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Which phone would goons suggest for photography (and maybe video)? I'm going on a vacation soon and really don't want to lug my heavy DSLR with an even heavier lens around all the time. It'd be nice to have decent battery life as well. Which phone out now can take the best pictures? I don't really care about brands or operating systems and am not bound by contracts or a budget.
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Jul 22, 2014 17:36
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LastInLine posted:Still, Island Nation actually is concerned about those things so in this case it's really a matter of understanding that all smartphones are personal data exfiltration devices and you can't have one if you aren't comfortable with the surveillance. Sorry for derailing the thread. I'll show myself out.
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Jul 22, 2014 17:42
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Overdoze posted:Which phone would goons suggest for photography (and maybe video)? I'm going on a vacation soon and really don't want to lug my heavy DSLR with an even heavier lens around all the time. It'd be nice to have decent battery life as well. Which phone out now can take the best pictures? I don't really care about brands or operating systems and am not bound by contracts or a budget. Galaxy S5 seems to have the best camera, unless you count the nokia Lumia 1020, but the apps on windows just still are not up to par, so if you were buying that you might as well just buy a separate camera. I am not a photography person, so I am not sure how good a camera you are expecting. Also, it would depend on what carrier you are on, what phones are available in your part of the world, etc. I quoted two phones in the US, with the 1020 only being on ATT.
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Jul 22, 2014 19:04
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My Nokia 1020 gets me through the day, its battery isn't fantastic, isn't terrible, just decent. It has a battery.  Windows phone has way less apps, yep, but it honestly depends on your usage, so if all you do is call/text/browse, some social media stuff, i think you'll be fine? Are there any deal breaker apps as far as you're concerned? Also it comes in yellow.  You can buy a SIM unlocked black one from the Microsoft store for use in both at&t and T-Mobile as well.
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Jul 22, 2014 19:32
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My expectations regarding the camera would be fairly high I guess. I'd like to take pictures that you can't tell have been made with a phone. Maybe hoping for this is too much? I don't think I use any apps that are so Android-specific. Most of the time I just use it for social media, music and browsing the internet. The 1020 seems pretty cool. I don't live in the US, and I was planning to just pay full price for the phone, as I'm pretty happy with my carrier and service. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll try to get my hands on a 1020 and maybe the S5 and see what's up before buying.
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Jul 22, 2014 20:10
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Overdoze posted:My expectations regarding the camera would be fairly high I guess. I'd like to take pictures that you can't tell have been made with a phone. Maybe hoping for this is too much? Yeah if apps aren't a big thing the only one that truly matches that is the 1020. I find the S5 (or iPhone) to take perfectly fine pictures for sharing,but I wouldn't necessarily say they are good for anything high end. FYI last I checked the 1020 won't upload the 42MP version of the pictures to skydrive, so moving the high resolution pictures off the phone is either plug up to computer or maybe something like Dropbox?
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Jul 23, 2014 00:36
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You can now on the high-end WPs with 8.1 (I'm looking through my OneDrive right now), just a matter of making sure that option is checked. You can also get RAW DNG files. You head into the settings for the camera app and change the capture mode. Of course, they're huge.
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Jul 23, 2014 01:03
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Any suggestions for my wife? We're looking for a new, unlocked Android phone. She has dropped her last two (to be fair, she got over a year out of each) so something relatively cheap would be nice (in case she drops it again) Country/Provider: USA, currently on AT&T but she may join me on T-Mobile Current contract status: on her brother's plan, I believe she could change without problems Budget (phone/plan): We'd like cheap. $200-300 would be nice Features I know I want: Battery life. Her phones are always almost dead by 5 pm. I really hate how her current Samsung Galaxy has a bunch of Samsung poo poo in it, I'd like a less encumbered, more stock Android experience The Moto G looks pretty nice, and the price is ok, wondering if anyone agrees or has a different recommendation.
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Jul 23, 2014 02:21
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The Moto G is a very good phone for its price. Either that or a Moto X (it's on sale with a code for another day). For the $80 over a Moto G LTE, it seems worth the extra money unless she really needs an SD card slot, and she can customize it if she wants. http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/07/18/deal-alert-moto-x-going-least-100-coupon-code-motorola-com/
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Jul 23, 2014 03:09
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Seeing that verizon prepaid finally has 4g I'm going to be making the switch tomorrow. However I'm stuck between two phones, the moto x and the lg g2. The g2 is $300 through Verizon and the moto x is the same through the moto sale that ends tomorrow. Help me out goons, is the moto x still one of the best android experiences out there considering every android phone now has touchless ok google? Both phones seem great to me and I can't make up my mind.
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Jul 23, 2014 06:29
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Victorian Gentleman posted:Seeing that verizon prepaid finally has 4g I'm going to be making the switch tomorrow. Get the Moto X.
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Jul 23, 2014 11:54
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My S3 is getting a bit stale and I am looking to upgrade. Thinking about buying a Nexus 5 up front and switching to Koodoo to utilize their 10% discount (will let me get an unlimited talk/2gb plan for 66 bucks a month). Any issues with the Nexus 5 like battery life or anything or will it satisfy me as a basic browsing/facebook/texting machine.
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Jul 24, 2014 02:25
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Country/Provider : Washington, DC with Verizon Current contract status: Month to month Budget (phone/plan): ideally something like 50-80$/month for phone and plan. I can get a phone upfront if that would be cheaper than getting one as part of a new contract. I'm currently paying ~110 dollars a month for unlimited text and overall service that I don't care for. I have an Iphone 4s with a broken microphone which I'd be willing to trade in for something different, or fix, if that's relatively inexpensive Features I know I want: Long battery life, smallish size (not much larger than current phone), unlimited text.
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Jul 24, 2014 03:15
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Country/Provider: Birmingham, AL with Tracfone (I know) Current contract status: hahahahahhaahahahahahaha Budget (phone/plan): Very interested in the T-Mobile $30 goon plan. Looking for a good phone to take advantage of it. Cheaper's always better, but I think I'm willing to go as high as a Moto G (and seriously considering doing just that). If there are really good sub-$200 Android phones out there, I'd definitely consider them. Features I know I want: Don't need a lot of voice minutes, because I work from home and transact most of my business through email and text. Nothing super fancy, just something that I can carry with me that will let me check email/Google Maps/run apps while away from the PC. Basically, I've been using babby's first cell phone from Tracfone for a couple years now, but the tablet I bought earlier in the year is making me realize just how pathetic this thing is. Decent battery life would also be a plus.
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Jul 24, 2014 05:53
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kazmeyer posted:Country/Provider: Birmingham, AL with Tracfone (I know) flashman posted:My S3 is getting a bit stale and I am looking to upgrade. Thinking about buying a Nexus 5 up front and switching to Koodoo to utilize their 10% discount (will let me get an unlimited talk/2gb plan for 66 bucks a month). Any issues with the Nexus 5 like battery life or anything or will it satisfy me as a basic browsing/facebook/texting machine. 
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Jul 24, 2014 10:26
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nomadotto posted:Country/Provider : Washington, DC with Verizon
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Jul 24, 2014 13:49
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flashman posted:My S3 is getting a bit stale and I am looking to upgrade. Thinking about buying a Nexus 5 up front and switching to Koodoo to utilize their 10% discount (will let me get an unlimited talk/2gb plan for 66 bucks a month). Any issues with the Nexus 5 like battery life or anything or will it satisfy me as a basic browsing/facebook/texting machine. Battery life on the N5 is not as up to par (according to reviews) as other current generation phones, but it is pretty solid. I used the Moto X and found the battery life to be excellent, but I would def say the screen on the N5 (my friend had one) is definitely better. Overall, I would say either the N5 or Moto X are a good buy for the price, which is obviously way cheaper than a $650 Galaxy S5. kazmeyer posted:Country/Provider: Birmingham, AL with Tracfone (I know) FYI whichever carrier you go with just check their coverage compared to where you travel specifically in the south, most are usually fine in big cities, but I've found everyone to have spots in between where they just drop out. Duckman2008 fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jul 24, 2014 |
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Jul 24, 2014 15:31
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Country/Provider:USA/NYC area Current contract status:none Budget (phone/plan):Looking between AT&T and Verizon (for coverage purposes), need a family plan of 5 smartphones Features I know I want:Assume all five are the samsung s5 I'm trying to wrap my head around the cheapest plan. Right now I am looking at verizon plans and for 5 smartphones with unlimited talk and text, 10 gig shared data, it will run me about 300 bucks a month. This is under a two year contract I believe, but under the Edge program this will only run me about 175 a month? Is there something I am missing? Should I go with Edge or try to buy my own smartphones and bring it in to the plan? Let's assume that we will be upgrading every 2 years rather than what I understand is every one year allowable by EDGE. Thanks all!
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Jul 25, 2014 04:11
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The Key Maker posted:Country/Provider:USA/NYC area With both carriers the plan goes down to $175, the catch is it is no contract so you have to then buy the phones. One benefit for some people is the yearly update, but honestly its just cheaper to go no contract. Do that,and then where and how you get the phones is your choice. Direct from the carrier will probably be $650 a pop (over 20-24 months). Used prices I wouldn't know, but if you get that you just keep the lower cost plan. This is why some people are going with phone like the Moto X, its very good overall and $300-350 instead of $650.
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Jul 25, 2014 11:53
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Country/Provider: USA/ATT Current contract status: due for an upgrade Budget (phone/plan): Hopefully around or less than $300, a cheap plan would be nice but I know the upgrade could save a lot of money Features I know I want: - Good camera - Not Windows - smaller than 5" screen, yet powerful
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Jul 25, 2014 18:36
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Country/Provider: USA - Verizon, willing to switch Current contract status: Month to month Budget (phone/plan): No budget, prefer a shmancy phone Features I know I want: Android with longest path of support/upgrade and no bullshit skinning and bloatware from carrier. Good front/rear camera. Preferably all of the cool new things. I know its not on any phones but I want loving usb 3.1 type C, not usb 3.0 lovely weird looking cable. Petty, I know. The problem is my verizon htc droid dna is seriously hosed, it wont read sim cards at all, I get like 2 hours of cell service randomly while I'm commuting and the rest of the day it says PLEASE INSERT A SIM CARD. I should just switch to a crappy loaner from a friend until what I want comes out which is probably another year. Everyone seems to speak highly of t-mobile and most of my commute is reading text-only news, then I'm on wifi all day, so I wouldn't really notice a lot of traffic changes. I use ~2gb of data a month mostly from instagram or streaming music. What are the cheapest/best plans for a smartphone?
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Jul 26, 2014 04:20
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Not an Anthem posted:Features I know I want: Android with longest path of support/upgrade and no bullshit skinning and bloatware from carrier. Not an Anthem posted:Good front/rear camera. Preferably all of the cool new things. Not an Anthem posted:Everyone seems to speak highly of t-mobile and most of my commute is reading text-only news, then I'm on wifi all day, so I wouldn't really notice a lot of traffic changes. I use ~2gb of data a month mostly from instagram or streaming music. What are the cheapest/best plans for a smartphone? There's the goon plan everyone raves about but I don't know much about specific plans, I'll let the carrier guys field that one. ClassActionFursuit fucked around with this message at 08:51 on Jul 26, 2014 |
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Jul 26, 2014 08:46
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A Bag of Milk posted:Country/Provider: USA/ATT For ATT (and all carriers) it depends on your plan. Can you post your plan and if its just you or not? Phone wise probably either Moto X, iPhone (new iPhone in September), or S5. The S5 is a 5" screen, all the smaller phones tend to just not be as good. Not an Anthem posted:Country/Provider: USA - Verizon, willing to switch How much calling do you do? Either $30 for 100 mins (no nights and weekends or anything unlimited), unlimited text and 5GB of data, or $60-70 for unlimited call, text and 3-5GB of data. Please check the TMo thread to confirm that. Neither plan includes a phone, which you would have to buy outright, although the higher plans allow you you pay for it over 24 months. Duckman2008 fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Jul 27, 2014 |
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Jul 27, 2014 13:02
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Country/Provider: USA (Central PA) / T-Mobile Current contract status: No contract, so month to month I guess? Budget (phone/plan): I want to keep it under $100 for two lines so I've been looking at either the T-Mo $30 plan or the $80 family plan since that one has unlimited talk/text and my wife and I can both be one it. I work from home so I don't usually come anywhere close to hitting 1GB on data for a month, so I don't think that would be an issue. I need a new phone since my Nexus 4 drowned in a swimming pool this weekend, and I'd go right for the Nexus 5 if the reviews didn't indicate the same bullshit I hated about the Nexus 4 (lovely battery life, can't remove battery, no SD card, will randomly give black screen of death forcing you to restart the phone). I do like that it's cheaper than the other two I've been considering (Galaxy S5 and LG G3) and that it gets all the updates first, but price is not necessarily a dealbreaker. Features I know I want: Really the only things I want are data coverage that isn't total dogshit and not a lot of bloatware on my phone. T-Mobile's data coverage in my area is loving atrocious which makes streaming music or looking up websites a crapshoot when I'm out of the house, but I don't know if that would be different with a phone that has LTE, and the one thing that's really kept me with them is that they're consistently the cheapest option. I was looking at Sprint which seems to have much better coverage in my area than T-Mo but reading a few pages of the Sprint thread makes it sound like switching to them might not be the best decision. raditts fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jul 28, 2014 |
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Jul 28, 2014 16:09
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If you're willing to bring your own phone (which sounds to be the case), you can get a 2 GB plan on AT&T for $65/month. Their coverage is almost certainly better than T-Mobile's, but you didn't post your location, so you'll have to research that yourself. I can't help you with phones since the only thing that otherwise would fit your requirements would be a Moto G LTE, but I'm not sure how it performs compared to a Nexus 4 and it doesn't have a removable battery either, though it's supposed to be very good for pretty much anything short of games and have great battery life.
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Jul 28, 2014 16:26
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I edited to clarify that I want to keep under $100/month for both my and my wife's line. I live in Central PA, but I've always shied away from AT&T and Verizon because I always hear from people who use them about how gladly they'll screw you over as a customer.
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Jul 28, 2014 18:25
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Country/Provider: USA/ATT Current contract status: Upgrade-ready, loving expensive, grandfathered unlimited data Budget (phone/plan): Phone cost doesn't matter/Plan under $100 for two lines Features I know I want: I have a Note 1 (SGH-I717) and can't use anything smaller any more. I like the Note 3, but I've been told an HTC M8 is the way to go instead. I like a good camera, but the one thing I care about more than anything is that the device doesn't loving lag. My Note went from being very responsive to not being able to type a single word because a keystroke registers every four loving seconds. Going back a screen takes a year. I've been too scared to leave my grandfathered data plan but I've started to realize how much I really use data (that is, I don't) and now it feels more like a shackle than anything else. I'm not adverse to going contract-less and getting iPhones if that's the smart thing to do, at least they never lag out. They're just comically small to me and hard to use.
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Jul 28, 2014 18:32
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raditts posted:I edited to clarify that I want to keep under $100/month for both my and my wife's line. I live in Central PA, but I've always shied away from AT&T and Verizon because I always hear from people who use them about how gladly they'll screw you over as a customer. You have T-Mobile and it is not good enough for you. Sprint is literal garbage and is so bad I can't imagine how they can legally be considered a telephone provider. AT&T would preferable in my eyes to Verizon simply due to BYOD and device choice, but yes, either of the two better networks are going to treat you like poo poo and make you pay for their usable, widespread network as that's the way the world works: you get what you pay for.
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Jul 28, 2014 19:05
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LastInLine posted:The enmity a telecom company feels toward its customers is directly proportional to the utility of its network. Verizon's network is great so they would rape your mother while you watched but T-Mobile's is not so great and they will treat you with respect and talk nicely to you. Well, that's a shame, I guess I'll stick with T-Mo then since I don't use mobile data enough to justify paying more and dealing with lovely customer service when I need anything. Any opinion on what phone to get between the Nexus 5, Galaxy S5, and LG G3?
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Jul 29, 2014 00:00
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raditts posted:Well, that's a shame, I guess I'll stick with T-Mo then since I don't use mobile data enough to justify paying more and dealing with lovely customer service when I need anything. Any opinion on what phone to get between the Nexus 5, Galaxy S5, and LG G3?
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Jul 29, 2014 00:06
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raditts posted:Well, that's a shame, I guess I'll stick with T-Mo then since I don't use mobile data enough to justify paying more and dealing with lovely customer service when I need anything. Any opinion on what phone to get between the Nexus 5, Galaxy S5, and LG G3? I'll be biased here, but you might want to consider ATT. T-Mobile is pretty terrible in central PA, and I can tell you from experience ATT is just going to be way better coverage wise. I live and travel round PA and don't have issues. And personally, ATT customer care isn't terrible, same as most big companies where you have a few bad reps, but !ore good than bad at this point. 2 lines with 1GB of data is $75 a month, 2GB of data is $90. Just like T-Mobile, you have to bring your own phone for that which isn't bad. The Nexus 5 will be $350 no contract vs $650 for the other two, so you should get the N5 on either ATT or T-Mobile.
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Jul 29, 2014 03:29
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I've got to agree with Duckman as the price difference isn't that much but the level of service is going to be much better. Yes, AT&T won't be giving the niceties T-Mobile will but on the other hand your phone will work.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:00
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Well I lodged my tax return and I want to buy a new phone. My HTC Explorer died and I want to invest in a phone that will last me a few years, use it to make calls and social media stuff and videos. Maybe even for fitness too (the Explorer was awful for doing a lot of things and it was my first smart phone) Country/Provider: Australia/Vodafone Current contract status: Prepaid $30/month ($450 worth of calls + sms and 500mb of data) Budget (phone/plan): Prefer to buy outright with budget $700 or less, unless I can be offered a compelling case for a new phone or plan. Features I know I want: -don't want a iPhone -not too keen on a Windows phone but will buy one if convinced -a tough phone or I can buy an excellent case that makes it durable -reasonable camera -powerful but battery can last a day with moderate usage I like the looks of the Sony Xperia Z2 and the LG G3, any reasons not to get those ones or try others? Thanks in advance.
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Jul 30, 2014 13:42
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Country/Provider: USA - Verizon Current contract status: Eligible for cheaper upgrade Budget (phone/plan): <$100 Features I know I want: Good GPS, good bluetooth, good availability of apps, good call quality, preferably not an iPhone. Right now I have a Droid Incredible 4G, which I kind of hate. I don't really have many apps running in the background (just mail and standard services really) and it is really slow. To the point where I sometimes miss calls because I can't answer them or sometimes can't make calls because the phone will just chug so long that the screen will power off before the call is placed. I'm looking to replace it with something that's not so slow and terrible. My usual use pattern is that I use the phone to browse the internet, use Facebook, locate places to eat/research places to eat, work and personal email, and I use texting and phone calls quite heavily. I also use the phone and Waze on my commute to navigate around traffic. I also use the phone when I work out, running a few apps simultaneously to play music, track my running time/distance/speed.
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Jul 30, 2014 14:04
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Droid Maxx
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Jul 30, 2014 14:14
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Endless Mike posted:Droid Maxx Maybe, it looks massive and uncomfortable to hold.
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Jul 30, 2014 14:18
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The only thing that won't be massive and uncomfortable to hold is a Moto X or an iPhone. So I guess a Moto X?
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Jul 30, 2014 14:34
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Budzilla posted:Well I lodged my tax return and I want to buy a new phone. My HTC Explorer died and I want to invest in a phone that will last me a few years, use it to make calls and social media stuff and videos. Maybe even for fitness too (the Explorer was awful for doing a lot of things and it was my first smart phone) Both phones have decent reviews. The main difference would probably be the fact that the G3 has a custom UI overlaid on the Android OS while the Z2 is mainly stock Android with some icon changes. Given your needs, it might just come down to which phone has the better protective case that's available to you.
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Jul 30, 2014 17:59
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[*]Country/Provider: USA/AT&T [*]Current contract status: No-contract, shared data family plan [*]Budget (phone/plan): Not sure [*]Features I know I want: Instagram I'm really, really lost when it comes to phones. Right now I have a flip phone from about five years ago. I'm a budding photographer, so I really need instagram - if not for that, I would probably not really care about getting a smartphone, though obviously there are some other benefits. A good-ish camera would be nice, but actually not that necessary - my camera has built-in wi fi so it can send its own pictures to a phone. Also, I would prefer an iPhone, as I did have a Samsung Galaxy S2 for a few months and was generally unsatisfied with it. What really makes me feel like a grandpa is when it comes to pricing and plans. When I went to the AT&T store, the salesman looked up my family's plan - we are on a "shared data" plan, by the way, and all other three people on it have iPhones. Then he declared that we have a "no-contract" plan, which means anyone can upgrade at any time - this was always an issue in the past, we had to wait until we were eligible to upgrade our phones. He presented me with two simple options - buy a phone now for $200, followed by $25 a month for the next two years (for data? for something else? I didn't ask, though I should've) or finance the phone for anywhere from $18 a month (iPhone 4) to $22 a month (iPhone 5). He pushed hard on the second option, and downplayed the first. I know so little about this stuff I didn't know what to ask, but when I got home it was suggested that the $25 a month in the first option might be for a new data plan (even though we're already on a share data plan?) and that the financing option might have that cost anyway. I hate hidden costs and want to avoid those if at all possible. Any thoughts?
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Jul 31, 2014 02:26
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The $200 + $25 happens because you are paying the $200 subsidized price and losing your current discounted line charge which will go from $15 to $40. This means your family has 10 GB or more of shared data, so your total cost would be $200+600 for two years. The other option he mentioned is essentially financing the cost of the phone over a period of time, though I'm not sure where he gets those numbers from. In any case, it should cost you $650 over two years for an iPhone 5s and you're not on contract at all. Using this option does NOT increase your line charge, so it will remain at $15 per month. This is really your better option. You could also just buy the phone unlocked and not have to finance it. If you're going for an iPhone either get a 5s or a 5c, with the former probably being the better choice since is more likely to be supported longer (and have a better resale). The 5c is still a good phone, though.
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Jul 31, 2014 02:37
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