Looking for a phone for my wife to replace her iphone

[kameleon]

Last year, right before google announced the nexus 4, I bought my wife a galaxy Nexus to replace her iphone 4. She wanted a better camera and I got tired of spending a day and a half get phone when it needed it. Backing up all of her photos, apps, music, etc "just in case" the upgrade borks takes for friggin ever but it is a necessary evil considering every time I needed to fall back to the backup. The almighty iTunes backup sucks. So now with apps like carbon backup and titanium Backup I could literally drop my phone off the empire state building and be ok. I want that for her. So I ended up with the galaxy nexus after about 6 weeks and she wanted her iphone back. Well now that I upgraded her to ios6.1.2 and they, in her words "broke more than they fixed", it is time to look for her another android.

That is where I need help. I have verified the main apps she uses is available on the play store so now it is just to the other 3 requirements:

1. Must take good pictures (and be able to store them aka external sd card also)
2.can't be much bigger than her iphone (the galaxy nexus was a decent size for her)
3.must have a variety of "pretty" cases (she had a yellow/gunmetal otterbox before the purple life are she has now)

A long with the above it has to work on at&t frequencies as we use straight talk and can be had, even used, for around $300 it would be ideal. I would get her a nexus 4 but I don't see the required "pretty cases"

So if you guys/gals could give me some pointers that would be cool. I like the international galaxy s3 and s3 mini so far.

 

[Greg C]

Last year, right before google announced the nexus 4, I bought my wife a galaxy Nexus to replace her iphone 4. She wanted a better camera and I got tired of spending a day and a half get phone when it needed it. Backing up all of her photos, apps, music, etc "just in case" the upgrade borks takes for friggin ever but it is a necessary evil considering every time I needed to fall back to the backup. The almighty iTunes backup sucks. So now with apps like carbon backup and titanium Backup I could literally drop my phone off the empire state building and be ok. I want that for her. So I ended up with the galaxy nexus after about 6 weeks and she wanted her iphone back. Well now that I upgraded her to ios6.1.2 and they, in her words "broke more than they fixed", it is time to look for her another android.

That is where I need help. I have verified the main apps she uses is available on the play store so now it is just to the other 3 requirements:

1. Must take good pictures (and be able to store them aka external sd card also)
2.can't be much bigger than her iphone (the galaxy nexus was a decent size for her)
3.must have a variety of "pretty" cases (she had a yellow/gunmetal otterbox before the purple life are she has now)

A long with the above it has to work on at&t frequencies as we use straight talk and can be had, even used, for around $300 it would be ideal. I would get her a nexus 4 but I don't see the required "pretty cases"

So if you guys/gals could give me some pointers that would be cool. I like the international galaxy s3 and s3 mini so far.

Here is what I recommend.... Buy your wife the Samsung Galaxy S3. The S3 has been out for awhile now and so it has become much cheaper in price. It will become even cheaper once the S4 is announced and released. You may think your wife will want the S4, but you could be wrong. The S4 will be expensive and women tend to put value over specs. With us men it's different... lol.

I have a Nexus 4. I wouldn't want anything else. If I had to pick something else though it would be the Samsung Galaxy S line.

 

[paul-c]

I think she would like the Motorola RAZR i, which is the international variant of the DROID RAZR M on Verizon. It's got an SD card slot, takes nice pictures, and is around the same size as an iPhone. There are lots of case options available too, I believe. The phone costs a little more than what you're looking to spend, but it's well worth it. It hits all the marks you're talking about, and has some nice specs.

Sent from my Panasonic ELUGA

 

[androidluvr2]

I would just get her the iPhone 5. It works fine with the latest iOS and is 4G LTE to boot. No other phone can compare when it comes to pretty cases.

 

[Jude526]

I am about specs too! But not so much about glitz on cases. Samsung phones are the best. The S3 would had been my choice if the Note2 hadn't been released..to me its what the phone does and the call quality. I use the flip cases....like them a lot.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note2

 

[androidluvr2]

Samsung phones are the best. The S3 would had been my choice if the Note2 hadn't been released..to me its what the phone does and the call quality.

If it is call quality you care about, stick with motorola. Samsung radios aren't that great.

 

[anon5664829]

Last year, right before google announced the nexus 4, I bought my wife a galaxy Nexus to replace her iphone 4. She wanted a better camera and I got tired of spending a day and a half get phone when it needed it. Backing up all of her photos, apps, music, etc "just in case" the upgrade borks takes for friggin ever but it is a necessary evil considering every time I needed to fall back to the backup. The almighty iTunes backup sucks. So now with apps like carbon backup and titanium Backup I could literally drop my phone off the empire state building and be ok. I want that for her. So I ended up with the galaxy nexus after about 6 weeks and she wanted her iphone back. Well now that I upgraded her to ios6.1.2 and they, in her words "broke more than they fixed", it is time to look for her another android.

That is where I need help. I have verified the main apps she uses is available on the play store so now it is just to the other 3 requirements:

1. Must take good pictures (and be able to store them aka external sd card also)
2.can't be much bigger than her iphone (the galaxy nexus was a decent size for her)
3.must have a variety of "pretty" cases (she had a yellow/gunmetal otterbox before the purple life are she has now)

A long with the above it has to work on at&t frequencies as we use straight talk and can be had, even used, for around $300 it would be ideal. I would get her a nexus 4 but I don't see the required "pretty cases"

So if you guys/gals could give me some pointers that would be cool. I like the international galaxy s3 and s3 mini so far.

iPhone 5 no questions asked. It meets all that criteria and tbh Apple push out updates pretty damn quickly(as a note I have a N4 and an iPhone 5, so not being biased)

 

[xlDeMoNiClx]

I'd get her the Nexus 4, it's also quick to get updates, plus it has a great camera, and the back screen is "pretty" I guess even without a case but I'm sure there's some she'll like.

 

[Verttex]

1. Must take good pictures (and be able to store them aka external sd card also)
- The iPhone 5 is a great choice for this. I could also recommend the Lumia 920 which is great for pictures and is simple to use.
2.can't be much bigger than her iphone (the galaxy nexus was a decent size for her)
- Again the iPhone 5 or the Lumia 920.
3.must have a variety of "pretty" cases
- The iPhones will have the most cases when it comes to smart phones. Although the Lumia does come in multiple colors.

 

[kolewis]

Sounds like the iphone 5 would be her best bet for pretty cases. lol I love my GS3 and it has a fair amount of case options. I love my UAG cases but those may not be pretty enough for her. I'm not a girly girl so...

My wife loves her to note 2 and uses UAG cases also. Both S3 and Note 2 have external memory option and take great pics and video.

Good luck!

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[anon5664829]

Last year, right before google announced the nexus 4, I bought my wife a galaxy Nexus to replace her iphone 4. She wanted a better camera and I got tired of spending a day and a half get phone when it needed it. Backing up all of her photos, apps, music, etc "just in case" the upgrade borks takes for friggin ever but it is a necessary evil considering every time I needed to fall back to the backup. The almighty iTunes backup sucks. So now with apps like carbon backup and titanium Backup I could literally drop my phone off the empire state building and be ok. I want that for her. So I ended up with the galaxy nexus after about 6 weeks and she wanted her iphone back. Well now that I upgraded her to ios6.1.2 and they, in her words "broke more than they fixed", it is time to look for her another android.

That is where I need help. I have verified the main apps she uses is available on the play store so now it is just to the other 3 requirements:

1. Must take good pictures (and be able to store them aka external sd card also)
2.can't be much bigger than her iphone (the galaxy nexus was a decent size for her)
3.must have a variety of "pretty" cases (she had a yellow/gunmetal otterbox before the purple life are she has now)

A long with the above it has to work on at&t frequencies as we use straight talk and can be had, even used, for around $300 it would be ideal. I would get her a nexus 4 but I don't see the required "pretty cases"

So if you guys/gals could give me some pointers that would be cool. I like the international galaxy s3 and s3 mini so far.

Look no offence OP but it seems that you being biased and should just get her the iPhone 5

 

[kameleon]

Thanks for all the input. It was not me saying she "had to" have an android but rather her saying "I'm sick of this iphone. Every time it updates more is broken than fixed. Find me an android NOW". So the boys had spoken. Plus price is a huge factor since we use straight talk we can't just re-up a contract to get the next hot thing for cheap. So the iphone 5 is out of the question being that it is around $500+ used on craigslist locally.

I have 3 routes I can go right now.
1. Samsung Galaxy S3 mini from amazon for about $330. My wife likes the phone and I found some cases she likes too.
2. Have a local guy that may do an even trade of her iphone 4 for his galaxy s2 skyrocket. She likes the phone too and again there are cases she likes. The lte doesn't matter as straight talk doesnt have anything but hspa+. But it is the cheapest option.
3. I can get a nexus 4 locally for around $300. If I do this I'll take the 4 abs give her my galaxy nexus. She likes the galaxy nexus without the extended battery and we found some cases she likes.

After thinking about it for a while, storing the photos on the phone isn't as big a deal as originally thought. We have a chromebook so we have 100gb storage in Google drive (aka Picasa also) that we can put her old pics in and it loads fine on the galaxy nexus. She mostly does Facebook, hay day, and shopkik on her phone so the gnex is more than enough for that.

I should have done whatever I am doing by this time tomorrow. Again, thanks for the input.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums