Database Info

New Phone Help

I'm not a pretty good writer so i'll just copy a post I did earlier today
Currently I have a Samsung Wave, Bada OS is basically unbearable currently. I'm interested in Android and I tried a Galaxy S. Thinking of buying this phone, somebody told me to always buy the newest phone so I can have the phone for a longer while. As in I change my phone a lot. This phone has everything I need, and it's currently better than the Wave. And it sits right in my budget. The problem is that my next phone I promised myself to keep it for 2 years without changing it, kind of a deal lol. Will this hold for 2 years ? Or should I wait for something better ?
Knowing I won't buy a phone until October/November. And this will be my first Android phone since I don't want to buy any other OS, already tried them all.
Thanks!
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My price range is equal to 350 EUR, should I buy a Galaxy S or maybe another suggestion. Maybe the Xperia Neo ? I'm dying
And the problem with new phones is they're expensive, I don't need dual-core or a 4"+ screen and all that price-raising unnecessary stuff. If anything's bigger than 3.6", and a clear screen. And a nice camera and high quality music.
Thanks!

Galaxy S
Honestly i love the Galaxy S unbelievably adaptable and well supported on this forum

Thanks, man
I also wanna know if there's any other similar phones. What do you guys think of Xperia Neo ? And if there's any better phones on my budget please tell me about them.
Thanks!

New phone?

I currently have a x10 mini pro which I've got pretty tierd of.. its simply to small for me. I'm thinking of buying a Galaxy s2, is there any other phone that is like the s2 that you can recommend?

Motorola Defy with Cyanogen-Mod!
Best is - it also runs under water

u can try motorola atrix...

If you want a new phone right now, The galaxy s2 is the best bet, theres also the sensation, and the atrix. However, if you can wait a little bit, the nexus prime is supposed to be coming soon.

yeh，Galaxy s2 is good.
if you want to pursue cost-effective, you can buy xiaomi phone m1,it's new,and strong

hows the battery on galaxy s2? nexus prime looks nice

Although s2 16.5 mAh battery, but still a lot of power, should buy two batteries

kearnychan said:
Although s2 16.5 mAh battery, but still a lot of power, should buy two batteries
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Samsung just released a 2000 mAh battery that barely adds to the thickness at all. Might wanna check that out.

maybe 2000mah battery is a good choice,Provided that you do not worry about the thickness

I'm looking at getting the Xperia Neo myself. A little cheaper than the Arc and most other top models and comes with a pretty good camera from what I can see.
Only issue would be I have an X8 at the moment and Sony dropped support quickly so I don't know if that would stop you buying from them again.

You can try with Arc but it's a little expencive. My favorite phone is arc ^^ , but however i have an x8 and im happy

Ordered a samsung galaxy s2 it was between that and the sensation. we will see if I did the right choise^^

taggig said:
Ordered a samsung galaxy s2 it was between that and the sensation. we will see if I did the right choise^^
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Samsung Galaxy3

[Q] HTC One mini or S4 mini

I'm thinking of getting a new phone, since my old phone (Galaxy Ace S5830i) doesn't cut it anymore, so I've decided on two phones that I can get in my budget range: the S4 mini and the One mini. I'm not considering the One mini 2 since when it gets released in India, it'll probably cost a bit less than the HTC One M8 currently :/. (By the way, we don't have phones on contract here, so phones need to be bought unlocked)
So, I have a few questions here:
1. (Most importantly) Are the hairline cracks only present on the White One mini variant? Or also on the Black One mini variant?
2. How is the battery life on the HTC one mini? I'm a pretty medium-heavy user on phones, so this counts as well.
3. Does the HTC one mini support USB OTG?
4. Do the custom ROMs available for the HTC one mini take up more battery life than the stock ROM?
5. Does the aluminium surface of the One mini get scratched/damaged easily?
6. Does the One mini break easily when dropped?
7. Does the One mini heat up to the point where it's untouchable without gloves?
8. (A personal question to One mini owners) Do you find that the internal storage is sufficient? Do you use the free 25GB given by Dropbox?
9. (Optional) If you've owned the S4 mini (for a day+), how would you compare it to the One mini?
Thanks for taking the time to read this thread.

StormyNight said:
I'm thinking of getting a new phone, since my old phone (Galaxy Ace S5830i) doesn't cut it anymore, so I've decided on two phones that I can get in my budget range: the S4 mini and the One mini. I'm not considering the One mini 2 since when it gets released in India, it'll probably cost a bit less than the HTC One M8 currently :/. (By the way, we don't have phones on contract here, so phones need to be bought unlocked)
So, I have a few questions here:
1. (Most importantly) Are the hairline cracks only present on the White One mini variant? Or also on the Black One mini variant?
2. How is the battery life on the HTC one mini? I'm a pretty medium-heavy user on phones, so this counts as well.
3. Does the HTC one mini support USB OTG?
4. Do the custom ROMs available for the HTC one mini take up more battery life than the stock ROM?
5. Does the aluminium surface of the One mini get scratched/damaged easily?
6. Does the One mini break easily when dropped?
7. Does the One mini heat up to the point where it's untouchable without gloves?
8. (A personal question to One mini owners) Do you find that the internal storage is sufficient? Do you use the free 25GB given by Dropbox?
9. (Optional) If you've owned the S4 mini (for a day+), how would you compare it to the One mini?
Thanks for taking the time to read this thread.
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1. I've had the black one mini for 6 months and never suffered cracks.
2. Battery life varies with what your running in the background. Personally running everything stock I find the battery life to be nothing special. Will just about see you to the end of the day.
3. Yes OTG supported.
4. Custom ROM may yield better battery life with less bloat running compared to stock. Again depends on what your running and settings. Just be careful with using custom roms. There are things to watch out for. DO YOUR READING!
5. Aluminium body seems quite good after 6 months use. No visable marks.
6. Dropped a handful times still working and no cracks.
7. No heat problems here even with heavy use.
8. Storage not a big issue for me. I have used Dropbox for a while and was happy to get another 25G. Good to auto upload your camera photos and videos to. plus I use Google music to save space. If you have a big data plan storage isn't an issue.
9. I played alot with both phones before buying the mini. but I kinda regret getting the one mini. I find the build quality to be a little poor with HTC and wish I had stuck with Samsung. Screen, speakers and looks are better on HTC. But s4 mini had more ram, sd card faster CPU (stock).
This is personal for me but after owning the HTC one mini I wouldn't buy another HTC phone again. Maybe a Samsung again. But now i'm selling my one mini and getting an iPhone.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the reply! I think I'll go with the S4 Mini. Although, because the dual SIM version (GT-I9192 is only sold in India I'm going to import a single SIM version from the US (GT-I9190), via eBay.
EDIT: Sadly, the GT-I9190 puts it out of my budget range and I'd like to get the GT-I9195 since LTE's coming to India soon, and that's too expensive as well. Anyways, going to just live with TouchWiz I guess.

I was faced with the same choice last month and I went with the HTC One because it looked better quite simply. Dat unibody steel design.

The90sKid said:
I was faced with the same choice last month and I went with the HTC One because it looked better quite simply. Dat unibody steel design.
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I see what you mean. I was definitely going to go with the white HTC One mini just because of the unibody design but then I found out about the crackings, and I don't like black enough to get it over the S4 mini.

i've had the white one mini for about 4 months now, and have not seen any cracks. I am quite happy with the battery life (I am running cm11 nightlies which are nice and usable at this point)
much like posters above, i was debating on the s4 mini or htc one mini, and once i held them both in my hands, i knew i needed the htc (much slimmer, and felt like a higher quality piece of hardware)

Alright.. reconsidering the HTC One mini for now, since I found out that the GT-I9192 variant won't receive the 4.4.2 KitKat update while the other variants are. How is 4.4.2 on the HTC One mini? And how are the quality of the earphones included with the handset?
EDIT: How is CM11 on the mini as well?
EDIT: After reading so much about the terrible build quality and terrible support I think I'll just go with Samsung...
Since Samsung has a bigger presence here than HTC.

I purchased the newest s4 mini i257 no contract for $345 via eBay supports at&t lte and voLTE. Comes in tomorrow, played with store demo seems like a great device only issue is rootability hoping the i257m method may work.
Sent from my LG-E970 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I got the One mini black and I'm loving it. It's looks are quite comparable to iPhone 5. For me there wasn't even a debate wether I should get s4 mini or one mini.. Only thing that s4 mini has over this one is the camera. Otherwise? Nothing, oh just slightly better specs, but when you're considering the mini versions, speed is obviously not the criteria of your decision.
Now.. One mini has better screen, better sound, better build quality, latest android, more internal storage, and to a more personal preference - Sense!
I am very happy with mine, while as the s4 mini was never a choice for me.

engwee said:
I got the One mini black and I'm loving it. It's looks are quite comparable to iPhone 5. For me there wasn't even a debate wether I should get s4 mini or one mini.. Only thing that s4 mini has over this one is the camera. Otherwise? Nothing, oh just slightly better specs, but when you're considering the mini versions, speed is obviously not the criteria of your decision.
Now.. One mini has better screen, better sound, better build quality, latest android, more internal storage, and to a more personal preference - Sense!
I am very happy with mine, while as the s4 mini was never a choice for me.
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Dunno about "better" build quality, better looks yes, but from my experience not better build quality. The storage of S4 mini can be cheaply upgraded to another 64gb. And speed is always something people look for even on a mid range phone. Not everyone can afford the top end models or want oversized breeze blocks in their hands. And if you choose to root your able to use one of the kit kat roms from the S4 mini dev forum.
it's a tough decision to make. I had the same choice and went for the one mini. But due to technical faults and very poor after care I now regret my decision...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

[Q] xperia J really so slow? any cure ?

Hi
just about to buy this phone for my GF. Only worry is the often mentioned sluggishness in the reviews. is is that bad ? any android version doing better at that ? or do you need to tune it ?
she had sk17i so far (until it broke) and it was good enough, similar specs I think.
Cheers

Don't buy it if you still can - there are much more better phones
J hardware was already crap when it came out and faulty models are the reasons why it's considered as slow device.
As of real amount of sluggishness it depends from phone to phone - mine works smoothly at any rom.
You can do many things if it's slow - factory reset, greenify, overlocking, various tweaks and mods, trying cm10

Saleen28 said:
Don't buy it if you still can - there are much more better phones
J hardware was already crap when it came out and faulty models are the reasons why it's considered as slow device.
As of real amount of sluggishness it depends from phone to phone - mine works smoothly at any rom.
You can do many things if it's slow - factory reset, greenify, overlocking, various tweaks and mods, trying cm10
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Allright, thanks for opinion, the one i was about to buy - sbody got it earlier
So it depends on the given version ? We have low budget so sk15i / sk17i was some checked good one in that priced range and for a bigger screen alternative thats the one I found. I have to mention though that I take sar ratings into consideration as well (whatever conttroversy may be around it). If you have any suggestion let me know

Tell your budget here, and people here will find something good.
If you could find a galaxy s2 that would be a soild choice, maybe lg l9 would be possible, maybe
As for something similiar - xperia neo v or xperia lww

Saleen28 said:
Tell your budget here, and people here will find something good.
If you could find a galaxy s2 that would be a soild choice, maybe lg l9 would be possible, maybe
As for something similiar - xperia neo v or xperia lww
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She tends to break things so not to waste money its about ~50-70eur used phone locally in poland.
criteria: not too large ~4 inch, battery more likely to last 2 days then one with occassional wifi/internet, sar ratings say below 1
Looks like HTC incredible S could be good ?
not sure about windows phone but Lumias like 610 or 710 are in budget range too

That's not too much.
Htc incredible s is an alright phone. Check out galaxy s,htc desire s, galaxy ace 2 if you want to.
If she had an android before, she probably wouldn't like a windows phone - lack of apps, features etc.

Saleen28 said:
That's not too much.
Htc incredible s is an alright phone. Check out galaxy s,htc desire s, galaxy ace 2 if you want to.
If she had an android before, she probably wouldn't like a windows phone - lack of apps, features etc.
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Thanks for that! I actually missed Desire S and Ace 2 in my search. galaxy s has no flash and is quite old. Also xperia arc s seems good too but is quite tall and has not front camera.
I forgot to mention that durability (like after drops) in opinions matters and those are good for Desire S, also it does some better videos as seen on that tool:
http://www.gsmarena.com/vidcmp.php3?idType=1&idPhone1=3776&idPhone2=4559&idPhone3=4134
Looks like we'll go for that one although display's performing in sunlight has mixed opinions. This actually does also matter for her when trying to make/check a picture on sunny vacation day!
Damn ..there's so many phones and still finding an ok one with few criteria is quite tough !

Xperia M is good for a low-mid range phone
Or maybe you can buy Zenfone 5 if you want

Vroyaloko said:
Xperia M is good for a low-mid range phone
Or maybe you can buy Zenfone 5 if you want
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Actually just discovered about GAlaxy S Advance that has some better guts, 4" and amoled display that shouldnt be a problem in sunlight. Did find some offers within price range for that. However the videos made by it are noticably worse than Desire S... choice still difficult lol
Xperia M, well also in price range and seems better hardware too but from what I read suffers from both sunlight problem and poor camera

Decisions, decisions
I recommend that you chose three or more models and let her choose the one she likes the most.

[Q] Should i buy a Z3

hello guys i want to buy a new device am coming fros the galaxy s2
and im considering buying a z2 or z3 or lg g3
i know the z3 is not very different from the z2 but is it good to buy it ??or the lg g3 ??
plz help me am really confuse right now

Go for the z3, you will not be disappointed. The performance and battery life superb.
Sent from my D6653 using XDA Free mobile app

woozydevotee said:
Go for the z3, you will not be disappointed. The performance and battery life superb.
Sent from my D6653 using XDA Free mobile app
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how does it stand copare to the HTC ONE M8 ??

M8 Advantages
More durable, excels in drop tests as screen is well protected with big bezels and speaker grills
HTC gives free glass replacement in first 6 months, if you damage/drop it.
Better Speakers and aux out audio.
HTC Sense is generally considered the best looking Android UI
Z3 Adavantages:
Bigger, brighter, more power efficient screeen
Better battery life
Much better camera
Waterproof
Lighter, Thinner
Close to stock android UI
Overall though the Z3 is more "well-rounded", but just be sure to be careful with it as its comparatively much more fragile. I would say go for the Z3. This based on my experience as we have an M8, Z3, GS4 and an iPhone 6 in our family.

Haha - I came to this forum to ask exactly this question! I have an S4 and am thinking about a Z3. I have always ended up rooting and using a custom ROM on my androids - is it easy to unlock the bootloader and root the Z3? (If nothing else, so that I can do nandroid, Titanium, Greenify and BetterBatteryStats).
Are there stable Lollipop ROMs that don't hurt battery life?
Is there no Samsung TouchWiz style bloatware?
Is the battery life as good as they say?
Do most people use magnetic charging to avoid opening the microUSB port?
If it is a bit fragile, do people use slim cases rather than risk using it "naked"?
Thanks in advance - apologies for not trawling through all the other subforums for answers.

-Battery life really is great, I don't need to compromise with autosync/location, I even leave them on, this the first phone that lets me be more carfree and still gives a lot of hours
-As for bloat, no there is not much, but then again the galaxy is the heights of bloatware lol.
-As for fragility, yes get a case. I use glass protectors on both sides but am still careful as I don't use a case. Remember glass protector wont save you from corner impacts.
-As for unlocking it should be pretty easy, I can't however as mine is a carrier version phone.
-Magnetic charging depends on people, I just use USB but many also use the mag port.

abhinav.tella said:
...
-As for bloat, no there is not much, but then again the galaxy is the heights of bloatware lol.
...
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Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I didn't experience galaxy bloat - the day I got it, I unlocked, rooted, backed up (just in case) and had it CyanogenModded
Oh, and I find that the devs at work have a Z3 for testing, so I will try and get a trial on Monday.

The difference between Z2 and Z3 is slim... the Z3 is slightly smaller, has a bit better screen while the Z2 has basically same hardware, bigger battery (yeah it differs) and is quite cheaper. So the Z2 is the better deal.