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[Q] What phone is next for you?

I see 3 contenders, each has strengths and weaknesses [in no particular order]:
HTC One (M8)
Samsung Galaxy S5
Sony Xperia Z2
I'm not thrilled with the camera on the HTC One (M8), but overall I'm ok with HTC
and have been very happy and thankful for the support I've received on this forum,
I love my Vivid and it's still a great phone.
The S5 has a great camera, and all the other features that matter for me [SD card slot,
active community support, replaceable battery, strong environment resistance] ... BUT
I don't like KNOX and based on what I'm reading [and experiencing with my Samsung
Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition tablet], that lockdown & strategy isn't going to go away
any time soon ... and may, for all intents and purposes, be 'insurmountable' without
giving up warranty support - which isn't OK with me, cuz I'm not made of money ...
On to the Sony ... seems like the specs are pretty good, perhaps lacking in onboard
memory [16Gb at the moment, I'd prefer 32Gb or 64Gb], good processors, decent design
and build quality ... but the community support seems thin [perhaps because Sony isn't
a huge player in the US? Perhaps because they're release cycle & adoption by big US
carriers is a lilttle thin & doesn't get as much press as HTC and Sammy? I don't know]
and I don't know how good the accessory market is for them ...
So the question is ... what phone is next for you, and how/why did you come to that
decision?
If it's one of these three, great ... if it's not, great ... because that may help me to see
options I have missed.
Thanks in advance for taking time to slog through my drivel.
-dmm

Trying to keep the expenses down, so to actually upgrade I am considering the Galaxy S4. The S5 is too expensive, HTC One does not have a replaceable battery, don't particularly like Sony these days.
Mind, I am still 3 months from upgrade time, and my mind is not set.

I replaced the Vivid with a Nexus 4. Comparing the early effort for custom roms Vivid vs Nexus, it was literally night and day. Waiting weeks/months to find a way to unlock the bootloader vs 2 minutes with the nexus.
I will never buy another carrier branded phone, nor a phone that is locked down. If I were to upgrade again, I would have to go with the Nexus 5. I might not get the bells, whistles and prestige of the lofty flagships, but for an Android buff like me, the open nature of the nexus line is priceless.

cmerlyn said:
Trying to keep the expenses down, so to actually upgrade I am considering the Galaxy S4. The S5 is too expensive, HTC One does not have a replaceable battery, don't particularly like Sony these days.
Mind, I am still 3 months from upgrade time, and my mind is not set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using Vivid in 2011, 2012.
In 2013, I was thinking between google edition i9505 and AT&T SHG-I337 for the upgrade Google edition came unlock but it was cost around $600 at that time. AT&T phone was network locked but it cost around $65 for upgrade with 2 years plan.
I went with AT&T SGH-I-337. I rooted the phone before I activated. After activation I installed the custom rom. The phone came with Android 4.2.2.
This month I installed the 4.4.2 custom rom (Golden eye 29, 30 then 31). I am very happy with S4 this way.
I am thinking of going for S5 after the developer find a way to tame the knox thingy.

Note 3 at the end of 2015, worth buying?

Hi guys,
Yesterday I hard bricked my GS4 trying to update it to marshmellow. The repair will cost $40 and this is after I spent $110 replacing the digitizer. I decided to give up on that device (It was getting a bit beat up anyway).
Walmart is currently selling the ATT version for $250. I bought it but now I am wondering if it is still worth the value now (late 2015). The S4 was starting to show its age especially with the bloatware which is why I was attempting to upgrade the OS. What better place to ask this than a forum full of tech geeks like me who have actually used the device!
So, what do you guys say? Is it worth it now to buy as a daily driver? What do you guys think of the cost? How is the custom rom community? I saw that Samsung EOLed it at 5.0 but what are the chances custom roms will keep going for a few more versions? I have just started to browse this section of xda. The S4 was a hassle especially if people accidentally upgraded it to Lollipop. I know I followed the directions to a T but I still go the hard brick so I am hesitant to attempt to mess around with a Samsung device again.
If anyone has experience with the S4, how is the experience compared to it?
Sorry if this stuff was recently asked, I just quickly browsed the front page of this section

It is an excellent device. The only thing that bothers me is the size. My personal opinion: Debatably, even the latest gen devices haven't added much value to the daily use factors(speed, screen quality etc). A little bit, yes. But not a lot. You can compare the devices and see it yourself. I don't need to upgrade the device. My hands are relatively smaller, so the size matters especially considering the case etc. Otherwise Note 3 is a solid device. Ofcourse root and get rid of the crapware if you running stock rom. You will be happy you did.
FYI to give you an idea about the price: In 2014, i bought a "certified like new" from att for 270 + taxes + activation without contract. It was really new except for the brown box it came in.
Again, My Personal opinion: Just got a OnePlus X for my wife. Only $267 including shipping. Good specs, 1080P screen , snapD 801 processor, thinner, lighter and handy compared to iphone or GS 6. In short Love it.

For me size doesn't matter since I am 6'2" with giant hands. I bought my mom the original OPO and she liked it. The only thing I feel like I would be missing out on are the fingerprint readers but those are currently only on the high end devices right now which I can't afford yet.

Note 3 is indeed a great phone/device you can have but in the mean time you can have too many other comparatively new devices in the same range of bucks, then why go back to 2013 while in my opinion you can buy some MOTO, LG, Asus, and a lot of Chinese flagship devices in that range or just a little more up on. I would suggest you Note 3. And i would never bought it if i was in your place. (worthy mention that i have one AT&T's N900A) but my situation is quite different, i have bought it (used one) almost 9 months ago and that too here in Pakistan where most of the new devices are either out of my range or not at all available here.

Hell yes. I wont upgrade cause I know I wont like my nextphone as much as my note 3. Its a tough phone. Ive bootlooped and softbricked this thing so many times and it just keeps getting better. I broke the screen once and mailed out for it to savea couple hundred and do it myself and now have half n900a and half n900t. I know. Just the carriers. I might just get another note 3 when this one dies.

Just bought s5 mini (g800f)

I broke my s4 minis digitizer and decided to go with new phone, so i bought used s5 mini.
I didn't check if s5 mini had cyanogenmod available, but thank god i found hennymcc made unofficial version I had some troubles with Gapps
My biggest problem was netflix not working, but finally after hours of googling i found fix for it and now i can stream netflix to my chromecast 2.
So my question is what kind of experiences you've had with your s5 mini and are you liking your phone?

I've had this phone for slightly over a year and while it's been allright, I am pissed off at a few things:
Promised Lollipop update has been MIA for quite a few months and possibly not coming at all.
It's pretty under-powered with a relatively weak processor and not enough RAM. It is comparable to the much much older Galaxy S3.
Despite that, it was pretty expensive for a mid-range phone (something that might have changed as it is a last year model).

Yep I like the screen on this phone, but after doing more research i maybe should've gone with moto G 2015.
I paid 200e for this phone, I could have got this cheaper but i was in a hurry. I just hope that this device will get CM support for 1-2 more years.
Just got to hope that hennymcc, CTXz, Unjustified Dev won't get bored of this device

I get mine as a gift 3 months ago and I'm really dissapointed with Samsung in general; the gave us poor support and ugly and heavy interface. I'm selling it in order to buy a Moto G (2015) or a second hand Nexus 5. As you say, at least the screen is really good
Enviado desde mi SM-G800M mediante Tapatalk

Yeah i'm kind of getting pretty fond of this phone, maybe i would like this less with stock rom.

It was pretty damn good when I was about to buy it, but after buying this device I got some problems:
•BATTERY LIFE. It can die on 2-4days in 100% charge on standby mode.
•POWER. It's pretty damn bad. I thought that using S5 with S3 processor and graphics card was a nice idea... IT TAKES 2-5 MINUTES TO LOAD NORMALLY AND WORK NO LAG AFTER TURNING IT ON.
•PRICE. Well, I bought it on 50% discount and it wasn't a big hit to me but if I would bought this phone on full price... For price I got (150€) specs and everything fits into it. But a retail(when launched) price is too big.
AND I WANT AND I WAIT FOR LOLLIPOP!!! (and marshmallow but I never get it, that's why I am looking at NextBit Robin)

Is it still a good idea to buy a Galaxy S5 Mini in july 2016?

Hello guys, my Z3c is dying on me and I've come to notice that the S5 Mini is a well-rounded phone. My sister has one and it has survived many falls and abuses.
Is it a good idea to buy a new one in these days? Or should I go to something newer? I'm a die-hard fan of small phones, but my options are very limited (S5 Mini, iPhone SE or an overly expensive z3c).
And if you believe that it's a good idea to buy a S5 Mini, which variant should I aim for?
Thank you for your ideas.

I have one, bought it used 3 months ago, and have had no problems. One warning I have is it seems harder to unlock yourself than previous Samsung SX phones. It's got good battery life, removable battery, memory card slot, all the things I was looking for. Some websites I went to warn that it's got worse specs than the full S5, and for no good reason. Reddit subs around phones seem to hate it. Just make sure you make sure the phone is legit and not stolen before you buy it, etc.

Poor S9 sales

Samsung admits the sales are bad.
Do you think the sales are bad because people are finally getting sick of the bloatware or the incredible high price tag ?
Do you think S10 sales will be better ?

AstroDigital said:
Samsung admits the sales are bad.
Do you think the sales are bad because people are finally getting sick of the bloatware or the incredible high price tag ?
Do you think S10 sales will be better ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The S9 is my first Samsung phone and I bought it because of the stereo speakers and improved camera. They didn't catch me with the S8 but it did impress me when it came out.
Bad sales depends on a lot of factors. Ever increasing competition from Chinese OEMs, especially Hwawei, incremental changes to a phone that has already exhausted its sales or maybe wrongly assuming that you have achieved the same footing as Apple.
I'm impressed with the S9. It still stands out from the competition and I don't get the feeling that I'm missing out on anything another phone has to offer this year.

I dont think the price is high at all.
It's half the price of the iPhone X in my country..

Aerys said:
I dont think the price is high at all.
It's half the price of the iPhone X in my country..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't mean anything, everything is half the price of overpriced Apple stuff
Remove Apple from the comparison and it becomes expensive

I think the regular user don't mind about the bloatware, unfortunately. For me, the bloatware and this disgusting curved display it's what most annoys me.
The camera on Samsung phones are the best point for me.

Idk but I am enjoying my S9. I wanted the OP6 for 500€ but when I saw that I can buy S9 for 550€ the water resistant, better display, camera, expendable storage and wirelless charging is worth that extra 50€.
Odoslané z SM-G960F pomocou Tapatalku

I was still on the S4 before the upgrade to the S9. The S8 just wasn't enough for me to upgrade but the S8 is so close to the S9 I can see why the sales are poor. For me it was a HUGE upgrade.

It's probably because of the bad publicity it got in regards to the American version Vs the rest of the world, the exynos battery life was abysmal, it's better now but still now where near as good as the Snapdragon version.

It is the most I've ever laid for a phone but all in all I'm happy with it. I used Moto phones from the original Moto G through the G4, mainly because they were easy to root and develop roms. Their purchase by Lenovo, a company that would have trouble engineering toy phones killed Motos' for me. Having owned a long line of Samsung tablets made me try the S9. I can now add Samsung to my list of Moto, LG, Huawei/Honor, and Nokia. The curved screen? Meh

I think people have finally had enough...
I loved the screen and camera of my S9 but the OP6 just seemed like a better fit for my needs since I like very smooth and fast performance and while the s9 did that to some extent, it could also become a bit slower than I liked over time. In the end I sold it for the OP6 which turned out of be a better choice despite being a "cheaper" or "inferior" phone.
1+6, g2 vs980, redmi n3 mtk, moto e condor

I think the bad sales numbers are due to people not needing the newest greatest phone every year anymore when there is not a great new feature added to them. For me this is my first Samsung device since the galaxy s2 or something. I was a die hard stock android/nexus fan for years and then when the nexus phones died I have been lost and trying different phones when needing another phone. First few post nexus phones was various moto phones as they use a close to stock version of android but I really wanted to go with a top tier phone that I could get financed threw my carrier and I feel stock android has became a little on the stale side so I went with the s9. Truth be told I really like it. I don't like bixby, or the stock launcher (I am actually using ruthless launcher which is a pixel launcher clone) but some of the built in Samsung apps are quite impressive to me like Samsung pay (still messes with peoples head when it works after they say it won't) or the Samsung browser that is like firefox and chrome had a baby and made that awesome thing. having a built in theme installer is kinda cool (again I guess me looking at stock android for so long I was bored with it as it hasn't changed that much in 2 or 3 years.)

It's because the S9 is not much different from the S8.

People are still happy with their S7's and S8's. It's that simple. S7 camera and performance is still great in 2018.

When you release something like every year like this I have a S8 And will either get a note 8 or 9
S9 isnt no where near enough of upgrade.And unless Galaxy S X is extraordinary Prob wont be going for that one either
The biggest thing with their numbers on S9 is the sales they had with S 6 7 and 8
No one sees enough to upgrade yet

The average person doesn't know or care what an "exynos" is or the pros and cons compared to stock Android etc. I think it's just because it's an incremental upgrade - no real obvious difference from the S8, so people looking to upgrade will say "huh, it's exactly the same" and not bother.
Or maybe it's because it doesn't have a notch. That seems to be a fashion statement these days. I hope and pray that Samsung doesn't fall for that particular fad - they've managed to steer clear so far.
I got mine very heavily subsidised by EE (by my most conservative calculations compared to SIM-only it cost me £320 or so. There are other ways you can argue that it's pretty much a free phone). Buying outright from Samsung they're expensive but carriers are almost handing them out in the street right now.