Wanting to buy my first smartphone, need a bit of help and advice on stuff

[Tradewind]

I have an iPhone 4S and it has done its job well enough for the longest time, plus it was free so that's a bonus.

I am however wanting to replace it now and likely going to get a Sony Xperia Z2 or Z3. I really really dislike the Galaxy S5, because the polycarbonate body on it is in my mind cheap. I don't mind and in fact prefer the phone to have some heft to it, so the metal/glass body of the Z2 is right up my alley. Plus it's got the same processor but 50% more RAM.

Supposedly the HTC One M8 is also brilliant. The Nexus 5 isn't bad. In my opinion right now it's:

Xperia Z2 = HTC One M8 > Galaxy S5 > Nexus 5

Forgot the G3 too, probably put it right in above the S5 as well.

[Potente]

go with a android device. i have a gs3 and getting a gs5 this weekend. dont bother looking at the app store. if you wanna come to the dark side, its a lot easier to umm.. "aquire" apps, movies, music with android devices. i love it cause i can download w/e movie i want and stream it through wifi to my xbox one

[Terahertz]

Damn, thanks for all the answers!

I've looked at the Nexus 5 but I decided against it because of the limited storage and no micro sd support. Camera I really don't care about either.

I've also decided on going with android from what I've read. Apparently it's more customizable than iOS/Windows.

Another question, someone asked me about this on Reddit as well and I just saw someone mention the Oneplus One not having this particular support yet in EU; what are these "bands" people are referring to? Are they like the provider brands here? I'm planning on going prepaid here, not sure if it matters much anyways here though.

[Tradewind]

Damn, thanks for all the answers!

I've looked at the Nexus 5 but I decided against it because of the limited storage and no micro sd support. Camera I really don't care about either.

I've also decided on going with android from what I've read. Apparently it's more customizable than iOS/Windows.

Another question, someone asked me about this on Reddit as well and I just saw someone mention the Oneplus One not having this particular support yet in EU; what are these "bands" people are referring to? Are they like the provider brands here? I'm planning on going prepaid here, not sure if it matters much anyways here though.

Bands are things like UMTS/HSPA 850/900/1200/2100, GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, LTE 1 3 5 7 8 etc. Your cellular provider dictates the bands on their network, the phone needs to support that band. It is highly unlikely there's ever an issue though. But worth checking.

[Foxhoundn]

Get Android if you want to clean it like a moron every month because it becomes slow, but you get most of the apps for free, you can root your phone. Get an iOS if you do not care about money, want to pay for every app, but want your phone at the same speed after you have it for 2 years.

[Terahertz]

Bands are things like UMTS/HSPA 850/900/1200/2100, GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, LTE 1 3 5 7 8 etc. Your cellular provider dictates the bands on their network, the phone needs to support that band. It is highly unlikely there's ever an issue though. But worth checking.

Ehhhh, I'm still not sure what you mean here, sorry.

I'm planning on using prepaid on my smartphone since most of the time I'll be near wi fi anyways or I'll be using the wi fi through these wi-fi hotspots here in Holland that are provided by "Ziggo".

[Reeve]

Get Android if you want to clean it like a moron every month because it becomes slow, but you get most of the apps for free, you can root your phone. Get an iOS if you do not care about money, want to pay for every app, but want your phone at the same speed after you have it for 2 years.

And if you don't want to have to sift through all the dross in the Google Play store to find the actual good apps.

[Saxtorph]

You should look into the app store for each carrier. From what I have been told the Windows phones do not have very many app but iPhone has too many. Depnds on the purpose of the phone though, I guess.

After playing with my work phone, an iPhone, I think the app store contest is easily won by Android. More choice in quality apps for free.

[nibs9998]

So many Android fanboys, lol.

Having been on both sides of the fence, I recommend an iPhone if you have friends with iPhones. I dislike the fact that my Mom, Girlfriend, Brother and Sister-in-law all have iPhones, and I cannot use iMessage to send them a message since I am on a Samsung Galaxy S4.

this is the stupidest thing i have ever read. Whats wrong with a fucken text to them?? It doesn't matter if it's imessage or not. You can still text them. Your statement doesn't make sense.

[Sugarpuff]

Whatever you do, don't buy Apple. Not worth it. I made the mistake and am paying for it with frustration every single day.

Some of the many annoyances I've encountered:

- the screen is smaller than it seems
- no customization
- pretty much outdated features (most/all of the "new" features they claim have been in use by Android a long time ago
- the phone is also impossibly small in your hands
- screen sometimes doesn't work with touch feature

[Sakki]

Another question, someone asked me about this on Reddit as well and I just saw someone mention the Oneplus One not having this particular support yet in EU; what are these "bands" people are referring to? Are they like the provider brands here? I'm planning on going prepaid here, not sure if it matters much anyways here though.

It just means whether is your phone able to recieve signal on certain frenquencies. Basicly if your area has LTE on 800Mhz and your phone doesnt have this LTE band 20 (which OnePlus one doesnt), you wont have LTE in this area, but you ll have just 3G or EDGE if it is covered by 3G or EDGE.

Standart LTE coverage in Europe is with LTE frenquencies 800Mhz, 1800Mhz and 2600Mhz (those are LTE bands 3,7,20) and in some countries (Sweden, Czech) they also have 900Mhz (band 8). So, missing LTE band 20 is kind of big deal, because you wont have LTE in rural areas, which are mostly covered by this 800Mhz LTE.

[Protonet]

If you aren´t biased about things, you might as well go with a Nokia device.
I know it´s not mainstream to get one but it´s a solid competitor to Android and iOS devices given the pricepoint and performance.
The downside is that you don´t have as big an app selection as with the other options.
If you go for an Android device, do yourself a favor and get one without a shit ton of bloatware. I´m looking at YOU Samsung.

[Nelle]

Samsung Galaxy, whatever model that suits your economy!

Don't fall for the Apple indoctrination!

[skitszo]

I got a locked ATT nokia and use it with wi-fi hotspot for 50 bucks...upgraded to 8.1 and it seems to do ok...bit lazy with smart phones so 500 bucks would be a waste.

[lookperfection]

I prefer the Apple phone, since the system is better and Galaxy.

[Deleted]

I don't know anyone, or have even seen anyone, with either a Sony or LG smartphone.
Now that I think about it, people here either have an Iphone 5s or Samsun galaxx S5.

Anyway, the Iphone 6 is expected to come out this month! Better wait and see what a beauty that is going to be

[Deleted]

Don't buy the cheapest thing you see. Most of the cheap stuff will break after a month or two.

And they also have very little RAM.. it's really important because less than 1 GB and you cant even browse the internet properly..

[Terahertz]

Unless you really take an ancient one, they all play movies and browse the web quite fast.
With games it really depends what you want to play.
If you buy a phone in the Netherlands, you can be almost sure that it supports the bands used in the Netherlands.

I went from iPhone 4 to HTC One X to HTC One M8.
The M8 is probably my favourite so far, mostly because its battery lasts four times as long as the other two.
But they cost a lot more.

I also think it's better to buy a phone with a subscription, so to use my personal experience as an example:
The HTC M8 is 600 euro.
I have a dataplan for two years with 2GB data and unlimited text/calls for a total of 960. (40 a month)
So for the subscription you'd be paying 15 euro a month.

PS. In case you want anything from Vodafone, you can use this code to get a discount from their 'friends and family': SUGSGAGIJJ

Thing is, from what I've heard and read, having a data plan is useless when you're near wi-fi constantly or am I incorrect? I won't be using it to call much either and when I do I'll be sure to have some prepaid on my phone. Also I'll be profiting off of the ziggo wi-fi hotspots, unless I'm misinformed I won't need a data plan here either, correct?

[Deleted]

after 2 years of using a shitty sony xperia where for the last 3 or 4 months of my contract the battery only lasted 4 hrs max & that was mostly on standby, i have been using an iphone 5 for the last 2 months & have been very impressed.
im with o2 & have unlimited calls/txts to any network & 2 GB of data for £25 a month.

[isuridedes]

The qualifications for what you want your smartphone to do are... baseline to every smartphone out there. The only caveat is that no iOS device out there supports Adobe Flash, so your browsing experience will fail if the site is Flash-dependent.

Otherwise it's really a matter of what combination of OS / OS Layer you like. If you choose an iPhone you're going to get a fairly consistent device environment whether you choose the 4S, 5C, or 5S. Anything below the 4S and you're stuck on 3G so I would not recommend that - though most contract plans will sell you a 4 for $0.99 (if not free). Don't give into temptation.

Android will require you to do a lot more investigating as all of the devices that aren't the "Google Experience" have an additional manufacturer layer running overtop the OS. So a Samsung Android device doesn't necessarily look like or behave the same as an LG Android device, etc. Even phones by the same manufacturer may have radically different mechanics. Best advice here is to go to an electronics store and fiddle with a few. One other condition for Android devices; make sure they have access to Google Play rather than a private, curated app store. The Amazon Phone is a good example... it only has access to the Amazon App Store which while large is nowhere near as varied as the full Google Play list.

Windows phones are a much smaller market but they gained some traction with the latest OS (8.1 I think?) Still... in terms of content they are extremely behind either the Google Play store or the iOS App Store. I wouldn't recommend them simply due to their being so behind the curve.

.....

In terms of pre-paid services well... if you go that route just make sure you understand your data usage. Most pre-paid services are designed to be cost-efficient only for the most conservative of users. In terms of lowest costs for greatest volume your best monthly plan is probably through T-Mobile. You lose some quality of service with them (or Sprint) though ... so if your primary concern is having a signal then your best bet is AT&T or Verizon.