looking for android phone

Corban227

Corban227

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soo this will be my first smart phone purchase, and i have no idea what to look for... lol. i was talking to my friend who loves android but he was vague on the brands and what is a better phone. right now im looking to go on either att or verizon (doesn't matter to me right now) but im compleetly unsure on what phone to get. just from looking i love the nexus s but i dont have 500 to spend on a phone and ive heard negative things about t-mobile. I love all the google apps that are out afte playing with some phones, but i don't know which phone is the better one to get. help apreciated
 
Wait till the end of the month and get the HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon. If you need one like right now a Droid Incredible or Droid X will do you well.
 
Id wait as Vermillion said, but actually recommend the Samsung Fascinate if you must buy now. Custom Roms make it truly first class.
 
Another vote for the Samsung. The Fascinate is called the Galaxy S Vibrant up north in Canada. Same phone basically. I believe the Fascinate has a LED flash which my Vibrant doesnt have :(
 
Jerkson said:
Another vote for the Samsung. The Fascinate is called the Galaxy S Vibrant up north in Canada. Same phone basically. I believe the Fascinate has a LED flash which my Vibrant doesnt have :(
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in the states the Fascinate is on ATT, the Vibrant is on T-Mobile
 
Cali3350 said:
Id wait as Vermillion said, but actually recommend the Samsung Fascinate if you must buy now. Custom Roms make it truly first class.
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I certainly could recommend a Samsung phone provided the OP wants to root and run custom ROM's. I can't recommend Samsung if the OP just wants a stock phone. Samsung's support and upgrading of their Android phones is beyond pathetic. HTC has the best track record for getting upgrades out to their phones (not to mention they are the fastest as well). Motorola is next in line after HTC.
 
HTC thunderbolt sounds interesting. are the download speeds on verizon good? and what makes the thunderbolt so special? also i know with the current (either HTC or samsung, cant remeber which one) on verizon, i know that they put bing search on the phone instead of gogle, which would drive me crazy. will the thunderbolt use google?
 
Corban227 said:
HTC thunderbolt sounds interesting. are the download speeds on verizon good? and what makes the thunderbolt so special? also i know with the current (either HTC or samsung, cant remeber which one) on verizon, i know that they put bing search on the phone instead of gogle, which would drive me crazy. will the thunderbolt use google?
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Thunderbolt is a slightly upgraded version of the EVO 4G. Thunderbolt is a single core 1GHz with 768MB RAM and will be LTE. It is also the first phone to allow voice and data at the same time while on CDMA. How well that works nobody knows yet. Right now Thunderbolt I could see replacing my trusty Droid unless Droid Bionic's bootloader is unlocked.

Also there is a new Samsung phone being announced this month. On the 13th or something like that. Nobody knows if it's Verizon/AT&T/Tmobile/Sprint yet. HTC is also rumored to have a dual-core phone for Verizon up its sleeve as well.

I find Verizon's speeds acceptable for 3G. AT&T is generally faster supposedly but I'll take slower and more reliable over AT&T any day of the week.

Once they root the Thunderbolt all the Bing stuff isn't a big deal. You just remove it. :p
 
as this is my first smart phone i dont really know how to remove everything. now ive read a little about how it kills your warranty etc but in all honesty how many of you have actually used your warranty.
 
Corban227 said:
as this is my first smart phone i dont really know how to remove everything. now ive read a little about how it kills your warranty etc but in all honesty how many of you have actually used your warranty.
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Never have used it. I've been rooted and ROM'd since I got my Droid and have never looked back.
 
Corban227 said:
as this is my first smart phone i dont really know how to remove everything. now ive read a little about how it kills your warranty etc but in all honesty how many of you have actually used your warranty.
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I have (touchscreen stopped responding on original Droid). Phone was rooted. It is incredibly easy to flash back to stock though before taking it back in for a warranty claim ;)
 
Just to clarify, all of Sprint's 4g cdma phones allow for simultaneous voice and data when using 4g.
 
Vermillion said:
Once they root the Thunderbolt all the Bing stuff isn't a big deal. You just remove it. :p
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SMH @ Bing. I didn't think they would include that on the Thunderbolt. I think they even removed it in the Fascinate 2.2 update...
 
Motorola is next in line after HTC
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Only on some phones...it took them forever and a day to get 2.1 on the Cliq, and it is still lame and needed tons of tweaking.

The problem with Moto is, they have good designs, but they crank millions of them out, like they do cable boxes, and well, QA just ain't what it used to be.
 
Corban227 said:
soo this will be my first smart phone purchase, and i have no idea what to look for... lol. i was talking to my friend who loves android but he was vague on the brands and what is a better phone. right now im looking to go on either att or verizon (doesn't matter to me right now) but im compleetly unsure on what phone to get. just from looking i love the nexus s but i dont have 500 to spend on a phone and ive heard negative things about t-mobile. I love all the google apps that are out afte playing with some phones, but i don't know which phone is the better one to get. help apreciated
Click to expand...

the network should matter more than the phone, a great phone on a shitty network is still shitty, that being said, i have had a phone through every major US carrier in the last 12 years and traveled the country with most of them, and the Verizon network is far far better than any other network period, no question there.

i use the Samsung Fascinate which is pretty high end in terms of hardware capability. it outperforms the Droid X or Incredible from a hardware stance and even running 2.1 Eclair OS when those others are running 2.2 already....and its about to get Froyo (2.2 OS) which makes it a great deal faster (actually i have Froyo now, just not officially)

new phones should be coming out soon, but seriously, do NOT choose a carrier based on the phone...LOL thats crazy. choose the best carrier for your area which will almost always be Verizon and then find the phone you like that is on their network ;)
 
Vermillion said:
I certainly could recommend a Samsung phone provided the OP wants to root and run custom ROM's. I can't recommend Samsung if the OP just wants a stock phone. Samsung's support and upgrading of their Android phones is beyond pathetic. HTC has the best track record for getting upgrades out to their phones (not to mention they are the fastest as well). Motorola is next in line after HTC.
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+1.

I can't speak for Motorola or HTC, but I can definitely speak about Samsung's slowness. Technically I'm still waiting on the official 2.2 update.

In reality, I'm running a custom 2.2 ROM (Quantum 2.7.0 specifically) and loving it. I tried the stock 2.2 leak and it felt very sluggish compared to the default 2.1. But it especially felt slow compared to this ROM I'm running now.

So yes. I would say don't bother with a Galaxy S unless you know you're rooting and going custom.

Edit: If for some reason you end up on Sprint, stay away from the Transform. I tried it at the Sprint store since I didn't want to blow the money I did on an Epic, and man...it was like holding the embodiment of disappointment in my hands. It seriously felt like Samsung made that phone for the "desperate to be on Android, come hell or highwater" crowd, and also to sell the Epic. The sheer swiftness of the Epic over the Transform in the store, even on a fresh boot and factory reset, was like watching a funny car take on a kid in a wheelchair in a drag race.
 
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2.2 is out now for pretty much every Samsung Galaxy S phone now, officially or unofficially....while they may have been behind, these phones are better off than any of the others now....it was worth the wait for me, glad i bought it instead of the Droid X.

The Fascinate (Galaxy S phones in general) has a far superior camera by the way, really good for a phone cam, it is only rated 5MP compared to the Droid X 8MP but it takes better pictures still
 
nobody_here said:
2.2 is out now for pretty much every Samsung Galaxy S phone now, officially or unofficially....while they may have been behind, these phones are better off than any of the others now....it was worth the wait for me, glad i bought it instead of the Droid X.

The Fascinate (Galaxy S phones in general) has a far superior camera by the way, really good for a phone cam, it is only rated 5MP compared to the Droid X 8MP but it takes better pictures still
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And it recorder simulates Dolby 5.1 surround sound. That is the only thing I envy on my wife's Fascinate. But then again, I am running SkyRaider Athena on my Incredible so in the end, I win..lol
 
Corban227 said:
the thunderbolt is looking really nice. what is LTE by the way?
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LTE is 4g. Its much faster data transfer than 3G (just as 3G was much faster than EDGE). Its only in major market cities right now (though will be rolled out countrywide by end of next year i believe).
 
I'm with nobody. Find the carrier you want first. I have 3 friends with iphones because they all thought they were sweet. Lo and behold none of them have service at there house, and I mean no service. If I am lucky to actually get a call through I have 30 seconds before it is dropped by thier phones (maybe they are holding it wrong? :p).

Personally I spent a good deal of time looking at the droid x and galaxy s. The s was nicer in that it was super slim and colors were better but the gps was piss poor slow and text looked really wierd because the screen isn't a normal grid. The droid x had a lot nice text and the bigger screen was a plus and gps didn't blow. Speed wise they are pretty much the same on the stock roms. I probably would have been happy with either of them but the text won me over on the droid x.
 
If you're looking at Verizon and Motorola phones and can wait until April, I'd get a Droid Bionic. If it doesn't have a locked bootloader, it's going to be amazing.
 
I'm hesitant on my next phone being 4.3." Just seems too big for me. Where are all the Verizon 4" phones?
 
Dallows said:
I'm hesitant on my next phone being 4.3." Just seems too big for me. Where are all the Verizon 4" phones?
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I don't there is such a thing as too big. :p Honestly the droid x fits perfectly in my pocket I don't even notice it is there.
 
Dallows said:
I'm hesitant on my next phone being 4.3." Just seems too big for me. Where are all the Verizon 4" phones?
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I was the same....droid x was just freakishly big. the samoled. on the fascinate grabbed me, it's 4" and nice

I just got through loading the recently compiled DL30 Froyo Superclean modded rom. on my Fascinate and its friggin fast as hell.
 
munkle said:
I'm with nobody. Find the carrier you want first. I have 3 friends with iphones because they all thought they were sweet. Lo and behold none of them have service at there house, and I mean no service. If I am lucky to actually get a call through I have 30 seconds before it is dropped by thier phones (maybe they are holding it wrong? :p).

Personally I spent a good deal of time looking at the droid x and galaxy s. The s was nicer in that it was super slim and colors were better but the gps was piss poor slow and text looked really wierd because the screen isn't a normal grid. The droid x had a lot nice text and the bigger screen was a plus and gps didn't blow. Speed wise they are pretty much the same on the stock roms. I probably would have been happy with either of them but the text won me over on the droid x.
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In regards to the Galaxy S GPS being crap, the custom ROMs have that fixed for the most part. There's also an easy fix that worked really well for me per the GPS Test app. Prior to the fix I was seeing at best 3 satellites on a good day. Now I average 5-9 satellites. Sprint Nav, Google Maps, and Navigation all lock onto location almost instantly. Before, I'd be lucky if those things would work at all.
 
nobody_here said:
I was the same....droid x was just freakishly big. the samoled. on the fascinate grabbed me, it's 4" and nice

I just got through loading the recently compiled DL30 Froyo Superclean modded rom. on my Fascinate and its friggin fast as hell.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Fascinate is old news now though. If I upgrade I want something new. LTE ready, Tegra2 and the works.

lol.
 
but as far as the thunderbolt vs the bionic, wouldn't it be better to have more ram that a dual core processor? id think the processor would run the battery down way too fast. also how does motorola fair against an HTC? ive only heard good about an htc and i haven't heard anythign about motorola
 
Corban227 said:
but as far as the thunderbolt vs the bionic, wouldn't it be better to have more ram that a dual core processor? id think the processor would run the battery down way too fast. also how does motorola fair against an HTC? ive only heard good about an htc and i haven't heard anythign about motorola
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I've asked that question about Tegra 2 versus RAM as well and I would assume that if a game or other app comes out that really makes use of the Tegra 2 more RAM would be very beneficial. This is why Motorola is getting lambasted about the Bionic vs. Atrix as Bionic appears to be a neutered Atrix since Bionic has half the RAM.

HTC vs. Motorola is easier. HTC has pretty much kept their phones open to customizing. That's easily seen just by visiting the CyanogenMod forums and seeing all the HTC phones they support. There's only a single Motorola phone - the trusty Droid.

Motorola's phone are very good. Can't argue against that. Motorola has locked down the bootloader on the Droid 2 and Droid X so while you can load a custom ROM you can't do a custom kernel. They are supposedly changing this policy but time will tell. Whether Bionic has that policy change or not who knows.

HTC does better support and upgrades to phone software but Motorola has been pretty good with it as well so I'd call that a wash.
 
Guys, do you know the Android phones (!) which have ultimate audio options? I know Cowon releasing their new players, but they haven't GSM module so it is not a replacement for excellent Cowon Curve S9.

Looking for Android phone to replace my good old K750i to get Groups, rich phonebook, etc.
 
Feb 13th the htc inspire 4g comes out on att. That would be my recommendation
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Dallows said:
Yeah. Fascinate is old news now though. If I upgrade I want something new. LTE ready, Tegra2 and the works.

lol.
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im not paying for LTE service when what i have is already fast as hell, i would not benefit from LTE, same as at home internet service. my cable co offers 10 mbps, 20, 30 and 50 i tried the 20 and it was no different from the 10 other than torrent download speeds....paying extra for that one feature is not for me, if it made everything i do faster then yes, its worth it

Tegra2 is only going to be readily available on Atrix on ATT and thats an instant no, ill never go back to using an ATT mobile, after spending years traveling the country for work carrying two phones, one my VZW and one their ATT....i now know the truth, VZW has far superior service, i'd rather have around 1mbps connection everywhere than 3mbps in some areas and nothing in others....

just giving you my reasoning why i dont even take those things into consideration, you have to decide whats best for you
 
Tmobile is releasing a vibrant 4g which adds a front facing camera and tmobile 4g speeds by the end of the month. And the nexus s is a gorgeous piece of gadgetry (it is the phone I personally use, Vanilla android rocks)

ATT has some super phones coming out including the Samsung Infuse 4g and the HTC Inspire 4g, but the mother of all android phones has to be the Motorola Atrix 4g dropping march 6th i believe.

If your going with verizon then the thunderbolt is the hand down winner

either way you go you wont be disappointed with the little green robot :)
 
I've been using Inspire 4g (aka HTC Desire HD) and Moto Atrix...

Atrix is awesome, but I hate Motoblur... and the fact that you need a SIM card to use it (can use HTC fully without one).
 
The biggest problem with the atrix will be that its made by motorolla.. Means that it will come with motoblur & the rom scene will be a little lacking compared to some others.
 
BDV said:
I've been using Inspire 4g (aka HTC Desire HD) and Moto Atrix...

Atrix is awesome, but I hate Motoblur... and the fact that you need a SIM card to use it (can use HTC fully without one).
Click to expand...

How does new motoblur work on the ateix? Does it slow down the powerhouse? How intrusive is it compared to stock Android? I love my nexus s, but these tegra 2 beasts are tempting me
 
I plan on getting the Thunderbolt. It comes with 40gb of storage and more ram than any other phone on VZW, which is more important for multitasking than raw processor speed.

Additionally, dual core support isn't built in to any of old apps, or the apps that will be released in the near future. Until damn near every phone in use is dual core, the majority of apps will be designed to run on a single core, although they will be ever-increasingly taking advantage of dual core chips.

IMO, it'll be a year before dual core phones are really utilized and it'll be another year still until it's the standard.
 
FRZ said:
How does new motoblur work on the ateix? Does it slow down the powerhouse? How intrusive is it compared to stock Android? I love my nexus s, but these tegra 2 beasts are tempting me
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It felt very smooth, no slowdowns that I could notice.
 
{EB}NuTSymPToM{EB} said:
Additionally, dual core support isn't built in to any of old apps, or the apps that will be released in the near future. Until damn near every phone in use is dual core, the majority of apps will be designed to run on a single core, although they will be ever-increasingly taking advantage of dual core chips.

IMO, it'll be a year before dual core phones are really utilized and it'll be another year still until it's the standard.
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You have no idea what you are talking about.
 
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