Thoughts for buying a new phone

[thyde76]

I'm looking to move to an Android phone when I'm able to upgrade with AT&T in April. I currently have an iPhone 4S and have only used iPhones since I moved to a smart phone a few years ago. I've been primarily an Apple user when it comes to my phones and music players since 2007.

One of the main reasons I'm looking to switch is that my old iPod Classic is starting to die. I just recently learned that some Android phones allow external storage. I would love to just get one device as a phone and music player, and being able to put my 100+ gigs of music on it would be great.

My primary uses for, besides as a phone, is for listening to music, camera, social media, and basic web searching.

What phone would be best for listening to music through external speakers and earbuds and also has a good quality camera for taking indoor pictures?

Price is a factor, so I'm not looking to go with the most expensive.

Size is also a factor. I don't want to go real large. I have a tablet for reading and doing other things on. I definitely want to go bigger than my iPhone 4S, but don't want to go with the iPhone 6+ or Samsung GN4 size.

Thanks.

 

[Rukbat]

With Android, you usually get better camera light sensitivity (indoor picture without flash) on the larger (therefore more expensive) phones. With flash, most cameras take pictures more dependent on the photographer than the camera.

For a smaller phone, with a decent camera, external storage (you can carry as many cards with you as your pockets have room for - Petabytes of music) and decent speakers (earbuds are your choice), the S3 or S4 would be not too large and not too expensive. (If you want to save money, look for a better phone, but buy a used phone on Swappa.) The G3 would be good, but it's large and expensive. (The One M8 would also be good, but in addition to being large and expensive, it doesn't have a replaceable battery. The Nexus line, while good, doesn't have an external card or a replaceable battery.)

Don't worry about a phone that can take a maximum card size of 32GB or 64GB - as I said, you can carry a pocketful of cards.

The only problem with a Samsung phone on AT&T is the locked bootloader. You can't replace the kernel or recovery and any ROM has to be a modified stock ROM. That matters to some, but not to others. They can still be rooted (jailbroken).

 

[Photo_Drew]

It takes some research. Lots of people will tell you lots of different things. The previous poster threw a ton of info at you. But it can be summed up as this, Samsung has the nice cameras and expandable storage, Motorola has the best user experience with mostly stock Android plus some really nice tweaks. LG and HTC are somewhere in the middle. The smaller phones are usually the cheaper ones. The standard size is about 5".

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[thyde76]

Wow! Only two replies? I'm surprised at that, but thank you Rukbat and Photo_Drew. I appreciate the input.

I guess when I said price is a factor, I should've been a bit more precise. I don't mind paying what they're asking for a GS5, LG G3, HTC One (M8). I just don't want to go to a GN4 or something along that price point.

When I mentioned external speakers, I really meant on-board speakers.

Right now, I'm really leaning toward the G3 with the GS5 a close second. The pluses for the G3 are that it's 32GB and expandable, the larger screen, the simpler UI (from what I've read compared to the GS5), and good camera. The pluses for the GS5 are it's a bit smaller, the water and dust resistance, the popularity of Samsung within the market, expandable memory (thought it's only 16GB), and a good camera.

 

[bnice]

Yes a lot of information might be thrown your way. The best thing to do IMO is to go to AT&T and play with the phones that best interest you. Watch a few YouTube videos on the device or devices and then go from there. In the end no matter how many phones a member recommend, the end result is the user preference.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Veriitas]

I would wait a bit, when the S6 is announced the S5 will drop in price, which is a great phone!

 

[cherrybean]

HTC One, the best sound i agree.

 

[kitty start]

HUAWEI phone , HAUWEI MATE7 is suitable for you .

 

[cohoman]

There seems to be a lot of new, inexpensive phones presented at CES this week, so you may have lots of options available to you by April. I recommend you wait and keep an eye out in April to see what phones are available, and check the online reviews.