Like the title says, I'm looking for fact based, opinons and features of android. I've been doing research for a long time on youtube, wikipedia, various forums, and basically everywhere. The thing is, I can't make an accurate decision based on these, I need people to tell me this.
What's this decision? Well my first smartphone was an IPhone. My first computer was a Macbook, which the payment was split between my parents and I. Now before you throw your tomatos at me, hear me out. I love both devices, and when I first got them, I didn't get a choice. My parents chose them for me mainly because I was only 12 when i got these. I needed them, though. Due to family medical reasons I needed to have a phone that could do it all in case of emergency (which has raised far too many times unfortunately!). That macbook was really for my parents, but they said if I paid for half, it would be mine in a year (I was twelve, I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity!)
(Sorry for explaining myself, but unfortunately if I don't, I find I have people commenting "Mac-fag" or "Apple gay boy." Shame people think my sexual orientation is based on my phone and computer choice)
POINT IS: I'm a 16 year old, teenage guy who is "tech-y" (I.E. nerdy) and i'm looking for alternatives to an IPhone. I'm all over social media (typical teen) and I also want customization in the phone.
So, I know the IPhone, but not the android. I would love it if you guys on the forum could "enlighten" me on some of these question!
1) Like I said, I'm all about social media. I recently jailbroke my IPhone to enhance this experience, and now in the notification center for the phone, I recieve tweets, facebook posts, google+ updates, email, and RSS. I absolutely adore it because as soon as someone posts, i'm notified instantly (Push for the win!). I also have all my social media in one single hub, not in 6 different apps. I really am looking for this in the android platform, it could very well make or break it for me. Can android do this? How does the android platform tackle social media?
2) I also love my music, like nothing else. I'm very concerned that by switching to android my itunes will go to waste. I recently, though, learned of doubletwist, which allows androids to work with itunes. So, has anyone used this? Do you like it? Are you happy with the sound quality?
3) Final question: What phone do you recommend I get?! There are so many and honest to god i'm overwhelmed with the choices. Like I said my contract is soon up, and I'm able to get $300 phones for very cheap. Cost is not a problem, as my parents have used AT&T for a very long time, and are getting huge phone discounts all of a sudden. So far i've looked in to the xperia play, and have no idea what I'm looking for.
My basic guidelines for the phones is this:
Social media
Touchscreen
Music
Games/apps (not big on them, but I do play a few intensive apps, so performance is key)
I would be very grateful to anyone who can give me tips on phone buying, what is special about android, and generally anything I should look out for!
EDIT
Thanks for the initial answer guys! I am so for an android now, but I face the problem of what phone to get. I already commented the following below, but for your convenience, i'll put it in this spoiler:
Thanks for all the feedback guys! (Or girls!) I'm definitely decided to go with android. I've accumulated over 5 hrs of research so far and got some play time on my friends droid (original).
So far i've seen great things:
-Itunes music works/Playlists can be created on phone (Massive concern)
-Most displays are HD (Again, big concern)
-Social Networking is HUGELY integrated (Greatest concern of all and I love it!!!)
-Customization made my jaw drop several times
-Marketplace has some great stuff, that I can't wait to try out
Some con's I've seen:
-Battery seems to be very hard to deal with here? It's like a warzone :blink.gif:
-The screens on these phones are massive! This isn't a con to most, but I can't stand large screens, I like medium sized screens (~3-4")
So far that's all I found bad. The big issue i'm having now is finding the right phone for me. I have at&t and I can't switch due to family plan, so i'm restricted there, but I have found some phones. Thing is, I can't really decide, I don't know what i should be looking for in hardware. I have checkout engadget reviews, and those have helped, but I don't see them being applied to real-life scenarios very well. Here are some phones I've looked at and why I have liked/hate them. Below is a link to at&t phones available, so if you would like to look and give me a suggestion on a phone, that would be awesome!
Alright, So I put this in a spoiler tab to save space.
The first phone I've looked (very heavily into) is the samsung galaxy s II
Why many have raved about it, I too like it, but there are some draw back to what I see. First off the phone's screen is 4.3". I don't exactly love large phones, since I almost always have one in my pocket. To compare this, my iphone 4's screen is 3.5". A big difference. The other big downer, is that the customer reviews say that they can't get more than 12 hrs of life out of this thing. This concerns me because I use my phone for music A TON, and it's the only way i get my email and social media goodies.
The bright side, though is that it has the social media hub, something that I have been dying to find! This feature is something that I wanted on my iphone, but instead got stuck with a cydia tweak by the name of intelliscreenX. This turns the notification center into something similar of social hub, but instead you flick left and right to see twitter, facebook, mail, and Rss feeds.
The next benefit is the super fast speed and general "happyness" towards the phone. I realize the latter doesn't seem like much of a benefit, but it is reassuring to know the public is satisfied with it. My big concern is still that screen size. Yikes!
P.S. I see there is a galaxy s II Skyrocket (Aka LTE). I am in an lTE area, but is there any other benefits? Right now i'm happy as a bee with 3G and the upgrade to 4G is going to be a boost anyways, so LTE isn't a deciding factor for me.
The next phone is the Samsung Captivate Glide
This phone is a bit meatier (Which I like, I want something that feels like it is in my hand and not some feather if you catch my drift). The screen size is 4" which is better and makes me happier, plus the phone has an external keyboard, which I've never had and may be a good thing, I dunno. Again the phone has a dual core processor, but only clocking in at 1.2 ghz (Not a big difference).
The big cons I see here are battery life and the external keyboard. Should I be afraid of the keyboard? Am I going to find a "better" battery life anywhere or do they all stink this much? Either way, Iphone 4's are rated 7 hrs talk time and 10 hrs video time to give you a benchmark (if you have an iphone that is :tongue.gif: )
Another Phone I invested time in, is the Xperia Play
The real hype behind this phone for me happens to be the game oriented style. While that's great it's also bad. I really need feedback from someone with this phone. A lot of reviewers say they love it, engadget says they "dislike" it. Personally, I don't think I will get this phone, but if you have one and love it, feel free to persuade me.
That's essentially it. From the phones available, these seemed the best, but I could very well be 100% wrong. I would like to step up to 4g, and I would like to have the smaller screen sized phone. But my biggest priority here is Music, Social Media, and Speed. I need a phone that can do music playlists, integrate social media such as twitter, facebook, and even rss is possible. I also need the speed element; when I do play games, they're the more "intensive" ones. :smile.gif:
I will continue looking and getting answers, but there is nothing better than a personal testimonial. So let me know what you (as the experienced android user) think as to what phone is a good choice. I do plan on rooting the phone and putting a rom on there for better battery life and a few misc features that would enhance the experience. If you have a rom you like, let me know about that too!
There's not a huge selection available unfortunately, so if you would like to take a quick gander at what is available, here's a link to available smart-android-phones: http://tinyurl.com/6t98j9s
I do plan on rooting the phone at some point by the way, as I see many people enjoy the benefits of roms :biggrin.gif:
If you are all about Social Media I suggest checking out the Windows Phone rather than the android.
Has all the social media integrated into one place so you can read it all at once, is synced with Xbox Live, has Zune which all you need to do is re-import the MP3's to Zune and I even think there is a compatibility mode with Itunes.
Android phones in general have a better build quality over apple.
Google MusicStore lets you import from iTunes and up to 20,000 from anywhere else.
Ubuntu also has a cloud service for 2gigs that can be stremed from to an android phone.
Android phones generally pack beefier CPU and GPUs then Iphones.
Android has the ability to be notified from Facebook G+ built in.
Android has custom roms and kernels that can have more features for people who like them or more lean roms for better battery life.
The phones that are popular now are the Galaxy s2 razrmaxx and for moders the galaxy nexus.
The samesungs have a faster cpu but are underclocked to the same speed as the razrs.
The Galaxy S2 defiantly has the best screen it is a LCD compared to the AMOLED on the nexus and razr. The razr screen is the worst and the nexus screen is up there with the S2s.
Amoled has fewer subpixels per pixel but the Nexus is 720p and almost has as many subpixels as the S2.
Nexus gets updates faster then the other too and no non google crapware stuck on it. Razrmaxx has a massive battery and is water resistant.
Both the galaxy and the Gnex have alright battery life Fm87 can comment on his battery life but here is my Galaxy nexus battery life.
Razr is the most locked down out of all three tho. The Gnex is most open and the S2 is a close second.
All have 4G if the razrmaxx has the same antenna as the original Razr and i think it does, The one in the razr is a slower antenna can't pull down as much data and a few other things but most company's don't use fast enough LTE to even use the antenna in the razrmaxx to the max anyway.
The Gnex is limited to 32gigs on board storage.
The razr has 16gig internal and can support up to 32gig microsdcard.
The Galaxy S2 has 16gig internal and supports 32gig microsd.
All can stream music from the google music store. The google music store is also cheaper then Itunes.
Any other questions ask them I think this should have answered most.
This is very useful! You got me thinking, but to clarify, what do you mean by "stream?" Is music supported directly on the device or is internet required? (Sorry if I sound stupid, but I know nothing about android, and I want to be careful before I get stuck with a phone for 2 years)
Also, is twitter supported at all?
Finally, care to give a simple explanation on what these "roms" are? I will do some research on those. Oh and what do you mean by "the razr is the most locked down?" Do you mean you don't have as much control over the phone as the others? (I.E. It's like an iphone before jailbroken?)
Thanks for you're detailed response! I will look into those phones and other ones suggested!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly."
This is very useful! You got me thinking, but to clarify, what do you mean by "stream?" Is music supported directly on the device or is internet required? (Sorry if I sound stupid, but I know nothing about android, and I want to be careful before I get stuck with a phone for 2 years)
Also, is twitter supported at all?
Finally, care to give a simple explanation on what these "roms" are? I will do some research on those. Oh and what do you mean by "the razr is the most locked down?" Do you mean you don't have as much control over the phone as the others? (I.E. It's like an iphone before jailbroken?)
Thanks for you're detailed response! I will look into those phones and other ones suggested!
Stream means you can stream any extra music from the cloud should you fill up your device Gmusic has a option to locally store all your music from there servers.
Twitter might be tho I know a custom twitter program that can.
Roms are people who took OpenSource Android and programmed extra features into it. Think of it like Linux distro you have the Moto distro that are built off of the Google distro. The razr has a locked bootloader so putting custom roms is possible really hard to do. Also means no custom kernels.
Razr has Motoblur that actually adds in quite a few features not in standard android google has added a lot.
All stock will have similar features for the most part.
The rom I use has most of the stock features a few extra but is better on battery life and lets me OverClock my phone.
Stream means you can stream any extra music from the cloud should you fill up your device Gmusic has a option to locally store all your music from there servers.
Twitter might be tho I know a custom twitter program that can.
Roms are people who took OpenSource Android and programmed extra features into it. Think of it like Linux distro you have the Moto distro that are built off of the Google distro. The razr has a locked bootloader so putting custom roms is possible really hard to do. Also means no custom kernels.
Razr has Motoblur that actually adds in quite a few features not in standard android google has added a lot.
All stock will have similar features for the most part.
The rom I use has most of the stock features a few extra but is better on battery life and lets me OverClock my phone.
That's really awesome to hear about these roms! The music cloud is very awesome to hear too, my computer's hardrive is being eaten up at the moment by music. I'm currently looking into those phones, and thank you so much! This really has helped guide me, and I'm already liking android over my iphone just from what i'm hearing! Now just to find the right hardware to complete this.
EDIT: Quick google, and the razr and nexus are both verizon exclusives. Will have to look at at&t for alternatives, but the galaxy s II is still available, so hope is not lost!
That's really awesome to hear about these roms! The music cloud is very awesome to hear too, my computer's hardrive is being eaten up at the moment by music. I'm currently looking into those phones, and thank you so much! This really has helped guide me, and I'm already liking android over my iphone just from what i'm hearing! Now just to find the right hardware to complete this.
EDIT: Quick google, and the razr and nexus are both verizon exclusives. Will have to look at at&t for alternatives, but the galaxy s II is still available, so hope is not lost!
Galaxy nexus is on At&t you just gotta look up the GSM version.
Good topic! I currently have an iPhone and have been thinking about switching once my contract ends this year. Not that I don't like the iPhone. Just want to try something new.
Just quickly skimming, phone wise, get the damn Samsung Galaxy S2 (or the original if you're struggling for money). It's fantastic.
Pretty much this.
The Galaxy S's are built like tanks, my Captivate might be an older phone but for the $100 I paid I honestly feel it was a good investment and will certainly get my money's worth. I am going to use this thing to death.
I have an Android Razr and I love it. Its fast, reliable, and I've dropped it so many times on concrete its not even funny. and it still doesn't have an obvious scratches on it. Especially on the glass, which is important.
There is one problem I have with it. The touch screen is WAY too sensitive, I can barely touch the screen and it recognizes I'm touching it, which its supposed to do, but I'd like to press a tad bit harder you know.
But overall its good, the Wifi is VERY helpful so you don't sky rocket your data usage.
Another thing thats negative is, it will lag from time to time and it has froze on me doing too many actions so fast. So dont jump from app game to app game from app game to app game in a matter of seconds. It can lag it out or even freeze it.
Well thats all I got to say about it. its a VERY nice phone. Also without a contract on the phones its about 600 bucks :smile.gif: so, you're going to have to be committed to Verizon for 2 years if you want it.
I'm not that knowledgeable about Android and customizing it, but I do know a few things.
Android will always be better than the iOS/Apple (in my opinion). Android is open source and actually allows you to have that freedom to do whatever you want, now whether or not the phone/SP allows that is a different story.. :3
Also, if your looking to to customizing and really getting the fully potential out of a Device then stay away from Motorola devices. ALL of Motorola's phones have what's called a "locked" bootloader - which means (like the others said) it's more difficult to install Custom ROMS and do not allow for Custom Kernels (unless it's from a OTA update).
That's about all I know, hopefully it provided some help.
A great site to look at for this stuff is the XDA forum. It's entirely dedicated to customizing Phones, tablets, etc. http://forum.xda-developers.com/ Highly active too.
Android phones in general have a better build quality over apple.
The drop test is kinda irrelevant. The GS II was one of the first androids to use the Gorilla glass, which is made of the same materials they use on helicopter windows (or was it blades?). But yeah, I love Android, you can customize it, no need to jailbreak it, you can switch ROMS if you want and no one will give you any trouble (seeing as it's perfectly legal, seeing as Android is open source, but don't expect the retail store to be happy).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"God put two white people in the jungle without sunscreen. And they [had intercourse] and now we got people. We got Black people, Arab people, Oriental people and with the amount of inbreeding, very few retards. It seems so plausible!"
The drop test is kinda irrelevant. The GS II was one of the first androids to use the Gorilla glass, which is made of the same materials they use on helicopter windows (or was it blades?).
The GS2 was in no way the first android phone to use reinforced glass. The first phone to release with Android the G1 came with gorilla glass. So Android phones have has gorilla glass pretty much standard from the begging.
Every single Motorola phone with android has used gorilla glass Samesung only started using it more recently.
Thanks for all the feedback guys! (Or girls!) I'm definitely decided to go with android. I've accumulated over 5 hrs of research so far and got some play time on my friends droid (original).
So far i've seen great things:
-Itunes music works/Playlists can be created on phone (Massive concern)
-Most displays are HD (Again, big concern)
-Social Networking is HUGELY integrated (Greatest concern of all and I love it!!!)
-Customization made my jaw drop several times
-Marketplace has some great stuff, that I can't wait to try out
Some con's I've seen:
-Battery seems to be very hard to deal with here? It's like a warzone :blink.gif:
-The screens on these phones are massive! This isn't a con to most, but I can't stand large screens, I like medium sized screens (~3-4")
So far that's all I found bad. The big issue i'm having now is finding the right phone for me. I have at&t and I can't switch due to family plan, so i'm restricted there, but I have found some phones. Thing is, I can't really decide, I don't know what i should be looking for in hardware. I have checkout engadget reviews, and those have helped, but I don't see them being applied to real-life scenarios very well. Here are some phones I've looked at and why I have liked/hate them. Below is a link to at&t phones available, so if you would like to look and give me a suggestion on a phone, that would be awesome!
Alright, So I put this in a spoiler tab to save space.
The first phone I've looked (very heavily into) is the samsung galaxy s II
Why many have raved about it, I too like it, but there are some draw back to what I see. First off the phone's screen is 4.3". I don't exactly love large phones, since I almost always have one in my pocket. To compare this, my iphone 4's screen is 3.5". A big difference. The other big downer, is that the customer reviews say that they can't get more than 12 hrs of life out of this thing. This concerns me because I use my phone for music A TON, and it's the only way i get my email and social media goodies.
The bright side, though is that it has the social media hub, something that I have been dying to find! This feature is something that I wanted on my iphone, but instead got stuck with a cydia tweak by the name of intelliscreenX. This turns the notification center into something similar of social hub, but instead you flick left and right to see twitter, facebook, mail, and Rss feeds.
The next benefit is the super fast speed and general "happyness" towards the phone. I realize the latter doesn't seem like much of a benefit, but it is reassuring to know the public is satisfied with it. My big concern is still that screen size. Yikes!
P.S. I see there is a galaxy s II Skyrocket (Aka LTE). I am in an lTE area, but is there any other benefits? Right now i'm happy as a bee with 3G and the upgrade to 4G is going to be a boost anyways, so LTE isn't a deciding factor for me.
The next phone is the Samsung Captivate Glide
This phone is a bit meatier (Which I like, I want something that feels like it is in my hand and not some feather if you catch my drift). The screen size is 4" which is better and makes me happier, plus the phone has an external keyboard, which I've never had and may be a good thing, I dunno. Again the phone has a dual core processor, but only clocking in at 1.2 ghz (Not a big difference).
The big cons I see here are battery life and the external keyboard. Should I be afraid of the keyboard? Am I going to find a "better" battery life anywhere or do they all stink this much? Either way, Iphone 4's are rated 7 hrs talk time and 10 hrs video time to give you a benchmark (if you have an iphone that is :tongue.gif: )
Another Phone I invested time in, is the Xperia Play
The real hype behind this phone for me happens to be the game oriented style. While that's great it's also bad. I really need feedback from someone with this phone. A lot of reviewers say they love it, engadget says they "dislike" it. Personally, I don't think I will get this phone, but if you have one and love it, feel free to persuade me.
That's essentially it. From the phones available, these seemed the best, but I could very well be 100% wrong. I would like to step up to 4g, and I would like to have the smaller screen sized phone. But my biggest priority here is Music, Social Media, and Speed. I need a phone that can do music playlists, integrate social media such as twitter, facebook, and even rss is possible. I also need the speed element; when I do play games, they're the more "intensive" ones. :smile.gif:
I will continue looking and getting answers, but there is nothing better than a personal testimonial. So let me know what you (as the experienced android user) think as to what phone is a good choice. I do plan on rooting the phone and putting a rom on there for better battery life and a few misc features that would enhance the experience. If you have a rom you like, let me know about that too!
There's not a huge selection available unfortunately, so if you would like to take a quick gander at what is available, here's a link to available smart-android-phones: http://tinyurl.com/6t98j9s
I do plan on rooting the phone at some point by the way, as I see many people enjoy the benefits of roms :biggrin.gif:
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly."
Most of the people who have battery life issues are the people who leave 4G on all the time and leave Facebook email twitter on 24/7 sync mine is every 15 mins in that 2 day screenshot I showed you its on constant sync when on wifi.
For music Listening to flac encoded audio It uses about 1% every hour. 100 hours is not great but if you really need the battery life just get a extended battery.
Trust me after you touch a 4.3in screen you will never go back to an Iphone or something with a tiny screen they feel like childrens fake phones.
I should also mention that 2 day 5 hours is on a overclocked phone too.
Most of the people who have battery life issues are the people who leave 4G on all the time and leave Facebook email twitter on 24/7 sync mine is every 15 mins in that 2 day screenshot I showed you its on constant sync when on wifi.
For music Listening to flac encoded audio It uses about 1% every hour. 100 hours is not great but if you really need the battery life just get a extended battery.
Trust me after you touch a 4.3in screen you will never go back to an Iphone or something with a tiny screen they feel like childrens fake phones.
I should also mention that 2 day 5 hours is on a overclocked phone too.
I'm sorry but did you say 100 FREAKING HOURS GEE-ZUS!!! My iphone lasts like 20! What in god's name is your phone on man!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly."
What's this decision? Well my first smartphone was an IPhone. My first computer was a Macbook, which the payment was split between my parents and I. Now before you throw your tomatos at me, hear me out. I love both devices, and when I first got them, I didn't get a choice. My parents chose them for me mainly because I was only 12 when i got these. I needed them, though. Due to family medical reasons I needed to have a phone that could do it all in case of emergency (which has raised far too many times unfortunately!). That macbook was really for my parents, but they said if I paid for half, it would be mine in a year (I was twelve, I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity!)
(Sorry for explaining myself, but unfortunately if I don't, I find I have people commenting "Mac-fag" or "Apple gay boy." Shame people think my sexual orientation is based on my phone and computer choice)
POINT IS: I'm a 16 year old, teenage guy who is "tech-y" (I.E. nerdy) and i'm looking for alternatives to an IPhone. I'm all over social media (typical teen) and I also want customization in the phone.
So, I know the IPhone, but not the android. I would love it if you guys on the forum could "enlighten" me on some of these question!
1) Like I said, I'm all about social media. I recently jailbroke my IPhone to enhance this experience, and now in the notification center for the phone, I recieve tweets, facebook posts, google+ updates, email, and RSS. I absolutely adore it because as soon as someone posts, i'm notified instantly (Push for the win!). I also have all my social media in one single hub, not in 6 different apps. I really am looking for this in the android platform, it could very well make or break it for me. Can android do this? How does the android platform tackle social media?
2) I also love my music, like nothing else. I'm very concerned that by switching to android my itunes will go to waste. I recently, though, learned of doubletwist, which allows androids to work with itunes. So, has anyone used this? Do you like it? Are you happy with the sound quality?
3) Final question: What phone do you recommend I get?! There are so many and honest to god i'm overwhelmed with the choices. Like I said my contract is soon up, and I'm able to get $300 phones for very cheap. Cost is not a problem, as my parents have used AT&T for a very long time, and are getting huge phone discounts all of a sudden. So far i've looked in to the xperia play, and have no idea what I'm looking for.
My basic guidelines for the phones is this:
Social media
Touchscreen
Music
Games/apps (not big on them, but I do play a few intensive apps, so performance is key)
I would be very grateful to anyone who can give me tips on phone buying, what is special about android, and generally anything I should look out for!
EDIT
Thanks for the initial answer guys! I am so for an android now, but I face the problem of what phone to get. I already commented the following below, but for your convenience, i'll put it in this spoiler:
Thanks for all the feedback guys! (Or girls!) I'm definitely decided to go with android. I've accumulated over 5 hrs of research so far and got some play time on my friends droid (original).
So far i've seen great things:
-Itunes music works/Playlists can be created on phone (Massive concern)
-Most displays are HD (Again, big concern)
-Social Networking is HUGELY integrated (Greatest concern of all and I love it!!!)
-Customization made my jaw drop several times
-Marketplace has some great stuff, that I can't wait to try out
Some con's I've seen:
-Battery seems to be very hard to deal with here? It's like a warzone :blink.gif:
-The screens on these phones are massive! This isn't a con to most, but I can't stand large screens, I like medium sized screens (~3-4")
So far that's all I found bad. The big issue i'm having now is finding the right phone for me. I have at&t and I can't switch due to family plan, so i'm restricted there, but I have found some phones. Thing is, I can't really decide, I don't know what i should be looking for in hardware. I have checkout engadget reviews, and those have helped, but I don't see them being applied to real-life scenarios very well. Here are some phones I've looked at and why I have liked/hate them. Below is a link to at&t phones available, so if you would like to look and give me a suggestion on a phone, that would be awesome!
Alright, So I put this in a spoiler tab to save space.
The first phone I've looked (very heavily into) is the samsung galaxy s II
Why many have raved about it, I too like it, but there are some draw back to what I see. First off the phone's screen is 4.3". I don't exactly love large phones, since I almost always have one in my pocket. To compare this, my iphone 4's screen is 3.5". A big difference. The other big downer, is that the customer reviews say that they can't get more than 12 hrs of life out of this thing. This concerns me because I use my phone for music A TON, and it's the only way i get my email and social media goodies.
The bright side, though is that it has the social media hub, something that I have been dying to find! This feature is something that I wanted on my iphone, but instead got stuck with a cydia tweak by the name of intelliscreenX. This turns the notification center into something similar of social hub, but instead you flick left and right to see twitter, facebook, mail, and Rss feeds.
The next benefit is the super fast speed and general "happyness" towards the phone. I realize the latter doesn't seem like much of a benefit, but it is reassuring to know the public is satisfied with it. My big concern is still that screen size. Yikes!
P.S. I see there is a galaxy s II Skyrocket (Aka LTE). I am in an lTE area, but is there any other benefits? Right now i'm happy as a bee with 3G and the upgrade to 4G is going to be a boost anyways, so LTE isn't a deciding factor for me.
The next phone is the Samsung Captivate Glide
This phone is a bit meatier (Which I like, I want something that feels like it is in my hand and not some feather if you catch my drift). The screen size is 4" which is better and makes me happier, plus the phone has an external keyboard, which I've never had and may be a good thing, I dunno. Again the phone has a dual core processor, but only clocking in at 1.2 ghz (Not a big difference).
The big cons I see here are battery life and the external keyboard. Should I be afraid of the keyboard? Am I going to find a "better" battery life anywhere or do they all stink this much? Either way, Iphone 4's are rated 7 hrs talk time and 10 hrs video time to give you a benchmark (if you have an iphone that is :tongue.gif: )
Another Phone I invested time in, is the Xperia Play
The real hype behind this phone for me happens to be the game oriented style. While that's great it's also bad. I really need feedback from someone with this phone. A lot of reviewers say they love it, engadget says they "dislike" it. Personally, I don't think I will get this phone, but if you have one and love it, feel free to persuade me.
That's essentially it. From the phones available, these seemed the best, but I could very well be 100% wrong. I would like to step up to 4g, and I would like to have the smaller screen sized phone. But my biggest priority here is Music, Social Media, and Speed. I need a phone that can do music playlists, integrate social media such as twitter, facebook, and even rss is possible. I also need the speed element; when I do play games, they're the more "intensive" ones. :smile.gif:
I will continue looking and getting answers, but there is nothing better than a personal testimonial. So let me know what you (as the experienced android user) think as to what phone is a good choice. I do plan on rooting the phone and putting a rom on there for better battery life and a few misc features that would enhance the experience. If you have a rom you like, let me know about that too!
There's not a huge selection available unfortunately, so if you would like to take a quick gander at what is available, here's a link to available smart-android-phones: http://tinyurl.com/6t98j9s
I do plan on rooting the phone at some point by the way, as I see many people enjoy the benefits of roms :biggrin.gif:
Has all the social media integrated into one place so you can read it all at once, is synced with Xbox Live, has Zune which all you need to do is re-import the MP3's to Zune and I even think there is a compatibility mode with Itunes.
Also, 500th post.
Google MusicStore lets you import from iTunes and up to 20,000 from anywhere else.
Ubuntu also has a cloud service for 2gigs that can be stremed from to an android phone.
Android phones generally pack beefier CPU and GPUs then Iphones.
Android has the ability to be notified from Facebook G+ built in.
Android has custom roms and kernels that can have more features for people who like them or more lean roms for better battery life.
The phones that are popular now are the Galaxy s2 razrmaxx and for moders the galaxy nexus.
The samesungs have a faster cpu but are underclocked to the same speed as the razrs.
The Galaxy S2 defiantly has the best screen it is a LCD compared to the AMOLED on the nexus and razr. The razr screen is the worst and the nexus screen is up there with the S2s.
Amoled has fewer subpixels per pixel but the Nexus is 720p and almost has as many subpixels as the S2.
Nexus gets updates faster then the other too and no non google crapware stuck on it. Razrmaxx has a massive battery and is water resistant.
Both the galaxy and the Gnex have alright battery life Fm87 can comment on his battery life but here is my Galaxy nexus battery life.
Razr is the most locked down out of all three tho. The Gnex is most open and the S2 is a close second.
All have 4G if the razrmaxx has the same antenna as the original Razr and i think it does, The one in the razr is a slower antenna can't pull down as much data and a few other things but most company's don't use fast enough LTE to even use the antenna in the razrmaxx to the max anyway.
The Gnex is limited to 32gigs on board storage.
The razr has 16gig internal and can support up to 32gig microsdcard.
The Galaxy S2 has 16gig internal and supports 32gig microsd.
All can stream music from the google music store. The google music store is also cheaper then Itunes.
Any other questions ask them I think this should have answered most.
Edit:Correcting amounts about Gmusic storage.
This is very useful! You got me thinking, but to clarify, what do you mean by "stream?" Is music supported directly on the device or is internet required? (Sorry if I sound stupid, but I know nothing about android, and I want to be careful before I get stuck with a phone for 2 years)
Also, is twitter supported at all?
Finally, care to give a simple explanation on what these "roms" are? I will do some research on those. Oh and what do you mean by "the razr is the most locked down?" Do you mean you don't have as much control over the phone as the others? (I.E. It's like an iphone before jailbroken?)
Thanks for you're detailed response! I will look into those phones and other ones suggested!
Stream means you can stream any extra music from the cloud should you fill up your device Gmusic has a option to locally store all your music from there servers.
Twitter might be tho I know a custom twitter program that can.
Roms are people who took OpenSource Android and programmed extra features into it. Think of it like Linux distro you have the Moto distro that are built off of the Google distro. The razr has a locked bootloader so putting custom roms is possible really hard to do. Also means no custom kernels.
Razr has Motoblur that actually adds in quite a few features not in standard android google has added a lot.
All stock will have similar features for the most part.
The rom I use has most of the stock features a few extra but is better on battery life and lets me OverClock my phone.
That's really awesome to hear about these roms! The music cloud is very awesome to hear too, my computer's hardrive is being eaten up at the moment by music. I'm currently looking into those phones, and thank you so much! This really has helped guide me, and I'm already liking android over my iphone just from what i'm hearing! Now just to find the right hardware to complete this.
EDIT: Quick google, and the razr and nexus are both verizon exclusives. Will have to look at at&t for alternatives, but the galaxy s II is still available, so hope is not lost!
Galaxy nexus is on At&t you just gotta look up the GSM version.
Pretty much this.
The Galaxy S's are built like tanks, my Captivate might be an older phone but for the $100 I paid I honestly feel it was a good investment and will certainly get my money's worth. I am going to use this thing to death.
Quite a good phone if you ask me.
That's the phone i've really been looking into. The reviews are great and the specs are awesome!
There is one problem I have with it. The touch screen is WAY too sensitive, I can barely touch the screen and it recognizes I'm touching it, which its supposed to do, but I'd like to press a tad bit harder you know.
But overall its good, the Wifi is VERY helpful so you don't sky rocket your data usage.
Another thing thats negative is, it will lag from time to time and it has froze on me doing too many actions so fast. So dont jump from app game to app game from app game to app game in a matter of seconds. It can lag it out or even freeze it.
Well thats all I got to say about it. its a VERY nice phone. Also without a contract on the phones its about 600 bucks :smile.gif: so, you're going to have to be committed to Verizon for 2 years if you want it.
Android will always be better than the iOS/Apple (in my opinion). Android is open source and actually allows you to have that freedom to do whatever you want, now whether or not the phone/SP allows that is a different story.. :3
Also, if your looking to to customizing and really getting the fully potential out of a Device then stay away from Motorola devices. ALL of Motorola's phones have what's called a "locked" bootloader - which means (like the others said) it's more difficult to install Custom ROMS and do not allow for Custom Kernels (unless it's from a OTA update).
That's about all I know, hopefully it provided some help.
A great site to look at for this stuff is the XDA forum. It's entirely dedicated to customizing Phones, tablets, etc. http://forum.xda-developers.com/ Highly active too.
The drop test is kinda irrelevant. The GS II was one of the first androids to use the Gorilla glass, which is made of the same materials they use on helicopter windows (or was it blades?). But yeah, I love Android, you can customize it, no need to jailbreak it, you can switch ROMS if you want and no one will give you any trouble (seeing as it's perfectly legal, seeing as Android is open source, but don't expect the retail store to be happy).
The GS2 was in no way the first android phone to use reinforced glass. The first phone to release with Android the G1 came with gorilla glass. So Android phones have has gorilla glass pretty much standard from the begging.
Every single Motorola phone with android has used gorilla glass Samesung only started using it more recently.
So far i've seen great things:
-Itunes music works/Playlists can be created on phone (Massive concern)
-Most displays are HD (Again, big concern)
-Social Networking is HUGELY integrated (Greatest concern of all and I love it!!!)
-Customization made my jaw drop several times
-Marketplace has some great stuff, that I can't wait to try out
Some con's I've seen:
-Battery seems to be very hard to deal with here? It's like a warzone :blink.gif:
-The screens on these phones are massive! This isn't a con to most, but I can't stand large screens, I like medium sized screens (~3-4")
So far that's all I found bad. The big issue i'm having now is finding the right phone for me. I have at&t and I can't switch due to family plan, so i'm restricted there, but I have found some phones. Thing is, I can't really decide, I don't know what i should be looking for in hardware. I have checkout engadget reviews, and those have helped, but I don't see them being applied to real-life scenarios very well. Here are some phones I've looked at and why I have liked/hate them. Below is a link to at&t phones available, so if you would like to look and give me a suggestion on a phone, that would be awesome!
Alright, So I put this in a spoiler tab to save space.
The first phone I've looked (very heavily into) is the samsung galaxy s II
Why many have raved about it, I too like it, but there are some draw back to what I see. First off the phone's screen is 4.3". I don't exactly love large phones, since I almost always have one in my pocket. To compare this, my iphone 4's screen is 3.5". A big difference. The other big downer, is that the customer reviews say that they can't get more than 12 hrs of life out of this thing. This concerns me because I use my phone for music A TON, and it's the only way i get my email and social media goodies.
The bright side, though is that it has the social media hub, something that I have been dying to find! This feature is something that I wanted on my iphone, but instead got stuck with a cydia tweak by the name of intelliscreenX. This turns the notification center into something similar of social hub, but instead you flick left and right to see twitter, facebook, mail, and Rss feeds.
The next benefit is the super fast speed and general "happyness" towards the phone. I realize the latter doesn't seem like much of a benefit, but it is reassuring to know the public is satisfied with it. My big concern is still that screen size. Yikes!
P.S. I see there is a galaxy s II Skyrocket (Aka LTE). I am in an lTE area, but is there any other benefits? Right now i'm happy as a bee with 3G and the upgrade to 4G is going to be a boost anyways, so LTE isn't a deciding factor for me.
The next phone is the Samsung Captivate Glide
This phone is a bit meatier (Which I like, I want something that feels like it is in my hand and not some feather if you catch my drift). The screen size is 4" which is better and makes me happier, plus the phone has an external keyboard, which I've never had and may be a good thing, I dunno. Again the phone has a dual core processor, but only clocking in at 1.2 ghz (Not a big difference).
The big cons I see here are battery life and the external keyboard. Should I be afraid of the keyboard? Am I going to find a "better" battery life anywhere or do they all stink this much? Either way, Iphone 4's are rated 7 hrs talk time and 10 hrs video time to give you a benchmark (if you have an iphone that is :tongue.gif: )
Another Phone I invested time in, is the Xperia Play
The real hype behind this phone for me happens to be the game oriented style. While that's great it's also bad. I really need feedback from someone with this phone. A lot of reviewers say they love it, engadget says they "dislike" it. Personally, I don't think I will get this phone, but if you have one and love it, feel free to persuade me.
That's essentially it. From the phones available, these seemed the best, but I could very well be 100% wrong. I would like to step up to 4g, and I would like to have the smaller screen sized phone. But my biggest priority here is Music, Social Media, and Speed. I need a phone that can do music playlists, integrate social media such as twitter, facebook, and even rss is possible. I also need the speed element; when I do play games, they're the more "intensive" ones. :smile.gif:
I will continue looking and getting answers, but there is nothing better than a personal testimonial. So let me know what you (as the experienced android user) think as to what phone is a good choice. I do plan on rooting the phone and putting a rom on there for better battery life and a few misc features that would enhance the experience. If you have a rom you like, let me know about that too!
There's not a huge selection available unfortunately, so if you would like to take a quick gander at what is available, here's a link to available smart-android-phones: http://tinyurl.com/6t98j9s
I do plan on rooting the phone at some point by the way, as I see many people enjoy the benefits of roms :biggrin.gif:
For music Listening to flac encoded audio It uses about 1% every hour. 100 hours is not great but if you really need the battery life just get a extended battery.
Trust me after you touch a 4.3in screen you will never go back to an Iphone or something with a tiny screen they feel like childrens fake phones.
I should also mention that 2 day 5 hours is on a overclocked phone too.
I'm sorry but did you say 100 FREAKING HOURS GEE-ZUS!!! My iphone lasts like 20! What in god's name is your phone on man!
100 hours LISTENING TO MUSIC WITH ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING TURNED OFF.