What are you currently using? What have you tried? What are you after?

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Shadowprice

2[H]4U
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Just thought I would make a general purpose thread on what everyone is using right now for their mobile device, what people are looking for, and what you've tried, just to get a general consensus of what people like, and what they want. I know these discussions go on all the time but I thought it would be nice to put it in one thread. I like that we have threads for specific models, but this one serves as a good roadmap to what people are going to be gauging towards for the end of the year, or are you just simply staying put?

This is for 2015.

Anyways I'll go first :)

Current device: iPhone 6 16GB

Just gives me the most consistent experience out of everything I've tried. The fluidity and smooth operation, quality of applications and easy handling.

I've tried the iPhone 6 Plus, Moto X 2014, and Nexus 6 (just for a few days). Galaxy S6

At the time the 6 Plus was just a little too big for my tastes when I was using it. But I may be reviewing it again this year with the 6S Plus. I loved the Moto X 2014 model, and honestly, if you made me pick between the IP6 and Moto X I would honestly probably be just as happy with either one. If I had to give up my iPhone 6 and use the Moto X it wouldn't shatter my world, I'd be fine with it. Battery life is never a concern for me. I'm always near a charger and with the Moto X I would load up on a few 2.0 Quick Chargers.

The Nexus 6 was just too damn big and to cumbersome to be a daily driver for me. Fun to use in the house but outside of that, very uncomfortable. I don't know how you guys do it!

The Galaxy S6 was awesome but Samsung is Samsung at the end of the day. TouchWiz despite being ironed out still showed its ugly colors and I still had lag and slow downs. Not to mention I think TouchWiz is just such a ugly UI. :( Beautiful hardware though. If Samsung stepped up their software game they would be a good contender for me. I don't root or do any modding to my phones.

I do want to upgrade this year because for the first time I think 16GB is just to small for storage space. I've been finding myself downloading a few more games, taking some more pictures, and I just want to have some extra storage on hand, plus I do think it helps with the resale value. People now are pursuing higher storage options in general to. 32GB is going to be my new minimum.

1. iPhone 6S / 6S Plus - This one is obvious for me because iOS just keeps getting it right. I always get entertained with a phablet but every time I actually use it I end up wanting something smaller.

2. Moto X Style/Pure edition 2015 - Excellent value and seems like a awesome phone on paper. Will it be too big for me is the question here, I'm kind of let down that Motorola is making their mainstream flagship a phablet, I wish they would of offered a compact one to go along with it. I know they have the Moto G but I do want some more specs and a better looking screen.

3. The next Droid branded device (Maxx 2 / Turbo 2) - Being a VZW employee this is always a consideration, but every Droid branded device that has come out is hysterically slow on updates and they seem to always have a few problems here and there. I may consider it if they change their practices but generally I am trying to stay away from carrier phones.

4. Nexus 2015 - I'll be really excited if the LG Nexus 2015 is a go. This will seem to be the perfect size for me. VZW is started to now allow unlocked phones on its carrier now, it's started off with the Nexus 6 and non-VZW iPhones and it will be adding others. I'm excited to see what a possible LG Nexus 2015 will bring, especially if the price point is competitive and affordable. I love stock Android. The Moto X is the closet any Android has ever been from detaching me from iOS. If this is real and has good specs and a good price, I'll pick it over the 6S.

How about you guys?
 
Note 3. I want to replace it with something that runs vanilla Android and has an AMOLED screen. Too bad all of these dumbass phone manufacturers are obsessed with using LCDs.
 
Note 3 here as well. Was hoping the Note 5 would be the upgrade for me but its not. I'm also seeking less spying from the OS I use and/or more features but not anything less.

I'm actually looking at Apples upcoming release as my next phone upgrade as what I paid for shouldn't spy on me like Facebook (a free program) and Apple (although another evil) is more of a hardware company than a data mining company. Privacy > convenience.
 
iPhone 6 plus.

I had a iPhone 6 for about 9 months, and convinced myself to trade it in for the note 4. It was ok, but Android is still a very subpar experience as a daily media driver for me (no ''back" headset button for music, audio doesn't cut out / up correctly ). After a week took it back and got a iPhone 6 plus.

Will probably get the 6s plus next month.
 
Iphone 6 plus.
Work paid for it and pays my phone bill too. I don't want to carry around 2 phones so my android phones are probably going to be sold soon.
 
Just switched to a G Flex 2 after using the Xperia Z Ultra for a year. I'm finding it hard to type with two hands on a 5.5" screen now. And not having stock Android sucks.
 
Currently: Galaxy S4 on CM12.something - I fucking hate this thing. I have never been able to find a stable ROM that even allows basic functions to work properly. I would go back to stock ROM if it was on the phone still. everything I hated about Android 2.3, still here. Once I can get an acceptable replacement, its getting smashed, ran over, lit on fire and then drowned. I will then allow a 2 year old to play with it, just to make sure it is dead.

Previous: Nokia Lumia 928 - loved this phone, did everything I wanted it to and was stable. died 5 months ago when the headphone jack effectively took out the ear set. no where to get repaired. got the SGS4 hoping something new would be available by now.

SGS1 (Sprint Epic) - android 2.3 - had this for 3 years, was ok for about a year and then slowly went to hell. part of it was android, part of it was sprint

Moto RAZR - Original, rocked the black one from day 1 for about 4-5 years. loved that phone

NEXT: if becomes available again, a Pre-Paid Lumia ICON, if not another 928. once the flagship WP10 products launch I will move to one of them. I have tired stock and modded android, it doesn't work as well for me as WP8/8.1. can't wait to get back.
 
Big post ahead...

I have a Motorola Droid MAXX that's been very good to me, a craigslist special for $50 as the previous owner wanted to upgrade to something better and admitted he got two MAXX's for basically nothing with a new contract so I bought both of 'em for $100, one for me, one for the spouse.

I've done some customization on them in terms of root/Xposed/Gravity Box/Viper4Android, etc but they're pretty much stock Android 4.4.4 and I see no reason to move to Android 5.0 because I can't stand Lollipop at all. This will limit me, of course, when I do choose to upgrade because pretty much every new device will have that pre-installed and I won't have much choice so, I suppose if I do have to move to another device anytime soon I'll just look for another MAXX to replace this one or something that stopped upgrading with KitKat.

The battery life on this MAXX which is 2 years old now is still astounding: I typically go 3.5 days between charges and that's with having T-Mobile LTE service when I'm out and about (for data) and Wi-Fi when I'm at home, screen at about 15% brightness (it's an AMOLED panel), with a lot of audio streaming of various kinds and about 5-6 hours of SOT overall. The damned thing just lasts a really really long time on a solid charge. Even today's high end monsters pale in comparison to this kind of battery life and they're supposed to be more efficient in every respect: screen, CPU, GPU, etc. This 3500 mAh battery in the MAXX is awesome, and probably the Droid TURBO might be the only thing I'd consider a match for it.

I've owned an LG G2 and G3 in the recent past, the G2 is still to this day one damned fine device and I would consider getting another one after this MAXX up and dies (doubtful anytime soon). Battery life on the G2 was also pretty astonishing giving me well over 1.5 days of battery life between charges (same type of usage mentioned above) and about the same 5-6 hours of SOT. The G3 I had wasn't bad but the battery life was atrocious - I blame LG for that because they just HAD to put that Quad HD screen in it and it just wasn't optimized for that display and it ruined the battery life. Now, I love the G3, really, but if it had come with a proper 1920x1080 panel in it I'd consider it pretty much perfect and still own it. Unfortunately, it didn't, and I don't, and that's that.

I really want a G4, honestly I do, with the yellow leather back and a black front assembly, got this thing for yellow and black color combinations, but it's just not doable right now unless I lucked out on one super cheap in great condition. I check craigslist regularly because I've found many great deals there including this pair of MAXXs for $100 but the cheapest I've seen a G4 so far has been like $325 and that's with a shattered digitizer (it still worked, just had the spider-web shatter pattern but still responded to touch completely). Wasn't interested in having to fork over that much and then another $100-150 for the replacement display assembly so I passed on it.

The Moto G 2015 looks really nice for the price, it's not the most powerful thing but as a solid smartphone with some features that my Droid MAXX has but it improves on it by giving me a microSD slot which I really prefer smartphones to have. The MAXX is basically Verizon's version of the original Moto X just with a much larger battery and different form factor, like the Droid Ultra - same as the MAXX with a smaller battery - and the Droid Mini - same as the Ultra but with a smaller display - happen to be. The Moto G also has a battery saving feature known as a 1280x720 display - the same that my MAXX has, and to be perfectly honest, it's the resolution I prefer on a smartphone. I don't give a damn about 1920x1080, nor Quad HD crazy insane resolutions, it's just irrelevant to me personally but I know some people just gotta have it.

Basically there ain't a flagship on the market today that I care about except:

- the Motorola Droid TURBO 64GB model because muh battery life unmatched (still wish it had a damned microSD slot, shit, and yes I know it has a Quad HD display, ugh, but I can tolerate it because of the battery) - downside is there's no Droid TURBO Developer Edition so we won't be seeing any bootloader unlocks anytime soon I think

- the LG G4 because it just has everything I want in a smartphone (I just wish it didn't have that damned Quad HD display nor that price tag sadly)

- the Motorola Moto Maxx which is sold outside the US unfortunately (you can find the product page here - it's Brazillian so it's Portuguese, might use Google Chrome to view it which can auto-translate the content) - the model number is XT1250 and apparently the bootloader is unlockable with that one (it's a Droid TURBO basically just for non-domestic US use and can even be flashed with the Droid TURBO ROMs directly) - it also has 64GB of storage so it's usable for sure and the bootloader aspect makes it more appealing than the Droid TURBO itself I suppose

and honestly that's about it. I know about the Asus Zenphone 2 which has some crazy specs for a great price but, it's just not anything I care about. And other devices typically just bore me overall:

- Samsung screwed us long time loyal customers (I still have an original Samsung Galaxy S Captivate 1st gen model here with me that I use basically as an iPod touch in most respects - that Wolfson DAC + Voodoo Sound just make it amazing as a DAP) by dumping microSD expansion and removable batteries in their latest models so to hell with them from now on

- Google's Nexus line has never appealed to me because of the same reasons - no microSD expansion or removable batteries - so I've never owned one. The only Nexus that ever interested me was the Galaxy Nexus which was a damned nice device overall but I never owned one.

- OnePlus One is a nice device, has amazing battery life (I've seen some people with 12+ hours of SOT on average which is awesome) but the device itself is just lacking, and yes, no microSD/no removable battery is a no-go for me primarily. The OnePlus Two does nothing to improve on that so I'd pass on that as well

- Motorola Mobility has had a change (and I don't mean just the owner of the company since Lenovo owns them now, not Google) and they're putting microSD slots in almost every new device including the Moto G 2015 and the Moto X Play and Style so that's a big step in the right direction. I know they'll probably never give us a removable battery but, considering how long the MAXX lasts - and I owned a Motorola Atrix HD in the past and did the RAZR battery mod which replaces the stock one in the Atrix HD with the one from the RAZR MAXX (a 3500 mAh battery) and gave me days of battery life - I don't have a big problem with it for those models because they've given us expandable storage as did the Atrix HD itself

and that's about it I suppose. Sure there's dozens of new devices coming constantly it seems but I prefer to stick with hardware as long as it works and nothing better happens to come along (in terms of availability meaning whether I can afford it or if I think it's worth the price). Our society has now fully embraced the concept of "planned obsolescence" even in spite of just how awful a concept it actually is and there's no turning back now.

But finding decent non-Lollipop hardware is going to become a problem here fast, unfortunately. I may just have to bite the bullet here soon and deal with it but I just can't stand most anything about it personally, that's just how it goes sometimes.
 
Would it be possible not to allow Zorachus to post on this thread? :)
 
Currently on a Microsoft/Lumia 640 XL, ATT running WP 8.1.

Previously used:
Windows Mobile 5.x devices (imate SP-5 then HTC Dual)
Iphone4
Nexus 4
now on the 640XL.

Hardware wise the iPhone wins, but I didnt care for the OS. With the Nexus 4 I came to appreciate Android in its unmolested form but missed the hardware. Still sorting out the 640XL, but so far its a great device. The apps available and their quality, however, holds it back.

Things that are important to me:
-Decent battery life. Does not have to be marathon, just not annoying. Nexus 4 was annoying. 640XL is great.
-Good camera. Does not have to contend with my DSLR, but needs to be reasonable. Nexus 4 was not so hot. iP4 good. 640XL great in well lit situations.
-Clean OS with updates. Nexus 4 rocked here and iPhone was iOS. Customization better on Android. Waiting to see what WP10 holds.
-Quality Apps. I dont usually think about this, but after having gotten a Windows phone, there are apps that are missed and apps that under perform compared to their iOS and Android counterparts. Hoping this changes as I am pleasantly surprised by the WP platform. I am able to get stuff done on it pretty seamlessly. Yes, there are limitations, but every platform has them, its just deciding which ones limit you the least.

Running the 640XL while the next batch of phones drops. If I go Android, Motorola X pure all the way as I fear the Nexus will compromise too much.

If I go iPhone, I would think the 6+s. The size is not as big of a hurdle as I originally though of phablet phones.

If WP10, the new Lumia flagship devices look pretty solid. Just need those apps!

From what I know, the above 3 phones would meet my needs, just have to pick an ecosystem.
 
Started 2014 with my iPhone 5s.

Once the new phones started rolling out, I tried the following:

HTC M8 Windows
iPhone 6
Note 4
Nexus 6

Ended up with the iPhone 6+ 128GB and have been using it exclusively since January 2015. I plan to jump to the 6s+ when it's released.
 
I've gone from droid x, galaxy nexus, note 2, droid maxx, and currently on the note 4. I'm probably going to stick with nexus phones if they work on verizon. I like to modify my phone and its becoming increasingly difficult to find one on verizon. The note 4 is too big, but I knew it would be from owning a note 2 but I got a developer edition I can modify. I updated my droid maxx before I rooted/unlocked the bootloader so its currently stuck stock (though I read there is a sketchy way to flash some files to get some kind of semi functional root).

Around 5-5.2" is about the perfect phone for my hands so I'm going to hop on the new nexus as long as it works on verizon.
 
I've gone from Apple to Android early on due to Google doing a really good job of supporting google products on Android as well as giving them preferred treatment. It was still substandard at the time to iOS over all but the GPS + Google Maps integration was by far the best and I didn't care much else about the rest.

But now I'm going back to Apple, it seems Google is more interested in developing there first and stopped caring about their own system. Also releasing shit release after shit release.
 
Currently have a LG G2, at the time I bought it because I wanted a working FM radio chip. Boy was that a mistake, should have gotten a Nexus 5. Friend has a Nexus 6 which i've tried out but that thing's just too huge for me. Similarly with the Galaxy Note line of phones.

Far as my next phone: Contract is up in a month or three so i'll be waiting for one of the new Nexus 5s if they aren't out by then.
 
Note 4, better than my Note 3. Great screen, a lot of compute power, battery lasts a long time. First phone I have been able to run some heavier applications for a reasonable amount of time.
 
I've tried the iPhone, early galaxies, and have been on the Nexus line ever since the Galaxy Nexus and only skipping the Nexus 4. I'm currently on the Nexus 6 and don't plan on changing unless the new Nexus line does something mind blowing.

I really just want the next OS release to fix the massive stupidity that's present in Lollipop.
 
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