Hi! (advice on new phone)

[grahamf]

Long story short: I have a Z30 which I like but I require applications it can't run, no matter what Play Services trickery I implement. I purchased a cheap Asus Memo HD7, but as a tablet without 3G it won't work for certain critical things that require me to always have it on me (Like Car2Go's bluetooth unlock)

Since i cannot wait for (or afford) the Priv I'm planning on reselling it and am now trying to find an replacement with decent hardware. I will be selling it for $250 and so I may be able to go up to $350 or so for a new device, but I would like to avoid spending more of my own money if I can help it. As it stands I have very minimal familiarity with any Android device, and would like something that functions comparatively to what I had before. I'm willing to install third party applications as required (and will probably end up paying for the vkeyboard), but I would like it as a seamless and stable experience as opposed to having very powerful components that don't play nice with each other. I'm on the fence about a new or old device. I can install Cyanogenmod or customize it as needed, providing I can trust it to be reliable and have access to support.

I'm located in Calgary and use Koodo (which accepts Telus devices), so here's the Kijiji listings if you want to check them otherwise if you have recommendations I can find from my carrier, Amazon, or directly from the manufacturer? I have a cheap Windows Phone so I can wait a week for it to come in the mail.

I am sorry for basically dumping this on anyone who cares to help, but I really don't know what's good or bad. I will try to get more research in though.

 

[grahamf]

That being said, how is the Moto X Play? I can get it directly from Koodo and since I have paid off my tab I can put it towards the X Play, or put as much up front as I want to.

 

[VW Maverick]

Welcome.
The Moto sounds like a perfect option that fills all your needs.
Let us know if you have any other questions.

Mav.

Sent from the future on my Sprint Nexus 6

 

[Javier P]

Hello, welcome to the forums!

I agree with the X Play. I bought one a month ago and I'm quite happy with it, great value for money.

 

[grahamf]

So far I've decided I'll get the Moto once my Z30 sells.

One thing I should ask, is there a keyboard and email/calendar clients that you recommend? I'll probably miss those three things the most. I almost exclusively use Outlook.com email/calendar and installed the app on my tablet, but it is a bit on the clunky side.

 

[Carrtman]

Hello and welcome in terms of keyboard Swype and Swiftkey are the most prominent ones, personally I prefer Swype because it features nice shortcuts which Swiftkey doesn't.

Personally I think you can't go wrong with the Moto X it fits everything you want and thanks to Moto Maker you can truly make the device your own.

thanks to a SD card slot storage won't be a problem either so the 32gb version is more than enough. The only downside is the non removable battery.

As far as calender apps are concerned I would recommend the any.do calender called Cal.

As far as Email apps I am using K9 it's a really nice smooth email app and not as bloated as Outlook although you can install outlook on android too

 

[the tall guy]

Welcome Moto X is the way to go

1. Swiftkey
2. Calendar - by Google
3. Gmail

 

[STARGATE]

Welcome to the forums at Android Central!

I use Google for calendar and email, but use outlook a lot too.
On the keyboard, I use the Google keyboard on one of my tablets and I'm happy with it.
On my phone I use the kb that came with it (Samsung keyboard), which is based on SwiftKey.
I really like it a lot too, especially for having the numbers row on top of the letters row for easy access.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to Android Central! Let us know what device you get.

 

[grahamf]

I'm still waiting for my Z30 to sell, but I'm considering the Moto G 3rd gen instead. a 5.5" screen, while enticing, is unneeded and i don't need the latest specs.

 

[Javier P]

The Moto G 2015 is an excellent choice. I'd recommend you to buy the model with 2gb of RAM and 16gb of storage, multitasking will be much better

 

[srkmagnus]

Welcome to the forums!

Let us know what you decide and if you have any questions!

 

[Almeuit]

Welcome Graham .

 

[grahamf]

I ended up ordering a White BLU Win HD LTE directly from Microsoft.

While it's nice having access to a large library of games, the apps I need (Car2Go for example) are available on Windows phone. I have a dirt cheap Lumina 435 I had purchased as an emergency backup and I pulled it out of the drawer to set up in case I wasn't able to get a new phone right away. Installing 10 TP was too glitchy, but I found that Windows 8.1 does what I need well enough, and actually pretty seamlessly. Right off the bat it shows my schedule on the lock screen (even the location) which I use, and overall it works really well with everything linked to my Outlook.com account. I'm aware I might be able to get Android set up the way I like it, but from past experience (and even on the tablet) that means trying many many apps that need to be set up and may not play nice with each other or work consistently (the Sphero app refused to update on the Asus but it worked immediately on the Lumina, for one).

And plus a long time ago I had decided that Windows Mobile would be my alternative if I had to switch from Blackberry, just I didn't know I could run the apps I needed.

 

[itguyjax8430]

Welcome to Android Central!

 

[Raptor007]

Hello and welcome to Android Central.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central!

 

[grahamf]

The welcoming was a bit premature. Like I said, I ended up switching to Windows Phone. However, the phone I bout was very poor quality so I switched back to Blackberry for a while. Today I received a discount on a new phone from my carrier, so I got a Moto X Play. I already set it up with all the apps pulled from the Priv so it runs the way I want it to.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Welcome to Android Central.

I hope you like your Moto X Play.

Thanks for following up with us 6 months later.

 

[AlphaTango414]

Welcome to Android Central!