Just curious as I have been through quite a few in the past year or so. Swappa has been a godsend to feed my habit.
I have been the type that keeps changing phones looking for the perfect phone. I have found what is the best for my use currently and will explain my totally non-scientific comparison of phones and how I came to what phone provided the best use for me. I have had the Nexus 4, HTC One, Galaxy S4, Nexus 5, Moto X and Note 3 over the past 12 months or so. Each were used as my daily driver as I like to actually use them myself to see how they work for me and what I use a phone for.
A little comparison of the phones follows (except for the Nexus 4 as the Nexus 5 does everything it did but better in every respect). The phones are compared ALL stock, no custom kernels or custom ROM's as I got tired of trying out different ones and just wanted to use the phone rather than spending time finding stable ones that in most cases did not work as well as stock.
I ranked each on a simple 1 to 5 scale in a couple of categories, with 1 being the best and 5 the worst (or lowest), all in my opinion.
* In Hand Feel - how it feels to hold and use
1 - Moto X
2 - HTC One
3 - Nexus 5
4 - Galaxy S4
5 - Note 3
* Battery Life - how long does the battery last - not standby - but actual screen on time
1 - Note 3 - really none of the others even come close to actual screen on time
2 - Moto X
3 - Galaxy S4
4 - HTC One
5 - Nexus 5
* Camera - ease of use and quality of pictures when viewed on a computer
1 - Galaxy S4
2 - Note 3
3 - Nexus 5
4 - HTC One
5 - Moto X
* Screen - image quality, text quality, overall how things look on the screen
1 - Nexus 5
2 - HTC One
3 - Note 3
4 - Galaxy S4
5 - Moto X
* Speed - not raw speed, but how fluid or quick normal use feels when you actually use it
1 - Nexus 5
2 - Note 3
3 - Moto X
4 - HTC One
5 - Galaxy S4
* Intangibles - special stuff phone provides, does or just is special to that phone
1 - Moto X - Active Notifications is spectacular
2 - Note 3 - size and S-pen
3 - Nexus 5 - stock Android and overall performance
4 - HTC One - build and Sense (I liked how Sense worked with the One)
5 - Galaxy S4 - nothing really special for my use
If I total them up, the final tally is:
15 - Note 3
16 - Nexus 5
17 - Moto X (was surprised by this as it does not excel in any one area, but just works)
20 - HTC One
22 - Galaxy S4
In the end, I went with the bigger screen and longest battery life as those provide the best experience for how I use my phone (more or less a pocketable computer). I primarily use my phone for surfing the web on the go, GPS and texting with actual calling very low on the list.
The Note 3 fits in my pants pockets whether wearing jeans or dress pants to the office. I don't use the S-pen often but when I need to take a quick note or write a phone number it is quick and easy. It's plenty fast, but not as quick as the Nexus 5. The screen provides the best experience while surfing the web, watching a video or movie, but the smaller screens have crisper text and images. The camera is very good but not great (actually none of the current crop of Android phones compare very favorably to the ease of use and actual picture compared to the iPhone 5s, but they are all good enough for my picture/video taking needs). Size of the Note 3 can be an issue in certain situations, but I generally use any phone 2 handed so it is rarely an issue.
Active Notifications on the Moto X really is the only thing that I miss as it really is a great user experience and is something that I do miss, but other than that the Moto X did not really compare. I used Dashclock on my Nexus 5 and it provides some of the same type user experience, but requires you to turn the phone on to see notifications. I could never get Dashclock to work with the Note 3 as Samsung has some type of security measure in place that blocks the function when you use a PIN or pattern for the lockscreen. Tried enabling it through WidgetLocker, but no success doing that, so I just live without it on the Note 3.
I use the Note 3 as my daily driver and have been very satisfied with it. I would still be using the Nexus 5 as it really is an excellent phone but the battery life just could not compare and it seemed like I was always charging it.
So why do you use the phone you have?
I have been the type that keeps changing phones looking for the perfect phone. I have found what is the best for my use currently and will explain my totally non-scientific comparison of phones and how I came to what phone provided the best use for me. I have had the Nexus 4, HTC One, Galaxy S4, Nexus 5, Moto X and Note 3 over the past 12 months or so. Each were used as my daily driver as I like to actually use them myself to see how they work for me and what I use a phone for.
A little comparison of the phones follows (except for the Nexus 4 as the Nexus 5 does everything it did but better in every respect). The phones are compared ALL stock, no custom kernels or custom ROM's as I got tired of trying out different ones and just wanted to use the phone rather than spending time finding stable ones that in most cases did not work as well as stock.
I ranked each on a simple 1 to 5 scale in a couple of categories, with 1 being the best and 5 the worst (or lowest), all in my opinion.
* In Hand Feel - how it feels to hold and use
1 - Moto X
2 - HTC One
3 - Nexus 5
4 - Galaxy S4
5 - Note 3
* Battery Life - how long does the battery last - not standby - but actual screen on time
1 - Note 3 - really none of the others even come close to actual screen on time
2 - Moto X
3 - Galaxy S4
4 - HTC One
5 - Nexus 5
* Camera - ease of use and quality of pictures when viewed on a computer
1 - Galaxy S4
2 - Note 3
3 - Nexus 5
4 - HTC One
5 - Moto X
* Screen - image quality, text quality, overall how things look on the screen
1 - Nexus 5
2 - HTC One
3 - Note 3
4 - Galaxy S4
5 - Moto X
* Speed - not raw speed, but how fluid or quick normal use feels when you actually use it
1 - Nexus 5
2 - Note 3
3 - Moto X
4 - HTC One
5 - Galaxy S4
* Intangibles - special stuff phone provides, does or just is special to that phone
1 - Moto X - Active Notifications is spectacular
2 - Note 3 - size and S-pen
3 - Nexus 5 - stock Android and overall performance
4 - HTC One - build and Sense (I liked how Sense worked with the One)
5 - Galaxy S4 - nothing really special for my use
If I total them up, the final tally is:
15 - Note 3
16 - Nexus 5
17 - Moto X (was surprised by this as it does not excel in any one area, but just works)
20 - HTC One
22 - Galaxy S4
In the end, I went with the bigger screen and longest battery life as those provide the best experience for how I use my phone (more or less a pocketable computer). I primarily use my phone for surfing the web on the go, GPS and texting with actual calling very low on the list.
The Note 3 fits in my pants pockets whether wearing jeans or dress pants to the office. I don't use the S-pen often but when I need to take a quick note or write a phone number it is quick and easy. It's plenty fast, but not as quick as the Nexus 5. The screen provides the best experience while surfing the web, watching a video or movie, but the smaller screens have crisper text and images. The camera is very good but not great (actually none of the current crop of Android phones compare very favorably to the ease of use and actual picture compared to the iPhone 5s, but they are all good enough for my picture/video taking needs). Size of the Note 3 can be an issue in certain situations, but I generally use any phone 2 handed so it is rarely an issue.
Active Notifications on the Moto X really is the only thing that I miss as it really is a great user experience and is something that I do miss, but other than that the Moto X did not really compare. I used Dashclock on my Nexus 5 and it provides some of the same type user experience, but requires you to turn the phone on to see notifications. I could never get Dashclock to work with the Note 3 as Samsung has some type of security measure in place that blocks the function when you use a PIN or pattern for the lockscreen. Tried enabling it through WidgetLocker, but no success doing that, so I just live without it on the Note 3.
I use the Note 3 as my daily driver and have been very satisfied with it. I would still be using the Nexus 5 as it really is an excellent phone but the battery life just could not compare and it seemed like I was always charging it.
So why do you use the phone you have?