What phone should I get?

[Knightmare]

My phone plan expires in a couple of months and I am in the market for a new phone. My flatmate is a graphic designer who has a Mac and an iPhone and you probably know the rest of the story from there...

However my own mother (who is usually somewhat technologically stunted) also has an iPhone and reckons it's great.

I'd have no problem getting an iPhone but I'd love to get some more widespread opinions on whether there are better phones on the market with similar features, or are the Apple devotees onto something?

 

[Dani]

Galaxy.

 

[Danish]

I'm literally having heart palpitations trying to make this decision at the moment.

I've "narrowed" it down to 5 choices. Samsung Galaxy S3 (the 4G, 64gb version launching in a few weeks), the HTC One XL, the Nokia Lumia 920, the Samsung AITV S, or the iPhone 5.

The S3 and HTC are both android phones and probably the pick of the android devices. Both have 4.8" screens and pretty much identical innards, but the Samsung looks cooler (IMO) while the HTC I am assured is the best in terms of coverage.

The Nokia and AITV S are both Windows Phone 8 phones. This OS is supposedly going to blow the others out of the water (certainly looks bloody slick). The Nokia also comes with wireless charging, NFC and looks about the sexiest phone I've ever seen. The AITV is essentially an S3 with windows instead of Android.

The iPhone 5..... well really this just looks awesome. Has a smaller screen, less memory and is more expensive than the others. But, you know, its Apple. Pretty much the only reason I am even considering this phone is because I already have an iPhone 4, so don't want to have to purchase all my apps all over again by switching platforms.


In short.... good luck :lol:

 

[Ozzy]

I think you should be more worried about your server's coverage. I have a phone that I am happy with and its O/S is Android however I am with Vodafone and can't wait to switch to someone else. If you are happy with your server then it will depend on what you want to use your phone for besides calls.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Stay away from anything iPhone or Windows

Galaxy S3 or HTC One XL would be my picks, although the XL is only really useful on Telstra due to them being the only 4G carrier as yet. The One X is the same but with out the 4G band compatibility.

In short, go for Android

 

[Jason Maher]

I'm in the same position as Knightmare, only I suffer from a condition known as antiiphoneitis. Honestly, I'm more conerned about which carrier I go with than which phone. I figure any modern phone will alow me to make phone calls and check footy and cricket scores.

JW: could you go into a bit more detail about why Android is clearly superior to the other phone OSes?

 

[Danish]

It isn't, he just likes it. I'm sure he'll have other reasons but thats what it boils down to.

A few other additions that may swing people one way or the other. Samsung handsets come with a FREE 40GB dropbox account. Dropbox being a cloud service which is essentially awesome. Windows phones will come with a free 7GB skydrive, while Apple offers the iCloud service although you have to pay for a yearly membership for that to be as effective as the others are.

 

[Jason Maher]

Here's another question: I notice my phone always seems to f**ked by the end of 2 years (my current Xperia X10 holds a full charge for about 12 hours - and this is after replacing the battery earlier this year, indicating something is f**ked with the phone itself), is it worth buying a cheaper phone and going prepaid, meaning I can easily get a new phone when the current one goes to piss?

 

[Joker's Wild]

JW: could you go into a bit more detail about why Android is clearly superior to the other phone OSes?

Windows OSs have been flakey from the get go and Im not convinced W8 will be any different. Apple products are always nice and easy to use but are very inflexible (cant upgrade the storage memory, wifi security is a joke, doesnt support widgets), you cant pull music off your iPhone nor use the internal storage as a drive and the big reason to not use iPhones is being stuck with the abortion that is iTunes.

It isn't, he just likes it. I'm sure he'll have other reasons but thats what it boils down to.

A few other additions that may swing people one way or the other. Samsung handsets come with a FREE 40GB dropbox account. Dropbox being a cloud service which is essentially awesome. Windows phones will come with a free 7GB skydrive, while Apple offers the iCloud service although you have to pay for a yearly membership for that to be as effective as the others are.

You get a 5G Dropbox account with the HTCs from memory.

Here's another question: I notice my phone always seems to f**ked by the end of 2 years (my current Xperia X10 holds a full charge for about 12 hours - and this is after replacing the battery earlier this year, indicating something is f**ked with the phone itself), is it worth buying a cheaper phone and going prepaid, meaning I can easily get a new phone when the current one goes to piss?

I always buy my phones outright now and just go on a prepaid plan for the above reason. Besides, it always ends up cheaper in the end.

Kogan.com.au is a good site for unlocked handsets of all makes

 

[BunniesMan]

Iphone. The answer is always Iphone.

 

[Joker's Wild]

If you're a f**k stick drone then yes, iPhone is always the answer

 

[Jason Maher]

f**king fanbois... alas, this class includes my wife.

 

[Joker's Wild]

lol mine too

 

[Ozzy]

Iphone. The answer is always Iphone.

Only if the question is "What phone do lemmings buy?".

 

[Jason Maher]

Another question... checking out the Kogan site, if I buy a phone outright, especially one of the more expensive ones, is it worth paying for an extended warranty? Is there any chance of Kogan going the way of Wow?

 

[Joker's Wild]

I usually dont but I cant see them going out of business anytime soon. They are purely online so they wouldnt have the overheads of your WoWs and JB HiFis

 

[9701]

looking at the stats on the new iphone why in hell would you buy one? It should of been the best phone available as it is the newest, yet, its specs are lower than the galaxy s3. in short iphones suck.

 

[Mr Angry]

If you are happy to have the highest ongoing costs get the iPhone. (apps, music etc all more expensive in general)

If you want real performance and lower cost of ownership over the life of the phone get an Android.

I would not even consider Windows yet, still very much behind.

 

[Danish]

The only reason the iPhone will be a success is because they have spent the last 5 years slowly digging their claws deep into every single one of their users.

If you've used the itunes ecosystem for several years, you likely have over $1000 worth of content (apps, music, maybe movies) locked up with them in one way or another. My personal tally is around $500 worth of music and another $100 in apps or so. At present I am investigating the difficulty in converting my itunes library across to another media player so that I don't lose any of this money.

Once I am confident I can do that, I'll be switching to either an S3, or Lumia 920. I'm leaning towards the Lumia as I genuinely think that WP8 is going to be f**king brilliant

 

[Danish]

If you are happy to have the highest ongoing costs get the iPhone. (apps, music etc all more expensive in general)

If you want real performance and lower cost of ownership over the life of the phone get an Android.

I would not even consider Windows yet, still very much behind.

Have you looked at Windows 8 yet? Looks freaking awesome. Played around with a development version on a laptop and it was sick, and the mobile version apparently looks and feels the same.

I think once WP8 launches it could well be the market leader, although the android fanboys will never admit to it