Upgrade time is here. Lumia Icon, HTC One M8 or Galaxy S5?
Cliff_Forster
Icrontian
Upgrade time is here. Lumia Icon, HTC One M8 or Galaxy S5?
They all have their strengths. I'm lured to Nokia because I like the Windows Phone interface and that camera is sexy but I'm so invested in Google services it's hard for me to imagine switching from android. The M8 has those speakers and from everything I've read the Sense UI is actually leaner than the Samsung solution so performance is actually better but the 4MP "Ultrapixel" camera limits cropping so much yet the image quality I have seen posted is pretty good. The S5, USB 3.0, dust and water resistance, 16MP camera, crappy speaker and bloated UI... Any opinions?
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Tossup between the One M8 and Galaxy S5.
I'm personally waiting for the OnePlus One.
Windows Phone is never going to be a significant thing.
@Thrax - That is very interesting. Apparently designed by a former OPPO engineer. OPPO more or less created a niche in the obtainable high end for optical disk players. When they released up scaling DVD players several years ago for about $200 that rivaled $1000 products they found a niche in that market. It's a beautiful minimalist design and if OPPO is any indication of design it will not skimp on quality. I'll definitely wait a few days to see how it is launched. Thanks for the info.
Just out of curiosity: Why no Sony Xperia on that list?
I don't believe Verizon carries the Sony Xperia. I suppose I should have specified them. I guess I could switch but we have our whole family on the plan, four lines total. I'll likely just stick with Verizon. My original Galaxy Nexus has served me very well, and frankly it's enough phone for me but it's starting to suffer a little cosmetically, the battery needs replacing and honestly the internal headphone amp has always been garbage so I may as well pony up and get something I'll enjoy the next two years. I was initially leaning towards the HTC One M8 because of it's industrial design and sound, I do play a fair amount of video without plugging in my headphones so that would be welcome. Biggest setback is not being able to crop zoom at just four megapixels on the camera. I'm doing everything I can to resist the urge to buy the Sony RX100 for a compact take everywhere digicam. Frankly I can't afford it right now (okay, I sorta kinda can but not working so I would like to keep the voices at bay). The pictures the HTC One M8 take are actually gorgeous for a phone point and shoot, I prefer the color depth and more natural looking pictures it produces due to the sensor allowing more light per larger pixel. From a certain design perspective it makes perfect sense, better pictures and decreased file size, but the lack of raw resolution hampers the ability to re compose a picture after the fact. My old Canon S5 IS has been a wonderful zoom sorta kinda compact digicam, but I want a decent camera in my pocket at all times and I'm afraid that 4MP sensor is very limiting on the HTC despite loving everything else about the phone. Why can't I just have EVERYTHING! I want an Oompa Loompa Daddy!
FWIW, with four lines you'll save an enormous amount of money by going to TMobile.
Or, most likely, Ting.
Gotta include the * that comes along with Ting though, wrt the various pools they use to determine your bill. That's very individual/usage based vs t-mobile.
I love saving money. I checked out the T-Mobile ETF payoff plans a few months back and it didn't quite workout when you factored in device cost of the no contract plans and such. The promos now may be better but my family unit will be resilient members of the Verizon cult, they like what they have and for the most part I can't complain about coverage and network speed, it's pretty good in the Baltimore/DC metro area.
The more I think about it, I don't think any cell camera is going to satisfy my lust for something like the Sony RX100, eventually I will splurge on a new camera for zoom photography. My Canon S5 IS is fine for the situations where it's needed so I'll likely settle on the HTC One M8. God I wish they would just double the sensor. 8MP would be enough to be equivalent to a simple 3X zoom for some shots. 4MP is pretty much composing the shot as it is, which is 90% of cell photography but it still seems undersized. It's like buying $1,000 speakers and pairing them with a $129 amplifier. Hey, were are HTC, look, nice lens, more light per pixel, extra lens for super cool depth effects that allow you to re tune the focus, and a four megapixel sensor that would have seemed cutting edge about five years ago.... huh????
That's what this page is for: https://ting.com/calculator
Gotta say, my wife is quite the talker to the point where I thought her minute usage would make Ting not worth it. When I actually did the maths, however, I found that we would actually save money switching from T-Mobile to Ting even with her somewhat absurd amount of voice usage. That said, I still haven't switched us... but I did get a WiFi hotspot from Ting. It's nice only paying $6 for it on months I don't use it, then just paying for what I use when I do. Makes road trips much more bearable.
Hmm .. @Lincoln when I quote this, it doesn't include the first line (which I actually wanted to quote)
Anyways, that's what I meant. I would guess anyone looking into Ting would figure out the whole tiers thing, but I just like to mention things like that upfront. You're totally right to include them as an alternative.
But Windows Phone stops a speeding bullet?