Need a New Phone

[FIN516]

I've had my iPhone 3GS for about 2 years now as my first smartphone. It's served me pretty well all things considered. It survived countless falls and drops on everything from carpet to concrete (without a case). Unfortunately, today, while I was on the toilet, my hands slipped and my phone hit the floor. I go to pick it up thinking nothing of it, but when I flipped it over, the entire top half of the screen had cracked. The phone itself is still functional, but I think it's time to move on. With Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) just around the corner, I cant think of a better time to get a new phone. And who better to ask then the fine people of this forum. 

 

 

I guess I should also include what I want in a phone. I put build quality as a top priority. What I mean by that is I want it to last drop after drop and still manage to work. I'm also not a big fan of putting phones in cases. The second would be battery life. My 3GS would last me about a whole day (8 am - 12 am) on a single charge with more than 50% to spare. It would also charge fairly quickly. If it can last a day, that would be great. If it can last longer, even better. One thing to note is that I'm not a heavy phone user. The majority of my use revolves around listening to music, reading e-mails, and replying to texts. It doesn't have to be most powerful thing in the world. 

 

 

Finally I should mention iOS vs Android (and Windows Phone I guess...). Like I've said, the 3GS is my first smartphone. That means I don't have much experience with anything else. From what I've seen, iOS works just fine for me, and I really wouldn't mind getting another iPhone. However, I would like to see my other options (and I really don't like iTunes). 

 

 

Anyway, I've rambled long enough. If I missed anything, just post it and i'll try to reply. I look forward to your suggestions. 

[ChillKyle]

Have you considered the Samsung Galaxy S4? I love my S4 and has the biggest camera on a mobile device. The display looks stunning and the memory is expandable up to 64GB on a MicroSD card.

[Mak]

Sony Xperia Z1 seems pretty good from what I hear, my friend has one and it seems pretty sweet. It is made of tempered glass + aluminium and is waterproof. Looks pretty sexy too imo. Linus also posted a video a few hours ago about it.

[Mak]

Have you considered the Samsung Galaxy S4? I love my S4 and has the biggest camera on a mobile device. The display looks stunning and the memory is expandable up to 64GB on a MicroSD card.

 

S4 has a 13MP camera. I believe the Nokia Lumia 1020 has a 41MP camera...

[brob]

For build quality in the Android world, HTC is usually tops. The One family features all metal bodies. Not to say that other brands are not well built. Samsung, for example has a good reputation.

[Unhelpful]

How I see it is, Apple has the best build quality (being unibody aluminum) and Android is just kind of inherently better, since it can be whatever you want it to be. The HTC One is the best of both world with phenomenal build quality and android.

[solosdk]

I would recommend only three phones for you that suit your needs

 

iPhone 5s

• Best build quality
• Suits your needs perfectly well
• Long lasting battery life
• You are already tied into the Apple ecosystem so it would make sense to get another iPhone
• Fast A7 64-bit processor with 1GB RAM
• Fingerprint Sensor
• Amongst the best cameras on smartphones

 

HTC One

• Excellent build quality
• Suits your needs
• Maybe battery life lasts all day?
• Snapdragon 600 quad-core 

Nexus 5

• Very cheap for a powerful phone
• Good build quality, but its not metal
• Runs latest version of Android (4.4 KitKat) which has more optimisations for RAM etc
• Snapdragon 800 quad-core, 2GB RAM
• Very fast inc. multitasking