I find myself in need of a phone....

MattC59

In light of my recent change of employment, I find myself in need of a mobile. Believe it of not, at he age of 40, I've never had need to own my own mobile phone. As a result, I know sweet FA about them. Do I go for a iPhone ? An Android phone (not even sure what that is... Operating system ?). Do I go for an iPhone 4 or wait for the 5 to come out ?

I realise that every phone has it fans, but objective opinions would be appreciated.

Cheers....... M

Gizmodo

Android is an operating system by Google, used on many phones inc. Samsung and HTC.

IPhone = easy to use but locked into Apple technology
Android = more hackable, configurable, tiny bit more difficult to use

Not much difference BTH especially with the latest versions of Android. I would buy on price and plan rather than make/model.

RoadMeridaBen

I've got a Samsung S3 and its brilliant, if you get one make sure your trousers have big pockets because its like carrying a laptop in your pocket, its bloody massive

OffTheBackAdam

What do you need to do with it?
If it's just make/receive calls & texts, then there's no need for a super-doopa megaphone!

CambsNewbie

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

I've got a Samsung S3 and its brilliant, if you get one make sure your trousers have big pockets because its like carrying a laptop in your pocket, its bloody massive

+1

Love Apple products but felt like a change and very happy with it.

Crapaud

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

What do you need to do with it?
If it's just make/receive calls & texts, then there's no need for a super-doopa megaphone!

Indeed. £7.95'll get you a perfectly functional mobile - just like I have.

alihisgreat

I'd go for Android. Don't support apple as they're patent trolling scumbags


The Samsung Galaxy S3 would be my choice at the moment -> But some nice new phones have been announced over the past few days -> Nokia Lumia 820 and 920.. Motorola razr HD.. the new Iphone is coming up too.


I'm using the Samsung Galaxy nexus though. Its sexy, got an awesome screen.. and runs 'vanilla' android exactly as google intended it to be used -> rather than the skinned versions you'll find on non-nexus android phones.


Just make sure you get one that can Strava and you'll be fine.

baldwin471

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

I'd go for Android. Don't support apple as they're patent trolling scumbags


The Samsung Galaxy S3 would be my choice at the moment -> But some nice new phones have been announced over the past few days -> Nokia Lumia 820 and 920.. Motorola razr HD.. the new Iphone is coming up too.


I'm using the Samsung Galaxy nexus though. Its sexy, got an awesome screen.. and runs 'vanilla' android exactly as google intended it to be used -> rather than the skinned versions you'll find on non-nexus android phones.


Just make sure you get one that can Strava and you'll be fine.

+1

Using the Gnex and SGS3 at the moment. Plan to get the Lumia 920 though as i do like WP and WP8 will be even better with that new hardware. You can get the Galaxy Nexus for £290 sim free on Amazon. An absolute steal for a fantastic phone.

canbakay

iphone 5 is coming out in a few weeks just wait for that. imo its the best. just check when apple has the big conference centres booked, thats where they unveil it.

do the right thing

baldwin471

canbakay wrote:

iphone 5 is coming out in a few weeks just wait for that. imo its the best. just check when apple has the big conference centres booked, thats where they unveil it.

do the right thing

Sheep

canbakay

baldwin471 wrote:

canbakay wrote:

iphone 5 is coming out in a few weeks just wait for that. imo its the best. just check when apple has the big conference centres booked, thats where they unveil it.

do the right thing

Sheep

then take your pick from here

http://www.retrobrick.com/



ps, some essential reading:

http://trak.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/ ... -Share.jpg

Daz555

Android all the way.

bompington

MattC59 wrote:

objective opinions would be appreciated

Errr...

verylonglegs

Crikey, nearly £300 for a mobile phone is classed as an absolute steal?

MattC59

bompington wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

objective opinions would be appreciated

Errr...

Exactly....... All comments are very much appreciated, but comments like :

Daz555 wrote:

Android all the way.

Just beg the question "why ?"

There also seem to be a lot of people who have issues with being locked into Apple's technology if you go for the iPhone, why is that an issue ? Does it actually limit the phone's functionality, unless there is a specific need for the Android OS, it appears that a particular want for Android is just to stick one in the air to Apple.

So come on folks, in the real world, how is one better than the other, and how (if at all) is being tied in to Apples OS going to effect the use of the phone.

I suspect the answers are 'they're not' and 'it won't', but I'm open to being educated accordingly.

rick_chasey

Samsung s3 ftw.

Can't comment on Iphones since I've never had one, but the samsung is the first time I feel I can do anything that smartphones are claimed to be able to do.

Fast, powerful, excellent screen. The default stuff is good if you're a bit lazy and don't like downloading all your own stuff (keyboards, e-mail software etc).

Screen is big and sharp. Thin too, and quite light (which I like).

Beats any HTC I've had hands down in both build quality, battery life (important for smart phones), and power.

nick67

The romours are that the iphone5 is being announced 12th Sept with launch 21st Sept.

I'd wait until then, as if you opt for an iphone, if history is repeated the current/outgoing model is reduced by £100.

The iphone 4s is a vey capable phone, so would say there is no need to jump to a 5.

You will always have the fans/haters of all types of phones.

Your best bet is to go and handle a few, the S3 is great, but massive.

At the end of the day it depends what you want from a phone and your personal preferance on how it feels to you in the hand.

Bunneh

Purely depends on what you're going to use it for. For next to nothing you can get a small phone which does calls and texts. I still have my Nokia from 2002, and whilst it's old and not flash it does it's job admirably and comes with me on the bike all the time. I also have an HTC Desire S which is now out of date but more than adequate for sitting on the sofa browsing the internets, and using various useful and some useless apps.

The newer phones break if you fart on them, have HUGE screens which can scratch easily if you're not careful and it's not something you should (be will do anyway) take on your bike, whereas an old Nokia or something of that ilk will be fine in your backpack, will likely survive spills and not eat battery like I eat cake.

CiB

Other end of the scale but in the same position a few years ago between jobs, I mentioned in the pub one night that I was looking for a phone and what was the word on the street about them? Cue avalanche of people with almost new used phones that were lying unused in desk drawers etc. For the cost of a pint and a Tesco SIM card for 99p I was mobile again.

Depends whether you want a phone or a mobile device though.

slowbike

MattC59 wrote:

In light of my recent change of employment, I find myself in need of a mobile. Believe it of not, at he age of 40, I've never had need to own my own mobile phone. As a result, I know sweet FA about them. Do I go for a iPhone ? An Android phone (not even sure what that is... Operating system ?). Do I go for an iPhone 4 or wait for the 5 to come out ?

I realise that every phone has it fans, but objective opinions would be appreciated.

Cheers....... M

Apple all the way ...





Waddya want to do with it ... thats the first question - if you're not interested in getting your email & internet access on the move then you probably don't need a smart phone - plenty of low cost phones that are still primarily phones ..

If you do want to run a bit more then the old Android/Apple argument crops up ...
Far more choice of handset on Android - hence the lower price bracket for many - but look at what you're getting.
With Apple you will get limited choice of handset - and it's priced at the top of the smartphone range - like the top of the range Androids - but with that you're getting a handset that Apple have designed both the handset and the software for.

IMHO, iPhones are more intuitive to operate - they are simpler and have one method to carry out tasks - Android seems to have a number of ways to achieve the same end and may take longer to get the best out of it.

If you're a cheapskate or a tech whiz then seriously consider Android.
If you're a rich bugger - (and you must be to be a cyclist!) who doesn't care about tech but just wants it to work then get an iPhone.
If you're a rich cheapskate then get both!

alihisgreat

MattC59 wrote:

Daz555 wrote:

Android all the way.

Just beg the question "why ?"

There also seem to be a lot of people who have issues with being locked into Apple's technology if you go for the iPhone, why is that an issue ? Does it actually limit the phone's functionality, unless there is a specific need for the Android OS, it appears that a particular want for Android is just to stick one in the air to Apple.

So come on folks, in the real world, how is one better than the other, and how (if at all) is being tied in to Apples OS going to effect the use of the phone.

I suspect the answers are 'they're not' and 'it won't', but I'm open to being educated accordingly.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/game-phones-ios-6-vs-jelly-bean/

Read that for a reasonable account of Android vs. iOS for the latest versions.

I would be cautious though.. because I don't necessarily agree with iOS having better notifications and Siri being better than google voice search and google now. And the email notifications are awesome in Jelly Bean as it gives you an expanded notification, showing the beginning of the body of the email.


The issue is that with iOS... you're just using an Iphone. whereas with Android you can get 'better' handsets. eg. the Samsung galaxy S3 has a huge screen which is going to improve the experience in a lot of areas. (eg web browsing is going to be a lot nicer.)

So its fair enough getting into the iOS vs Android debate.. but since they're so close now Its more about comparing complete packages.. whereas a few years ago you could have had awesome hardware but Android was still awful.


Personally I use android as I just never liked what iOS represented... and the flexibility of iOS was definitely lagging behind android for a long time. And it still is is some areas... for example you're stuck with a grid of apps.

In android I can do what I want with my homescreens.. and the level of customization is so deep without having to mess around with unlocking the phone and getting root access.


(background piccy taken with the phone's camera at the Olympics-> came out great!)

That's my homescreen at the moment with the other apps I use regularly and the power control widget on the screen to the right, and email and a note widget on the screen to the left.

You won't get anything like that on iOS since you can't have widgets on the home screen.

I use a different launcher app (Nova launcher) so I can choose the grid size on my screen and the tray at the bottom, resize widgets, stack apps and choose the animations and background to the stacks, choose the animations for swiping between homescreens (and the speed of the animation).. etc. etc.

and that's just part of the flexibility that android offers.

Dmak

Don't get your balls stuck in a 2 year contract. Try GiffGaff, £10 per month gives you everything you need.

+1 for Android, as you're clearly into cycling I suggest getting something compact. I have a Sony WT19i and love it.

velohutts

not being a techo wiz - i went for android , text/call , easy internet access for things like bikeradar , twitter etc , mapping is good for those 'moments' , has lots more stuff on it but don't really need or use it.
having said that if you have an i pad you can sync stuff to it with an i phone like photos that will go straight from one to the other as seen on my sis in laws which is pretty awesome.

got my samsung from tesco for less than £15 a month with tesco mobile using the o2 network which seems to work well enough , as said before though get a case & screen protector as they are a bit more fragile than the older phones.

baldwin471

Also, look at the new Lumia 920 which is going to be great.

baldwin471

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

Daz555 wrote:

Android all the way.

Just beg the question "why ?"

There also seem to be a lot of people who have issues with being locked into Apple's technology if you go for the iPhone, why is that an issue ? Does it actually limit the phone's functionality, unless there is a specific need for the Android OS, it appears that a particular want for Android is just to stick one in the air to Apple.

So come on folks, in the real world, how is one better than the other, and how (if at all) is being tied in to Apples OS going to effect the use of the phone.

I suspect the answers are 'they're not' and 'it won't', but I'm open to being educated accordingly.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/game-phones-ios-6-vs-jelly-bean/

Read that for a reasonable account of Android vs. iOS for the latest versions.

I would be cautious though.. because I don't necessarily agree with iOS having better notifications and Siri being better than google voice search and google now. And the email notifications are awesome in Jelly Bean as it gives you an expanded notification, showing the beginning of the body of the email.


The issue is that with iOS... you're just using an Iphone. whereas with Android you can get 'better' handsets. eg. the Samsung galaxy S3 has a huge screen which is going to improve the experience in a lot of areas. (eg web browsing is going to be a lot nicer.)

So its fair enough getting into the iOS vs Android debate.. but since they're so close now Its more about comparing complete packages.. whereas a few years ago you could have had awesome hardware but Android was still awful.


Personally I use android as I just never liked what iOS represented... and the flexibility of iOS was definitely lagging behind android for a long time. And it still is is some areas... for example you're stuck with a grid of apps.

In android I can do what I want with my homescreens.. and the level of customization is so deep without having to mess around with unlocking the phone and getting root access.


(background piccy taken with the phone's camera at the Olympics-> came out great!)

That's my homescreen at the moment with the other apps I use regularly and the power control widget on the screen to the right, and email and a note widget on the screen to the left.

You won't get anything like that on iOS since you can't have widgets on the home screen.

I use a different launcher app (Nova launcher) so I can choose the grid size on my screen and the tray at the bottom, resize widgets, stack apps and choose the animations and background to the stacks, choose the animations for swiping between homescreens (and the speed of the animation).. etc. etc.

and that's just part of the flexibility that android offers.

Nice to see someone else championing Android

This is what can be done with root access though

straas

I got the HTC one X for £26/month with;

- 300 mins
- unlimited texts
- 750mb internet

on T-mobile/orange through the tesco online mobile shop.

The screen is infinitely nicer than the iphones, and makes them look a little poor in comparison really, also many apps free on android are paid on apple (Though this does seem to be changing for the worse.)

Although as others have previously stated, many of your mates likely have old, but decent, mobiles sat at home. Get one of those and a cheap sim only contract/pay as you go.

kieranb

don't think of them as phones, they're really mobile computers with a "phone app".

rozzer32

So here is my smartphone story.

Had an iPhone 3G and then upgraded to a HTC Desire on Android. Hated it, to the point I sold it and bought an iPhone 4. However I've been told that Samsung Android is so much better then HTC as Samsung but their own twist on it (touchwiz) so the user experience is better. Now I can upgrade and have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy S3. Samsung just announced the Note 2 which in terms of specs kills the S3. But iPhone 5 is being launched next Wednesday. So I'm going to wait till then and see what specs and features it has. Then it will be a choice between the Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5. I hate making decisions like this.

baldwin471

rozzer32 wrote:

So here is my smartphone story.

Had an iPhone 3G and then upgraded to a HTC Desire on Android. Hated it, to the point I sold it and bought an iPhone 4. However I've been told that Samsung Android is so much better then HTC as Samsung but their own twist on it (touchwiz) so the user experience is better. Now I can upgrade and have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy S3. Samsung just announced the Note 2 which in terms of specs kills the S3. But iPhone 5 is being launched next Wednesday. So I'm going to wait till then and see what specs and features it has. Then it will be a choice between the Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5. I hate making decisions like this.

The Desire was a low end phone, so it was never going to be great. HTC and Samsung both put skins on their android handsets, Sense and Touchwiz, respectively. Both are poor IMO, but i have stock Android on all of my devices (rooting/bootloader unlocking). As for the Note 2, it certainly doesn't kill the GS3. They have the same processor (The note's is clocked 200mhz faster), the same resolution screen (But as the note is nearly an inch larger it looses pixel density so is actually a worse display than the Galaxy S3), both have 1GB RAM (European version). The only thing the Note has IMO over the GS3 is that it comes with Jelly Bean, but still skinned with horrible Touchwiz and by the time the Note 2 is released the GS3 will have been long updated anyway.

As to the iPhone 5. It'll be marginally taller than the 4S. Will still be on a boring OS made for first time smartphone users, still have a screen than isn't big enough, still be ridiculously expensive comparatively and will still be locked into the Apple ecosystem. If you are happy to wait for the iPhone 5 and Note 2, why not look at the Nokia Lumia 920? It will have better specs than the new iPhone, have a bigger and higher resolution screen, and will run WP8 which is as good as Android and iOS and better in some places. It also will come with THE best camera available on a smartphone (excluding the 808) with Pureview technology. Look on the Nokia website at it.

rozzer32

baldwin471 wrote:

rozzer32 wrote:

So here is my smartphone story.

Had an iPhone 3G and then upgraded to a HTC Desire on Android. Hated it, to the point I sold it and bought an iPhone 4. However I've been told that Samsung Android is so much better then HTC as Samsung but their own twist on it (touchwiz) so the user experience is better. Now I can upgrade and have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy S3. Samsung just announced the Note 2 which in terms of specs kills the S3. But iPhone 5 is being launched next Wednesday. So I'm going to wait till then and see what specs and features it has. Then it will be a choice between the Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5. I hate making decisions like this.

The Desire was a low end phone, so it was never going to be great. HTC and Samsung both put skins on their android handsets, Sense and Touchwiz, respectively. Both are poor IMO, but i have stock Android on all of my devices (rooting/bootloader unlocking). As for the Note 2, it certainly doesn't kill the GS3. They have the same processor (The note's is clocked 200mhz faster), the same resolution screen (But as the note is nearly an inch larger it looses pixel density so is actually a worse display than the Galaxy S3), both have 1GB RAM (European version). The only thing the Note has IMO over the GS3 is that it comes with Jelly Bean, but still skinned with horrible Touchwiz and by the time the Note 2 is released the GS3 will have been long updated anyway.

As to the iPhone 5. It'll be marginally taller than the 4S. Will still be on a boring OS made for first time smartphone users, still have a screen than isn't big enough, still be ridiculously expensive comparatively and will still be locked into the Apple ecosystem. If you are happy to wait for the iPhone 5 and Note 2, why not look at the Nokia Lumia 920? It will have better specs than the new iPhone, have a bigger and higher resolution screen, and will run WP8 which is as good as Android and iOS and better in some places. It also will come with THE best camera available on a smartphone (excluding the 808) with Pureview technology. Look on the Nokia website at it.

The Note 2 has 2GB of RAM. Plus I can see the S-Pen being a really useful tool to have. Having a large phone screen doesn't really bother me. Plus it has that 3100 mah battery. I know it has to power a big screen etc but should still give it plenty of juice. Yea I might as well wait until next Wednesday so see what Apple have done. I won't go anywhere near a Windows phone, having tried a few of my friends I think they are awful.

baldwin471

rozzer32 wrote:

baldwin471 wrote:

rozzer32 wrote:

So here is my smartphone story.

Had an iPhone 3G and then upgraded to a HTC Desire on Android. Hated it, to the point I sold it and bought an iPhone 4. However I've been told that Samsung Android is so much better then HTC as Samsung but their own twist on it (touchwiz) so the user experience is better. Now I can upgrade and have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy S3. Samsung just announced the Note 2 which in terms of specs kills the S3. But iPhone 5 is being launched next Wednesday. So I'm going to wait till then and see what specs and features it has. Then it will be a choice between the Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5. I hate making decisions like this.

The Desire was a low end phone, so it was never going to be great. HTC and Samsung both put skins on their android handsets, Sense and Touchwiz, respectively. Both are poor IMO, but i have stock Android on all of my devices (rooting/bootloader unlocking). As for the Note 2, it certainly doesn't kill the GS3. They have the same processor (The note's is clocked 200mhz faster), the same resolution screen (But as the note is nearly an inch larger it looses pixel density so is actually a worse display than the Galaxy S3), both have 1GB RAM (European version). The only thing the Note has IMO over the GS3 is that it comes with Jelly Bean, but still skinned with horrible Touchwiz and by the time the Note 2 is released the GS3 will have been long updated anyway.

As to the iPhone 5. It'll be marginally taller than the 4S. Will still be on a boring OS made for first time smartphone users, still have a screen than isn't big enough, still be ridiculously expensive comparatively and will still be locked into the Apple ecosystem. If you are happy to wait for the iPhone 5 and Note 2, why not look at the Nokia Lumia 920? It will have better specs than the new iPhone, have a bigger and higher resolution screen, and will run WP8 which is as good as Android and iOS and better in some places. It also will come with THE best camera available on a smartphone (excluding the 808) with Pureview technology. Look on the Nokia website at it.

The Note 2 has 2GB of RAM. Plus I can see the S-Pen being a really useful tool to have. Having a large phone screen doesn't really bother me. Plus it has that 3100 mah battery. I know it has to power a big screen etc but should still give it plenty of juice. Yea I might as well wait until next Wednesday so see what Apple have done. I won't go anywhere near a Windows phone, having tried a few of my friends I think they are awful.

Windows Phone 7 is very very different to Windows Phone 8, which isn't out yet, so maybe don't prejudge?