2013 Flagship Showdown.

[NFLPLAYBOOK]

I am currently in a mobile no-mans land. The current situation with BlackBerry has left me without a clear mobile platform to sink my teeth into. I have made a list of what for me is the top device from each platform . Seeing as I don?t own any of these phones, in fact some aren?t even released yet, I need true user experience to make a decision on which one to make my own. I am posting on each of the mobile sites so I can get the most information possible for each phone. I hope over the next couple of weeks as each one hits the market I can get some great information on these phones to help me make a decision. Nothing beats first hand experience with a phone, both good and bad. In the case where the phones haven?t been released, your thoughts on how you think they will stack up is also greatly appreciated. Hopefully I will get more feedback once they are released as well. If you own more than one of the devices your opinion on which one you prefer and why is also appreciated. I am also interested in your opinion on how you think your phone stacks up against the others on the list. Thanks for your help in advance.
iPhone 5S
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Nokia 1520
BlackBerry Z30

 

[wanted198]

I am in the same situation as you and planning to get a Nexus 5. iPhone is just simple and you're paying way too much for it. It's a limiting OS and the screen is also small for current standards. Windows Phone is basically in the same situation as blackberry - lack of an app ecosystem. It also has a horrible limit of customisation (you can choose between 16 or so colours, that's as much as you can customise your phone) and just offers nothing that the competition doesn't. Maybe the integration with a windows PC will be good, but that's absolutely not worth buying the phone for when android can be connected to a PC as well. As for blackberry you should really see the people running it don't care about the company anymore. They've run it to the ground and are now just trying to line their own pockets by selling it to people who will break it up and turn it for a quick profit. It's a 5" screen with a 1280x720 resolution and there will not be new apps produced for it. In the highly unlikely event blackberry does continue on, they're obviously going to move on back to something along the lines of OS7, BB10 will be cancelled so either way you should NEVER buy a Q10, Q5, Z10, or Z30.

On the topic of android, at the moment all the phones have their pros but you unfortunately lose out in key areas. There isn't one flagship at the moment that doesn't have a deal-breaking problem (HTC One has blown speaker issue/can see lines between pixels, S4 has a saturated screen and is incredibly slow, Z1 only has an average screen and is a LOT more expensive, G2 is a bit too big and has a horrible volume rocker on the back).

Nexus 5 is going to be perfect. 4.95" IPS screen, 2.3Ghz CPU which will have android OPTIMISED for it (not to mention get updates the fastest), even a notification LED on it like blackberry. I'm waiting for it.

 

[karsdroid]

I am currently in a mobile no-mans land. The current situation with BlackBerry has left me without a clear mobile platform to sink my teeth into. I have made a list of what for me is the top device from each platform . Seeing as I don?t own any of these phones, in fact some aren?t even released yet, I need true user experience to make a decision on which one to make my own. I am posting on each of the mobile sites so I can get the most information possible for each phone. I hope over the next couple of weeks as each one hits the market I can get some great information on these phones to help me make a decision. Nothing beats first hand experience with a phone, both good and bad. In the case where the phones haven?t been released, your thoughts on how you think they will stack up is also greatly appreciated. Hopefully I will get more feedback once they are released as well. If you own more than one of the devices your opinion on which one you prefer and why is also appreciated. I am also interested in your opinion on how you think your phone stacks up against the others on the list. Thanks for your help in advance.
iPhone 5S
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Nokia 1520
BlackBerry Z30

i agree with much of what 'wanted198' just said however stating the the 4.95" screen is perfect is just not true for all ....i have the note 3 and could never, ever, ever return to a smaller screen. it's a personal opinion true, but one held by many on this forum.

i wouldn't touch a blackberry for any amount of money, the company is swirling into the drain. i feel the same way to some extent about HTC, the company seems to be in a very bad place which doesn't say much for support of its phones....being so busy trying to find something that will sell that will bring them back that the current phones aren't a priority....no proof of this just a concern given how many execs with them have jumped ship.

the thing thats different about the note 3 from all the rest is the s pen. the functions of the s pen are for me awesome and i could not do with them.....so thats really your choice....
small, simple, noncustomizable phone - iphone
large, fast phone with great specs, and s pen - note 3 also the option of the galaxy gear which many are loving and i personally have ordered
windows ecosystem with those hideous(to me) tiles, but with what will undoubtedly be an amazing camera - nokia
company who may not be around to support it at all - blackberry

as you can tell i am biased, but let me say i have had motorola phones, htc phones, and before i jumped into android with the original droid i was firmly in the windows phone camp, but each had problems and glitches that drove me crazy until the next upgrade (luckily every year back then without the hoops i jump through now)....until i moved to samsung with the s3...super great stable phone and i gave it up for the large screen of the note 2, which again was very stable and fabulous, and i gave it up for the note 3 because i couldn't miss the great s pen improvements.

good luck on your choice.

 

[FanOfAnything]

Hahaha I see you got yourself in a situation for me the only reason I buy apple products is to jailbreak other than that idk what's left for Apple
But for the note 3 I bought it because of the camera screen and because it's more customizable and I can make the home screens my own but disappointed that the ratio for the note 3 camera on 13mp was 4:3 . . . So now I gotta stick to 9.6mp but all in all I'm liking it

Posted via Android Central App

 

[dkhmwilliams]

The iPhone 5S is a great device. And iOS 7 is definitely worth looking at. But the Note 3 is definitely a winner. I have been going back and forth between my iPhone and Note 3 and I'm starting to believe the Note 3 is the better device. It is very unique and adds productivity options that other devices don't. And the large screen is really amazing, Can't say I'm looking for anything more in a smartphone.

Sent from the baddest device on the planet, my Galaxy Note 3.

 

[clevin]

I try to save money by getting a great phone and use it for years. I think GN3 is the one for the following reasons:

1. removable battery. Looks can only go so far, a phone is dead as a dudu when battery goes bad outside warranty period. This basically rules out iPhone (on top of the fact I despise apple), HTC One, Nexus 5, LG G2 (it has removable battery in Korea).

2. large screen with high enough ppi. I don't see anything getting meaningfully better than GN3 in next several years. Product with even higher ppi are there and will be coming out, but my eye won't tell the difference. Product with even larger screen will be coming out, but my hand+eye will not likely find a significantly better compromise.

3. a good enough system that can meet most of my needs. GN3 will likely get 4.4, and I am fine with that. My Gtab has 4.0.4 and it has all the apps I need. This rules out windows phone and blackberry. I do keep a firefox phone for emergency and adventure.

 

[J HighNote]

I am currently in a mobile no-mans land. The current situation with BlackBerry has left me without a clear mobile platform to sink my teeth into. I have made a list of what for me is the top device from each platform . Seeing as I don’t own any of these phones, in fact some aren’t even released yet, I need true user experience to make a decision on which one to make my own. I am posting on each of the mobile sites so I can get the most information possible for each phone. I hope over the next couple of weeks as each one hits the market I can get some great information on these phones to help me make a decision. Nothing beats first hand experience with a phone, both good and bad. In the case where the phones haven’t been released, your thoughts on how you think they will stack up is also greatly appreciated. Hopefully I will get more feedback once they are released as well. If you own more than one of the devices your opinion on which one you prefer and why is also appreciated. I am also interested in your opinion on how you think your phone stacks up against the others on the list. Thanks for your help in advance.
iPhone 5S
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Nokia 1520
BlackBerry Z30

If you go back through the threads, I know that's a task, you'll see many threads where we all gush about the new features and how we use it. I love the large screen and for a while the Note was the ONLY large screen. Now that others have jumped on that bandwagon I'd like to let you know about the Samsung only features that make the Note family so unique. Check this out 30+ hidden Samsung Galaxy Note 3 III TIPS & TRICKS you 'MUST KNOW' by Gadgets Portal - YouTube
S-notes and other S-pen apps have become integrated in my life. I use the scrapbooking feature to save things I find on the web, S-notes keep track of everything else from shopping lists that are ever changing to keeping information always at hand. It's easy to organize and maintain. Now literally, you write something down, in a few clicks, you can make a contact, a call, an email. So much of the phone, and how some of these features work through settings so it's very configurable. If you've ever written down something important and lost it, ever gotten into a store and can't remember what that very necessary item was you were sure you wouldn't forget but have, see something on sale but don't know if the dimensions are right for your space, this is the device that will solve that! Taking photos and being able to write on them, same with screen shots, can be fun and helpful. A friend of mine ran into a movie star and got her picture, too bad she didn't have a Note and she could've gotten it autographed on the spot. I've downloaded pdf files and wrote notes on them. One last thing, a friend emailed me a few Word documents in the latest format. I have Open Office on my desktop and after trying various things including sites on the web, nothing let me open them. I picked up my Note 3 and was reading the documents in seconds. Just love it, wouldn't buy ANYTHING else.

 

[clevin]

Great tip! That one hand operation-shrinking screen is wickedly good.

Thanks