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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Spelling
I had a quick play with a Windows phone, and I was quite impressed; until I opened the calendar app. "january?". It's a proper noun, it has Capital Letters. Couldn't live with that, it would make me twitch.
Where's the Acer S500?
"Handset of the year? No, really."
El Reg recently reviewed the Acer S500 CloudMobile and showered it with praise yet it doesn't even get a mention here. Don't you even bother to read each others reviews?
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/11/19/review_acer_cloud_mobile_android_handset/
I *love* the handset reviews on this site but a) you don't do it often enough, b) you omit devices in round-ups like this and c) the scoring you use is totally inconsistent. Please sort it out.
This article...
A brief rundown of this article produces this image....
HERE'S AN ANDROID DEVICE!
HERE'S ANOTHER ANDROID DEVICE!!
oh, here's the iphone, yeh...
andheresthewindowsphone8OSwithbriefmentionofacoupleofdevicesletsgetthisoverwith
HERE'S AN ANDROID DEVICE!!!
From the title I thought this article was about good Christmas pressie devices, not about OS battles. Bad article.
Re: This article...
The author takes no responsibility for the fact that far more models of Android phone were released in 2012 than iOS or WP8 devices and that those devices demonstrated a far grater degree of design flair and diversity.
If there had been a 5inch iOS or WP8 phone I''d have mentioned it. If there had been an Intel-based iOS or WP8 device I'd have mentioned that too.
@Atonnis. It was precisely to avoid the article becoming "all Android" I didn't include the Acer CloudMobile, Xperia T or Huawei G300. All good handsets to be sure.
Nexus 4
I traded in my iPhone 4S and bought a Nexus 4 with the difference. I must say the stock Android experience is way better than the latest version of iOS that I was using. Features like home screen widgets and google now are brilliant and makes life so much easier.
After using it for a couple of weeks now and seeing mates with their iPhones it's like going from a featurephone to a smartphone then trying to get your head around a featurephone again.
My only gripe with it is the build quality doesn't seem great. It feels like quite a light phone despite it's size, but the bottom half seems a bit flimsy and if you are gripping it quite hard it feels like it's ready to almost snap. Don't know if I've got a dud one or if this is what they are all like, but thats one area I'd say Apple can't be beaten. Their build quality is usually second to none
On the whole though I'm extremely impressed for 280 unlocked to any network. That should see me through to the end of my contract when the Samsung Galaxy S5 should be around the corner for release......
Ive said it before and I say it again, i wont buy any of these even the new Blackberry as NONE of them have a proper keyboard. What sort do I need? take a look at the Psion 5 or the nokia 9210. These are the ONLY ones I can type on.
Why's that? besause Ive big hands and I want to type just like I do on my normal pc.
I dont see why I should have to struggle with the stupid small on screen keys.
The reason all hand set makers have gone down this road is because their ist concern is to sell a product thats cheaper for them to make so more profitable!!.
And then try and bullshit the customer in believing its better!!. Well,they wont bullshit me.
Interestingly, Ive mailed John Lettice the editor of the Reg saying ill write a full article for him for free about this omission if he would take the time to read it. No reply.
The sad fact is QWERTY phones have all but died out because nobody bought them.
I've seen the UK sales for the HTC Desire Z. It was outsold by more than 8:1 by the Desire and 5:1 by the more expensive Desire HD. People want light and thin devices with big screens. And virtual keyboards have come on in leaps and bounds recently. Try using Swiftkey 3 on a Galaxy S3 or a Note 2 and then tell me you must have a Psion5/9210 keyboard to type on.
Don't get me wrong, I liked a good QWERTY back in the day and have nothing but fond memories of my HTC TyTN II but If there was any sort of latent demand for them do you seriously thing there wouldn't be QWERTY versions of the Galaxy S3 or the Lumia 920 or the HTC One X? Of course there would. Phone makers will make a device to fill any niche just as long as they have research and numbers to back up a half decent sales projection.
It's not a matter of chance that the first BB10 phone will be a touch screen rather than a messenger device.
Being a lone voice crying in the wilderness doesn't make you a prophet or a martyr or even right. It just makes you a lone voice.
I appreciate your thoughtful reply.
We had a Desire z as a possible upgrade for my wifes razr.
She sent it back on account of the way the software didnt follow what she is used to.And she texts for business many timesa day.
I found the keys too small for me to manage as well..
However, I dont think Im a lone voice in the wilderness.
Ive many friends that in their mature yrs whohave feature phones.
They havnt upgraded to smart phones and I speak for them.
Why? because most of them have been to say Car p Warehouse, to try them and cant get on with the on screen keyboards andthe android software.
They dont find it easy to do something different.
but they would love a new handset that worked like their old handset with one of the nice big screens and a decent sized keyboard. They can afford such a device if it was made.
But as you say theve been abandoned by the industry.
Shame really as there are many millions of us like that. .
I will go for something different
I am still using my trusty HP Pre 3, but likely go to the robot OS next, so i have the Oppo Find 5 and the Umi M2 in my sights
"She sent it back on account of the way the software didnt follow what she is used to"
so now you want a phone with a big keyboard and big screen but running an operating system that's nearly a decade old? Sounds to me more like an unwillingness to even attempt get to grips with the advances made in phone design and operating systems over the past half dozen than anything else.
No, its not an unwillingness to learn, she doesnt have the time to devote to what might be a pointless exercise.
when she gets a text message or a phone call, she is the center of a medical hands on service where a reply has to be made right away. She has 16 staff on duty at any one time over a 20 square mile area.
Emergencies crop up , and she manages them via her mobile.
she texts so fast!! its amazing to just see her do that.
She is a medical professional of the highest quality.
hope you follow.
Ted
.
"she doesn't have the time to devote to what might be a pointless exercise."
An unwillingness to spend the necessary hour or two working out how a new phone actually works does indeed often lead to a very poor user experience.
Nexus 4 from CPW
Just upgraded my Nexus S to a Nexus 4 for £26pm on O2 UL text and Talk and 1GB data :-)
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