Originally Posted by
hg1027 I picked up a galaxy s4 about this time last year for $300 with the intent of using it for a year and confirming I liked me some android. It's starting to slow down on me
Go to Settings/General/Storage/Cache and clear the cache. Install an app like
Startup Manager to control what's running in the background. (
Greenify may also be of some help with that.) Then see how fast it is.
I've been looking hard at the note 4 (will have to shop around and skip a few nights at the bar I think, for a clean one) and the LG g3.
Swappa is usually your best bet.
The optical image stabilization is very tempting, my hands shake a bit and I use a tripod or a mount to get decent pics.
That's more stable than image stabilization.
The size of the note is a little scary, as I currently jog and bike with the phone, and run around playgrounds with the kids, but I expect I'd learn to love it like a lot of people do.
Invest in an Otterbox Defender for it. I've dropped mine face down onto a solid surface from a desk. It made a noise when it hit. (I also caught the charging cable from th wireless charger on my arm and catapulted the phone into a wall. That didn't even make a noise.) The Defender handled both of my goofs without a problem.
I really wanted to like the Sony z3 compact, but the whole root-kills-the-camera thing turns me way off.
Any phone can be rooted - successfully - if it's done correctly.
I intend to get a t-mobile version of whatever I get and unlock it for att.
Talk to yout AT&T store manager. Most people are using the international version - it's more likely to stay usable on AT&T (and doesn't need unlocking).
So, considering price, camera, improvement over gs4, 6-12 months, rootable without crippling a key feature, what else should I be looking at?
If you like the Note idea (the S-Pen, particularly), the Note. The G3 is a good phone. I'd go for anything fairly current that a) has a removable battery, b) has an external SD card, c) has an Otterbox Defender case available and d) didn't have a locked bootloader (which AT&T is fond of - great carrier, lousy decision).