Time for me to get a new cell phone, what should I get?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I haven’t kept up with advances in smartphone technology in a few years, but my current phone (Samsung Galaxy 4) is starting to act funny in that way that tells me it’s not long for this world and I need to start shopping for a new phone.

So, what’s out there that is good? I would prefer an android phone but I’m not married to the idea. I work in sales and sometimes use my phone to help with a presentation or two so I was thinking maybe a note… But at the end of the day that is really big. Fast and stable are my main requirements and something that will last me a few years before it stops charging reliably and crashing at random times.

What’s new in phone tech?

2

If you want to stick with an Android phone, I’d strongly recommend one of Google’s Nexus devices.

Not because the hardware is remarkably better than competing Android phones, but because it’ll actually get software updates throughout its lifetime.

3

Plus they don’t get pre-loaded with crap you don’t want and can’t get rid of. My next phone will be a Nexus.

4

How big a screen do you want? How much are you willing to spend? Do you care whether you get software updates? Do you care how good the camera is, or any other special non-phone non-browser non-pda type feature?

The Moto G is a lot of phone for the money. (There are a few different ones on the market right now.)

5

How big is up in the air. No smaller than the S4, and I am having a legitimate debate about how big is too big. Smaller than a tablet, something I can easily fit into a pocket.

Don’t care much about the camera, care a lot about software updates. Care a fair bit about internal storage. Battery life is important too. I do use the phone as a business tool all day long every day, but most of my stuff is web based.

While I would like a good deal, I would be willing to spend several hundred dollars on a phone if I knew I wasn’t going to buy another one for 4 years or so.

6

If you like android then I’d stick with either a nexus phone or at least a “Google Play edition” phone from another maker. I wasn’t t terribly happy with the battery life of my nexus 5 but early reports seem like the 5X is better.

7

Google Play Edition is a dead program. If you care about software updates it’s either Nexus or root and flash your own.

8

Another reason to consider one of the new Nexus phones is being able to get Google Fi. $20 a month for unlimited talk and text, plus $10 for each gigabyte of data. Any part of the next gigabyte is credited toward the following month. Your phone can be used as a hotspot. No contract.

The main thing is that it works on two different phone networks - T-Mobile and Sprint, switching back and forth to whichever has better coverage.

You can also buy the phone from them on a monthly plan for two years, ranging from a Nexus 5X - 16GB costing $379 paying $15.79/month for 24 months to a Nexus 6P - 128 GB costing $649 paying $27.04/month for 24 months. Rumor is that the people requesting an invite who don’t already own a Nexus phone are accepted much more rapidly.

By the way, if your S4 is acting buggy, just make sure all your data is backed up to your linked gmail account, then you can do a reset. That usually fixes almost all problems.

9

FWIW, I’m probably going to order a Nexus 5X soon. I find most of the ‘hot’ phones on the market to be too big for me. The 5X is on the smaller size of the modern ones. I have a local friend and co-worker using Google Fi, so I’m looking forward to his feedback before I take that plunge…

My first gen Moto X is pretty old and slow. It’s time for an upgrade.

10

The 2nd gen Moto X is pretty nice, and Motorola uses a nearly stock version of Android and pushes updates pretty fast. The latest Moto X Pure is a bigger phone, but is sold without any carrier software so updates should be even faster.

11

I’m happy with my MotoX Bamboo. The battery life is pretty good, seeing as it’s always playing videos or music. Screen is decent sized too. Big enough to watch a video with out it seeming too small, The audio quality is pretty good too.

My only pet peeve is adding someone to the contacts. It seems to take too many steps. I don’t know if I’m doing it wrong or what. It just seems more complicated than it should be.

12

I don’t have much to add, except that you may want to consider getting something that’s one generation old to save some money. It seems like a new gen of smartphone is coming out every six months, so you can often get near-new tech for less if you’re willing to not have the very latest and greatest.

I was unaware of Project Fi until this post. I’m very interested in discussing it further, but to avoid a hijack, I started this thread.

13

Yeah, it sounds good. I put in an invite request. I would be happy to pay 24 a month for a phone if the rest of my service is going to be so reasonably priced.

14

I like the Moto G. Or a Nexus 5 (the one-generation ago one).

But I don’t like huge screens, or paying more than $200. And I do like updates.

15

Samsung Galaxy Light = turd. I could rant (in fact I did, but deleted the wall-o-text), but just trust me. It’s been a useless pain in the ass since I got it.

So, maybe AVOID that particular gem.