Help me choose which phone to buy.

[Kingmerciless]

Hey AC forums,

I need some advice on which phone to buy. I currently have an iPhone 4S, and Im almost done with my contract. I want to switch to Android and miss using them so much. Except, I am at a loss for which one to buy. I feel weird asking for help, when I work for Best Buy Mobile, so I should know what I want. The three biggest concerns are, should work on a US carrier, preferably with faster speeds. Should be bigger then about a 5 - inch display (tired of my 4s screen). And i think should be easy to flash cyanogen mod on to it. Any advice? I am willing to join onto a "contract" carrier since I can get a concession line.

 

[B. Diddy]

Wecome to Android Central! Currently, your best bets would probably be the HTC One M8, the LG G2 (no CM yet for the G3), and the Nexus 5. The M8 gets great reviews (see this comparison with the G3 here), is brand new, has awesome hardware, and is ideal as a media machine due to its excellent screen and Boomsound technology. The G2 is still good, but is being eclipsed by the G3 (which, to my knowledge, doesn't have an official CM ROM yet)--but this means you could get it for pretty cheap. And of course, the Nexus 5 was built for rooting and ROMing, is still plenty fast and smooth, with the main drawback being its mediocre battery.

 

[Kingmerciless]

Thank you for the love. Hmm the M8 is cool and all but i have poor exp with HTC. My previous HTC albeit old, was an HTC Evo. I know they have come such a long way. The G2 idk bout would rather get a G3 on contract then and work on placing cyanogen when its available. I was looking into getting a Oneplus one invite, and getting that when i can.

EDIT: Or some cheaper but decent chinese model, like a Huawei, or something. Let me know ifthats probably a bad idea.

 

[B. Diddy]

I'd avoid the Chinese models. They're better these days, but I'm still concerned about support. The only Chinese company I'd trust is Lenovo, but they don't have any actual phones in the US (and the Moto sale hasn't been finalized yet). And please, for the love of all that is Android, avoid the no-name Chinese phones that have great specs on paper--specs don't help if the firmware or hardware is buggy.

 

[Kingmerciless]

Yeah those kind of phones, scare me. Hmm, I have so many choices with nothing to settle on atm.

EDIT: I did think about buying a Nexus 5 after all, but I definately would wait then.

 

[Kingmerciless]

Sorry for the double post but at theoment my options are resign with a carrier for a better price on a flagship phone or buy a cheaper off contract device which really should be sub 300 easily but a good value. Gonna swappa my iPhone and get something new. Any suggestions even if it's a crappy phone to start with lol.

 

[B. Diddy]

Moto G, especially the 4G LTE version. Probably the best value out there.

 

[Kingmerciless]

Thanks but over the Moto X?

 

[B. Diddy]

Moto X is better, but you were asking for sub-$300. I think the unlocked Moto X is $299 at the cheapest (new), so that's just edging into your range. The Moto G is significantly cheaper, with still quite good performance.

 

[Kingmerciless]

Thanks a lot for the advice. Any suggestions on keeping either stock or any custom os for them?

 

[B. Diddy]

That's a totally personal preference. I'm not a rooting guy, because I think the stock ROM does all I need, and there's an app out there if I need it to do more.

 

[jago25_98]

I have a GNex 2nd hand for <$150. I like the ability to run Cyanogenmod since I feel more comfortable with the CM team than I do with any vendor to continue relasing new versions and support. The only problem has been:
1) The battery contains the NFC antenna, so it has been next to impossible to get NFC support with replacement batteries
2) The SDCARD can't be removed. So backup mistakes are more common and you have less options.
So I'm looking to replace it only if something like this exists. CPU speed, RAM, screen size, this stuff doesn't matter so much to me, most phones these days have reasonable specs unless you want games (which I don't).

I wouldn't buy an unrootable phone. I have so much stuff over the years gone to landfill because the vendor stopped supporting it after a while. I can replace my phone every 3-10 years this way instead of every year. That saves a lot of cash but for me it's about efficiency - can't stand wastage.

I was curious on those Chinese phones and bought one just to try and resold. I can't remember the exact one but it was 7' phablet and worked very fast and very well. I couldn't see the problem with them. It worked really well. They don't have the bells and whistles but the thing for me was not having control for things like Cyanogenmod - if you mess up your rooting you'll probably have to sell it. If you smash the screen you can't get a replacement etc etc. Another reason why I go with popular phones. I'd still get a Chinese phone though if you could get CM for it.

 

[salmanahmad]

Nexus 5 would be the device I would recommend to you.

 

[Benjamin Olaiya]

Hey AC forums,

I need some advice on which phone to buy. I currently have an iPhone 4S, and Im almost done with my contract. I want to switch to Android and miss using them so much. Except, I am at a loss for which one to buy. I feel weird asking for help, when I work for Best Buy Mobile, so I should know what I want. The three biggest concerns are, should work on a US carrier, preferably with faster speeds. Should be bigger then about a 5 - inch display (tired of my 4s screen). And i think should be easy to flash cyanogen mod on to it. Any advice? I am willing to join onto a "contract" carrier since I can get a concession line.

Samsung Galaxy s5...

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Marshall Angell]

Can't beat the HTC M8, it's a workhorse

Posted via the Android Central App