Hi guys, I need some advice on what people think is the best smart phone on the market.

 

I have a 4.5 year old iPhone 3GS, to be honest it's been great, reliable and looks like new (I keep it in a gel case). However of late the battery has started to fatigue, I'd say it's 20% down on new and with me being on the phone all day it needs a full charge each night.

 

In addition to phone calls I mainly email and browse from my phone, the iPhone certainly feels more cramped than it needs to.

 

So my requirements are (in order of priority):

 

1 - Exemplary phone reception and voice quality

2 - Email handling and writing

3 - Web browsing, pace and ease

4 - Heavy web app use such as AdWords MCC (which manages to kill my netbook so a phone might struggle too)

 

That aside I'm not really concerned with gimmicks, music and apps unless they add value to the phone as a business tool.

 

It's also worth mentioning too my company will buy the phone outright, no contracts, so network and tariff considerations are irrelevant.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

40 views and not even an Indian spammer?

 

Oh com'on!

 

Must be a few phone nerds and aficionado's on here - do you need me to give more preferences or is my post just boring?

iPhone5. No point jumping to a different OS unless there's a concrete reason for the change - until that point, your familiarity with iOS is the deciding factor.

For your requirements I'd agree with RD.

 

It is always fun though to try something new, and sometimes you find more useful features you didn't think you needed before.

I too have an iphone 3GS and i've loved every moment of it. Thinking about picking up an iphone 5 but I've been hesitant since there were alot of issues with the camera?

I've got a Galaxy S3 and it's brilliant.

 

I have a 4.5 year old iPhone 3GS, to be honest it's been great, reliable and looks like new (I keep it in a gel case). However of late the battery has started to fatigue, I'd say it's 20% down on new and with me being on the phone all day it needs a full charge each night.

 

 

The battery is meant to be much better than the iPhone and the battery is removable so you can have a spare one if you're out and about all day and know you need more than a days worth of battery.

 

1 - Exemplary phone reception and voice quality - The voice quality on the s3 is very clear.

2 - Email handling and writing - The standard email app isn't the greatest but you can get 3rd party apps that are much better

3 - Web browsing, pace and ease - You have hspa+ which is 4g technology which is quick for browsing.

4 - Heavy web app use such as AdWords MCC (which manages to kill my netbook so a phone might struggle too) - You can get the 2gb version which is double the speed of the 1gb version.

 

Having said all that. I've never had an iPhone to compare with but the S3 is a quality phone. If you don't mind it being quite a bit bigger than the iPhone. (It's so much better for browsing and watching videos on.) I would definitely recommend it.

I had a play with a samsung note 2 today. I think its love.

personally I am an Android person, so I stick to anything HTC/Samsung...I also hate Apple, if that counts for anything (which I doubt).

 

Keep us updated please

I'd choose S3 over an iphone but some apple users might disagree since iphone is more user friendly.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I think I've found "the one", the Google Nexus 4 ...but struggling to find stock. No rush.

I have to say I love Android, have you considered the S3, or if your budget is lower the S2? (Still a fantastic phone.) As much as I can see the iPhone is a good phone, it is still behind in many ways. I also don't really see the point of the iPhone 5, I don't think it brought enough to the table. I can see why Apple is slowly losing out.

I was actually looking at the Nexus 4 for when my contract goes out, let us know what it's like. I currently have the Samsung Galaxy S2 which I have to say is still a really great phone although there is better out there now. My friend recently got the HTC one (I think) and I must say it's got a great screen, I'm not into the HTC version of android though.

Apple I phone 5 !!!!!!!!!!!!! Just awesome !!!

I have to say I love Android, have you considered the S3, or if your budget is lower the S2? (Still a fantastic phone.) As much as I can see the iPhone is a good phone, it is still behind in many ways. I also don't really see the point of the iPhone 5, I don't think it brought enough to the table. I can see why Apple is slowly losing out.

 

The girlfriend has the S3 so I wanted to be different, I also like the look of the Nexus 4 but more importantly it supposed to have excellent voice quality.

 

I found the S3 a little tinny compared to my current iPhone (which I don't actually rate). My old work Blackberry knocked spots off them both for clarity!

 

Agreed on the iPhone 5 front, went and had a look, nothing new to grab me - sure the screen is nice but other phones offer that too.

Apple I phone 5 !!!!!!!!!!!!! Just awesome !!!

 

Not sure I agree chap, it seems like you have to be an Apple fan to warrant the upgrade.

That aside I'm not really concerned with gimmicks, music and apps unless they add value to the phone as a business tool.

 

It's also worth mentioning too my company will buy the phone outright, no contracts, so network and tariff considerations are irrelevant.

 

I moved from an iPhone 4 (and before that, an iPhone 3G), to an S3. If you're using the phone solely for business, I urge you to have a long play with Android. It is not as stable and as robust as iOS. It is hugely customisable, and allows for a more personal device, but it doesn't deal with the daily grind as perfectly as iOS.

 

I'm not trying to put you off, but I have recommended to a number of friends who are business users (or even non-techies) to stick with iOS. It's safe, it's stable, it doesn't ever fail. If your phone is just a personal device, like mine, Android is much more fun and enjoyable.

 

Put it this way; I had my iPhone 4 for 27 months before upgrading to my current S3 (like you I have no contract, I buy the handsets to save £100-200 a year). During that time I never ever needed to restore the phone for any reason that I hadn't purposely brought on myself (i.e. to rid the phone of a jailbreak). My S3, however, is now on its 3rd factory reset within 2 months and still has minor bugs with 4.1.1 - some not specific to the S3, hence 4.1.2.

 

For business use, stick with the incredibly reliable iOS. For personal use, Android - I really like it.

 

You do not have to be an Apple fan to warrant the upgrade to arguably one of the best handsets on the market.

 

Just my $0.02.

Edited November 26, 201213 yr by andyl

Would you say your Android reliability problems are down to tinkering though? The reason I ask is my girlfriend's has been rock solid, she's anything but a geek and doesn't tinker at all, in fact I think she runs all the stock apps etc.

Put it this way; I had my iPhone 4 for 27 months before upgrading to my current S3 (like you I have no contract, I buy the handsets to save £100-200 a year). During that time I never ever needed to restore the phone for any reason that I hadn't purposely brought on myself (i.e. to rid the phone of a jailbreak). My S3, however, is now on its 3rd factory reset within 2 months and still has minor bugs with 4.1.1 - some not specific to the S3, hence 4.1.2.

 

Sheesh kabeesh man, what are you doing to it?! I've never had to factory restore my S2 and it's been going strong for a year and a half now.

 

Not arguing your point, you're right, but three factory resets in two months is not normal for Android. If you're having that many problems with it I'd be inclined to think you have an issue with your handset. Have you tried replacing it? Should be fairly straight forward.

Would you say your Android reliability problems are down to tinkering though? The reason I ask is my girlfriend's has been rock solid, she's anything but a geek and doesn't tinker at all, in fact I think she runs all the stock apps etc.

 

No tinkering here, just default/extremely common apps and a rather sketchy software update from Samsung. It doesn't help, to be fair, that the Samsung PC/Mac software is amongst the worst I've ever seen in my life. Absolutely no exaggeration. I'd imagine Google's process is much more streamlined to compete with iTunes. You've also got OTA updates, which I resorted to.

 

As I said, it depends on you. You seem to be set on Android - so go for it! It's not like you'll massively regret it - the two are direct competitors, and as such, achieve the same essential tasks very well.

 

@Mike, nope all common* bugs with the S3, or Jelly Bean. I spend some time at a particular Android forum.

 

*Ok, reported by several people - common is a relative term.

Edited November 26, 201213 yr by andyl

No tinkering here, just default/extremely common apps and a rather sketchy software update from Samsung. It doesn't help, to be fair, that the Samsung PC/Mac software is amongst the worst I've ever seen in my life. Absolutely no exaggeration. I'd imagine Google's process is much more streamlined to compete with iTunes. You've also got OTA updates, which I resorted to.

 

As I said, it depends on you. You seem to be set on Android - so go for it!

 

@Mike, nope all common* bugs with the S3, or Jelly Bean. I spend some time at a particular Android forum.

 

*Ok, reported by several people - common is a relative term.

 

Out of curiosity, what are the bugs? I'm still on ICS at the moment, so if you're having these issues with JB it might be best I hold off on it until they've sorted it.

 

I'm with you on Kies, it's terrible. I really wish I could just use the normal update.

 

On a side note, my Nexus 10 runs JB and it's not had any issues, so far, so as it's running 4.2 perhaps that will be the version fixes the issues.

1. Wi-Fi permanently downloading (orange down arrow always showed). This is still an on-going bug. Appears to only happen with certain routers, Wireless-N specifically

2. Contact list took ~10 seconds to open. I have <200 contacts stored (all from Google account), moved from my iPhone - it should be absolutely instantaneous. That's fixed now - but simply removing accounts wouldn't solve it.

3. Latest and most irritating - cannot choose default keyboard/lockscreen. Phone reverts to system default upon reboot. Google acknowledged this problem, and 4.1.1 actually installs apps incorrectly from the Play Store, as I understand it. Very annoying.

 

Minor things, sure, but they're just examples of difference in quality control of Android over iOS. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing - Facebook has awful quality control, but they act fast on bug reports to get their "new stuff" working.

 

JB did fix a lot of the "Android lag" people talk about on the net. The UI isn't as smooth as iOS, but it's a hell of a lot better than ICS.

 

Edit: This post is horribly written

 

Edit 2: We'll exclude the iOS Maps application from my quality control argument!

Edited November 26, 201213 yr by andyl

Personally I have an iPhone 4s.

 

As other's have said, If you're used to Apple's OS platform, you'd constantly be nit-picking at features from any other phone you may choose (that's not to say they're other good phones out there) but the fact you're used to Apple, I'd say stick with what you know.

 

At a push and if you feel brave at the switch, perhaps the Samsung Galaxy S3? The whole scenario is like switching from an Xbox to PS3, and believe me I wouldn't want to make that change!

Edited November 26, 201213 yr by Silverbolt

I know your a iPhone man but if you go for an Android phone I am sure you won't need to change the SIM. I have had my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for a day now and love it, despite I had to change SIM to a MICRO-SIM I still kept the same number. Never has been changed since I was 17! You shouldn't have a problem with Android as long as you keep updating it and clearing its internal memory from time to time. That's what I found anyway.

You shouldn't have a problem with Android as long as you keep updating it and clearing its internal memory from time to time.

 

This is the kind of thing I was referring to. For the average geek, using the phone for personal use, manually clearing up internal memory (manual-ish) is ok. However, try telling the average 60 year old to clear the internal memory, or a businessman. They're not interested and quite frankly better suit the iPhone.

 

There's no single superior mobile OS right now, it just depends what you personally want from your phone.

 

Writing this post now, Android doesn't handle text areas very well at all compared to iOS. It's annoying me. However, I'm writing on a customised keyboard I installed from the Official Play Store. One downside, one upside.

Actually I don't have problems with Android phone and I'm using it for years. Though if I had to choose a new one it would be either Samsung Galaxy 3 or Note. Those two are quite amazing.

My android phone has developed an annoying fault. It refuses to synch my contacts with my google account. I didn't realize this till after my factory reset and the loss of 2 years worth of contacts....

Samsung galaxy s3

As most of what I do is primarily iOS dev, I run the iPhone 5, its a pretty decent phone, but the Nexus 4 looks pretty decent. However, I could never go up to the GS3/Note screen sizes, to gargantuan for me (especially when cycling/running, although this happens much less frequently than I would like).

iPhone5. No point jumping to a different OS unless there's a concrete reason for the change - until that point, your familiarity with iOS is the deciding factor.

Thinking of starting a new website in the UK.

Me too

The main and really the only reason I haven't tried an Android handset after 2 iPhones is because of the god damned updates.

 

The updates are pushed out by the manufacturer and in some cases the carrier? (as is my understanding anyway)

Like, what the feck?

 

Most handsets are NEVER updated, and the ones that are usually get it months later.

 

With iOS, the update is released then installed on my phone as soon as I can be bothered to press the update button.