Buy a New Phone or Wait?

[eptiger]

My Galaxy S2 has had numerous problems in the past year and I'm eligible for an upgrade on Sep 1. The bulk of the problems are from the battery, and I'm on my second one (a nice Sprint store gave me a replacement free, but my current store won't replace again). Still, the phone is feeling underpowered on ICS and tends to have freezups and slowdowns a lot.

Anyway, I haven't kept up with Android news much lately and I'm wondering if there's a new phone just over the horizon that I should wait for? I bought my S2 in Jan of 2012, so I feel like my contract always ends between model refreshes. My options would be:

1) Hang in there for 2 weeks and get the HTC One
2) Buy a new battery for ~$10, wait a few more weeks for the latest and greatest.
3) Get an S4

I'm leaning towards #1. I know that you can wait for forever to get the newest model but I'm specifically wondering if I'm stupidly overlooking some obvious release that's impending in the next few weeks. I'm leaning against #3 because this stupid S2 has soured me against Samsung. I hate that ICS ruined my phone, which worked perfectly well on Gingerbread. I'm really hoping that the Htc One will be a reliable phone for at least a year - that's all I ask (vs 6 months on the S2).

Thanks,

Elton

PS Is the battery swelling issue unique to the S2 or is that also an issue with HTC phones? I'm concerned about that on the Htc One since the battery can't be replaced, but hopefully that means the stupid thing will be covered under insurance vs the S2 battery!

 

[Scott Kenyon]

Being an HTC One owner, I'm biased to say the first option. The S4 is also a great phone, however. If you're paying for a subsidy, upgrade asap unless you must have the latest and greatest. If you pay that subsidy, you're paying for a phone you don't own. Go own a phone

 

[heelanaya]

My Galaxy S2 has had numerous problems in the past year and I'm eligible for an upgrade on Sep 1. The bulk of the problems are from the battery, and I'm on my second one (a nice Sprint store gave me a replacement free, but my current store won't replace again). Still, the phone is feeling underpowered on ICS and tends to have freezups and slowdowns a lot.

Anyway, I haven't kept up with Android news much lately and I'm wondering if there's a new phone just over the horizon that I should wait for? I bought my S2 in Jan of 2012, so I feel like my contract always ends between model refreshes. My options would be:

1) Hang in there for 2 weeks and get the HTC One
2) Buy a new battery for ~$10, wait a few more weeks for the latest and greatest.
3) Get an S4

I'm leaning towards #1. I know that you can wait for forever to get the newest model but I'm specifically wondering if I'm stupidly overlooking some obvious release that's impending in the next few weeks. I'm leaning against #3 because this stupid S2 has soured me against Samsung. I hate that ICS ruined my phone, which worked perfectly well on Gingerbread. I'm really hoping that the Htc One will be a reliable phone for at least a year - that's all I ask (vs 6 months on the S2).

Thanks,

Elton

PS Is the battery swelling issue unique to the S2 or is that also an issue with HTC phones? I'm concerned about that on the Htc One since the battery can't be replaced, but hopefully that means the stupid thing will be covered under insurance vs the S2 battery!

go for the htc one better build quality also amazing sound and of course if you want the one get what you like htc is amazing

 

[eptiger]

Being an HTC One owner, I'm biased to say the first option. The S4 is also a great phone, however. If you're paying for a subsidy, upgrade asap unless you must have the latest and greatest. If you pay that subsidy, you're paying for a phone you don't own. Go own a phone

How do you know if you're "paying for a subsidy"? This is something I personally haven't understood - is there an option of buying a phone without the subsidy in the plan? I'm on the Everything 450 plan with a 27% employee discount (from my company, not the old school Sprint discount) - so it's $70 plus $10 "premium" data charge and insurance before the 27% discount.

I do not need the latest and greatest, I just need a phone that works for a couple of years =P But I also don't want to be the guy who buys a new phone the day before the newest model of that phone comes out I've had bad phone luck - Palm Treo 650, Palm Pre, and now the S2, so I'm hoping to find a phone that lasts a while.

So battery swelling isn't a common issue on other phones? Sprint said I use my phone too much when charging, except that I never do while it's charging except for something urgent.

Elton

 

[CR6]

Sorry to hear about your troubles Elton!
First issue....you should be on Jelly Bean, not ICS. Check your device for an OTA update, or connect it to KIES and update your phone to the latest OS version.
There could be any number of reasons your phone is sluggish and the battery isn't lasting the way it should.
Your next order of business (after your update) should be a factory data reset. Have you tried a factory reset lately? Keep in mind this will restore your phone to its original "out of the box" state. Meaning it will wipe everything on your internal storage. So make sure to back up your contacts to Google, save any text msgs you might want, browser bookmarks, music, photos, etc.
Next order of business: how many apps do you have downloaded? You may have a rouge app or two that's draining your battery faster than it should. You could download GSam Battery (free on the Play Store), run it for a couple days to see if everything is running as it should.
As for a new device:
You can get a Galaxy S3 for next to nothing these days and it's an amazing phone. Amazing!
If money is no object, both the HTC One and the S4 are both great devices. You can't go wrong with either one.
Good luck and holler if you need a hand with anything.

tap'n

 

[heelanaya]

How do you know if you're "paying for a subsidy"? This is something I personally haven't understood - is there an option of buying a phone without the subsidy in the plan? I'm on the Everything 450 plan with a 27% employee discount (from my company, not the old school Sprint discount) - so it's $70 plus $10 "premium" data charge and insurance before the 27% discount.

I do not need the latest and greatest, I just need a phone that works for a couple of years =P But I also don't want to be the guy who buys a new phone the day before the newest model of that phone comes out I've had bad phone luck - Palm Treo 650, Palm Pre, and now the S2, so I'm hoping to find a phone that lasts a while.

So battery swelling isn't a common issue on other phones? Sprint said I use my phone too much when charging, except that I never do while it's charging except for something urgent.

Elton

i dont think youll get a batterry swelling issue on the htc one

 

[Scott Kenyon]

How do you know if you're "paying for a subsidy"? This is something I personally haven't understood - is there an option of buying a phone without the subsidy in the plan? I'm on the Everything 450 plan with a 27% employee discount (from my company, not the old school Sprint discount) - so it's $70 plus $10 "premium" data charge and insurance before the 27% discount.

I do not need the latest and greatest, I just need a phone that works for a couple of years =P But I also don't want to be the guy who buys a new phone the day before the newest model of that phone comes out I've had bad phone luck - Palm Treo 650, Palm Pre, and now the S2, so I'm hoping to find a phone that lasts a while.

So battery swelling isn't a common issue on other phones? Sprint said I use my phone too much when charging, except that I never do while it's charging except for something urgent.

Elton

Are you on a two year contract? If so, you're paying a subsidy.

 

[eptiger]

Sorry to hear about your troubles Elton!
First issue....you should be on Jelly Bean, not ICS. Check your device for an OTA update, or connect it to KIES and update your phone to the latest OS version.
There could be any number of reasons your phone is sluggish and the battery isn't lasting the way it should.
Your next order of business (after your update) should be a factory data reset. Have you tried a factory reset lately? Keep in mind this will restore your phone to its original "out of the box" state. Meaning it will wipe everything on your internal storage. So make sure to back up your contacts to Google, save any text msgs you might want, browser bookmarks, music, photos, etc.
Next order of business: how many apps do you have downloaded? You may have a rouge app or two that's draining your battery faster than it should. You could download GSam Battery (free on the Play Store), run it for a couple days to see if everything is running as it should.
As for a new device:
You can get a Galaxy S3 for next to nothing these days and it's an amazing phone. Amazing!
If money is no object, both the HTC One and the S4 are both great devices. You can't go wrong with either one.
Good luck and holler if you need a hand with anything.

tap'n

Thanks CR6,

I haven't done a factory reset lately, but I have a few times in the past and it's a big hassle because I have to go through my apps and restore data and log in and make sure they don't have notifications on and all that battery optimization stuff. I installed Battery Mix and verified that I don't have any single app draining my battery, so that's definitely not it.

I didn't find out about Jelly Bean until last week, and given my experience from Gingerbread to ICS, I can't imagine JB making life any better =P I've heard from coworkers who upgraded that performance wise they're phone has seen modest improvements, at best.

I have maybe 150 apps total, but probably 30-40 of those are stock apps.

I don't think money is an issue here since I can get a subsidized phone in 1.5 weeks. I can survive for 1.5 weeks - the phone isn't completely useless, just next to useless.

Thanks,

Elton

 

[eptiger]

Are you on a two year contract? If so, you're paying a subsidy.

So basically, to not take a subsidy doesn't save me money except for if I want to break contract and switch carriers, right? Or am I missing something else? The price I'm paying with the subsidy is just the price of being bound to Sprint for 2 years.

Elton

 

[Scott Kenyon]

So basically, to not take a subsidy doesn't save me money except for if I want to break contract and switch carriers, right? Or am I missing something else? The price I'm paying with the subsidy is just the price of being bound to Sprint for 2 years.

Elton

Let me phrase it this way:
If you're paying the price for a two year contract, you're paying for a phone. If, after your two years is up, you continue to pay that price then you are paying for a phone you don't have or use. Your latter statement is pretty accurate. If you were to switch to an MVNO like Straight Talk, and buy your devices outright, it would be cheaper than any on-contract deal. This solution isn't for everyone, however. If you're planning on staying with your carrier and signing a two year agreement, get your upgrades asap. You're paying for them anyway, might as well have a current device.

 

[Central n ohios best]

My Galaxy S2 has had numerous problems in the past year and I'm eligible for an upgrade on Sep 1. The bulk of the problems are from the battery, and I'm on my second one (a nice Sprint store gave me a replacement free, but my current store won't replace again). Still, the phone is feeling underpowered on ICS and tends to have freezups and slowdowns a lot.

Anyway, I haven't kept up with Android news much lately and I'm wondering if there's a new phone just over the horizon that I should wait for? I bought my S2 in Jan of 2012, so I feel like my contract always ends between model refreshes. My options would be:

1) Hang in there for 2 weeks and get the HTC One
2) Buy a new battery for ~$10, wait a few more weeks for the latest and greatest.
3) Get an S4

I'm leaning towards #1. I know that you can wait for forever to get the newest model but I'm specifically wondering if I'm stupidly overlooking some obvious release that's impending in the next few weeks. I'm leaning against #3 because this stupid S2 has soured me against Samsung. I hate that ICS ruined my phone, which worked perfectly well on Gingerbread. I'm really hoping that the Htc One will be a reliable phone for at least a year - that's all I ask (vs 6 months on the S2).

Thanks,

Elton

PS Is the battery swelling issue unique to the S2 or is that also an issue with HTC phones? I'm concerned about that on the Htc One since the battery can't be replaced, but hopefully that means the stupid thing will be covered under insurance vs the S2 battery!

Why dont u upgrade to jb.

Sent from my T-Mobile LG Escape using Tapatalk 2

 

[prolongExistence]

My Galaxy S2 has had numerous problems in the past year and I'm eligible for an upgrade on Sep 1. The bulk of the problems are from the battery, and I'm on my second one (a nice Sprint store gave me a replacement free, but my current store won't replace again). Still, the phone is feeling underpowered on ICS and tends to have freezups and slowdowns a lot.

.
.
.

PS Is the battery swelling issue unique to the S2 or is that also an issue with HTC phones? I'm concerned about that on the Htc One since the battery can't be replaced, but hopefully that means the stupid thing will be covered under insurance vs the S2 battery!

I can't believe I just read that! I've been having constant reboot issues with my GNex (like 200 reboots/month) and I finally bit the bullet and went to Sprint for a replacement phone. I flashed several ROMs, factory resets, etc and nothing helped. I went to 2 different Sprint owned repair stores and they both told me my Samsung 2200mAh battery was swollen. I've never heard of such a thing but I guess maybe it is common of Samsung batteries?

 

[GiantJay]

Here's some phones that are about to come out this and next month that will be good. LG G2, Moto X, Note 3, New iPhone.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

 

[ajarnfalang]

Wait. Best time to buy phones is December. They're all out by then.

 

[VW Maverick]

Wait. Best time to buy phones is December. They're all out by then.

As my upgrade is Dec 1st, this is good news for me.
As of right now, the LG G2 is at the top of my list.

Mav.

 

[ajarnfalang]

As my upgrade is Dec 1st, this is good news for me.
As of right now, the LG G2 is at the top of my list.

Mav.

Unless the iPhone 5s has an all day (truly all day independently confirmed) battery life, I'm afraid i'll move to Android.

The Butterfly S is on my list as #1. I'm not a big fan of HTC, so I'm still not certain.

I'll wait until December and go check all of them out.

 

[GiantJay]

The iPhone will have a fingerprint scanner, isn't that all we really need on our phones.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

 

[eptiger]

Why dont u upgrade to jb.

Sent from my T-Mobile LG Escape using Tapatalk 2

JB isn't going to fix my battery issues - the battery is swollen. The Sprint store confirmed this. The only reason to upgrade to JB is if I buy a new battery and decide to stick it out until the winter, but not sure the G2 is worth that. I'm done with Samsung for a while after the how awful this phone has been so no Note 3 for me. The Moto X also doesn't look better than the One.

Is the G2 that significant of an upgrade? It looks like it has a more powerful processor (I'm assuming it'll draw more battery) and a bigger battery, but that's it. There's also no release date for Sprint, so it could be 1 month or 3 months.

Thanks,

Elton

 

[GiantJay]

JB isn't going to fix my battery issues - the battery is swollen. The Sprint store confirmed this. The only reason to upgrade to JB is if I buy a new battery and decide to stick it out until the winter, but not sure the G2 is worth that. I'm done with Samsung for a while after the how awful this phone has been so no Note 3 for me. The Moto X also doesn't look better than the One.

Is the G2 that significant of an upgrade? It looks like it has a more powerful processor (I'm assuming it'll draw more battery) and a bigger battery, but that's it. There's also no release date for Sprint, so it could be 1 month or 3 months.

Thanks,

Elton

The G2 is definitely a significant upgrade. Snapdragon 800 chip, big battery, high resolution screen, and most importantly Tri-band LTE. The Note 3 will have all this too, but is a different type of device. Whatever you get I suggest Tri-band LTE support though to support the upgrades Sprint is doing right now, since you will have the phone for a couple of years probably.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

 

[srkmagnus]

I have an S2 as well and have decided to wait for something I like. The one and S4 are great devices. However, are not giving me the urge to get either. The S2 has treated me good, so no need to dump it right now.

Let us know what you decide on doing.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2