Phones Phone renewal time - opinions & experiences please

[Tilda]

I'd still vote for the nexus 5, brilliant phone, cheap compared to the other market leaders. As soon as my contract is up I'll switch to giffgaff.

 

[old.user4556]

My most recent phones have been:

- iPhone 4
- iPhone 5
- Now on a Nexus 5

I can't speak for the other phones you mention, but I really like the Nexus 5. It's very hard to fault given the price, but I absolutely love stock Android - it's slick, fast, minimal and has so much more flexibility than iOS. The camera is very good with optical stabilisation which has allowed me to capture images in darker conditions that the iPhone simply would not be able to. Auto white balance is also much more accurate as is exposure. Videos in 1080p are superb as you would expect. The phone never lags on 4.4.2 - I never feel like there are any compromises with the Nexus 5. People talk about the build quality not being "as good", but I honestly prefer the soft touch polycarbonate which is much more resistant to getting marked than my iPhone 5 which is prone to scuffs and scratches being made of metal.

Where the Nexus 5 falls flat (and indeed, all Android phones) is that some iPhone applications are still more polished than their Android equivalents. I suspect this is more to do with the developers than the actual handset / OS, but one of the reasons I moved from Android to an iPhone back in the day was due to a much better app store. Android has come on massive leaps and bounds since those days and I much prefer the Google Play Store to Apple's offering, but Android still lags behind Apple in some areas. For example, the Android Sonos app simply sucks compared to iOS version, Instagram is also not as good as it is on iOS. Android is also missing a lot of tablet optimised apps - ebay, IMDB and Sonos are three that come to mind. I expect that this'll change eventually.

Google Now is also very useful on the Nexus 5 - swipe left and get a breakdown of things that are important to you. It learns places you go and when (a bit creepy maybe) and gives you immediate traffic information of your most visited locations with a button to open the satnav. I also get all the Winnipeg Jets updates automatically. It's a really nice feature.

Battery life is average - don't expect anything fancy here, it's about the same as the iPhone 5, about a day maximum between charges.

 

[Bigmac]

Going to get the new HTC one when it comes out.

 

[Embattle]

No doubt it'll be good but I won't give any more money to HTC for the foreseeable future since they tend to be dicks when it comes to upgrading the OS.

 

[DaGaffer]

If I was using my own money I'd get a Nexus 5. Its just excellent value for money.

Where the Nexus 5 falls flat (and indeed, all Android phones) is that some iPhone applications are still more polished than their Android equivalents. I suspect this is more to do with the developers than the actual handset / OS, but one of the reasons I moved from Android to an iPhone back in the day was due to a much better app store. Android has come on massive leaps and bounds since those days and I much prefer the Google Play Store to Apple's offering, but Android still lags behind Apple in some areas. For example, the Android Sonos app simply sucks compared to iOS version, Instagram is also not as good as it is on iOS. Android is also missing a lot of tablet optimised apps - ebay, IMDB and Sonos are three that come to mind. I expect that this'll change eventually.

Unfortunately I think there will always be issues with Android Apps versus their iOS equivalents; the fragmentation of Android versions and the fragmentation of devices means that development will always be more expensive and more compromised than Apple, where you optimise for the device as well as the OS. Also, if my experience is anything to go by (and reading around it seems it is), iOS apps are generally more successful/profitable for the developer than Android. We see a much higher take-up and engagement of Apps on iOS than we see on Android, even though the Android installed base in the market is higher. So its a bit of a Catch-22, spend more money on Android for a lower take-up or follow the money and prioritise iOS, which in turn makes Android apps less attractive and usable, which in turn makes it a less attractive development environment, and so on.

 

[soze]

The ease of installing dodgey apps on an Android and the easy availability of said apps means people here in work have hundreds of pounds worth of premium apps that cost them nothing. Not an option for us with iPhones as one of the Apps we need does not run on a jail broken device.

 

[Bahumat]

I'm selling my samsung galaxy s4 if anyone's interested. Perfect condition, couple of spare screen protectors (one on already), 30gb sd card, plus the original and Samsung flap case.

Locked to EE but I doubt that's hard to remedy.

 

[babs]

I think I've narrowed this down to nexus 5 or LG g2,but I've got to have a play with the switches on the g2 first. I love the look of some of the stuff on the moto X, but the camera and battery are meant to be a bit poo.

 

[babs]

This is all a bit moot now, I'm writing this on the G2 I picked up on lunch

 

[babs]

Just a quick follow up after a few days with the G2. Holy crap this phone is good. Fast, huge screen and battery lasts forever. On the One X I would only just last a day on a charge, with this I could go 2 if I was careful.

Double tap screen to wake up - genius. Power and volume on the back - works perfectly. I didn't even realise until I bought it that it also acts as a universal remote.

Lovely, lovely phone/toy/thing

 

[soze]

An IR port and NFC are two things I would like to see on the iPhone.

I was wondering how the power button on the back would work, does it feel natural when holding it or do you have to move your hand to press it?

 

[babs]

Very natural. Flat, firm and short travel. I use it very rarely, as double tap to wake / sleep is already second nature. Why it's not been in every phone is a mystery. No more clawing the phone to wake up to check when it's on the arm of the sofa or table.