Best android phone available?

[Walter Bell]

Most of you people are going to say WTF is this thread doing here, but bare with me. I have a iPhone 4S with AT&T unlimited data. After getting throttled last month since I have decided to jump ship to Verizon since they are doing double data promotions on LTE (going to do 10gb+tethering for $50). Idea is here that I can lock in this rate for when the LTE iPhone comes out.

So I'm curious, what phone would you have now if the iPhone wasn't available? I'm looking at the Nexus or Razr Maxx. Can't decide between these two.

Thanks!

 

[TG1]

If you can, I'd really wait for either the HTC One X or Samsung Galaxy S III. They're a clear step above anything out there right now.

 

[taedouni]

The nexus has horrible signal. The rezound is a great phone that is usually overlooked.

 

[groupersandwich]

I've heard good things about the Razr Maxx.

 

[Walter Bell]

TG1,

The sooner I leave AT&T the better. My sole intent is to lock in the deal for data on a 4g phone so I can have that for the LTE iPhone (which IS coming this fall...I hope).

Will look into the rezound.

 

[DakotaGuy]

My recommendation would be the Droid RAZR MAXX. The hardware is well built and looks nice. It has great reception and has some cool things like Smart Actions and MotoCast. MotoCast is a way of wireless syncing between your computer and phone and also works over a cellular network. It is compatible on both Mac and PC and works well. Last, the battery life is amazing! It has better battery life running on 4G LTE then most smart phones have on 3G. The only negative is that there will be a wait possibly until summer for Android 4.0 ICS, but the current build 2.3.6 is rock solid stable.

Seriously this is a great phone. Great performance and awesome battery life without needing some ugly thick extended battery. The way I see it is why have 4G if you can't really use the phone the way it was designed? The MAXX solves that problem and then some.

4G LTE is great and it's so fast, but a battery hog. I had the first RAZR with a battery like most 4G phones have and I had to be either very careful with my use during the day, bring along a charger or turn it to 3G only. Phones that have user replaceable batteries might have an extended battery and different battery door available, but IMHO they are ugly and make the phones too thick. The MAXX keeps a profile that is thinner then the iPhone 4S even with a huge 3300 mAh battery. Anyhow get whatever you like, but I can't say enough good things about this phone especially if you really want to use it as a 4G device at all times.

 

[apolloa]

Most of you people are going to say WTF is this thread doing here, but bare with me. I have a iPhone 4S with AT&T unlimited data. After getting throttled last month since I have decided to jump ship to Verizon since they are doing double data promotions on LTE (going to do 10gb+tethering for $50). Idea is here that I can lock in this rate for when the LTE iPhone comes out.

So I'm curious, what phone would you have now if the iPhone wasn't available? I'm looking at the Nexus or Razr Maxx. Can't decide between these two.

Thanks!

You mistyped your google search I think????

haha, anyway, from what I've rad HTC One X and of course the Galaxy S3 although check both devices before purchase are not too big for you in physical size.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Why is ATT so bad?

 

[Certinfy]

Definitely wait for the SGS3.

Personally can't wait for it and if it looks anything like the apparent leaked images of it then I'll definitely be getting it.

 

[nickchallis92]

Definitely wait for the SGS3.

Personally can't wait for it and if it looks anything like the apparent leaked images of it then I'll definitely be getting it.

same, with the way samsung is going, it will be the best phone on the market for at least a year. The SGS2 is testiment to that. It is still the fastest phone out there on the market.

 

[MattMJB0188]

OP:

Thoroughly think this over. I recently did this too and really regretted it. I went with the Nexus and it was so bad I nearly threw it out the window. Verizon's 4G LTE is awesome when it wants to be. Sometimes I could pull 35Mbps down and others 3Mbps down. I didn't find it to go very far and the fact that their is nothing in between their 3G and 4G is not good. Their 4G LTE would cut in and out and I actually didn't find call quality to be that good on Verizon. 3GB is plenty for data and once the LTE iPhone hits you'll get 5GB with your unlimited data plan. I'd hang onto that as long as you can.

Unless you get some HUGE discount with Verizon, I'd stick with AT&T. In the end, they're the better choice (coverage permitting of course). Good Luck

 

[einmusiker]

I switched to verizon from att with ZERO regrets. I have unlimited lte with the thunderbolt rooted i get free unlimited tethering. Im waiting for the galaxy note to come to verizon that phone/tablet looks perfect for my usage

 

[Fusion79]

My vote would be for the Razr Maxx also. The Galaxy Nexus is a peice of junk. Bad radios, very few accessories, bad battery life, and cheap feel. I tried one for about a week and I also had an issue of the phone muting itself when I was on a call and the other side could not here me, and the only way to fix it was to hang up the call and dial it again.

 

[TG1]

TG1,

The sooner I leave AT&T the better. My sole intent is to lock in the deal for data on a 4g phone so I can have that for the LTE iPhone (which IS coming this fall...I hope).

Will look into the rezound.

I hear ya, WB. I had similar motivations when I jumped to my Razr a few months ago. If you must jump now, the Razr Maxx, Nexus, and HTC Rezound are your best bets. All have their advantages and disadvantages. What's most important to you? Display? Battery life? Latest software?

 

[Rocko1]

Stay away from Moto. Horrible updates horrible service.

 

[batting1000]

Galaxy S II or Galaxy Nexus. The HTC One X will be the best when it's released, though.

EDIT: Oh, you said Verizon. Galaxy Nexus it is then.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Stay away from Moto. Horrible updates horrible service.

What good are updates when your battery is dead in a few hours from running hard on an LTE network?

Android 4.0 ICS is coming to the RAZR and RAZR MAXX in the near future. The Google-Motorola merger is just about finalized and I think we will see a lot of things changing as far as software is concerned. With that said the current build of 2.3.6 is rock solid stable on these things.

 

[Stealthipad]

TG1,

The sooner I leave AT&T the better. My sole intent is to lock in the deal for data on a 4g phone so I can have that for the LTE iPhone (which IS coming this fall...I hope).

Will look into the rezound.

You are going to have a long wait as ALL the carriers are going to be increasing their fees and charges for bandwidth. There is not specail unlimited plan around the corner.

Bandwidth is NOT an "entitlement"

 

[Tarzanman]

There's no one best phone. Some have keyboards, some have LTE, some have nice screens with high resolution, some have better battery life, some are waterproof and shock-proof, some are stock OS, others have hardware acceleration for watching divX movies, etc.

With Android you need to pick the features that are the most important to you.

My phone is a 4" device which is rooted. It can play almost any media i throw at it (including mkv's with subtitles). Its not as super-awesome as some of the newer devices, but it has TV out (RCA), tethering, and I have 3 spare batteries for it (for when I'm on the road and can't plug in) so it does 99% of what I need it to do.

I considered upgrading to a Galaxy Nexus, but at the end of the day I realized that I don't really need to drop $500 on a phone just yet. One year from now almost everything coming out will have LTE... so it might make more sense for me to invest in a waterproof/shockproofphone for when I hit the beach or the amusement park.

 

[JasonR]

I'm in a similar dilemma. I am on Verizon with an unlimited plan on the iPhone...and I want that unlimited 4G so bad but whenever I've used an Android phone I've always started missing the iphone. Problem is I have a Macbook Air, iPad, and iPhone and they work so well together. Ugh!!! lol

Do the double your data promotions apply to iPad LTE plans?

I want so bad to be able to use my phone SIM for unlimited LTE in my Phone and/or iPad.

Edited to add: I also don't want to lose the awesome camera on the 4S. Damn the 4S and it's lack of LTE

 

[Walter Bell]

From most of what I read I think I am going to pick up the razr maxx.

As for bandwidth entitlement, in no way do I feel entitled to something I haven't earned. But I pay for unlimited and have had it since the OG iPhone. I don't do anything crazy but listen to pandora, surf forums, email, Dropbox, and maybe a YouTube once a week or so. The fact is, these things are getting more data intensive, thus my data usage has gone up. After getting throttled and my phone being completely unusable, there is no other choice but to go to a tiered plan. 10GB for $50 is awesome. Plus it includes wireless hotspot. Here is the catch, I would love to keep my unlimited but pay more for a higher throttle cap. That will never happen.

Anyways, thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it.

 

[DakotaGuy]

From most of what I read I think I am going to pick up the razr maxx.

As for bandwidth entitlement, in no way do I feel entitled to something I haven't earned. But I pay for unlimited and have had it since the OG iPhone. I don't do anything crazy but listen to pandora, surf forums, email, Dropbox, and maybe a YouTube once a week or so. The fact is, these things are getting more data intensive, thus my data usage has gone up. After getting throttled and my phone being completely unusable, there is no other choice but to go to a tiered plan. 10GB for $50 is awesome. Plus it includes wireless hotspot. Here is the catch, I would love to keep my unlimited but pay more for a higher throttle cap. That will never happen.

Anyways, thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it.

You will be happy with the MAXX. It is nice well built hardware and battery life on LTE is a big deal especially if you like streaming music or watching videos. In fact, you will probably end up doing more and using more data then you have in the past because the thing is like the Energizer bunny... it goes and goes. The only drawbacks is that some have complained about the screen, but it looks good to me and the colors are nice and bright. The other thing is that you will have to wait awhile for Android 4.0, but the current 2.3.6 is very stable and Moto has a few nice features like Smart Actions and MotoCast that you will enjoy.

The MAXX is the best smartphone I have ever owned, but maybe that is because I can actually use it and not worry all day about properly managing my battery so I can get home and charge it. When you can actually just use it like it was designed to be used that makes all the difference.

 

[Walter Bell]

It should hold me over till this fall when apple releases the new phone. Excited about having a bigger screen.

 

[labman]

I'd ask this question on a Android forum but that probably just me!

 

[Walter Bell]

Nah. Most of those people hate the iPhone. All my android friends bash my phone. I came here because I want to see what other iPhone users would choose of it wasn't available.

Also,

What do you do labman? Are you a Med tech or phleb? I work in a lab within a hospital .