The "what phone is coming next?" thread

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  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian

    shwaip said:

    anyone have any experience with t-mo swapping/cutting a mini sim->micro sim? Laura got the n5 but I think her old phone is a mini sim.

    I just go to the local T-Mo store and they just give me a new SIM with no hassle. It's free.
    Make sure it's an actual t-mo store though, not an authorized reseller. They wouldn't give me the SIM card that I had already paid for when setting up the account for free ... I wanted a working phone that day, so I paid $10.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    Grabbed a micro sim yesterday, didn't have to pay!

    n5 is pretty neat.
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited November 2013
    I should be able to just swap my SIM when my N5 comes, right? Currently using N4 on Tmo.
  • Do people really complain that much about the battery life on Nexus devices? My N4 routinely has about 30-40% left at the end of the day. The hand-me-down Galaxy Nexus my wife has goes 2 days between charging (she doesn't have as much background stuff sucking juice as I do).
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    Same @ardichoke. I last over a day on normal use without plugging it in. If i'm going to be streaming tv or movies at my desk, i plug it in ...


    @Annes: that is exactly the situation I was in and that is precisely what I did without any issue.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Annes said:

    I should be able to just swap my SIM when my N5 comes, right? Currently using N4 on Tmo.

    Yes. The benefit of a gsm network. This process will work for any compatible device on AT&T or T-Mobile.

  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    ardichoke said:

    Do people really complain that much about the battery life on Nexus devices? My N4 routinely has about 30-40% left at the end of the day. The hand-me-down Galaxy Nexus my wife has goes 2 days between charging (she doesn't have as much background stuff sucking juice as I do).

    All do respect, sounds like your wife isn't even using the phone. There is absolutely no way she gets 2 days of use on one charge. The screen on this thing blots out the sun and sucks the battery dry when you check the time on it. :(

    The GNex's battery life is atrocious. It's complaints are warranted. Hell, the N4 was even toted as ignoring the evils of LTE battery drain when it was released.
  • NiGHTS said:

    ardichoke said:

    Do people really complain that much about the battery life on Nexus devices? My N4 routinely has about 30-40% left at the end of the day. The hand-me-down Galaxy Nexus my wife has goes 2 days between charging (she doesn't have as much background stuff sucking juice as I do).

    All do respect, sounds like your wife isn't even using the phone. There is absolutely no way she gets 2 days of use on one charge. The screen on this thing blots out the sun and sucks the battery dry when you check the time on it. :(

    The GNex's battery life is atrocious. It's complaints are warranted. Hell, the N4 was even toted as ignoring the evils of LTE battery drain when it was released.
    At the time she was carrying two phones (while we waited for her contract to be up so she could port her number). She was carrying the GNex because it would work more reliably than her old and mostly busted Droid 3.... so yes, she BARELY used it, but still, she was charging each phone every other night and never ran either one dry.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    So I currently have the S3 and I am considering the One Up Plan with my Sprint Account. Trying to make sense of it all. Does anyone have any experience with it? Can anyone explain clearly how it works? My wife and I currently pay about $140/mo but we're locked into a contact until November of next year. If I were to upgrade how does the Nexus 5 compare to the S4? So many questions.
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited November 2013
    I am now the proud owner of a brand-new still-sealed-in-the-box Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Just bought it today. I took @AlexDeGruven's advice and used Swappa over eBay (THANKS ALEX!). Saved $65 vs eBay, and $246 vs buying retail. Plus I have much better peace of mind that I'll get a legit phone vs eBay's crapshoot.

    The Swappa experience was magical compared to that of eBay's. The fact that they encourage a conversation between the buyer and seller (both before AND after the purchase) is really neat.

    I'm still a little reserved about how well I'll get along with the Note's mammoth size. But the good news is that even if I end up not liking it, I can always resell it on Swappa for free (no seller's fees). I'll take maybe a $20-30 hit for it being used by then, but that's still not bad at all. And then I could get something else, like the S4 or HTC One.

    Thanks everyone for the help along the way, and for having a good discussion on this thread. Extra props to @Thrax for answering all my questions and giving insight on phablets vs 4 and 5" phones.
    WagsFTW
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    Interesting. Let me know what you think of it. I have the Note 8 and love it, am debating between the Nexus 5, Galaxy S 4 or the Note 3.
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited November 2013
    Will do, @CrazyJoe. Though I'll say now, Note 3 users tend to LOVE their phones. S4 users like theirs pretty much as well, but there's something about the Note that garners many rabid fans.

    The Nexus 5 though will probably be your best bet. The phone's relatively inexpensive and will probably get better update support than the Samsung devices.

    Your choice also depends on your opinion of Samsung's "TouchWiz" interface overlay. Some like it, many hate it due to sluggish bloated behavior (though newer Samsung devices work much smoother than before). Meanwhile Nexus 5 has that silky "pure Android" experience, though you can always mod the Samsung devices to trim the bloatware. There's a mod out now for the Note 3 called HyperDrive that keeps the S Pen features while trimming the fat.

    As for Sprint's One Up Plan, I would probably pass on that and buy a new phone. I'm not overly familiar with Sprint's particular deal, but most of the new "early upgrade" plans end up not being a good deal for the consumer and it was actually cheaper to just buy the phone yourself. Swappa or other channels are your friend on this one.

    Decisions, decisions.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    I keep constantly trying to find a better phone than the Note 3. No such luck.

    But that's not a bad thing, since I wanted a Note 3 since it was announced ;)
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    Well normally I wouldn't go for financing if I can help it, but Sprint is currently offering a $15 discount per line to sign up for the plan so it would probably actually lower our monthly bill, even after having to pay the phone subsidy on top of their contract price.
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    fatcat said:

    I keep constantly trying to find a better phone than the Note 3. No such luck.

    The only phone I would have wanted more is the Xperia Z1 for its camera and water"proof" design, but that's not coming to Verizon, so moot desire.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    Bandrik said:

    fatcat said:

    I keep constantly trying to find a better phone than the Note 3. No such luck.

    The only phone I would have wanted more is the Xperia Z1 for its camera and water"proof" design, but that's not coming to Verizon, so moot desire.
    the Z1 is a killer phone, but the screen is too small. Need 5.5" or larger
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    So, for the first time since 2009 I'm using a phone that wasn't made by Samsung.

    I jumped on the $50 off MotoMaker X deal yesterday and now I'm rocking a blue and gold MotoX.

    It's so pretty. And so fast. And pretty.

    It's only .1" smaller diagonally than my S3 but feels so much more compact.

    Did I mention that it's pretty and fast?
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    The Moto X gets a bad rap by phone nerds for having inferior hardware for the price it commands. It's true that it's not packing the latest or fastest, but I still rather liked its simplicity. It felt nearly pure vanilla Android, was snappy, and kind of fun to use. Plus, the assembled in the USA fact is kind of a nice perk, even though most (all?) of the components are made is Asialand. Still, MURICA.
  • HydrarHydrar Columbia, MD Icrontian
    "OK Google, Goatse image"

    - a coworker every time I unlock my phone.

    Google is smart and doesn't return THAT image.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    You can also wake up the Note 3 with a command but it's with S-Voice and that just flat out sucks.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    Bandrik said:

    The Moto X gets a bad rap by phone nerds for having inferior hardware for the price it commands. It's true that it's not packing the latest or fastest, but I still rather liked its simplicity. It felt nearly pure vanilla Android, was snappy, and kind of fun to use. Plus, the assembled in the USA fact is kind of a nice perk, even though most (all?) of the components are made is Asialand. Still, MURICA.

    Yeah, only sperglord spec freaks knock the X's speed. It's just as responsive if not moreso than my S3 and S4.

    The contextual processor and natural language processor make a lot of the operations, particularly wake up, near instant.
  • ZanthianZanthian Mitey Worrier Icrontian
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited December 2013
    So my mom just got a Galaxy S4 from Swappa, and we both have some questions about warranty and rooting. Paging @Thrax, posting here in case others can benefit.

    1. We bought them new, unopened, but from a 3rd party. Do we still get a warranty from Samsung? If so, how do we get enough proof-of-ownership in case we need to do a warranty repair?

    - - - - -

    The rest of our questions deal with rooting and updates. I read a bunch of internet literature but it's still convoluted and sometimes conflicting. Meanwhile we're both getting those annoying notices to do an over-the-air (OTA) update (Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, both Verizon). We want to root our phones, but also have the latest version of everything. So...

    2. Should we do the OTA update and THEN try to root, or root first and then try to update? Pros / cons of each?

    3. I read that after doing an OTA update, the new version may not have a root exploit (yet). Truth?

    4. If we root first, then how do we get updated to the latest update? We're cool with stock Samsung OS, so we don't need CyanogenMod or anything fancy.

    5. What about Kit Kat? Since it's a "big" release, should we just do the OTA updates now, wait for Kit Kat, update to Kit Kat, then wait for someone to come out with a method of rooting with Kit Kat (assuming someone figures it out)?

    6. Samsung KNOX: apparently, installing a custom ROM or a recovery tool like Clockwork Recovery or TWRP can trip the "e-fuse" known as Samsung KNOX, thus preventing any hope of warranty claim. Does anyone know if rooting now and then doing updates later (using a method hopefully answered in question 4) trips KNOX, or what? If we don't even have a warranty (Question 1) this is entirely moot.

    *breathes in deeply*

    HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALPPPPP!!!!! :bawl:
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    For the Note 3, I haven't visted XDA in a while so my info may be dated but I only know of the AT&T version not blowing the e-fuse when rooting a certain way. As for the S4, I'm gonna guess if you have the original packaging they'll cover the warranty. Wouldn't hurt to email them and ask. As for OTA updates and rooting, I'd check XDA subforum for the phone and see if they've released a root for that OTA update. Sometimes the updates are something miniscule that's not worth updating. Other than that I don't remember if the S4 has an e-fuse but if it doesn't you can always unroot and flash a stock ROM if you need it fixed under warranty. Odin which is the tool mostly used can get you out of a lot of jams.
    Bandrik
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    If you root or unlock, you don't get OTAs any more.

    Updating the ROM does occasionally correct exploits that can be used to root. Samsung is usually not guilty of this.

    Samsung is also not typically guilty of bricking your devices if you're up to no good. That's a bad habit from team Moto.

    TL;DR: If you're rooted, you're on your own for flashing updates via ODIN or recovery that are pre-rooted for you. Or you can investigate one of the "root keeper" options out there, though I've not looked into those in a long time.
    Bandrik
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    The Galaxy S5 has been announced. Looks like the Nexus 5 is still the best phone to get based on the specs I have seen. As the samsung keynote trickles out information at MWC we'll get a better idea of what the two compare like. As it stands right now, I'm sort of disappointed in S5 design. I don't care for unibody, I like being able to add a memory card and change my battery, but the Galaxy S line has always felt cheap in my hands compared to other offerings. I don't regret getting the S4 over christmas and not waiting for the S5.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian

    Oh boy, just when I have my Nexus 5 well customized, one of my coworkers has to go and inform me of this. The second phone shipping with CyanogenMod out of the box is coming out soon (tomorrow, from the looks of it), and it is a BEAST. I might just drop 350 and get the 64G model. OnePlus One

  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian

    2 64GB models with 'bout $150 left over for the price of one 64GB iPhone.

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian

    And the specs are better in every conceivable way.

  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian

    And my Galaxy Note 2 died... It stopped charging last Friday... I tweaked the port (loose connection) but the port won't connect to a PC... and then the signal dropped "Not registered on network".... and then it just stopped working. All in the matter of 4 days.

    So... I had to drop $100 to get out of the Note. So for now, I have a Galaxy Nexus 5. Not too bad so far. I have to get used to the buttons being different than Samsung. It will need to last for a few months...

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