Phone Nerds Needed: Time for a new phone

[OriginalWheelman]

I'm admittedly ignorant to many of the specs and differences in smartphones. To be honest, I don't care enough to research them. However, it's time for me to get a new one. Two years ago, I bought an HTC Thunderbolt. Largely because it was cheap and 4g. It was outdated when I bought it, and when i updated it to Gingerbread it became very slow. Now, it is so slow I sometimes can't answer my phone before I've missed the call entirely. So it's time for a new one and I want to avoid the same mistake. So here are my criteria.

I'm on Verizon. I'm not changing companies.
I am able to sign a new two year agreement. As I have been with Verizon for over ten years I don't foresee a problem signing a new one.
I want to spend around $200. I am willing to spend more if there is a good reason to do it.
I DO NOT WANT AN IPHONE. My wife had one, I hated it.
I like my Thunderbolt, aside from it being slow. My wife has a Galaxy Nexus. There are small differences in the interface, and I prefer mine. I like the more minimalist feel of the HTC.
I do not do a lot of gaming on my phone. I mostly text, watch Netflix, surf Youtube and Facebook, and I use Google maps a good deal.
I use my phone for audio in my car. A good sound card would be nice.
I would like a good camera. I take a lot of pictures when I'm out and about.
I would like to be able to send pics to my comp over my lan. Not a dealbreaker, but would make my life easier.

So, help me out. What are my options? What should I avoid? To me it seems like I need a good media device.

[Jesda]

HTC hardware quality is a mixed bag. They feel nice when new but deteriorate quickly with glitchy switches and buttons and digitizers.

Samsung S3 and S4 battery life are quite poor. I bought an S3 and had to double its thickness with an upgraded battery.

I prefer the iPhone to all of them but the price is too high. I think the Nexus 5 is a solid alternative to Apple.

[Kompresshun]

I just went through upgrading and looked at every single phone out there. As Jesda mentioned - the Galaxy S3 and S4 have poor battery life, contrary to what you may hear in reviews. They're decent phones but the Touchwiz interface is also kinda cheap looking IMHO.

HTC is junk these days. I'm not sure why you would think a Thunderbolt is more minimalist than a Galaxy Nexus though - Nexus branded phone are as minimalistic as it gets in the Android ballgame. The Thunderbolt and prior HTC phones weren't half bad though. Now HTC is very hit or miss.

I narrowed my choices down to the iPhone, LG G2, and Samsung Galaxy Note.

I REALLY liked the iPhone a lot as far as it's interface and i've looked at them every time i've upgraded, but I never have been able to pull the trigger on one. It's a great phone, but in comparison it costs more and just is too small for a phone IMHO. It preforms very well though with the hardware it comes with and it's a very solid all around phone. I also have issues with it's limitations and how locked down it is. Even storage expansion is limited and cloud storage is pretty much limited to iCloud.

I liked the Galaxy Note 3 a lot as far as build quality goes and features, but right now they are ridiculously expense on upgrade or new contract($300-350) and I despise their Touchwiz interface. It has far too much clutter and looks very cheesy. Yes, I know that can be fixed by installing a new launcher or rooting the phone and replacing the ROM with something more stripped down. My issue is I don't feel like that should be the first thing I should want to do to the phone. Otherwise, the specs on it are the absolute best out there at the moment. 3GB of RAM in a smartphone is unheard of and makes application handling a breeze on it.

I ended up with the LG G2 in the end and have been very pleased with my purchase. It's the Galaxy Note 3's direct competition and honestly the only thing hardware wise that is any different is the amount of RAM you get. The Note has 3GB and the G2 has 2GB - probably not something you'd ever even notice. It has an excellent 14MP camera, a 2.23Ghz Snapdragon processor(the best available right now), and a ton of great features. It does have it's own UI over Android, but it's not nearly as bad as Touchwiz. Everything is smooth and works very well. It's available in black or white and comes with 32GB of storage. Currently it is $49.99 with a new 2yr contract - which is a steal. I couldn't consider anything else after picking it up. I liked it right away and it wasn't just because of how cheap it was - it's a genuinely good phone.

The only drawbacks to the Note and G2 are their large screen size. It's not for everyone, but it will grow on you and once you get used to it, it can be very useful. The processing power, screens, and features on both phones are excellent though. The battery life on both are also astounding for being what they are. My G2 can make it 10-12 hours of heavy use without needing to be charged. It can go over a day if I use it sparingly. The Note 3 tests nearly equal to the G2 when it comes to battery, so you can expect the same from it.

I also looked at the Galaxy S4, HTC One, and LG Nexus 5 - they were all junk in comparison. The only thing that came close is the Nexus 5, but build quality seems cheap and even though it has awesome specs it just doesn't feel like what it's hyped up to be.

The best piece of advice I can give you though, regardless of what you choose is don't buy something that has been out for more than 4-5 months MAX. The ones I mentioned above are all newer phones and should be solid phones for a long time. A lot of the other offerings will be obsolete far before you can upgrade again and you don't want an Android phone that is old tech. They become useless piles of junk after they quit being supported.

[WDRacing]

I have a Note II. I love it. Great for reading books, surfing the internet, youtube and netflix. Pretty much exactly what I do with my phone everyday. The battery lasts me 2 days if I keep bluetooth turned off, unless I listen to Pandora or stream Netflix. Then it goes down to a day depending on the use.

The S4 would be my other choice if I weren't buying another Note.

I suppose the best advice I can give is, buy DROID and you can't go wrong with Samsung. Apply that to any of their new phones and you should be golden.

[darylzero]

HTC hardware quality is a mixed bag. They feel nice when new but deteriorate quickly with glitchy switches and buttons and digitizers.

Samsung S3 and S4 battery life are quite poor. I bought an S3 and had to double its thickness with an upgraded battery.

I prefer the iPhone to all of them but the price is too high. I think the Nexus 5 is a solid alternative to Apple.

I have to disagree, I have the S4 and the battery life has been great. I have no problem going through a full day without needing to charge it.

OrigianlWheelman since you like HTC I would go with the HTC One.

FYI, a quick easy way to get pictures off any phone is to use dropbox.com. Install it on your phone and computer and when you take pictures it will automatically upload to the computer.

[WDRacing]

Wifeunit has the S4, it's battery lasts all day easily and she leaves Bluetooth on almost all the time. In fact, it pretty much stays on unless I turn it off.

[BusyBadger]

If you're looking for a stock-ish Android experience on Verizon with few cr'apps your best bet is a MotoX. I picked up the developer's edition a while back and have been completely satisfied. If you've got an unlimited data plan don't sign a new contract for an upgrade, just buy a new phone outright and activate the new sim card - you'll keep your unlimited plan and save money over paying monthly for a subsidized phone.

[AZhitman]

I'm going to be upgrading soon as well... I hadn't considered the G2 before (was thinking I'd get the Note), but now, it looks like I need to investigate this some more.

[MinisterofDOOM]

There are really only two options:

Nexus 5
HTC One

Anything else is a BIG step down. Yes, even a Samsung Galaxy whatever.

Nexus 5 is dirt cheap and fantastic.
HTC one is solidly-built, gorgeous, and also fantastic, with one of the best handheld screens I've ever seen.

Don't bother with anything else.

I don't like Samsung. Their plasticky cases and fit-and-finish leave a LOT to be desired. Their software, bloatware, and Touchwiz are among the very very very worst of the Android world (the Pro apps being the exception). Battery life is crummy. They also refuse to move to the modern Android hardware standards, forcing iPhone like hardware buttons on an OS that works best with the buttons in the display.

I HATE motorola. Terrible build quality, mush buttons, the worst keyboards in the history of this universe and any other, crummy screens, crap battery life, and more bad software decisions.

I've owned multiple HTC phones and have had none of the issues Jesda mentions. I might have been lucky. But I find my finished-aluminum bodies vastly more durable, resilient, classy, and thin than the plastic and glass everyone else is using.

If you get anything but a Nexus 5 or an HTC One, you have chosen poorly. It's quantifiable and demonstrable. They are the superior phones. Superior hardware, superior software, superior features, and even superior pricing.

Don't overpay for a Samsung iWannabe. Get a phone that is happy being good at what it does.

As to your concerns:
Phones don't have "sound cards." They have digial signal processing. Some brands use better and some use worse. HTC unfortunately uses Beats, which is horrid, overbassed muddy s***. Fortunately, if you're REALLY an audiophile, you can flash a ROM with the audio features YOU want.
Cameras on phones are universally garbage. People argue about which is better, but in reality it's a comparison of which is least terrible. The Nexus 5s is not very good. The HTC One's is a little better but not amazing (HTC's camera SOFTWARE is among the best out there, though). The iPhone is generally held to be the gold-standard of phone cameras, and even Sammy has trouble keeping up. But even the iPhone's camera is garbage next to a $40 point and shoot, so don't expect anything good from your phone--regardless of which one you choose.

Final note:
If you get a Nexus 5, be careful about getting it through your carrier. Some, like T-mobile, actually charge more than Google does directly, and only offer the smaller 16gb model. Nonsense. Order direct or make sure you're getting the 32GB for the same or less than Google would charge.

[OriginalWheelman]

If you're looking for a stock-ish Android experience on Verizon with few cr'apps your best bet is a MotoX. I picked up the developer's edition a while back and have been completely satisfied. If you've got an unlimited data plan don't sign a new contract for an upgrade, just buy a new phone outright and activate the new sim card - you'll keep your unlimited plan and save money over paying monthly for a subsidized phone.

I don't have an unlimited plan. I got into the smartphone game late.

I prefer a bigger screen as my fat fingers make typing on a small one hard. I can't text with the phone vertical at all.

Gonna look at the G2 and the HTC One and see what I think.

[WDRacing]

I'm going to be upgrading soon as well... I hadn't considered the G2 before (was thinking I'd get the Note), but now, it looks like I need to investigate this some more.

The Note is awesome. Don't listen to MOD, the battery life is great...period. 2 days if you don't stream data or connect via Bluetooth. The Note is plenty fast, not sure it could be any faster. Click what you want, bam. No waiting. IS it a great gamer? I dunno, I don't game. But for doing Nico or anything else online, it works excellent. Great big screen. It's a small tablet that can be used as a phone.

Anyone that says Samsung makes crap is simply biased. They make great products. I have Samsung TVs, Phones and stereo's...all great products.

[Kompresshun]

^Agreed.

Don't listen to MoD, he's just grumpy and hates most everything

There are really only two options:

Nexus 5
HTC One

Anything else is a BIG step down. Yes, even a Samsung Galaxy whatever.

Nexus 5 is dirt cheap and fantastic.
HTC one is solidly-built, gorgeous, and also fantastic, with one of the best handheld screens I've ever seen.

Don't bother with anything else.

The Nexus 5 is a good phone, but I completely disagree on the HTC One. It may look good on paper and has a nice display, but it's still not anywhere near as good. It's also an aging phone, coming out in March of this past year. As I mentioned in my post above - that's a big no-no with Android. It's over 9 months old and it'll be old tech soon. Also HTC is horrible with their OS updates because of their useless Sense UI. I'm willing to bet that if it makes it to Android 4.4, that will be the last update it gets from HTC.

Don't bother with anything else? I'm not trying to defend the G2 just because I bought one, but it touts the same processor and hardware specs as the Nexus 5. The phones are made by the same company. The Nexus 5 does offer a slightly better PPI in it's screen, but both have similar IPS screens. Aside from that it does nothing better other than having vanilla Android on it. I can make that happen in less than an hour on my G2 if I really felt the need for it, but I don't.

The G2 also destroys both phones in battery life and has better scores on Quadrant, Antutu, and Vellamo benchmark tests. It offers a much, much better camera than both phones as well.

The G2 and Nexus 5 are nearly identical in size and weight as well.

So, saying there are only two phones is a bit silly. Even the Note 3 is a great phone compared with the ones above - yes even with the stupid Touchwiz UI, because fixing the issue with Touchwiz is a simple launcher download away. Spec wise it is right on the same playing field as the other top phones out there. The ONLY reason I didn't buy a Note 3 instead is because it shot up in price. That and when I tried out the G2, I preferred the design a little more.

[WDRacing]

I find the S pen useless, but every other aspect of the Note II is great. I'm sure the Note III is just as good if not better, for obvious hardware upgrade reasons.

[BusyBadger]

There are really only two options:

Nexus 5
HTC One

Either you missed the part where he said he's on Verizon or I missed where someone managed to get a Nexus 5 to run on the Verizon network. I'm hoping its me and I can start using a Nexus 5.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Unfortunately, Touchwiz is ANYTHING BUT a "launcher download away." Like Sense and Motoblur, it's not a skin or a launcher or a homescreen, it's a fetid desease that has infected every aspect of the OS. It changes Android's clean high-contrast black (better on power with AMOLED which Samsung happens to use) look for a stupid shiny white. Menus are rearranged and shinied-up, with common stuff buried off in odd places. Notification and quick toggles are destroyed. And excellent stock Android apps like the AOSP dialer and messaging app are traded for more shinied-up garbage.
Even if it was just a launcher download away, as of KitKat, that is a HUGE killer. A lot of big, everyday-usability improvements come in the form of the new stock android launcher (or feature-enhanced clones). You miss out on that stuff. And none of the feature-enhanced clones are in a very decent state yet as they're all so new. Despite being a longtime Nova Prime user, I stick to the stock launcher on KitKat for the full-OS integration.

I have exactly the same phone as my mother, and the user experience is like night and day. She has stock 2.3 with Sense, and I have 4.3 without. Hers is a mess. Meanwhile, my brother's old MyTouch 4G dumps GIGABYTES of sense crash error reports onto the SD card every week, because Sense crashes every 10 minutes. Touchwiz might be more reliable than Sense, but they're both abominations for the sake of being different. Being different is only good if everyone else is wrong. There's so much that modern Android (4.1+) does well, but everyone selling devices with the OS is determined to ruin it for their own delusions of uniqueness.

That and when I tried out the G2, I preferred the design a little more.

I forgot about the G2. Good call.

Anyone that says Samsung makes crap is simply biased. They make great products. I have Samsung TVs, Phones and stereo's...all great products.

Oh, Samsung makes great stuff. They particularly make great COMPONENTS, like displays, etc. They also make great hardware, like processors. The fault is when those things come together in a phone. Build and finish quality are poor. Hardware support is restrictive and limited. You have to put up with Touchwiz, which is on par with being asked to DD a Corolla in my book. Sure, the S4 is a great phone. But there are much better options for less money.
My sister is a die-hard Galaxy S user...multiple generations. She has not yet converted me, despite having spent a lot of time using her phone. I haven't converted her, either. But my viewpoint isn't bias. It's informed firsthand experience.

Sammy's TVs are amazing (again, they are a--if not the--leader in display tech).

HTC and LG have the whole-package down better than Samsung, even though Samsung's phones might have some individual standout features.

Don't listen to MoD, he's just grumpy and hates most everything

All the more reason to listen when I mention something I DON'T hate.

[OriginalWheelman]

The problem is I tend to agree with MoD a lot. I too am grumpy and hate most everything.

Personaly, I agree about Samsung. They take great internals and put it in a flimsy package. I drop my HTC a lot. My wife dropped her nexus ONCE and the screen shattered.

I still have a few days to decide. I'm going to go to Best Buy and play with the floor models this weekend. At this point, I'm leaning G2.

[marlin29311]

How no one has brought up the Droid MAXX is beyond me. Having owned the Thunderbolt and a Galaxy S3, the Maxx was like a breath of fresh air.

1 - Battery life. It has a 3500 mAh battery, aka you will make it through at least 1 day if not 2 doing anything you want on it. I've easily hit the 48hr mark on it before, but for normal people who go to sleep at night and charge their phone, you have no issues ever with looing for a charger in the middle of the day.

2 - Build Quality. The phone is a Moto X is a different body essentially. MoD may be right about old moto phones, but this phone is a tank as well as the Moto X - this is the first phone turned out by Moto post Google aquisition, and it definately shows...very solid in hand, no creaks, squeeks, mushy buttons, anything. Phone is a tank. And from a size and weight standpoint, feels great in hand - pretty much the same size as any other phone on the market, save the Galaxy Note/phablets.

3 - Ease of use. It's mostly stock android and very simple to navigate around. The added features of Active Display and Touchless controls are amazing. The active display gives you notifications on screen instead of a blinking LED like most phones, all without draining your battery at all - much more relevant information but no downside. And the touchless control is awesome too especially for using your phone in the car, whether its for having the phone read a text to you, changing a song, or updating your GPS while driving.

3.5 - Responsiveness/random tidbits - the phone is FAST. People say the Galaxy line is awesome and fast and has the greatest processors yada yada yada, but they always had a twitch of slowness to them IMO - even though the MAXX uses moto's X8 computing system (which is a snapdragon S4 Pro), it is clearly faster to use than an S3 or S4. The phone also has amazing signal strength - if you're in a weak signal area, the Maxx will definately get more bars than the Galaxy's will - my S3 at work would never get 4g, and my Maxx has 3 bars of 4g at work. Much more solid signal strength.

I had the S3 for about 16 months or so and really enjoyed it, but it never felt like it performed the way i wanted it to. I bought the Maxx after playing around with it vs the G2, and I thought the maxx was a better overall phone. Moto really stepped their game up post-Google.

Just my .02.

[hannibal]

If you've got an unlimited data plan don't sign a new contract for an upgrade, just buy a new phone outright and activate the new sim card - you'll keep your unlimited plan and save money over paying monthly for a subsidized phone.

Can someone tell me more about this? I have an old LG phone (it's complete crap) with an unlimited data plan on Sprint. I'd love to replace it with a smartphone, but I dont want to pay $80/month for a smartphone data plan. If I buy a phone from Best Buy or another third party store, can they activate it under my existing plan without Sprint finding out and forcing me into a new smartphone data plan?

[AZhitman]

How no one has brought up the Droid MAXX is beyond me.

I think because it falls under the "old tech" category that Kompresshawanda pointed out.

I've had a Droid Maxx for the past 1.5 years, and here's my assesssment (w/o reading your post yet): Battery life in insane. 2 days, if I don't work it hard, a day (and my "day" = 20 hours) if I work it like a rented mule.

Screen is good, size is nice, takes great pics, call quality is spectacular, interface is decent... Second-best characteristic to the battery life is the durability. This thing is bulletproof.

Mine has started slowing down of late... I've cleaned up the easy stuff, but I think I really need a phone nerd to walk me through a reboot so I fall in love with it again. I'm trying to avoid dropping $300 on a new phone for as long as possible.

[marlin29311]

How no one has brought up the Droid MAXX is beyond me.

I think because it falls under the "old tech" category that Kompresshawanda pointed out.

I've had a Droid Maxx for the past 1.5 years, and here's my assesssment (w/o reading your post yet): Battery life in insane. 2 days, if I don't work it hard, a day (and my "day" = 20 hours) if I work it like a rented mule.

Screen is good, size is nice, takes great pics, call quality is spectacular, interface is decent... Second-best characteristic to the battery life is the durability. This thing is bulletproof.

Mine has started slowing down of late... I've cleaned up the easy stuff, but I think I really need a phone nerd to walk me through a reboot so I fall in love with it again. I'm trying to avoid dropping $300 on a new phone for as long as possible.

We're actually talking about different phones...you have the Droid RAZR MAXX...I'm talking about the new Droid MAXX (stupid naming, I know...) 2 completely different phones.

[WDRacing]

If you've got an unlimited data plan don't sign a new contract for an upgrade, just buy a new phone outright and activate the new sim card - you'll keep your unlimited plan and save money over paying monthly for a subsidized phone.

Can someone tell me more about this? I have an old LG phone (it's complete crap) with an unlimited data plan on Sprint. I'd love to replace it with a smartphone, but I dont want to pay $80/month for a smartphone data plan. If I buy a phone from Best Buy or another third party store, can they activate it under my existing plan without Sprint finding out and forcing me into a new smartphone data plan?

The only time they can force you into a new plan is if you upgrade your phone with them, they tie your "free upgrade" to a new 2 year contract. Just buy a new phone from where ever and their isn't anything they can do about it. Just register your new SIM card with Sprint. You don't need to change anything on your existing plan in order to change your phone.

If you want, call Sprint and tell them you bought a new phone and would like to register it. See what they have to say. They will try to change your plan, be firm, there is NO reason to change your plan.

[Jesda]

My S3 is almost as bad as my Evo 3D for battery life.

It has to be on and available so customers and lenders can reach me and for immediate lookups of trade-in values and vehicle histories on auction days. iPhone and Blackberry are the only phones that can keep up with the auto business without carrying extra juice around.

[Rogue One]

The only time they can force you into a new plan is if you upgrade your phone with them, they tie your "free upgrade" to a new 2 year contract. Just buy a new phone from where ever and their isn't anything they can do about it. Just register your new SIM card with Sprint. You don't need to change anything on your existing plan in order to change your phone.

If you want, call Sprint and tell them you bought a new phone and would like to register it. See what they have to say. They will try to change your plan, be firm, there is NO reason to change your plan.

Actually that's not entirely correct. Hannibal said it's an LG, but not what type. If the previous phone is not a smart phone, then you will have to change your data plan. Log onto your carriers website, put in the phone you're interested in, and it will tell you if you can still use the current data plan, or need to change. Until I upgraded to my GS3 I just continued to use my existing plan, just changed phones.

[WDRacing]

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the dumb phone to smaht phone part myself.

[AZhitman]

We're actually talking about different phones...you have the Droid RAZR MAXX...I'm talking about the new Droid MAXX (stupid naming, I know...) 2 completely different phones.

Ah. DUrr.

[MinisterofDOOM]

One more reason I hate branded phone naming schemes. Whether it's HTC's One line, which is IMPOSSIBLE to effectively google search (Want ROMS for your One S? TOO BAD! You'll get results for the One, the One X, and the One V instead!) or the Galaxy line, or the Droid line (whose models come from COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS), or even the Nexus line, where the layperson is never going to know which is the newest or how they're positioned feature-wise from just the name. A Nexus 5 is a phone but a Nexus 7 is a tablet. Oh, and there are TWO entirely different Nexus 7s. And there's the Galaxy Nexus, because that's not confusing. Member of TWO ambiguously-named brand families, and fails entirely to indicate where it ranks in either.

Moto is definitely the worst. The "Droid" crap pisses me off to no end, not least because now average consumers don't know the difference between Droid (a hardware brand) and Android (an operating system).

Even iPhone is joining the fail. At least everyone knows an iPhone 5 is better than an iPhone 4. But who the @#$% is supposed to know which letter means "high end" and which means "entry level"? 5C? 5S? @#$% that s***.

And while we're on that subject, Nissan and Mazda are no better. SV? S? SE? i? e? There's no indication of heirarchy. It's nonsense. How can that kind of branding be good for product exposure?
I remember back in the day Saturn did I, II, and III as its trim levels. It sounds dumb as Hell when you tell someone you drive an Ion III or an SC2, but at least it's clear which is which. In the early days, the 1 and 2 even had actual meaning: an SL1 was single-cam and an SL2 was twin-cam. Then again, it might not be the trim naming that makes you sound dumb for saying you own an SC2. It might be your complete lack of taste and judgement. The back of that car looks like someone photocopied their a** and then overlaid a topo map on the results.

[hannibal]

The only time they can force you into a new plan is if you upgrade your phone with them, they tie your "free upgrade" to a new 2 year contract. Just buy a new phone from where ever and their isn't anything they can do about it. Just register your new SIM card with Sprint. You don't need to change anything on your existing plan in order to change your phone.

If you want, call Sprint and tell them you bought a new phone and would like to register it. See what they have to say. They will try to change your plan, be firm, there is NO reason to change your plan.

Actually that's not entirely correct. Hannibal said it's an LG, but not what type. If the previous phone is not a smart phone, then you will have to change your data plan. Log onto your carriers website, put in the phone you're interested in, and it will tell you if you can still use the current data plan, or need to change. Until I upgraded to my GS3 I just continued to use my existing plan, just changed phones.

Its a dumbphone. Oh well...

[OriginalWheelman]

So I bought the G2. I went to Best Buy and played around with them. I liked the giant screen on the G2. It fits well in my hands and I can actually type with the phone vertical. The display is bright and clear, the interface is intuitive. I like it a lot so far. Obviously it's faster than I'm used to, but it seems really fast even compared to other phones.
I didn't really like the HTC One as soon as I picked it up. It didn't feel as well built as my Thunderbolt. I had gone in with the intention of looking at them and then going back but I just liked the G2 a lot better.
I think in the end it was the big screen that sold me on the G2. It's just so easy for me to use. Small phones feel awkward in my big hands. The G2 fits.

[WDRacing]

Congrats on the new phone dude.