Am after an android phone as my old desire has packed in.

Looking at Moto G 2014 £140 ish sim free which runs kit kat

or Samsung S4 mini £169 payg o2 which has jelly bean

Are the newer android versions much better? Quite like the S4 as its a bit smaller than the moto g, but not sure if its updateable to latest android versions.

The differences are pretty small. Biggest is probably multiple user profiles which is handy on a tablet, less of a big deal on a phone. Samsung do put their own stuff on (touch whizz?), where-as the Moto G is pretty clean. I suspect that will be a far bigger difference to the user interface than any difference in the base OS. I believe Samsung aren’t great at updates, either. Moto G would get my vote as you soon get use to the size and it becomes a bonus.

I put a custom ROM on my Samsung tablet as I hate the Samsung guff they add on to the base android.

My moto g (now other half’s) is great by comparison – it just runs plain android, and for that reason works great.

Lollipop is out in a week, I think.
Moto G may get it? S4, probably not?

Was in the same situation a few months back, but went for the Nexus 5 over the Moto G.

My S4 mini only just got Kit Kat at the weekend, only difference so far that i have noticed is the notifications line at the top of the screen is just plain white now, no more battery colour.

I have a nexus (4) so I have just the vanilla Android install – great phone for this very reason and I recommend it to everyone (handsets are pricy but if you’re prepared to shop around or go s/h then happy days, you may get a good deal on the 5 now that the 6 is coming out soon)

so I get the updates pretty quick – there really isn’t a big change in versions, it’s not like a windows release it’s much smaller changes, the only thing to bear in mind is the chipset in the phone and whether it will handle the future releases

It’s an incremental release, and not vastly different. Think of going from Windows 8 to 8.1. Kitkat should be out for the S3 Mini by now I think, if not then it’s imminent.

I find TouchWiz abhorrent, for that reason alone I’d go for the Motorola.

Newer versions are more polish than massive change but lots of good improvements all add up to a nicer/slicker experience.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest, Nexus phone are the way to go.

I have a 2nd hand reconditioned Nexus 4 for sale – I broke the screen, panic bought a 5 to get me going then repaired the 4 to get my data off. Genuine LG screen fitted and only used to backup and clear data. Email in profile if it’s of any interest.

I’ve just (last week) goto a Moto 4. I’m very impressed, it has much less junk on it than my previous samsung did, really cant fault it for the price – compares to much more expensive phones.

Its really not that big either compared to a lot of phones now, nowhere near phablet territory. I can still get my thumb right across the screen which means i can use it 1-handed while doing something else with the other 😯

40mpg -whats the battery life like on the moto g (is it the 2014 larger version?), is it a charge each day type phnone?

40mpg -whats the battery life like on the moto g (is it the 2014 larger version?), is it a charge each day type phnone?

I’m I guess a pretty light user, but having a new toy I’ve been playing around with it the last few days, installing apps, taking photos, playing games, browsing and spotifying – I’m getting 2 days out of it easily, certainly hasn’t caused me any undue concern.

Also takes the same charger as my works blackberry and old samsung so plenty of chargers knocking around at home/work/car if I need to give it some juice.

Edit – yes it the new larger one, really good size without being bulky

The battery on my moto G lasts twice as long as the battery on my Galaxy S2 with the same use.

+1 on moto g battery life, it lasts ages!

Just upgraded to a Moto G2 from a Samsung S2 and very impressed. Only drawback is relatively small memory (8GB) but at least you can add in a MicroSD for photos, music etc. to take some of the strain.

Big plusses are battery life, no Samsung bloatware and guaranteed update to Lollipop soon after release.

I thought it would feel big and ungainly especially as I have small hands but I’ve adaped really quickly and its not an issue.

For the Price I am massively impressed.

I’ve ended up with a moto g, as my works are being tight after my note 2.

I was a bit grumpy as I saw it as a downgrade, but it’s an awesome little phone.

Loads of battery life, kitkat working properly (kitkat update was what screwed my note 2 up)

A pretty understated phone.

Argos have them for £90

I too hate touchwizz. As soon as my s4 was out of warranty I rooted it and ran a custom rom (cyanogenmod, if you’re interested).
No more bloatware, the battery lasts a lot longer and it feels like a new phone.
If I break this I won’t buy another Samsung, plain vanilla android for me please.