't subsidise the phone. For example, most of the 4G plans from the contract carriers are in the $80-$100 range/month (give or take a little or potentially a lot), but the similar price point for a non-contract carrier is between $35-$45/month. You pretty quickly make the cost of the phone back - last study I saw is that taking into account the subsidies for the phone, you're breaking even around the end of the first year and then save a fair amount of money the second year.

I just got a Galaxy S5A about a week and a half ago after being without a smartphone for about 8 months.

Blah, blah, blah. It does stuff. Has an app for that, or this. Has lots of gizmos and GeePeeEsses so I can be the subject of a Police procedural show. Has a forward facing camera so I can see the bald spot under my chin and bats in the cave. Etc...

The only thing that really impresses me is it's battery life, which is not something I was expecting. Plus, the Ultra Power Savings Mode pretty much makes it not a smartphone, which is absolutely amazing.

Also, it's waterproof, so you can wet t-shirt contest to your hearts content without having to worry about the $900 computer in your pocket.

Thanks for all the input guys, I really like the looks and features of the Oneplus One and the fact it runs cyanogen from the factory makes me happy, I would much rather foot the 350$ for that phone then pay 200$ and get stuck in a contract, I will contract verizon this week and see how much my monthly bill would be, thanks for all the help guys!

Bear in mind that the Oneplus One isn't available for mass purchase yet. At the moment, you have to sign up and wait for an invite. My guess is that it won't be available to the general public until end of this year/early next.

I just picked up an HTC One yesterday and so far I like it. I had a One before and loved it. This is like it on steroids.

Don't go by the coverage maps for AT&T or Verizon...make your own. Seriously, test each carrier at home, at work, from your usual bar stool, etc. Verizon has much better coverage in my area overall, but has dead spots over my house and my office. The place where I use the phone 80% of the time needs to have 5 bars, so I went with AT&T. When I travel, it is a wash with both being about equal.

In reply to pinchvalve: +1 on don't trust the maps.

I'm happy with my Galaxy Note for now, but my wife's Galaxy S2 has become problematic recently. What's a good GSM phone that's not too big for her?

I typically try to buy used or refurbished on ebay. I find that the hot model from 1-2 yrs ago is usually deeply discounted and still performs very well!

I just got a (free) warranty replacement on my 10 month old GS3. Thus, I won't be getting another phone for a couple more years.

By then, the GS6 will be the cheapie contract renewal phone.

Verizon has been pretty flawless for me for 11 years. That replacement took 3.5 hours on the phone with various customer service depts tho.

They recently upgraded the firmware on my Verizon GS3 to 4.4.2, and since they did that, it has been randomly crashing and getting stuck in boot-up loops. That usually happens once every couple of days. Last night, it tried telling me after me rebooting the phone myself that the memory was corrupted and it was going to reset itself and wipe out all my memory. I had it plugged into a surge protector with USB inputs at the time (I think that was the culprit), so I unplugged it and pulled the battery, and it has been fine ever since.

I chalk the issues up to Verizon nonsense that they install when you upgrade the firmware. I swear, they have predetermined obsolescence programmed into the firmware upgrades!

Other than that, I love the phone. It does everything well, and it's still pretty fast. The camera is great, and I barely take my nice point-and-shoot Fuji anywhere but the Challenge these days. I really have no reason to upgrade yet, unless the firmware kills itself.

Pro Tip: if you have a GS3 and the GPS starts crapping out and can't get a lock on your position, take the battery cover off and tighten the 10 tiny screws that hold the case together. For some reason, that helps.

SilverFleet wrote: Pro Tip: if you have a GS3 and the GPS starts crapping out and can't get a lock on your position, take the battery cover off and tighten the 10 tiny screws that hold the case together. For some reason, that helps.

WOW--I have to remember this, as the GPS crapped out on my old one!

Mine went haywire after 4.4.2 upgrade, but I think it coincided with the USB jack on it crapping out prematurely. Even the guy at the Verizon store said that jack was bad (as he couldn't plug it into his machine to transfer everything over).

mndsm wrote: Im waiting on the nexus 6. My 4 is pretty badass out of the box. I dislike the gs5 GUI but that's me- rooted and booted phones won't matter much. Wife seems to like it. Eff apple.

I liked the nexus 4 it was awesome except for the fact that my galaxy note 2 blows it away in battery life

gamby wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: Pro Tip: if you have a GS3 and the GPS starts crapping out and can't get a lock on your position, take the battery cover off and tighten the 10 tiny screws that hold the case together. For some reason, that helps.

WOW--I have to remember this, as the GPS crapped out on my old one! Mine went haywire after 4.4.2 upgrade, but I think it coincided with the USB jack on it crapping out prematurely. Even the guy at the Verizon store said that jack was bad (as he couldn't plug it into his machine to transfer everything over).

I've noticed that after the upgrade some chargers will make the phone act funny. The battery icon will have a red X through it instead of the lightning bolt. Not sure what's up with that.