Looking to upgrade; don't know where to begin

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B!nd.

Gawd
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Mar 14, 2012
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I've had an iPhone since the 3GS and stuck with it for the 4 and 5. I've had my 5 for I think over 2 years now and I am getting kind of sick of it. I really don't follow the mobile market so I was hoping that I could get some advice based on my interests.

First thing is that my provider is AT&T and I'll probably stick with them. I don't make phone calls often so I'm running 450min/month, unlimited text and 5GB of data which I constantly go over. This month has been particularly brutal. My first question is, do different phones offer different plans? Would I be able to get a new phone that provides more data for possibly a cheaper rate?

For phone features I would like something with a resolution as good or better than the iPhone 5, same or bigger screen, availability to most mobile apps, easy onscreen keyboard use and most importantly the OS needs to respond in a very snappy manor. That is the one thing that drew me to the iPhone, was its smoothness and snappiness when navigating throughout the OS.

I figure the S5, HTC One, and Nexus are the most popular non-iPhone devices atm but I really don't know the differences in their features and overall functionality and consistantcy.

If anyone could share some insight and guide me into something that would suit my needs I would greatly appreciate it!
 
You have to get a different plan to have more data, period. Doesn't matter what phone you have. You're likely to use just as much data with S5, One, and Nexus if not even more data due to you liking to use a bigger screen. Right now, I believe the 10 GB data plan is popular for AT&T.
 
B!nd. said:
I've had an iPhone since the 3GS and stuck with it for the 4 and 5. I've had my 5 for I think over 2 years now and I am getting kind of sick of it. I really don't follow the mobile market so I was hoping that I could get some advice based on my interests.

First thing is that my provider is AT&T and I'll probably stick with them. I don't make phone calls often so I'm running 450min/month, unlimited text and 5GB of data which I constantly go over. This month has been particularly brutal. My first question is, do different phones offer different plans? Would I be able to get a new phone that provides more data for possibly a cheaper rate?

For phone features I would like something with a resolution as good or better than the iPhone 5, same or bigger screen, availability to most mobile apps, easy onscreen keyboard use and most importantly the OS needs to respond in a very snappy manor. That is the one thing that drew me to the iPhone, was its smoothness and snappiness when navigating throughout the OS.

I figure the S5, HTC One, and Nexus are the most popular non-iPhone devices atm but I really don't know the differences in their features and overall functionality and consistantcy.

If anyone could share some insight and guide me into something that would suit my needs I would greatly appreciate it!
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Answering the questions in order:

These days, you'll get the same plan no matter what device you're buying. Phone-specific plans largely died with the BlackBerry's popularity. Your best bet is to rely more on WiFi and avoid tasks that will obviously chew up a lot of bandwidth (i.e. don't stream that TV show on LTE).

Many phones cover the criteria you're looking for. If you can wait until around September, you'll likely see a bigger-screen iPhone (rumors are 4.7- and 5.5-inch models) with an improved keyboard and support for third-party keyboards; that will likely be best, since you won't have to give up your app collection or re-learn some interface concepts.

If you're curious about Android, it really depends on what you're looking for. Do you want one-handed use, or the biggest screen possible? How important is camera quality to you? Do you want a 'pure' Android interface and fast updates, or are you comfortable with customizations and the possibility that your manufacturer will take months to roll out upgrades?

My favourite Android phone at the moment is the HTC One (M8, to be exact). Excellent industrial design, a custom interface that mostly helps more than it hurts, and good battery life. HTC has also promised to deliver OS upgrades in a timely fashion for at least two years, so you shouldn't get caught out in the future. If not that, I'd look to the LG G3 once it ships, or the Galaxy S5. There's also a Moto X sequel (possibly called the X+1) that may be worth waiting for later this summer, since it may catch up on specs while offering existing perks like truly hands-free voice commands.
 
The iPhone 5 came out in October 2012, so your still shy of 2yrs old on that phone :)

The HTC One M8, is my favorite Android phone of all time, and I have owned 13 different Android phones the past 4 years :D And my iPhone loving buddies, always comment on my One M8, saying how beautiful is, and they like to hold it and play with it, but before the One M8, those iPhone guys never once cared for my Android phones before they gave two sh!ts about them :rolleyes:

A great reason for the HTC One M8, is that you can run it with HTC's stock Sense 6 UI, or get a little techy and install the GPE ROM, which is the Nexus stock vanilla Android OS, and the One M8 is even more awesome then :cool:

So my vote would be the HTC One M8. I am also on ATT, picked up the Glacial Silver version, and I LOVE this phone. It also has amazing long battery life.
 
I know you mentioned you want to stick with AT&T, but it sounds like you're assassinating your plan on a monthly basis. You can up yourself to 10GB of data, or you might consider swapping to T-Mobile if they have decent service in your area. Their idea of data overages, on their modern plans, is to drop you back to 3G speeds once you exceed your 4G soft cap.
 
sinisterDei said:
I know you mentioned you want to stick with AT&T, but it sounds like you're assassinating your plan on a monthly basis. You can up yourself to 10GB of data, or you might consider swapping to T-Mobile if they have decent service in your area. Their idea of data overages, on their modern plans, is to drop you back to 3G speeds once you exceed your 4G soft cap.
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They throttle you to 2g/Edge speeds, but for $80 a month you get unthrottled unlimited everything! I get 50-75mbit download at my home on Tmobile :)

Best choice I ever made leaving Verizon
 
Zorachus said:
The iPhone 5 came out in October 2012, so your still shy of 2yrs old on that phone :)

The HTC One M8, is my favorite Android phone of all time, and I have owned 13 different Android phones the past 4 years :D And my iPhone loving buddies, always comment on my One M8, saying how beautiful is, and they like to hold it and play with it, but before the One M8, those iPhone guys never once cared for my Android phones before they gave two sh!ts about them :rolleyes:

A great reason for the HTC One M8, is that you can run it with HTC's stock Sense 6 UI, or get a little techy and install the GPE ROM, which is the Nexus stock vanilla Android OS, and the One M8 is even more awesome then :cool:

So my vote would be the HTC One M8. I am also on ATT, picked up the Glacial Silver version, and I LOVE this phone. It also has amazing long battery life.
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Hahah I wasn't sure when exactly the 5 came out so I was waiting for someone to call me out on it.

My friend has the HTC One and he said the only real issue he has with it is group chats with iPhone users. He said sometimes his messages won't even go through.

sinisterDei said:
I know you mentioned you want to stick with AT&T, but it sounds like you're assassinating your plan on a monthly basis. You can up yourself to 10GB of data, or you might consider swapping to T-Mobile if they have decent service in your area. Their idea of data overages, on their modern plans, is to drop you back to 3G speeds once you exceed your 4G soft cap.
Click to expand...

I am assasinating my plan. I had very limited access to Wifi this month and I have gone over 10kMB of data and my billing cycle doesn't end until the 8th. My bill is going to be well over $200 next month.

I wasn't even aware that T-Mobile was still around XD. Do they have fully utilize LTE? I work in Manhattan and I live on Long Island so I'm sure the service is fine. I would like to keep my plan similar to what I posted above (in terms of texting and minutes) and refrain from being subject to data overages/throttling.

Domini said:
They throttle you to 2g/Edge speeds, but for $80 a month you get unthrottled unlimited everything! I get 50-75mbit download at my home on Tmobile :)

Best choice I ever made leaving Verizon
Click to expand...

$80 unlimited LTE, phone, and text?! That'slike half of what I am paying for 450 minutes, unlimited text, and 5GB of data on AT&T

I'll head over the their website and check out their plans. Thanks for the suggestions, everybody!
 
If you're on AT&T they have a slight variation on the Galaxy S5 called the S5 Active that I ended up going with. It's a hair more durable, has a grippy side, and has more physical buttons.
The Samsung stuff can be annoying, but at the same time some of their built-in apps (like contacts and mail) ARE pretty solid and better than most alternatives in the Android Store.
 
Domingo said:
If you're on AT&T they have a slight variation on the Galaxy S5 called the S5 Active that I ended up going with. It's a hair more durable, has a grippy side, and has more physical buttons.
The Samsung stuff can be annoying, but at the same time some of their built-in apps (like contacts and mail) ARE pretty solid and better than most alternatives in the Android Store.
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I think I might be leaning towards the S5. I want to switch over ASAP. I might even go do it today because I just cant take it anymore.

The thing is I really do like the iPhone but I feel kind of dumb if I went to a 5S from a 5 and right before the 6 is announced. I'm going to assume it wont be available until October like the 5 and I DEFINITELY cannot wait that long.

So it seems like its either the S5 or the 5S.
 
B!nd. said:
I think I might be leaning towards the S5. I want to switch over ASAP. I might even go do it today because I just cant take it anymore.

The thing is I really do like the iPhone but I feel kind of dumb if I went to a 5S from a 5 and right before the 6 is announced. I'm going to assume it wont be available until October like the 5 and I DEFINITELY cannot wait that long.

So it seems like its either the S5 or the 5S.
Click to expand...

September is more likely... depends on how many weeks you can wait! Also, you may want to take advantage of T-Mobile's new Test Drive, which lets you use an iPhone 5S for free on their network for a week. You just have to return the phone to a T-Mo store when you're done. It'd let you try both the phone and the service in one shot!
 
Aurelius said:
September is more likely... depends on how many weeks you can wait! Also, you may want to take advantage of T-Mobile's new Test Drive, which lets you use an iPhone 5S for free on their network for a week. You just have to return the phone to a T-Mo store when you're done. It'd let you try both the phone and the service in one shot!
Click to expand...

I was thinking that it will be announced in September and available for retail in October.

But that sounds like a cool deal. I think I'm leaning towards the S5. I really need to switch.
 
B!nd. said:
I think I might be leaning towards the S5. I want to switch over ASAP. I might even go do it today because I just cant take it anymore.

The thing is I really do like the iPhone but I feel kind of dumb if I went to a 5S from a 5 and right before the 6 is announced. I'm going to assume it wont be available until October like the 5 and I DEFINITELY cannot wait that long.

So it seems like its either the S5 or the 5S.
Click to expand...

Just curious, why the Scamsung S5 over the better One M8 ?

On ATT the S5 is locked down, no ROM'ing allowed, and Samesung is already the top dog, they don't need any more business. Compared to HTC being very developer friendly and open, allowing the phone to be unlocked easily, plus they the underdog, could use the extra sales.

And then there's the whole thing, the One M8 is just the better phone. Nice premium feel and build quality, like a larger iPhone. And the Sense 6 UI trumps Touchwiz a hundred times over. And the One M8 has better longer battery life than the S5.
 
B!nd. said:
I think I might be leaning towards the S5. I want to switch over ASAP. I might even go do it today because I just cant take it anymore.

The thing is I really do like the iPhone but I feel kind of dumb if I went to a 5S from a 5 and right before the 6 is announced. I'm going to assume it wont be available until October like the 5 and I DEFINITELY cannot wait that long.

So it seems like its either the S5 or the 5S.
Click to expand...

I went from an iPhone 5 to the S5 Active last month. My power button stopped working and my battery was draining at a crazy pace. I ended up calling AT&T and they let me get an early upgrade rather than having to wait.

There are some definitely advantages and disadvantages. I still think the iPhones have better touch than ANY Android, be it Samsung, HTC, Moto, or whatever. I think it's the OS itself. That takes some getting used to. Plus, the various manufactured programs never seem to fully integrate with the OS. At the same time, it's pretty great to have so much flexibility with other apps.

When looking at the M8 vs. the S5 Active, I just like the Samsung's durability. I didn't want to buy a case it it just felt like it would do a better job taking a beating...especially with little things like water and dirt. The M8 seems like a better software experience, but the Sammy's take a better beating.
 
I recently introduced my girlfriend to the world of Android and she was was coming from an Iphone 5. I told her that the M8 is generally regarded as the #1 ranked android phone. When we went to the store, I bought her an S5. When she asked me why if "the M8 is the top phone", I told her that based on her needs and preferences, I felt the S5 was a better choice.

For my girlfriend, her #1 hot button was camera quality. This is the #1 achilles heel of the M8. I'm sorry for you apologists, but IMO the M8 takes shitty muddled pictures. A 4 megapixel shooter is just too low a resolution. If HTC had ungraded just this one feature I would have purchased one myself. Coming from an iphone 5, you're going to be taking a step backwards in picture quality with the M8. In daylight, the S5 takes phenomenal photos. And once you learn which features/modes work best, the S5 takes very decent low light pictures as well.

Her 2nd hotbotton is screen quality. While the M8 has a very nice screen, right now, the S5 has the most beautiful screen in a smart phone. I don't need to go into the specifics, you can head on over to Displaymate and see why they ranked it the best screen ever produced. All I know is that the screen is simply gorgeous.

The areas where the M8 kicks the S5's ass I didn't feel were as valuable to my girlfriend. The M8 has worlds better build quality however my girlfriend always uses a case. She's not holding the beautiful metal. She's holding the case. She didn't really care how nice the actual phone felt. She cared more about how her case felt.

My girlfriend does not care how developer friendly the phone is. She just cares that it's easy to use. While I'm not a huge fan of Samsung's touchwiz either, the hate it engenders is overblown. I just threw Nova Launcher prime on her phone and she was set.

The M8 has awesome speakers. However my girlfriend is a runner and 90% of the time she's using headphones. Again, not as big of a selling point to her.

As far as battery life, the phones are pretty close to a push. The M8 probably has slightly better battery life, but we're talking minutes. Both phones are excellent in this regard.


Anyway, both phones are excellent. It's not a some crime to choose a S5 over an M8. Just look at your specific needs and preferences. By the way, my girlfriend loves her phone after being a longtime iphone user.


After saying all that, I'm getting myself a G3 when it comes out in about 2 weeks. :D
 
I've been using the Sony Z1 for a few days and it's pretty slick. I think the Sony is the best phone I've held in my hands for quite some time
 
So I bit the bullet and switched over to T-Mobile and got the S5. Thank you for the advice everyone, I am really happy with my decision. So far it is a great phnone and I LOVE T-Mobile already. They are reimbursing me for my early termination fee from AT&T (after I pay for it out of pocket), they gave my $155 for my iPhone 5, and I have an awesome plan of unlimited voice, data, text for $80 a month (half of what I was spending with AT&T @ 5GB/month). They don't do plan contracts so you do have to buy the phone at full retail price but, the $155 already went towards that and once I get my termination fee returned I will put it towards the balance and should have about $250 left to pay off which is practically what the latest phones cost with a 2 year contract.

Overall very happy with the switch.
 
Nice choice. You're going to love the SAMOLED display. After being used to SAMOLED I can't stand the impure black as gray, edge light bleed and uniformity issues with all LCDs.
 
mi7chy said:
Nice choice. You're going to love the SAMOLED display. After being used to SAMOLED I can't stand the impure black as gray, edge light bleed and uniformity issues with all LCDs.
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It's fucking beautiful. The pictures and videos are outstanding.

My only gripes are the some apps aren't very snappy and are a little laggy when simply navigating like facebook and words with friends. Also, the videos that were transferred from my iPhone are just images :( They wont play even though they were transferred as .mov. That must be why. But then how can I watch a video that was taken with an iPhone via text?
 
You should be able to play .mov files with either mxplayer or bsplayer from Play Store.
 
Sounds like you got a pretty killer deal overall. I wouldn't personally buy the GS5, but it's actually a bigger improvement over past Galaxies than it looks at first. An AMOLED screen you can actually see in bright sunlight! A camera that won't fall apart the moment it gets dark! Just don't lean too heavily on the heart rate or fingerprint sensors... they're pretty unreliable. The biggest thing to me is the plan -- it'll be nice not to panic about overage fees every month.
 
Aurelius said:
Sounds like you got a pretty killer deal overall. I wouldn't personally buy the GS5, but it's actually a bigger improvement over past Galaxies than it looks at first. An AMOLED screen you can actually see in bright sunlight! A camera that won't fall apart the moment it gets dark! Just don't lean too heavily on the heart rate or fingerprint sensors... they're pretty unreliable. The biggest thing to me is the plan -- it'll be nice not to panic about overage fees every month.
Click to expand...

The fingerprint recognition is awful. It truly is. I have gotten use to it and have come to understand better how it works but it's really not feasible. I haven't even touched the heart rate monitor and don't plan to. I can't wait to start getting a consistent cell phone bill again!
 
Another option if you want to be able to use the default media player for videos is to use a program like XMedia Recode (on your PC) to turn your MOV files into MPG. I ended up doing that just so everything I have is in the same format. You can rename your iPhone photos using a date-based renamer to arrange those better, too.
Since I went with the S5 Active, it doesn't have the fingerprint scanner. I heard such bad things about it, I don't think I'll miss it.
Seems AT&T no longer does unlimited plans, but if you've ever had one before, they'll keep it going for you. I've had mine since the iPhone 3G (2008) and they've kept it going for me.
 
Domingo said:
Another option if you want to be able to use the default media player for videos is to use a program like XMedia Recode (on your PC) to turn your MOV files into MPG. I ended up doing that just so everything I have is in the same format. You can rename your iPhone photos using a date-based renamer to arrange those better, too.
Since I went with the S5 Active, it doesn't have the fingerprint scanner. I heard such bad things about it, I don't think I'll miss it.
Seems AT&T no longer does unlimited plans, but if you've ever had one before, they'll keep it going for you. I've had mine since the iPhone 3G (2008) and they've kept it going for me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, Domingo. Any recommendations for a "date-based renamer"? I never used something like that before. I had so many duplicated pictures because I wanted to make sure I downloaded everything to my iPhone before I transferred all of my media.

When I first got my 3GS, I had unlimited data. Then I upgraded to the 4 and bought and iPad 2-Wifi so I changed my plan to allow me to tether my wireless connection to my iPad. I thought it would be worth it at the time but then the 5 came out along with LTE and that changed everything.
 
ATT unlimited wasn't anything special either, I believe it was the same throttling setup T-Mobile does now.
 
Trombe said:
ATT unlimited wasn't anything special either, I believe it was the same throttling setup T-Mobile does now.
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I believe this started back in 2012, where if you went over 5 or 10gb you went to permanently 3g speeds.


XMedia Recode (on your PC)
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I've never used XMR but if its not something that is working out for you I use Handbrake. It has a lot of pre-sets that works with quite a few devices like Xbox, Apple TV, iPod, certain Android phones and allows you to set your own. It has great queuing methods too.
 
B!nd. said:
So I bit the bullet and switched over to T-Mobile and got the S5. ...
Overall very happy with the switch.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it :) Enjoy the phone and the service. My wife just (sadly) had to swap away from T-mobile for coverage reasons, but we liked it a ton up until then.
 
In my opinion, the biggest draw of the iPhone is the Apple ecosystem. If that's something you've gotten yourself into then no other cellphone will be able to compete. But if you just use it as a stand alone product, then I can see how it would be no different then any other phone.

When I look at Android phones I see a stand alone product. Maybe SOME integration here and there. The Apple side has been much more ambitious about getting several different products to all fit together.
 
Do you even know what you're talking about? The integration that Apple recently touted are borrowed ideas from Google and that people have been taking for granted for years. Making calls, SMS and checking voicemails from computer instead of phone with Google Voice for years is just one of many examples. Need mirroring of presentation from phone or computer to projector, streaming music to any speakers throughout the house, etc.? No problem with Chromecast and more versatility at 1/3 the cost. Need cross platform access to maps from computer browser? No problem with Google Maps but a problem with broken Apple maps.
 
If you use Google Now, the Google Siri competitor, you might see some additional integration. The other day, I was looking up how far away a particular restaurant was on my desktop PC. Half an hour later, I hopped in the car to drive there and pulled out my phone for GPS, and Google Now was in my notifications area offering me navigation to my restaurant automatically, based on my previous search on my desktop PC and the time of day (lunchtime).
 
westrock2000 said:
When I look at Android phones I see a stand alone product. Maybe SOME integration here and there. The Apple side has been much more ambitious about getting several different products to all fit together.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right, every OEM is competing with each other and are integrating their own competing software standards, Samsung being the biggest one.

The good thing is you can get a totally vanilla version of Android which has much better integration but it still will never touch that of the Apple ecosystem.
 
To me the issue with the OEM's (mainly Samsung, Sony, and LG) is that their bundled software feels different and separate from Android. The Google apps DO work very similarly to their Apple counterparts, but they're all over-reliant on your Google account and don't really jive with other inboxes, contacts, services, etc.
With Samsung, the apps work well...but they never feel integrated or visually polished. I've been looking around for replacements that do feel snazzier, but almost none offer the same functionality. Plus, there's no way to actually get rid of most of those bundled programs, so they're always hanging around, too.
I wish Samsung either made their apps more tightly integrated or so separate that they could be totally removed.
While being handcuffed by Apple was irritating, I do appreciate how tightly integrated everything was.
 
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