The best smartphones for Christmas
This was the year the smartphone wars really got hot, both on the high street and in the courts. Of course the former was a driving force behind the latter: neither Apple nor Microsoft gave a toss about Android’s alleged patent infringements - real or imaginary, reasonable or ridiculous - until handsets running Google’s mobile …
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Re: No need for Stickmount...
Hi guys, thanks for your responses.
After reading bits of a very long XDA thread, it would appear that whilst the Nexus 7 can be bodged to work with USB OTG, the (LG-made) Nexus 4 can never be - it seems that its hardware can't supply power to the microUSB port. Apparently there are other LG phones that suffer from the same hardware issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1966864&page=23
Oh, and I guess that a universally supported, non-propriety file system capable of bigger-than-4GB files is too much to ask for 2012 : D
Re: Ug?
Seagates goflex is ntfs iirc? Not sure if the battery is up to streaming many movies and using one on a plane might be an issue (for some reason external drives are verboten even if wifi is allowed).
The best smartphones for Christmas
And the Reason for Nexus 4 missing from the table of the rest is?
Re: The best smartphones for Christmas
It's not the best, just have the most bang for the buck.
It needs about 64GB or more storage to be the best.
some disturbingly wobbly Wi-Fi connectivity
I can only speak for myself but I've had no problems on that front with my Razr I
Re: some disturbingly wobbly Wi-Fi connectivity
A recent firmware update - only available by hooking up your Razr to a PC, not OTA - seems to have largely fixed this.
One XL
Have to say that my HTC One XL [the Asian/Aus LTE variant of the One X, running on a far more phone-appropriate dual core Snapdragon S4 SOC] is such a massively underrated phone and I genuinely think still the all-round best Android handset on the market today.
Bollocks to sense and gimmicky Beats Audio nonsense; mine's rooted and running AOKP 4.1.2 with 4.2 GApps. It's rock solid, absolutely flies both in terms of interface and on Singapore's proper LTE network (actual 70mbps+) and the battery life is epic, which was the one major complaint about the Tegra 3 based One X.
It's available in the UK on EE's LTE network now too I think. Can't recommend it highly enough!
Well...
Too big, far too big, too big, too pricey, Too big and no apps, too big...
Seriously, for those people not carrying man bags or wearing MC Hammer pants, what are the options?
Gah. Bring back keyboards.
Re: Well...
My Note II fits perfectly fine in my jeans pockets, and in my work trousers, even with my seasonal waistline expanding to make the pocket a bit more cramped than usual.
Re: Well...
>Too big, far too big, too big, too pricey, Too big and no apps, too big...
Help us help you- what size are you after, 3", 3.5", 4"? I have a 4" model, the Xperia P, and doesn't worry my tailor or give me cramp in my hand, but it may be considered 'pricey' compared to some handsets and cheap compared to others. (I have no Hammer pants)
You want small size AND a keyboard? Hope you've been a good boy this year!
Re: Well...
"Bring back keyboards."
I've been a dedicated fan of hardware keyboards on phones but I have to say that some of the soft keyboards now available (notably Apple's on my iPod Touch and SwiftKey Flow on my Android phone) are so good that I would rather have the extra screen space and ditch the physical keys.
Re: Well...
I would like an Xperia Mini upgraded to 2012 specs thanks, if you are making one. No bigger than 3.5 screen, hardware slider keyboard or the ability to use a T9 style soft one in portrait mode. Would stretch to a 4" if the keyboard existed.
None of the alternative soft keyboards that I have tried (swype, swiftkey and one other I can't remember) were much cop over the stock android one or stock iOS one - but no soft keyboard can match actual physical keys for typing long crap out which I do quite often on my mini. The Jellybean international keyboard is very close to perfect but Jellybean only lives on massive phablets.
Sadly the Sony Go and Tipo have crap rear cameras (and no front one, which is unforgivable).
Or you could get me the moon on a stick.
iPhone 5 90% and Nokia 920 85%?
The 920 has so much more to offer, doesn't scratch when stroked with a feather, has decent mapping and sat nav.
Mmm
My white iPhone has no scratches whatsoever, and it just sits in my pocket with no cover.
And Google maps came out yesterday, so your other arguments fall down.
Just saying.
Ahem
Comparing the 920 to the iPhone 5 is like comparing a van to a car. And the much vaunted camera is FAR worse than the iPhone's. Terrible shame.
Re: Ahem
Worse how? Not purple enough? Not easily shit-toned for Instagram? Low-light too good? Not enough camera-shake?
Hard to think of any measure by which your statement is anywhere near accurate.
Yeah, 90%
Well, the iPhone 5
. has no OLED screen
. no NFC
. no expandable storage
. no Xenon flash
. no camera oversampling, no lossless zoom
. Samsung Galaxy S III or the Nokia Lumia 920 have higher resolutions and larger screens than in the iPhone5, so far for the "retina display"
. has only 8h talk time, similar phones have 17 hours talk time, have a look at www.phonegg.com
. Some countries in Europe—including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and others—will not be able to offer iPhone 5 LTE connectivity to their customers on their current LTE networks, as they have already deployed LTE in the 2.6 GHz band, which the iPhone 5 does not support:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/262288/apples_iphone_5_a_mixed_bag_for_european_operators.html
Two year old scratches iPhone 5:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/iPhone-5-Scratches-Scuff-Test-iFixit,news-40205.html
Yeah, it really adds up to 90%.....
Re: Ahem
Have you tried them? I have, the Nokia is terrible. Exposure control is laughably bad, colours are murky, response is glacial, it's fucking awful. I expected it to blow the iPhone away but it was worse than any iPhone since the 3GS, and that had better exposure control. The video is even worse - rolling shutter, loads of compression artefacts and the same horrendous exposure control and muddy colour.
Re: Yeah, 90%
Some fair points - Xenon flash and expandable storage would be nice, but the iPhone's camera gives better pics, don't care about NFC and OLED screens have weird colour - albeit with great contrast.
Personally, I don’t care for Samsung’s insistence on using a physical home key on its phones but I’m obviously in a minority on that score
Personally I wish they'd take soft-touch buttons and throw them down a well, never to be heard of again. I utterly despise them. Almost every time I rotate my S3 one-handed - to watch a video, for example - one tenth of a micron of skin hits the back button and boom! There goes my content. It's absolutely infuriating, and really speaks to the obsession with crap touch controls at the expense of buttons, which work.
Agreed- I forgot to mention that as a valid criticism of the Xperia P phone I mentioned above. That said, maybe soft-touch buttons are more reliable than some designs of physical buttons, but I don't know... back in the day when they had keypads, I had a couple of phones that developed a dodgy button or two.
I'm not sure why someone down-voted you, you were merely expressing your personal preference, whilst accepting that not everyone feels that same.
Couldn't agree more, Greg, I hate the soft-touch buttons.
It will be a major factor in my next phone purchase (if anyone actually makes a phone that only has physical buttons).
"Almost every time I rotate my S3 one-handed - to watch a video, for example - one tenth of a micron of skin hits the back button and boom!"
Can't you just rotate it the other way so the soft buttons are at the opposite side to your hand?
(Not used an S3 so don't know if it supports 270 deg rotation.)
Can't you just rotate it the other way so the soft buttons are at the opposite side to your hand?
You're not seriously trying to say I'm "holding it wrong", are you? ;-)
If I'm holding it one-handed at the bottom, it makes sense to rotate it from there.
I'm not sure why someone down-voted you, you were merely expressing your personal preference, whilst accepting that not everyone feels that same.
People do love that button. Two downvotes so far for "I think soft touch is shit and here is why."
I have the s3 and I never have that issue when holding it one handed, but I have big hands... Also I do lock the phone when I watch a vide with the built in player, i.e. push the power button then your finger touches change nothing.
“the most complete digital communications device known to man” - I completely agree, the best device for my needs currently available.
That's as maybe, but it's too big for a phone, and this article is about phones.
"That's as maybe, but it's too big for a phone, and this article is about phones"
In your opinion. In my opinion, which counts no more or less than yours except I actually own one, the Note 2 a great phone.
Due to it's size, the microphone is nearer my mouth and the call quality is excellent. It also makes a great speaker phone because it has a great speaker. Being a larger device, they can put a larger one in. Finally, for the same reason, it is the first phone I've owned for a long time where I can hear it ringing when in my pocket (yes it fits fine) in a busy street or pub.
It is also the first phone where I really do use the web browser all the time. The large screen and resolution, not to mention the sheer CPU grunt, makes it a very comfortable experience. I've hardly fired up my Asus Transformer since.
All the other great functionality is a bonus.
Is there a predefined size now that states whether a device can qualify as a phone? Thought not.
@Neill - snap, my poor Asus sits beside the sofa looking lonely most of the time now.
Xperia, Sony Xperia...
... for me.
My Xperia T is the only handset I've /really/ wanted for some time.
The revamped Walkman is great and integrates quite nicely with the Sony Media Go.
The Bravia screen is stunning and just the right size and the handset curve fits quite nicely in the hand.
I just put my micro-SD card (with my contacts & music) in and I was up and running within 5-10 mins.
I bought the media 'dock' and can say that the handset turns any HDMI connected Tv into a 'smart' TV. YouTube plays much crisper than the PS3 version.
Also, the Cybershot element works really, really well, but make sure you get the ICS update to correct the 'hunting' auto-focus problem.
I also saw a test 'Odin' in the wild last week - slightly larger than the 'T', which should also give the Samsungs a run for the money...
Basically, ICS & JellyBean work well, so it's really a case of which handset style, size and functionality you're after - and that fits your budget. We're lucky to have so much choice.
Re: Xperia, Sony Xperia...
For those that want it, there is a variant of the T called the TX - it has a removable battery. The official Jelly Bean for the T and TX is said to arrive around February 2013.
Re: Xperia, Sony Xperia...
I've just got an Xperia T, appears to be all up to date but the camera focus often hunts for ages, can you point me to the update you're referring to?
It's a nice phone, but evey few days it looses contact with the phone network (Vodafone) and has to be power-cycled to reconnect.
Re: Xperia, Sony Xperia...
Xperia T, yes, I've got one. Had the 'S' before, and this was a lovely evolution, bigger screen, faster (odd, as it's the same processor), and feels great in the hand (clever design, bigger than its predecessor but 'feels' lighter and easier to hold) with it's rather odd arched back.
Oh had to turn all the Sony rubbish off for facebook etc. The Walkman maybe good, I had had quick look, but I already have PowerAmp, which syncs perfectly with my iTunes library through iSyncr, most importantly it syncs my play counts that Walkman doesn't appear to.
Camera fires up quickly, and work well too.
Power/on button on the side can be a slight pain, especially when trying to change the volume when it's in a pocket.
It's simple if you want a phone rather than phablet - if you like Apple / iOS you will get an iPhone 5 otherwise you will get a Samsung Galaxy III - if you wanted a more budget one you would get the Nexus. Over a 18 month to 2 year contract the difference in cost is likely to be £5-10 a month at most.
There is a single person in my office (70 people) now using a non Apple or Samsung phone - one Blackberry left - and he's go an iPhone on order.
Razr i
Personally I opted for the Razr, it's a cracking handset although I admit it probably isn't "the best" at any one thing for the experts, it does lots of things very well indeed. It's cheap as you like and it'll do me for the length of the contract, rootable out the box (if that's your thing) and a great battery.
The big problem is the lack of any accessories. Motorola keep saying "watch this space" but quite obviously they have no intention of doing anything now which is piss poor really. Not as much as an OEM case! All I see on-line is generic tat and stuff for the Razr M.
Re: Razr i
Agreed re the Razri. I bought one off-contract and I'm delighted with it. Using SmartActions to turn off wireless sync gives me between two and three days use out of it (I'm not a big user). Critics have slammed the somewhat 'industrial' look and feel, but that appeals to me. The interface is pretty much clear of clutter as well.
Re: Razr i
Same here, I like the look and feel and most people comment on how light it is too. Not thought about smart actions for turning off the sync, might set that up. TBH I haven't played with it nearly enough, hopefully I'll have time over Christmas!
Huawei G300 £100
Value wise, it knocks all the others into the proverbial. But only Vodafone seem to sell it, so it needs a £5 unlock to be usable on better networks.
Those were the times
They don't make no good phones these days. When I was young, I could do whatever the hell I wanted! I guess I'll have to stay with N900 forever.
#GetOffMyLawn
Re: Those were the times
Upvote for the N900. Still got mine, still use it for work stuff over the S3. The S3 is a consumer device, in that you can view things on it, and browse things on it, but the minute I want to actually do something the N900 comes out. A task as simple as searching an e-mailed logfile became a tortuous task on the S3, but takes about 5 seconds on the N900.
Nexus 4 - don't give up hope
I ordered my 16 Gb version from the second batch, Tuesday evening last week as I recall. Despite Google Play promising delivery in over a month's time, it actually turned up on the Friday (and would have been there on Thursday if I'd been in for the courier!). Maybe I was just lucky, maybe I got someone's returned phone, but anyway don't give up hope of getting yours before Xmas.
And for those who are interested, my first impressions pretty much match the reviews. A great phone, blazingly fast with a very responsive UI. Quite nice looking too, if you care about those things, though slippery to hold so some sort of case would be good (although the Google Nexus 4 bumper cases are still listed as being out of stock).
Downsides - well, it's a bit big, but that's also an upside (my previous phone was an iPhone 3, briefly followed by a Nokia Lumia 800, so the size took a bit of getting used to). And the battery really is not too impressive - as a 'power user' (ie constantly messaging, browsing, wireless headphones etc) it needs a couple of full charges a day. However I take heart from a couple of posts I've read from users who have the impressions that the battery life improves after a while, maybe all those charge/discharge cycles help condition the battery.
Overall though, splendid piece of kit for the money
Editor error - Surface is on the wrong list
The Surface seems to be on this list, surely a copy and paste error from the list of the 10 *worst* phones of the year.
Galaxy 2 owner
I've had this android beast for well over a year, it's a miracle, really. I'm either going for another galaxy Android or possibly a Nexus, for the newest android version, let's see what is out in June.
Amazing how interesting computers are when not subjected to a monopoly abuse.
Re: Galaxy 2 owner
>Amazing how interesting computers are when not subjected to a monopoly abuse.
Is that 'interesting as in the Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times'?
Re: Galaxy 2 owner
So @AC - fun joke, but what is more fun -the desktop market, where MS forbids OEM's from installing non-MS operating systems, or the mobile market, where MS has zero power?
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