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I've had my Galaxy Nexus for over two and a half years and I'm ready to get a new phone. Country: United States Provider: Verizon Features Required: Must be Android. I like the physical size of the Galaxy Nexus, I wouldn't want go much bigger. I'm using about 25 GB on my phone now, so I'd want one that either has 32 GB or an SD card slot. I liked that the GN had a removable battery, I replaced/upgraded it after a year when the battery life starting dropping off and that was a nice boost, and sometimes it freezes and I have to pull the battery. It seems like most phones now are non-removable battery, do they have loss of life issues? and what do you do when the phone completely freezes? I stopped by Verizon today and looked at these phones based on the last few pages of this thread: HTC One M8, Moto X, Samsung Galaxy S5, and Droid Turbo. They all looked fine to me. I'm kind of leaning toward the S5, but that's only because of the battery thing and my familiarity with the GN. They are offering a $100 trade in value for my phone if I go with a Droid Turbo. Am I right to assume I should reset my phone back to stock OS and unroot it if I decide to go that route?
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Nov 26, 2014 02:12
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The Moto X/Droid Turbo software will be much closer to the Galaxy Nexus's than the S5. In fact, the Turbo is the one I would recommend. While its battery isn't removable, it's more than large enough that you won't have to worry about running out and it comes in a 64 GB model. They can be reset with a button combination even, but that's not something you should have to worry about (and running stock software will certainly help in that, as well).
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Nov 26, 2014 03:30
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Are there any reasonably sized androids with excellent cameras? I'm fed up with my 2013 moto x's lackluster pictures. I really wanted a Z3 compact but after researching, it seems like people are really disappointed by the much hyped camera. I don't want a huge rear end samsung 
Otm Shank fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Nov 26, 2014 |
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Nov 26, 2014 19:11
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Endless Mike posted:The Moto X/Droid Turbo software will be much closer to the Galaxy Nexus's than the S5. In fact, the Turbo is the one I would recommend. While its battery isn't removable, it's more than large enough that you won't have to worry about running out and it comes in a 64 GB model. They can be reset with a button combination even, but that's not something you should have to worry about (and running stock software will certainly help in that, as well). Thanks. After looking into more reviews, it does sound like the Turbo would be right for me and the $100 credit certainly helps.
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Nov 27, 2014 00:09
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Otm Shank posted:Are there any reasonably sized androids with excellent cameras? I'm fed up with my 2013 moto x's lackluster pictures. I really wanted a Z3 compact but after researching, it seems like people are really disappointed by the much hyped camera. Pretty sure any disappointment over the Z3 Compact camera is that it didn't live up to the hype, not that it's bad. It should easily be better than 2013 Moto X.
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Nov 27, 2014 06:31
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I've had my samsung galaxy phone for three years now and am looking to upgrade to a new android phone. However, I'm still under Verizon's unlimited data plan. If I would like to keep my unlimited data plan, do I have to buy a full price phone through Verizon? Is there not an option to buy a phone from amazon (or other retailer) and just transfer my data/contacts over to the new phone?
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Nov 27, 2014 20:16
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Hammid posted:I've had my samsung galaxy phone for three years now and am looking to upgrade to a new android phone. However, I'm still under Verizon's unlimited data plan. If I would like to keep my unlimited data plan, do I have to buy a full price phone through Verizon? Is there not an option to buy a phone from amazon (or other retailer) and just transfer my data/contacts over to the new phone? You can buy a phone anywhere as long as you don't use an upgrade. You should have all your contacts synced with Google which should just transfer over. Your other data will depend on what it is and how the app saves it.
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Nov 27, 2014 20:31
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Endless Mike posted:You can buy a phone anywhere as long as you don't use an upgrade. You should have all your contacts synced with Google which should just transfer over. Your other data will depend on what it is and how the app saves it. Ahh thats good to hear, now just to figure out what droid phone to get. Thanks for the help!
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Nov 27, 2014 20:37
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Make sure your contacts are synced to GMail (go to GMail and select Contacts from the dropdown in the upper left) since I believe by default Samsungs don't sync to Google.
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Nov 27, 2014 21:15
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Country/Provider: US, ATT presently Current contract status: I'm fairly certain I'm not under any contract at the moment. Budget (phone/plan): I'm honestly uncertain on this, as I was considering asking for a new phone for Christmas and I don't know what would be (un)acceptable in terms of budget from the person I plan on asking. Features I know I want: The main couple things for me would be "is a smartphone, has really really really good battery life, doesn't massively compromise other features to achieve good battery life" From some very basic looking around, I've got my eyes on the Huawei Ascend Mate 2, but a concern of mine with it and other "phablets" or whatever you'd like to call them, is how well they fit in pockets. I'd like to not have a 'murse' or similar just because I'm hauling around a thin brick for a phone.
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Nov 27, 2014 21:49
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Don't buy a Huawei.
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Nov 28, 2014 00:01
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Endless Mike posted:Don't buy a Huawei.
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Nov 28, 2014 02:59
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ImperialGuard posted:Okay. Mind elaborating as to why? They make super low end cheap phones and compete on low pricing. They're the 5 below of cell phones. Plus that specific phone you listed is extremely bad, just don't buy. Get a Moto G ($170) if it needs to be cheap, Moto X 2nd Gen at $550 is a good buy as well. Your plan may or may not be contract based, so if you have questions on whether you can get a cheaper phone or not it just depends on your plan so we can't answer it without knowing.
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Nov 28, 2014 03:24
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the 2014 moto X is going to be like $350 online on Monday, making it a no-brainer for anyone who currently needs a new phone, but I figured that was common knowledge by now. edit: Monday. Monday. I originally said Friday, that was weird, sorry! Straker fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Nov 29, 2014 |
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Nov 28, 2014 03:45
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My phone is ancient and I want to get an upgrade. Considering doing so today since there seem to be a lot of sales for some reason. Wonder why? It is a smart phone, but it is four and a half years old at this point. I like my phone a lot but it is starting to wear out from use, so I do need to replace it. Since it is so old, anything I buy will be a significant upgrade in terms of the specs. Country: United States Provider: Boost Mobile Features Required: No phones with any sort of contracts, I am not interested in being locked into a contract. I like Boost Mobile, so I think want to stick with them. I use a lot of data and am not interested in worrying about data caps. Boost does sometimes threatens to throttle you if you go over X many gigs in a month, but they don't ever charge you more and I have never actually been throttled that I can tell. I like Android, so it has to have android. A large screen would be nice, but it is not required. My work at times has me away from a charger for long periods of time so long battery is a big plus. Budget: No more than $300.00. Less would be nice. Not a lot to go on I know, but I don't really care about having the latest and greatest with the best specs. I want something which is reasonably well put together and a good value. I was looking at a Galaxy III. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-III-Triband-Mobile/dp/B00D9AVYBM/ref=lp_2407748011_1_6?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1417189696&sr=1-6 Suggestions?
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Nov 28, 2014 17:05
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Diogines posted:My phone is ancient and I want to get an upgrade. Considering doing so today since there seem to be a lot of sales for some reason. Wonder why? It is a smart phone, but it is four and a half years old at this point. I like my phone a lot but it is starting to wear out from use, so I do need to replace it. The Galaxy S3 is not at all a good value. You would be paying $200+ for a 2.5 year old phone. I don't know which carriers' phones you can use on Boost, but I know there's a Boost-compatible Moto G that would be a much much better phone for a much cheaper price (~$80 last I checked, since they're locked on Boost). Great battery life, great software and support, so so camera (though fine for a budget phone). If you want to spend a little more, a Moto X 2013 that's compatible with Boost is probably quite cheap too, probably around $200. It'll have better specs, display, camera, etc than the Moto G, but worse battery life, so maybe not worth the trade off to you. You might also be able to find a sale on a Galaxy S5 on Boost, not sure if those happen frequently. Even if not, a Galaxy S5 for ~$500 would be a much much better idea than a Galaxy S3 for ~$200. You could actually keep the S5 for another 3-4 years, most likely, whereas the S3 will seem as bad as your current phone within a year. Getting a good value doesn't mean buying as cheap as possible; paying more to get something you can use significantly longer, has much much better battery life, camera, display, everything, will often be the better value, ya know?
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Nov 28, 2014 17:29
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Boost is a Sprint MVNO, so a Moto G is not a good choice since there isn't an LTE model that works with Sprint and Sprint 3G is unusable. My first recommendation is to switch to T-Mobile unless you happen to live in one of those weird places where there's good Sprint coverage but not T-Mobile. Barring that, I'd say buy a Sprint Moto X on eBay. They're going around $200 or so for a used/refurbished one and looks like $270 new.
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Nov 28, 2014 20:47
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I come from a 3 year Galaxy Nexus that started to really get on my nerves over the past 6 months due to constant crashing and having to reflash it a bunch to regain some measure of performance. I was looking at the Galaxy Alpha and S5. Both seem nice but reviews of the Alpha, as well as the 720p resolution make it lose a few points in front of the S5. Also apparently the S5's quads are clocked much higher than the Alpha (2.5 vs 1.8/1.3). As I've not been phone shopping for a long time, would you have any recommendations? Bell Canada (I'm located in Quebec) is having a Black Friday (I know) sale and the Alpha would be 0$ while the S5 would be 100$ (the price is not a problem though if the Alpha is as good, the "freebie" could be nice). My phone is used primarily for browsing, some mobile games (most being like Puzzle & Dragons in scope) and texting - voice quality is thus an afterthought. Edit: also should I change carriers? I`ve only ever been with Bell, as such I have no experience in regards to other ones available. Current contract is 70$ before taxes for: - Fav 10 (10 free in and out numbers with no minute counts for voice and texting) - 2 GB data - 200 daytime local minutes - unlimited texting - evenings and week-ends ulimited (8pm to 6 am) EPIC fat guy vids fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Nov 29, 2014 |
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Nov 28, 2014 21:36
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Wife wants a smartphone for Christmas. Neither she nor I know much about them and the various plans/phone models. Country/Provider: US, Verizon. Current contract status: Both of us have separate unlimited voice/text $50/month pre-paid plans with Verizon and basic phones. These are our primary phone services, no landline in our house. Budget (phone/plan): I am willing to pay $$ up front to avoid higher costs later on, if that's something that I need to consider. As for the plan, I'd rather not spend more than the $50/month that we're paying for her present plan, but I realize that this might not be feasible. She will not be much of a data hog, so there's that. Features I know I want: Will probably have to stay with Verizon, since we don't have a landline and no other company seems to get signal in our area. Like I said above, she doesn't plan on using that much data. Maybe check email, Facebook, Google, basic web surfing. Send and receive cat pics. Video/music streaming rarely. We aren't the type of people who care about the latest and greatest things so she probably won't be itching to dump the phone as soon as the latest IAndroid #34 comes out. She is a bit of a klutz, so not sure about protection plans and all that jazz. Please do my Christmas shopping for me. E: What are the minimum specifications that I would need for a phone to do what I listed above and still not be completely obsolete within a few years? There's some pretty cheap unlocked phones on Amazon, but again I have no idea if those would work in my situation or if they're already obsolete. porkfriedrice fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Nov 29, 2014 |
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Nov 29, 2014 00:24
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Schrodingers cat posted:I come from a 3 year Galaxy Nexus that started to really get on my nerves over the past 6 months due to constant crashing and having to reflash it a bunch to regain some measure of performance. Since you're just now replacing a Galaxy Nexus, the iPhone 6 and 2014 Moto X are your best bets for longevity. The iPhone might be better since games are a priority for you. You can't really go wrong with either one. porkfriedrice posted:Wife wants a smartphone for Christmas. Neither she nor I know much about them and the various plans/phone models. Since you said you don't mind paying for a phone without subsidy, and want to keep to under $100/mo combined, a Verizon Edge plan would be nice. A 2-line Edge plan with unlimited talk/text/1 GB of shared data for a smartphone and basic phone is $85/mo. Look into iPhones. The 6 is the best option, since it'll last 3 years guaranteed right now and maybe more. If you can't stomach the cost of an unlocked 6, an 5S will also do nicely.
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Nov 29, 2014 01:39
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I'm not a big fan of the apple platform, but the moto x seems really nice. I'm not sure Bell has it in Quebec though. A friend recommended the Z3 or Z3 compact as a far superior alternative to the S5 and reviews seem to back this statement a lot, what's your opinion on that device?
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Nov 29, 2014 02:09
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Schrodingers cat posted:I'm not a big fan of the apple platform, but the moto x seems really nice. I'm not sure Bell has it in Quebec though. Yeah, the Z3/Z3 Compact are both great devices, with better battery, camera life and software than the SGS5.
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Nov 29, 2014 02:15
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Godzilla07 posted:
So would I be buying the phone from Verizon and paying their installments with the Edge plan or should I buy the phone outright from another source for full price? You can only get the savings from the Edge plan if you buy the phone from Verizon right?
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Nov 29, 2014 02:27
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porkfriedrice posted:So would I be buying the phone from Verizon and paying their installments with the Edge plan or should I buy the phone outright from another source for full price? You can only get the savings from the Edge plan if you buy the phone from Verizon right? In this scenario, you'd bring your own phones and sign up for Edge (it's a no-contract plan.) Just make sure the phone you buy is Verizon-branded, since Verizon won't activate non-Verizon phones on their network.
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Nov 29, 2014 02:55
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Godzilla07 posted:In this scenario, you'd bring your own phones and sign up for Edge (it's a no-contract plan.) Just make sure the phone you buy is Verizon-branded, since Verizon won't activate non-Verizon phones on their network. I'm even more confused. So what is the downside to just using their monthly payment plan with Edge to buy the phone from Verizon? Doing a quick search on Amazon shows unlocked phones for way cheaper than the $600 for the 5s you suggested. Will these cheaper phones not be able to do the basic things that I said she will be using it for? If the phone has to be branded Verizon, doesn't that mean the phone isn't unlocked?
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Nov 29, 2014 03:10
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Maybe I misunderstood things at the store but Edge was explained to me as payment plans for your phone instead of buying outright and if the phone is in good condition you can return it early for an upgrade. I don't know anything about non-branded Verizon phones since I've never tried that but back when I worked at AT&T in cancellations they'd activate phones that weren't branded by AT&T as long as they were GSM.
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Nov 29, 2014 03:13
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Stanos posted:Maybe I misunderstood things at the store but Edge was explained to me as payment plans for your phone instead of buying outright and if the phone is in good condition you can return it early for an upgrade. I don't know anything about non-branded Verizon phones since I've never tried that but back when I worked at AT&T in cancellations they'd activate phones that weren't branded by AT&T as long as they were GSM. From looking at the website it seems that there isn't any type of interest for the phone payment plan, but I could be wrong. Please excuse my ignorance on this subject. E: also don't really care about upgrading, if that changes anything.
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Nov 29, 2014 03:18
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porkfriedrice posted:I'm even more confused. So what is the downside to just using their monthly payment plan with Edge to buy the phone from Verizon? Doing a quick search on Amazon shows unlocked phones for way cheaper than the $600 for the 5s you suggested. Will these cheaper phones not be able to do the basic things that I said she will be using it for? If the phone has to be branded Verizon, doesn't that mean the phone isn't unlocked? Here are some Verizon 5Ses that go for around $350 on Swappa, a reputable third-party dealer. What you would do is buy one of those, take it to the Verizon store, and then activate an Edge plan. The Edge plan is a no-contract plan and gives you a discount on the line cost compared to traditional two-year contract plans. But this discount is generally nullified when you buy a phone with an Edge payment plan, since the phone subsidy is worth more than what you save per month on the no-contract plan.
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Nov 29, 2014 03:22
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Godzilla07 posted:Here are some Verizon 5Ses that go for around $350 on Swappa, a reputable third-party dealer. What you would do is buy one of those, take it to the Verizon store, and then activate an Edge plan. So Verizon marks up the retail price of the phone to cover the discount? An identical phone bought from a different retailer would have a cheaper retail price than the one from Verizon?
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Nov 29, 2014 03:34
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porkfriedrice posted:So Verizon marks up the retail price of the phone to cover the discount? An identical phone bought from a different retailer would have a cheaper retail price than the one from Verizon? Verizon doesn't mark up the price on the phones. It's that the plan discount ($15/mo per line) is less than a two-year contract subsidy, which works out to $18.75/mo on an iPhone.
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Nov 29, 2014 03:55
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Godzilla07 posted:Here are some Verizon 5Ses that go for around $350 on Swappa, a reputable third-party dealer. What you would do is buy one of those, take it to the Verizon store, and then activate an Edge plan. All that said, for porkfriedrice, the best option is to get a More Everything with 10 GB data Edge plan which would be $110 total for two lines (3 GB and 10 GB end up being the same since the line discount increases from $15 to $25 with a 10 GB plan) plus the cost of the phones. A 16 GB iPhone 6 would add $27 each. He *could* buy them outright and save $2/month per line, but that doesn't really seem worth it. Other good phone options include the Droid Turbo and Moto X (2nd generation).
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Nov 29, 2014 03:55
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Endless Mike posted:You are wrong. Verizon Edge is a phone payment plan. It has nothing to do with the service or contract. The service plan is called More Everything (since it includes more of everything than their previous Everything plan). To get an Edge plan you HAVE to purchase from Verizon and last I checked the plan, the line access discount goes away once the phone is paid off. Verizon doesn't do bring your own device like AT&T, which is dumb, but they can get away with it since they have to authorize your device for use on their network. Oh man now I'm really confused. I think I have to agree with Endless Mike though, from looking at Verizon's website it looks like the only way to get the Edge service discount is to get the phone through Verizon. The scenario you outlined above Endless Mike, does that take into account that only one line would be a smart phone (wife's)? My phone line would be a plain old crappy cell phone. With the requirements I listed in my initial post, do you think 10 GB is even needed?
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Nov 29, 2014 04:12
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Endless Mike posted:You are wrong. Verizon Edge is a phone payment plan. It has nothing to do with the service or contract. The service plan is called More Everything (since it includes more of everything than their previous Everything plan). To get an Edge plan you HAVE to purchase from Verizon and last I checked the plan, the line access discount goes away once the phone is paid off. Verizon doesn't do bring your own device like AT&T, which is dumb, but they can get away with it since they have to authorize your device for use on their network. Huh, I thought Verizon was like AT&T where if you brought your own device, you would get the access fee discount. Jesus Christ Verizon.
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Nov 29, 2014 04:18
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porkfriedrice posted:Oh man now I'm really confused. I think I have to agree with Endless Mike though, from looking at Verizon's website it looks like the only way to get the Edge service discount is to get the phone through Verizon. If you're planning on keeping the phone for a few years, it's hard to recommend anything but fairly high-end things, since they will actually last that long compared to something on the lower end. Here's the other phones I recommended Moto X: On contract: $0 + $35 + $100 * 24 = $2435, Edge: $500 + $85 * 24 = $2540 Droid Turbo: On contract: $100 + $35 + $100 * 24 = $2535, Edge: $600 + $85 * 24 = $2650 iPhone 5s: On contract: $100 + $35 + $100 * 24 = $2535, Edge: $550 + $85 * 24 = $2600 I'd recommend you go to a store and play around with all of those and decide which you like the best. Godzilla07 posted:Huh, I thought Verizon was like AT&T where if you brought your own device, you would get the access fee discount. Jesus Christ Verizon.
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Nov 29, 2014 05:18
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Endless Mike posted:Ah, I misunderstood, no, 10 GB is almost certainly not needed. Looks like a plan with one smartphone, one basic phone and 1 GB of data is $85/month plus the cost of the smartphone or $100 if you use a subsidy ($95/110 for 2 GB, but keep in mind you can always change your data package if you find you're running out - I tend to use under 2 GB since I'm on wifi most of the time), which might not be the worst idea depending on what phone you choose. For instance, an iPhone 6 would be slightly cheaper over 24 months ($200 + $35 + $100 * 24 = $2635) with a subsidized/contract plan vs. buying one on Edge ($650 + $85 * 24 = $2690). The $35 on the first is the activation fee which Edge does not have. Thank you very much, to both of you.
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Nov 29, 2014 06:06
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My mother needs to replace her phone and asked me for advice on something super cheap. I was ready to tell her to buy a Moto E but then I noticed it lacks a LED Are there any tolerable options in the "cheaper than the Moto G" range for that? As I hinted, as long as it can run a GPS navigation app it doesn't matter if the performance is terrible just about everywhere else. edit: for the price of the Moto E I can find an Ascend G610, which seems to get pretty good reviews. Is that a decent idea? NihilCredo fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Nov 29, 2014 |
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Nov 29, 2014 18:46
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What carrier? Boost is currently selling the Sharp Aquos Crystal for like 60 bucks with promo code AQUOSRMN50, which is a crazy loving deal for a pretty snazzy little phone, though it doesn't seem to be rootable just yet. Normal price is like $140. People have apparently had some luck activating them on other CDMA carriers provided you don't let them give you any money for porting your number over or use any other promos like that. I ordered one for a backup phone even though I have no plans on using Boost, hopefully someone gets it rooted, if not then I have an awesome dedicated MP3 player or bathroom angry birds machine or something.
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Nov 29, 2014 21:30
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NihilCredo posted:My mother needs to replace her phone and asked me for advice on something super cheap. I was ready to tell her to buy a Moto E but then I noticed it lacks a LED The Lumia 520/521, which are usable smartphones with decent maps, are $50. No flash or front-facing camera though.
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Nov 29, 2014 22:35
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If you're going for a Lumia, the 635 is the newest replacement for the 52x series and still cheaper than the Moto G. It's got a much nicer screen at the very least. Still no flash and front facing camera.
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Nov 29, 2014 22:40
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And if you're going to go for something like a Lumia 530/635 without a FFC or flash, you might as well just stick with the Moto E for better display and better battery, or a 2013 Moto G for $150 or whatever it is now.
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Nov 29, 2014 22:59
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