iPhone, Android, Windows phone or Google?

[jpblue1000]

I too have just entered the 'smart phone' fray with a Nokia 520. I have mostly always had nokia's due to their robustness and simplicity as well as style. And in researching my lastest phone, first for 6 years, Nokia were the only ones with ethics and sustainability statement available easily, and at $179 it was well worth the risk.
Being the entry level model it possibly a bit slower than other models or brands but Im not an 'App' man so this doesnt affect me. Comes packed with Phone of course, 5mp camera, office, maps, gps, music and quick enough e-mail, texting, and easily connected to my Linked-in, hotmail and other contacts programmes plus the usual standard stuff like all personal planners.
Asa windows based system I have had to add a virus protection which was provided as a bonus by my PC anti-virus program.
Battery lasts about 48 hours so far and I think the 520 is the only one with a replaceable battery (ie not hard wired in)

JP

[NickyN]

I know what you mean about not being an "app" person. I'm not one to download heaps and heaps of apps either. It's the other things my phone can do that's more important. Besides, I don't want to be swiping/sliding pages and pages just to get to an app either.

@jpblue1000: mik on here has spent time doing lots of user research on extended batteries and chargers. really interesting stuff here!

[NickyN]

Ok I just read about this...........the still sorta secret but now it's leaked pics of the upcoming Nokia Lumia 1520 (6 inch display)? It's supposed to be bigger than the upcoming Note III (5.7 inch display).

http://news.yahoo.com/gigantic-nokia...190513017.html

But it's a technically a phone. Like a tablet, a phablet.

[mik]

bugger , that is a big phone ........ er tablet... phablet, i do like the big screen , but for me the note is a nice size, i don't think i would be going any bigger..

[Bucknaked]

On Friday I upgraded from my iPhone 4S to the Samsung Galaxy 4. Having only ever had an iPhone since smart phones, I thought this time I'd give an android phone a go and see what all the fuss is about. I wasn't all that impressed with Apples new phone, so time to jump ship. I figured I can always come back if the Galaxy is a POS. I have a windows phone for work, and I hate it.

First impressions is that it's a great phone. Loving the bigger screen and the relative ease of use. I think I'm almost familiar with most of the phone and features.

Too many options, too much customisation, so I'm tuning off as many of the features the phone has as I've got no interest in half of what the phone does. As I research the options and find them of some use, then I'll enable them. Brute for now, I'm sticking with the basics.

Battery life is pretty ordinary. Samsung Store ( hub I think) and then Play Store. Why there's a need for 2 of them I'm not sure. So I'm just going to use the play store only. One thing that is bugging me is the amount of effort it takes to move icons around. Apple is so much better than Samsung as it's just a press of an icon and then drag it to where you need. Not sure why Samsung thinks you need to hit a menu button, edit then in edit mode, hold the icon till the phone beeps and vibrates before you can love I ones. Maybe there's an option to make these quicker and easier.

Why a home screen then another screen for apps and widgets. Why not have all apps together rather than in different area's.

So for me, the SG4 is awesome, but I much prefer iOS and it's simplicity. I'm sure over time I'll come to like everything about Android and SG4. It's a learning curve for me, but overall, I'm glad I'm trying the opposition.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

Too many options, too much customisation, so I'm tuning off as many of the features the phone has as I've got no interest in half of what the phone does.

But Android has one important thing thing the iPhone doesn't have ...........

a back button.

[Dusty1]

Bucknaked, Have a look at the app Nova Settings. It allows you to customise the apps screen and for me the biggest thing was being able to remove some homescreens I wasn't using. I came from iOS and wanted to have the fewest possible.

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

But Android has one important thing thing the iPhone doesn't have ...........

a back button.

The back button is very handy. Took a little getting used to. Especially looking at photos in Facebook.

Originally Posted by Dusty1

Bucknaked, Have a look at the app Nova Settings. It allows you to customise the apps screen and for me the biggest thing was being able to remove some homescreens I wasn't using. I came from iOS and wanted to have the fewest possible.

Thanks Dusty. I'll head over to the play store and download it.

[mik]

indeed the amount of gizmo's and functions on these things is daunting , had mine since early this year, if i'm to be honest , i probably don't use half the functions, but it is good to know they are there, and these smart phones are very customizable, many great aps, especially for car guys and gals, maybe we should have a separate thread on great apps ;).

[TRAU BLAU]

I've given up on Samsung & am now back to a cheap Telstra phone.Does anyone know the difference between Next G & 3 G if any.Do they complicate everything so that no-one really knows what's going on & they get more money out of you.That's what New Technology is all about isn't it?Business to make money!

[Bucknaked]

I had our resident samsung expert at work help me with a few questions I had. Starting to get a positive experience with the phone.

[mik]

i think you will like it buck, the note 2 is sorta very similar to the s4 with each having slightly different features, there are some very good youtube clips floating around with tips and tricks for these phones, i think they are well worth a look.
if you get around to google play store apps , i reckon the swiss army knife is a ripper app for these phones and it cost nothing.

[SantoAU]

Can the last one out of Nokia turn off the lights please? Hopefully no-one is rocking an older Nokia (except me, still holding out for a Sailfish port to the N9)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10..._stores_early/

[XWGT]

Originally Posted by SantoAU

Can the last one out of Nokia turn off the lights please? Hopefully no-one is rocking an older Nokia (except me, still holding out for a Sailfish port to the N9)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10..._stores_early/

Nokia are a Windows Phone platform now and closing Symbian was probably the right thing to do.

Now they are owned by Microsoft you can guarantee they will stay in business. Microsoft is not about to exit the phone market now and WP is getting good traction in Europe.

[SantoAU]

Nokia will stay as a mapping company. Will have very little to do with phones from now on

[chich]

I've had my Nokia Lumia 820 (windows phone 8) for almost a year and love it. Screens are nice and quick, smooth and easy to navigate. Also comes with Nokia maps and free navigation which is very good. Maps are stored on the phone so there's no waiting around for 5min to lock onto satellites. The Lumia 820 also has a removable battery and expandable memory.

Had a HTC Aria on android before that and hated it, was an absolute pos. Slow to load, slow on sending sms's, temperamental internet, apps constantly crashing, etc. Tried a HTC desire for a few weeks and wasn't any better. Also have an android tablet and find it pretty ordinary, so overall android doesn't really float my boat.

In terms of IOS, I use it frequently on an iPhone and iPad find it pretty decent. I've found it to work nice and quickly and reliably.

Out of the three though I'd take Windows hands down. The interface is very intuitive, very smooth and does what I ask it to do, when I ask it. The windows store may not have 17 trillion apps but I only need a handful so personally that's not a big issue. The Nokia hardware is solid and feels like it'll last 10yrs, unlike the new iPhone 5s that feels like a feather. So there's my 10cents

Sent from my RM-825_apac_australia_new_zealand_259 using Board Express

[TRAU BLAU]

As an older generation person the new technology is mind-boggling!Magic come true via scientists like Faraday & electricity.There's alot I'll never understand & where it will eventually take us no-one knows.100,000years ago the latest technology was chipping a flint-axe & making fire but now we seem to be speeding up.....

[Spudz27]

Well I upgraded my sIII to the Xperia z1 and my Iphone 5 to the Note III. Both awesome phones in their own right. The note I am loving, except for the size. Only just fits in my pocket.

Specs
Note III
5.7" AMOled Screen
Quad Core 2.2ghz
3gb Ram
32gb Storage
USB 3.0
13mp Camera
3200mah Battery

Xperia Z1
5" 1080p Triluminous Display
2.3ghz Quad Core
2gb Ram
16gb Storage
21mp Camera
Water proof and dust Proof, incl the ability to take underwater photo and video.
3000mah Battery

Side by side you can tell the note is bigger, but the design of the sony means it is almost the same size. The sony is all glass, the Samsung is plastic with a leather feel back (horrid), Sony definitely needs a pat on the back for design, it looks and feels really nice.

The camera's are both crap imo. I am yet to take a decent photo with either, indoors or out.
The sony was by far the easiest of the two to setup. Recognised my iphone 5 backup out of the box and transferred music, txt messages and contacts, even the DRM stuff was sent across. The samsung on the other hand I had to use 3rd party apps to get the same stuff across.

I love the touch pen on the samsung. I have barely even touched the screen. Handwriting all my txt messages, facebook posts etc is really neat. Pin point control of photo editing software is also awesome. I am still exploring all the features of the Samsung. But I hate that even now, samsung list txt messages under the call logs and you can't fix it without a 3rd party log. The all share feature is great, being android I can use utorrent and then using all share, can stream that movie straight to my samsung smart TV.

The sony, feels and looks brilliant, easy to use, a little sensitive to touch, sometimes picks something up just hovering over it. There is no separate volume control, so if you reduce volume for a game or music, the volume is also reduced for calls. Again it has some nice touches, one of which for me, was a graphic equalizer in the music settings, not just preset crap. I love the screen, it has a much more natural 1080 display. The samsungs whilst insanely nice, feels a bit overdone and too in your face.

Both have terrible antenna's. I now have to use 3G at home as it barely picks up 4G, where my iphone 5 was fine picking 4G up. But in all honesty I barely use data. So not a huge issue. They both can get quite hot when under stress, playig a game etc. I am yet to try the water proof ability of the sony. I prefer the sony's more natural display.

At the end of the day neither phone is a winner, they are both equal in their own right. I do not favor one over the other. My partner is using the Z1 and I am using the Note.

I have come from iphone since the 3G model and tbh I was sick of apples lack of style and real upgrades. They are just playing on the fact they know all those fanboy's will buy no matter what. There has not really been any innovation from them since the 4. Where as the other manufacturers seem to always be ushing the limit on features etc. I also am hating on apple atm as it has taken 2 days and 1hr of calls to apple support, to try and get my phone number un registered from their imessage database, and it is still an ongoin issue. I tried every known fix in the book bar ringing them and having my account wiped. Now however there seems no record of my number in the database anymore, but still friends phones are trying to send me imessages. One of my mates has been working for apple for 7yrs and has even been to the US to do testing etc and even he threw his hands in the air and gave up trying to figure out what is going on. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by chich

I've had my Nokia Lumia 820 (windows phone 8) for almost a year and love it. Screens are nice and quick, smooth and easy to navigate. Also comes with Nokia maps and free navigation which is very good. Maps are stored on the phone so there's no waiting around for 5min to lock onto satellites. The Lumia 820 also has a removable battery and expandable memory.

I have this phone which is my work phone. I absolutely hate it with a passion. I use it only to receive SMS alerts for work, other than that, it sits beside the bed. I won't even use it for calls. In fact I've never once made a call on it.

The only thing that I like is battery life. I recharge it every 10 days. Bit I guess it's because it never gets used.

I don't know why I hate it. Maybe being a windows phone is it. Not sure.

[mik]

Speaking of phones, and apps, i did mention it in another thread i think, but there is a cool free app, well i think it is cool anyway ;) ,
even if you not an app person , i think you would find it uber uber cool, (yes i said uber twice), have you ever looked up at the starry sky at night and seen a particular bright star or constellation and had no clue.......no clue that's me all the time,
Google sky map, it is not a big mb program and only takes a minute to download from google play store, if your phone has gps function once the program is activated it will label the stars in the sky where ever you point your phone, also has a search function, if you type in mars and hit enter , a circle with an arrow will point you in the direction of that planet , the arrow will change from a pale color to red i think as you get closer, who thinks this stuff up.... brilliant !
i might add i loaded it onto my tablet which does not have gps function, and the map is there, but you have to find the star/planet/constellation yourself,
any way i say well done google for that one.
I have a few apps on my phone now , i have sorted most of them so the ones i commonly use are on the first page, all others on the following pages, seems to work ok .

[SantoAU]

My n9 went for a swim, so I've been tooting about with an iphone 4 running iOS7. Apart from the fact there is an app for everything I can't say I'm fond of it. I have an inbuilt loathing for Apple in in any case. I keep trying to swipe apps away across the screen, and then realise I have to use the back button. Ugh.

Anyway, I'm hunting a new phone - either a Nexus 5 or Note 3. Leaning towards the Note as I feel it will be better suited to my uni work

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by mik

Speaking of phones, and apps, i did mention it in another thread i think, but there is a cool free app, well i think it is cool anyway ;) ,
even if you not an app person , i think you would find it uber uber cool, (yes i said uber twice), have you ever looked up at the starry sky at night and seen a particular bright star or constellation and had no clue.......no clue that's me all the time,
Google sky map, it is not a big mb program and only takes a minute to download from google play store, if your phone has gps function once the program is activated it will label the stars in the sky where ever you point your phone, also has a search function, if you type in mars and hit enter , a circle with an arrow will point you in the direction of that planet , the arrow will change from a pale color to red i think as you get closer, who thinks this stuff up.... brilliant !
i might add i loaded it onto my tablet which does not have gps function, and the map is there, but you have to find the star/planet/constellation yourself,
any way i say well done google for that one.
I have a few apps on my phone now , i have sorted most of them so the ones i commonly use are on the first page, all others on the following pages, seems to work ok .

I have that on my N8 - yes it is cool
City Lense is VG too - hope they are also on the Windoze phone
I'll get my 1050 tmw

[mik]

Originally Posted by EgoFG

I have that on my N8 - yes it is cool
City Lense is VG too - hope they are also on the Windoze phone
I'll get my 1050 tmw

I was having a gig for city lens but can't see it...............was that actually street lens you ment ??

[EgoFG]

"HERE City Lens" for 1020
"Nokia City Lens" on the N8

Getting used to the 1020.
Some things I love, others not so much.

Camera - well it is the best Camera Phone around.

Navigation - even better than the N8 - with two exceptions that are probably an education issue - "Here Drive+" favourites are not categorised or in distance order, and it does not let you choose a contact (though you can go in through "People")

I have not found a way for it to automatically go silent based on my calendar

No Video calls (just like apple) but you can use an app.

I reckon you should use an unused email address to create your MS connection - it pulls all your hotmail contacts into your phone.

Better range of popular apps than N8, but less system customising ones.

You cannot seem to categorise the ap list into folders.

The defecated Bing Search key is a waste

Voice control is good "Call 131313" works !

Its got me beat, but to choose Chinese language spoken navigation, you gave to be able to read Chinese (I cant, but I do use my phone to direct Chinese taxi dirvers in Beijing)

To transfer files to the Phone is a little obscure - limited access to folders created via the PC.

a N8/android style Pulldown for wifi, data, and Bluetooth would be nice.


I'll add more as I use it, always the negatives come first, as I try to do things the way I am used to doing them.

[BradZ]

I've recently gotten the new Nokia Lumia 1020 ( mainly for the camera) and have only ever had Android phones ( never Apple) Windows 8 takes a little getting used to. On the App store side of things, all Windows based phones are lacking compared to Apple/Android.

So far I've noticed the phone is quite quick and smooth to operate, tough, because of course I've dropped the ********* thing plenty of times already and yes, the 41MP camera kicks ***. Interestingly enough this only concerns those who share on social media but the phone saves two copies of every photo, one 5MP which is around 1mb for use on Facebook etc, and keeps another 38MP which is 10mb, for computers. Just found that pretty cool.

All in all, never had a Nokia till now, and never had a Windows phone but I am very happy with it and would reccomend

[XR6TCraig]

Originally Posted by NickyN

So it got me wondering, what does your phone have to have and what do you want or need in your phone?

Im a real techtard so its not about what a phone can do at the time I buy it as that changes with each phone depending on its capabilities and my ability to keep up with the new developments! LOL

Each generation seems to be able to do more than the last, and what I do with them changes as a result.

For the record, my last two phones have been HTC androids, my current phone is the HTC One ( I think LOL) and I have had no issues with either of these, but they are my only experience with smart phones, so I suppose some would say I cant miss what I haven't had, or better the devil you know maybe.... LOL

My current phone is used to surf the net, email, call, txt, as a diary to keep appointments and reminders, an alarm clock and I use it as my own personal wifi hotspot when travelling with my laptop too. I also use its google maps function as a GPS when I visit cities that I don't really know instead of a map, to help me get around. Im sure most smart phones would have these features though so my current choice was not made solely on these features.

It sounds like your main issue with your new phone is the size and feel. If that's the case, buy using that as one of the boxes it has to tick and pick accordingly.