The official mobile phone thread

[How bad boy]

Cause it was about time someone started it. This one could run.

Ok, upgrade time us upon the HBB household.

Mrs HBB is getting herself an iPhone 4S 16Gb. Cause she 'likes the talky thing on iPhones'

Which is nice for her. But I take my phones far more seriously. Very serious business indeed.

I currently have two phones, a heavily battered HTC Wildfire that's asthmatically (but cheaply) kept going over the past 2 years. A work Samsung Galaxy S Advance completes the lineup.
The latter, even though it was their choice cause we had something to do with it, is a cracking phone. Speed is good, size is good, battery is handy enough, all in all, a handy unit. A few minor quibbles, mostly to do with the lock screen operation, the native Samsung cruft, and a weird way of handling USB, but nothing at all serious. Do prefer HTC's Sense to Touchwiz too, not too precious about it though.

As a result, I'm not really that fussed with what I get. I certainly couldn't be arsed paying the iPhone tax, they're ok, but I've never been in love with the user interface. Can't mess around with it enough for my liking.

So I'm going to go one of three directions:
Get something small (cause pocket space is at a premium)
Get something different (tempted to get a Nokia Windows Phone 8 when they come out, partly for residual attachment to Nokia, partially cause it's something totally different)
Get something ridiculously overpowered. Specifically, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Tablet and Phone in one, with a stylus n whatnot.


What thinketh the PROC?

 

[a honest mistake]

Forget about the Samsung Galaxy note option, the thing is massive, especially if pocket space is at a premium. Id say it would be perfect for a girl who always has a handbag with her to throw it into. It is totally impracticable for a fella who has nothing more than his jeans pocket to put it in when on the move.

My next phone is going to be a Galaxy S2 or 3 depends on how much there looking for it. I have a iphone 4 at the mo and its good but the camera is seriously lacking. the camera and screen quality of the Samsung is brilliant.

Saying that i have had a play about with the iphone 5 and the maps run much better on that than they do on the 4. but still the camera is miles behind.

 

[Rebelred]

Upgraded to the S3 this week from my 22 month old HTC Desire, which served me well and battery life aside (plus limited memory in later life), was a great phone for me.

The S3 is taking a little bit of getting used to but so far, so good. Call quality is excellent, extremely clear. Functionality is good, screen is beautiful and the camera is quick, sharp and from the limited messing around I've done with it to date, takes a very good shot.

Will update again as it begins to get more use. Biggest fear is cracking the screen, replacing of same isn't cheap. May go for insurance yet to be on the safe side.

 

[How bad boy]

Forget about the Samsung Galaxy note option, the thing is massive, especially if pocket space is at a premium. Id say it would be perfect for a girl who always has a handbag with her to throw it into. It is totally impracticable for a fella who has nothing more than his jeans pocket to put it in when on the move.

My next phone is going to be a Galaxy S2 or 3 depends on how much there looking for it. I have a iphone 4 at the mo and its good but the camera is seriously lacking. the camera and screen quality of the Samsung is brilliant.

Saying that i have had a play about with the iphone 5 and the maps run much better on that than they do on the 4. but still the camera is miles behind.

I know the Note is massive, but i kinda want something like a tablet, especially for taking notes.

Don't like tapping on a keyboard in meetings, think better with a pen in my hand...

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I know the Note is massive, but i kinda want something like a tablet, especially for taking notes.

Don't like tapping on a keyboard in meetings, think better with a pen in my hand...

??
http://www.asus.com/Mobile/PadFone/

 

[Smeggle]

??
http://www.asus.com/Mobile/PadFone/

I like - but then I totally rate all there products. Solid. Reliable. Functional. And they just keep working.

 

[pat d shaker]

I'm thinking of getting a new phone it needs to have a decent battery, music player and internet. The father is due an upgrade from vodafone so I can get it for nothing off them, I currently have a Sony Experia any suggestions?

 

[Corcaigh32]

Between the Note II , S 3 and S 4 if its out in Feb when my upgrade is due.

 

[gozzy]

Anyone ever tell the Siri wan on the iPhone to fuck off?

Try it, it's a bit of a laugh lol

 

[How bad boy]

??
http://www.asus.com/Mobile/PadFone/

I wonder what the power management is like? Asus have very little experience in this area. I presume it's been designed by someone like Arima, Compal or Innocom and, while they're good, they don't tend to be able to do the level of optimisation the major manufacturers do.

But I guess with a screen that size, then it's probably crap, no matter what brand you go with!

I'm thinking of getting a new phone it needs to have a decent battery, music player and internet. The father is due an upgrade from vodafone so I can get it for nothing off them, I currently have a Sony Experia any suggestions?

Hmm, well, currently, the battery king seems to be Motorola, with a bunch of phones with ludicrous batteries in them.
I note you said nothing about applications. Do you actually give a shit about apps? Cause if not, then the best battery will be in something that isn't a smartphone.

As I said above, screens are the key. If you have a big screen, then expect heavy power consumption. simple matter of physics, you need to light up a bigger area. You can use different technologies such as OLED to reduce the power but still, bigger screen = more power drawn.
Then you're down to the size of the battery, and the tweaks made to get the best out of the battery.

The best smartphone operating system for battery is actually Symbian, on Nokia devices. But for usability, it's at the bottom of the charts.
Blackberry's system is pretty good for battery power, but app support isn't as good (albeit still fairly decent) and the hardware tends to be a little bit behind the others.
Also, RIM, the company behind Blackberry, is releasing the next version of their operating system, BB10 early next year. They're betting the house on this, stopping almost all other development in trying to match Android and Apple. Let's see if they do it, but I couldn't, in all good conscience recommend a Blackberry now.

Looking at Vodafone.ie 's website, the Huawei Ascend G300 is a probably the best value mid-range smartphone there.
It won't win any prizes, but the processor is handy enough, big screen, and while Huawei is not a particularly well known brand, I know them very well and they're respected in the industry. If you buy a USB stick modem it's quite likely to be made by either them or ZTE.
Depends on what your budget is, really.

Between the Note II , S 3 and S 4 if its out in Feb when my upgrade is due.

I'd go for the HTC One X over the S3, upgradable memory, FTW...