Help me pick a new cellphone

[CPTBadAss]

So you guys were super helpful when I asked about a platform for my personal blog. Shoutout to Hellocodes for hosting me on his domain! Anyways, I thought ya'll might be able to give me some opinions and advice on a new phone.

My Droid 4 did not age well and frankly, I'm really sick of it. Luckily I'm due for an upgrade right now. I'm looking at picking up a Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8. But I was also considering the Moto X or Nexus 5. Anyone have any strong opinions on the phones I listed or maybe you could recommend me something else?

If it helps, I'm on Verizon. Oh and I'm not into iPhones.

[demik]

S5. Htc One M8.

[esoomenona]

samsung.com/sneakpeek

[digi]

As a current owner of the S4, I'd really like to get my hands on the Nexus 5. I don't like the Samsung bloatware that's included on my S4 but the form factor is very nice. I only have a few apps installed on my S4 and it's just not as snappy as I'd like it to be, speed wise. Maybe I'm being to picky..

[lightsout714]

I have the nexus 5. Been very happy with it. Can't beat it if custom ROMs are one of the main things you consider when buying a phone. That said if I were getting a phone today it would be the HTC one m8.

[baldgye]

HTC One (m8)

[esoomenona]

As a current owner of the S4, I'd really like to get my hands on the Nexus 5. I don't like the Samsung bloatware that's included on my S4 but the form factor is very nice. I only have a few apps installed on my S4 and it's just not as snappy as I'd like it to be, speed wise. Maybe I'm being to picky..

Root and install custom ROM. That's the good thing about getting popular phones. They have support from the developer community.

[iri]

u w0t m8?

[demik]

also, nexus 5 isn't available for verizon atm

[nuclearsandwich]

Nexus 5 unless you need a reliable camera. HTC One is the only android phone I've used with a less **** camera but the two that my coworker had had some defect where the sensor just turns all your photos pink after a while due to heat problems so make sure that's fixed if you go for the One.

[jwaz]

I prefer iOS to Android. (I know you aren't into iOS but let me make a small case for it)


The philosophy goes kinda like this; If I want to get deep into the OS and tinker around/ mess with stuff I can do that on a desktop via *nix. I would rather my phone be fast, more secure and as up to date as possible running minimal superfluous applications. I just need it to work and don't really need or want the risk of running a  ton of third party junk. I've also noticed the Android OS kind of ages like Windows XP, it's almost as if it has a half-life... It starts out snappy and then just kind of runs itself into the ground.

Totally personal preference but it boils down to my phone just needing to work and stay reasonably up to date.

[Lanx]

i say **** you to anything motorola after using their ****ty droid. koreans and their samsung **** all the way.

[BlueBär]

The philosophy goes kinda like this; If I want to get deep into the OS and tinker around/ mess with stuff I can do that on a desktop via *nix. I would rather my phone be fast, more secure and as up to date as possible running minimal superfluous applications. I just need it to work and don't really need or want the risk of running a ton of third party junk. I've also noticed the Android OS kind of ages like Windows XP, it's almost as if it has a half-life... It starts out snappy and then just kind of runs itself into the ground.

Totally personal preference but it boils down to my phone just needing to work and stay reasonably up to date.

I have a Nexus 4 and always have the newest version of Android. Same would go for a Nexus 5, a decently priced phone with good hardware and always up to date software. It's as snappy as it was on the first day. You don't need to install any "3rd party junk" if you don't want to.
Android is really nice since 4.x. I understand that people still associate Android with "laggy" etc. but it really isn't anymore.

I used to have an iPod touch and jailbroke it, because I didn't like how my app icons always only aligned top left. The app folders were terrible and far too limited too (I think they can hold more than 6 apps now?). Stuff like that just annoyed me. I think the OS is just too limiting.

[missalaire]

Samsung Galaxy S5

[CPTBadAss]

i say **** you to anything motorola after using their ****ty droid. koreans and their samsung **** all the way.

Ugh. I liked the original Droid and the Droid 4 was a subpar experience after the first 6 months...Which is why I'm definitely *not* going with anything Droid this time. Wasn't sure about the Moto X though.


And I'm definitely leaning towards the S5 after doing some reading and using an S4 when I'm back in NY. Really love that phone.

[Glissant]

I would make my decision based on how they feel in hand.

[CPTBadAss]

Yeah my buddy said the H8 is pretty big and I have small hands. Stupid small hands...

[kmiller8]

iPhone 5c

[whiskytango]

I am on Verizon. Just picked up a note 3 for $200 on amazon about a week ago. I love this phone. LOVE.

I do have giant hands, which helps. And coming from a gs3 everything feels natural on it. I considered waiting for gs5 but I'm really happy I went with the bigger screen. Plus I can eBay my s3 and almost break even on the deal.

[Puddsy]

HTC One (m8)

I have one and it's a piece of junk. On my third now. (they replace for free at least...)

Get a Nexus 5.

[CPTBadAss]

I am on Verizon. Just picked up a note 3 for $200 on amazon about a week ago. I love this phone. LOVE.

I do have giant hands, which helps. And coming from a gs3 everything feels natural on it. I considered waiting for gs5 but I'm really happy I went with the bigger screen. Plus I can eBay my s3 and almost break even on the deal.

Absolutely no way I can get a Note 3. My hands are too small for that. I was playing with one at a family friend's house a while back. It's not for me.

[esoomenona]

Break hand bones, stretch with metal braces until healed, rinse, repeat, get Note 3.

[CPTBadAss]

I can't do my legs and my hands at the same time

[demik]

I can't do my legs and my hands at the same time

MAN UP SON

[esoomenona]

I can't do my legs and my hands at the same time

MAN UP SON

He meant his third leg. Needs his hands for that. And the small ones fit perfectly.

[demik]

rekt

[dustinhxc]

I love my iPhone but an HTC One is the only phone Id swap over for!

[Melvang]

My two votes for a new smartphone would be either a Nexus as it should have the least amount of bloat ware/easiest to remove if you straight buy one not through the carrier.  Or my other vote would be a MotoX just on the fact that to my knowledge it is the only US made smartphone.

[whiskytango]

I am on Verizon. Just picked up a note 3 for $200 on amazon about a week ago. I love this phone. LOVE.

I do have giant hands, which helps. And coming from a gs3 everything feels natural on it. I considered waiting for gs5 but I'm really happy I went with the bigger screen. Plus I can eBay my s3 and almost break even on the deal.

Absolutely no way I can get a Note 3. My hands are too small for that. I was playing with one at a family friend's house a while back. It's not for me.

I understand, it's not for everyone. It's been a long time since I was this happy with a new phone though.

My two votes for a new smartphone would be either a Nexus as it should have the least amount of bloat ware/easiest to remove if you straight buy one not through the carrier.  Or my other vote would be a MotoX just on the fact that to my knowledge it is the only US made smartphone.

I like the Nexus a lot too, but as stated above, it's unfortunately not available on Verizon. I'm assuming OP wants to stick with same carrier?

[Melvang]

Ohh I didn't realize that the Nexus was not available on Verizon.  Well, that scratches that phone from my list now.

[lightsout714]

It's time to leave the dark side peeps. We left big red for T-Mobile a few months ago. Save about $45 a month with three lines and get to use a nexus again.

[Novus]

I ported my number into google voice so I don't have to pay for texts (god, text messaging -___- getting people to adopt mobile messengers is the hardest thing on earth) and mostly so that I can block people .
For my setup, Android works best.
I would say Nexus because you always get updates first and you won't be stuck on a gimped Android.
If you haven't tried "stock android, I'd recommend you do so because it's quite a better experience than an "OEM" themed/skinned/modded version of android. It's similar to different flavors of linux, except Samsung and HTC both take giant ****s into what Google made and turned Android into a giant abomination (not that stock android is an angel by any means).
You can also flash it out to your heart's content if you are into that.

Whenever you buy a "flagship" phone that runs "Android" it'll devalue quickly in 3 months or so. You might pay 299 or 199 for that phone but in 3 months time it'll be free or 59.99, 99.99 you get the gist of it.
You're also stuck with that phone for 2 years. I had a Nexus 4 and I sold it and got a Nexus 5. I'll probably sell my Nexus 5 when the 6 comes out at the end of year/early next year.
Iphones don't devalue the way Android phones do (well at least they didn't used to) but iOS isn't conducive to my setup.

Oh so you're using Verizon.
Well ... good luck! Get an iPhone!
Maybe try looking into a Google play edition phone, You can also painstakingly (well from a Nexus user's perspective) mod some of the phones into a GPE device. I did that to an HTC one m7.

My 2 cents.

[sockit2me]

I suggest waiting for the iphone 6. Unless absolutely needed, theres gonna be big changes within this year in cellphones so its worth the wait to see what happens!

[dorkvader]

I'd advise against the Samsung Galaxy S5. That thing is UGLY!

I've been a fan of my S3. I don't think android slows down as you use it, unless you foolishly stick with the stock firmware and their putting random junk on your phone every update. As you well know, as soon as I converted, My batterylife and speed jumped way up.

[iri]

htc one / htc one mini if you have small hands.

oh, and this provider lock... eww.

[baldgye]

I prefer iOS to Android. (I know you aren't into iOS but let me make a small case for it)


The philosophy goes kinda like this; If I want to get deep into the OS and tinker around/ mess with stuff I can do that on a desktop via *nix. I would rather my phone be fast, more secure and as up to date as possible running minimal superfluous applications. I just need it to work and don't really need or want the risk of running a  ton of third party junk. I've also noticed the Android OS kind of ages like Windows XP, it's almost as if it has a half-life... It starts out snappy and then just kind of runs itself into the ground.

Totally personal preference but it boils down to my phone just needing to work and stay reasonably up to date.

I've been an iPhone user for 4yrs now and don't know how anyone could recommend a platform with so many problems and a developer that has literally no interest in fixing them.

I've defended the idea and design of iOS before and I still think the home screen is the best of any platform, but I cannot wait to upgrade to a HTC One come September.

[SeeThruHead]

Nexus 5!

[Lanx]

the more the ish*t tries to catch up to android, the more it fails. recently when i call my mom it goes straight to voicemail, i then visit a week later and she says she doesn't know why her iphone does this. (her first smartphone she's 70 and tech scared)i couldn't figure it out cuz **** iphone, i gave it to my wife who has used it for 3 years, we had to google, "why does iphone go straight to voicemail". turns out if you bottom to top swipe theres a do not disturb button, **** you iphone.

[Sifo]

Getting S5 next week, let's be S5 bros

[JaccoW]

You Americans and your fixation on Android Vs. iPhone...

Windows Phone 8 anyone?

I have a Nokia Lumia 1520 and I love it. And it manages to beat all of the phones mentioned in a blind camera test.
Granted, it's even bigger than the Note 3 (it's taller) but the speed, camera and especially battery life make it for me. The upcoming Nokia Lumia 930 has the same camera and some updated internals in a smaller package.

Go and play with the Lumia Icon somewhere. And I mean play with it for a while. WP8 doesn't work like Android so it will take some getting used to. But to me it makes much more sense than Android. Which can be completely different from app to app.

Is it as customizable as Android? No, but it is more customizable in different ways. With a few simple things your phone is truly yours. Even to the eye of other people.
Does it offer the stability of iOS? Yes, but it is much more integrated. Sharing is so much easier than on both Android and iOs.
Free offline navigation? Hell yeah, just load the maps of any country in the world over wifi and blaze away.
Making a quick photo without unlocking the phone and tapping the camera app? Grab the phone from your pocket and hold the physical camera button. By the time you brought it to eye level you are ready to shoot.
Onedrive (cloud service), MS Office and a phone that comes in different colours instead of either black, grey or white makes these fun (and useful) phones too.

Oh, one more thing.
Please *****slap the U.S. providers that bought these phones and had built-in wireless charging removed. It's something that seems like a gimmick at first but turns into the best thing since sliced bread.

[BlueBär]

You Americans and your fixation on Android Vs. iPhone...

Why would that be an American thing?
My father has a cheap Huawei Windows Phone, it's very good for its price. Wouldn't want to switch to WP8 though if I could - it's a nice and simple OS, but hasn't really anything outstanding that could convert me.

[CPTBadAss]

Lol. When you travel as much as I do, you learn to stick with a carrier that's got great coverage. I've been on T Mobile and Sprint before Verizon. I think Verizon has the best coverage and service followed by Sprint. T Mobile makes me sad.

[tjcaustin]

Lol. When you travel as much as I do, you learn to stick with a carrier that's got great coverage. I've been on T Mobile and Sprint before Verizon. I think Verizon has the best coverage and service followed by Sprint. T Mobile makes me sad.

T-Mobile makes T-Mobile sad, that's why they tried to sell it and want to again.

[dustinhxc]

Been on ATT for a few years, Im grandfathered in with unlimited data on my iPhone

[vivalarevolución]

I'm trying to think of something clever to say, but I'm coming up short.  Just join the rest of us drones and get an iPhone.

[tricheboars]

Nexus 5 on Aio Wireless.  You're welcome.   

[MOZ]

Nexus 5 or HTC M8

[baldgye]

On Windows Phone; I think the Nokia handsets are the best looking on the market and windows phone has sure come a long way, but it still has a huge problem in the apps that are available for it. I don't think it's really something you can really say anyone should buy unless your willing to carry around other devices to pick up the slack.

It's getting there though

[JaccoW]

On Windows Phone; I think the Nokia handsets are the best looking on the market and windows phone has sure come a long way, but it still has a huge problem in the apps that are available for it. I don't think it's really something you can really say anyone should buy unless your willing to carry around other devices to pick up the slack.

It's getting there though

They definitely are. Makes the rest look boring and uninspired even.

What apps are you missing though? The worst I could say is that it is the third player in OS land, so sometimes apps get released later than their iOS and Android counterparts. But every important Android app has its WP8 counterpart, alternative or is already ingrained in the OS itself.

[baldgye]

Really?
Like I agree that apps get clones cross platform but the fact that most apps come out either only or first on android is a pretty big deal, out of the daily apps I use I've no idea if they are on WP but my guess would be that some are and some arnt;
Reader
Mailbox
Downcast
AbsoluteRadio
iPlayer
Chrome
Whatsapp
Google Translate
MosaLinguo
DuoLinguo
The Verge
Twitch

There are some more but those are just a handful excluding games, you've also got tools like YouTube downloaders proxys etc. Like I said I love the handsets it's just the Eco system that sucks or at least appears too... I hope they can get more stuff on there and more parity though because god only knows how much I hate my iPhone