I have been looking at new phones for months now just waiting for my upgrade, and I landed on the Lumia 920. Coming from the Samsung Infuse I amazed of the quality of this device. The build in my opinion is second to none. I like a heaver phone and this delivers. The lack of apps is not really a concern for me because honestly how many different kinds of one app does someone need. The app store will grow and Microsoft will role out updates in the future. I'm sure Nokia will announce the 920's predecessor at MWC and if they can figure out a way to improve on the 920 in some way they deserve to be #1 soon.
Not too much more can be said about the Nexus 4. This phone offers the best stock google experience and has some amazing specs. Only draw backs are the lack of memory options (16/32gb should be standard, not 8/16gb) and poor battery life.Other than that this phone is my recommendation for everyone, both seasoned and new, getting into Android.
I got this phone almost a month before the official release date through a college acquaintance who is working at Samsung in Texas. This phone literally has millions of features and surprisingly it is very easy to use many of the essential ones; but I gotta say it may take a little time to adjust to the sophisticatedness of the phone especially if you are coming from iPhone or feature phone. The screen is very large - I can't stress this enough - THE SCREEN IS HUGE. I know a few people who have bad experience with the size of the first Galaxy Note simply because it is not easy to grip such large phone with one hand and people end up dropping it. The GN2 has a slightly larger screen but Samsung has done a very good job of improving the ergonomics - I do not have a big hand but I don't think I will drop it because of the size. The pen detects and writes better than any of the stylus pen available for tablet or pad devices. The battery lasts very long - unless you are watching HD movies with maximum brightness all day, you won't even need the extra battery that comes with the phone. I go to work at 9 AM and come home at 1 or 2 AM and my phone still has about 15% battery left. I simply charge it while I sleep and I am good to go for the next day. The phone itself is flawless - probably the closest thing to perfection for the lack of a better word though many of the additional features are largely dependent on preference (SUPER AMOLED vs. Retina, 5.5-inch screen vs 4 inch'ish screen, fixed vs removable battery etc
I have joined the 'smart-phone' generation finally. A 30-year IT veteran taking this long to finally join what all and sundry are moving to now in mass, may seem surprising. I am certainly not a bleeding-edge person like I was in my younger days where I enjoyed having my PDA to stay organised in the 1990s.
However, what 30+ years in IT has taught me is that careful consideration and planning is required to chose to implement any IT systems into what you do. And it is not simply a Features versus Features comparison that any person can, but a full assessment of the overall requirement, longevity and reliability.
It is in this light that I selected what I believe is the best 'smart-phone', all things considered.
Now I suppose you now want to know know what I choose ... patience please - it is best I still explain my decision ;)
The iPhone was the very first 'smart-phone' that was a real game changer. The ones before that, like the Palm, Windows, Blackberry were essentially quirky feature phones. Then a few year later came Android. Here was an OS and Hardware system that was open and infinitely customisable. Each generation the OS got better especially after 2.3x (and now upto 4.1x).
HTC was effectively leading with their regular 'Halo' phones in the first stages of the 'Android' revolution. Samsung and Sony came along a bit later. Samsung then took the baton and raced ahead of all competitors with their Galaxy Series phones leading to their ultimate Galaxy S3 and monstrous Note/Note 2. Meanwhile Apple was effectively getting left behind as it simply evolved slowly but stayed essentially the same.
The features of the Android phones are phenomenal. Large screens, great resolutions, quad-core CPUs, expandable memory, great cameras, etc. Integration with google apps are seamless and their customisation options endless.
Nevertheless they had a flaw. Poor long-term manufacturer support. When you buy an Android phone, it is generally a few point releases behind the latest OS release. You then have to wait for the manufacturer to release a patch to upgrade to the next release. In addition, you then need to wait for the manufacturer's release to be approved and possibly tweaked by the carrier you use. This often means you can be many releases behind for security fixes if you stay on the Manufacturer/Carrier release cycle. (NOTE: You can bypass all this by patching your phone directly via the many tools available). In addition manufacturer support for the phone generally stops after aboiut 18 months of a phone being released.
Apple on the other hand, while it simply evolves, its updates are sent directly to the phone, without requiring any carrier or manufacturer steps. This means you are effectively on the latest release much faster. This is especially important as 'hackers' are now targeting 'smart-phones', directly. In addition Apple generally supports its phones for at least 3-4 years.
I intend to use my phone for at a minimum of 3-4 years and want to have the most up to date security on it at all times.
It has been a carefully considered decision with only the colour and the storage been the final stages. So I suppose you can now guess what I have chosen -
An iPhone 5 - White - 64 GB version
great phone in every way except pairing with the car
a very usable phone, out standing display and camera and good battery life
The idea is very good and for me i like to edited photo so this is a prefect device.
This is my smartphone of choice! I work with all the current latest smartphones from Andoird OS 4.2 to Blackberry BB10 and everything inbetween. My other phone is a Note 2 but as a go to phone I go for the iPhone 5. Reason: good stable and beautiful apps, they just work, consistency in UI across all the apps and did I say things just works. With all the latest appcessories being available with 1st on the iOS platform - this is still a good choice! Android ecosystem is getting better extremely quickly and any appcessory worth half their salt will support both.
Yes the dogs are nipping at its heels but the iPhone 5 is still ahead and still a contender for sure - tomorrow is another story!!
The Sony Xperia Tl is an amazing phone, boasting a stunning 4.55 inch screen, 1280x720 resolution with a 326 ppi. Hardware wise the phone has a 13 megapixel camera which takes good photos. The main brains behind this is the 1.5ghz dual core snapdragon s4 plus krait cpu which is typically snappy at most time and average use. The call quality is really good and I average on about 4 bars of service which typically means no dropped call. Battery life on this device is very disappointing with it's 1850mah battery your going to get about 5 hours on very heavy usage which is not good at all. Design is good a bit slippery and matt finish on the back gives it a nice feel in the hand and the arc design is good because it hugs your hand. The screen could have been a bit bigger due to phablets these days. App support is relatively good my only issue is that apps that are very used like google wallet is not available on at&t which is a big killer (Not a good thing) overall the phone is considered a bang for the buck if your willing to stick with a 2 year contract, it's going to the amazing price of 0.00 yes that's free for all the these specs except for the battery it's a good phone. This is my full review of the Sony Xperia Tl hope you enjoyed and leave comments if I didn't cover anything important, thank you.
It was time for me to get a new phone. Saddly at that point nexus 4 was mostly out of stock from stores but i still found it from somewhere and as it is in Australia - 500 AUD :( I took the decision to still buy it and i was so exited when it arrived within 3 days. Now it looks very nice but i soon started to feel the differences. First thing is that since it is so big, one can say that the side buttons are in wrong place. I mean you should be able to easily perform simple tasks (like bringing the picture on with power button and opening the keylock) without changing the position of youre hand.It could be just a matter of time to get use to right positions maybe, but still there are phones which feel comfortable straight away. The second thing i was mad about was that inserting a new contact is made more complicated than usually on phones. Usually you just type the number, save contact, insert name, save and thats done (with one finger without moving your hand). On the Nexus 4 you type the number, then you press sidemenu button, choose add to contats, another page opens with youre contacts and then you choose create new contact, now you can fill more detailed contacts form where you can finally type the name and now comes the bad part, instead of using the thumb you use for typing everything, you need to help your self with left hand since confirmation (done) button is located on the upper left corner. Its very annoying starting with all ready maze like saving process and now you need to use two hands? Well you can use one hand but it just dosent feel right if you have to stretch it somehow, so its more easy to use two hands. Now when the contact is saved you be returned to the number pad, and even you have all ready saved the number, its still infront and you need to delete it - thats not hard but comon another push of the button to clear the pad for inserting another number. For me that is alot of work to get your contacts into youre phone. Yes ofcourse you can somehow do it the other way than inserting them manually but i have never seen that to be made so complicated. Next problem i noticed straight after is that the normal keylock is useless, you know the one where you need to just slide your finger to some direction. Because it will open in your pocket. So you need to start using more complicated keylock (i havent noticed that on other phones, atleast not on my last one, which never opened in my pocket) And even if you have locked the phone it can still easily slide to camera mode in your pocket and start making pictures. Now if we leave all that on side and count it as something just to get use to with time - something really bad happens. Within 24 hours (from what i litteraly touched the phone maybe 2 hours) the back glass broke and without dropping the phone or even hitting it with something. Just broke in my pocket. The speaker is located behind the phone and - partly the glass is on top of the soft speaker grid which makes it very vulnerable, its just broke over it and you can feel how soft this part is its just crap. Very very very bad designed phone! And please dont start talking about using phone covers, a phone should be strong enough to last without dropping or smashing it. And i just hate phone covers, i mean i bought that phone because i love how it looks like, if you use cover it dosent look the same anymore. Oh and nother thing if you get an message you see an icon, open it see and read the whole message but to get rid of the icon you need to push one more time on the message so it would go to message menu. Same with everythin you do, if you download something lets say 5 apps, you see 5 icons on the top bar and to get rid of them you open that menu then choose one of those download complete or what ever, finally if you get rid of one you need to start the process again, open that menu, and so on. Cant do all at once. And another thing is that you have heaps of unwanted apps running, that could be with all the phones ofcourse but, they advertise the phone as 2gb ram an so on, but big part of it is allways in use, even if you dont want to. And for some reason this (powerful phone) usual 3g internet is slower for me than usually. So for me from starting with that awful price, its an awfully cheaply built, half-baked time consuming phone. I wouldnt consider buying it again.
I have read many of these reviews and i am not understanding why, if T-Mobile is so horrible and so bad, they stayed for 2-7 years.
I waswith Sprintfor 8 years because they were great. When their CS changed Imoved to AT&T. I have been with ATT&T for 5 years and now their CS has changed (outsourced) and my bill has just increased and increased. So I have made arrangements to switch to T-Mobile. I always buy my phones outright so I am going for the $119.00/mo Family Plan with Unlimited voice, text, data for 2 lines. They actually recommendedI do a Pay-As-You-Go first. Cannot find a thing wrong with that. I get 2 SIMs sent for $2.18, keep my current numbers, and all other fees waived. The unlimited voice, text,data plan is 50% of what I have been paying at AT&T and it cuts my bill in half.
Really, not sure why anyone would stay with a company for so many years and then give them such poor ratings. ODD !!!!!!!!!!
This phone is a killer phone and will always be on top until knocked off.
Not possible to get a better phone at the moment. I sold my gs3 and note 10.1 in exchange for my note2 and I am loving every minute of that decision.
I'm switching to a straight talk smart phone which will be utilizing the same towers as my sprint phone was. Sprints towers are ok if you're in their better covered areas (depending on the area your in, it might be very bad). The coverage is not as good as Verizon, but cheaper than Verizon. Sprint customer service was hit or miss. I was with them for about 6 years. Some reps were pretty friendly (one even gave me an extra 75 mins at the time for an inconvenience I had 5 years ago, and it's still on my plan every month now). Other times I'd get a rep who was an idiot and not helpful. Unless you are the guy who needs the newest and greatest smart phone, go prepaid. Actually, if you're tech savvy enough, you can get the newest and greatest phone on prepaid networks running on Verizon towers. Worth exploring at least, especially considering how expensive cell plans are becoming. I'm testing straight talk out with a cheaper smart phone to start, and assuming I like it (two of my friend are doing it, and love it), I'll switch to a phone (switch the sim as well) that can get me even more coverage.
I think that all things considered the note 2 has a screen which is just to big for most people and windows phone is just to knew to know if it is really worth having to learn a whole new UI. The only thing about this phone that is not perfect is battery life is not great, I would like to see it with a 2700+ mAh battery.
