I currently have a 64GB iPhone4s, it works, its got a good camera about a million apps that are of very little concern to me and a nice screen. The most important thing to me is that the OS doesn’t have any “oh well if you clear the cache regularly” or “it needs a reboot once a week really” etc etc

I like my phone to just work, collect emails, check social networks, browse the web, take photos and make calls.

Have any of the android phones come close? the obvious replacement is the iPhone5 but there’s a few things putting me off, namely that I’m with O2 for the next 6mths, although I do now have the early upgrade option: (after 12mths on an 18mth contract)

O2 are not going to be deploying 4G LTE until December 2012 at the earliest (was told this by an O2 advisor)

The iPhone5 although supports LTE won’t work on the frequency that O2 will have (although Orange’s networks will support it) although they are offering some nonsense deal: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/iphone-5-on-o2-4g-promise-is-an-early-upgrade-for-a-price-50009193/

O2 only offer 24mth contracts with early upgrade after 18mths on the iPhone5 (as standard)

O2’s signal is intermittent where I live

So, in short, should I but the new iPhone 5 just because I can then be stuck with a phone only marginally better than the one I have already for two years at a higher tariff or what?

iPhone 5 with 4g network is the best, problem is that the 4g network is patchy and won’t be consistently delivered until 2013ish.

There’s also the fact that you will download more data across 4g, simply because of the availability of streaming and video calls etc that are just not workable in a lot of 3G coverage areas. Check your priceplan to make sure you have a BIG data allowance.

stick with the 4s. get a sim only deal and save yourself about £400 over the next 2 years…

and won’t work on O2 without a carrier specific iphone5 apparently (see link above)

Also where the hell to the mobile carriers get off on charging SO much for SO LITTLE?

Galaxy s3 so good apple tried to ban it.
Nexus 4
Top end HTC
Top end Motorola
Top end Nokia windows phone

Market is wide open. Until data plans get another zero 4g is just a fast way time spend money.

Depends on what you want from it, if you don’t mind a slightly larger handset the Samsung Note 2 makes the iphone 5 look like something from fisherprice toys.

thats my thoughts tracknicko, even if I went into the apple store, bought the i5 straight out and then wen’t sim only I’d be getting a better deal!

Double post

I’m a 4s user , recently got my wife the Galaxy S3, wife likes it but not impressed with the fact that she can’t use ITV player on it , 4OD doesn’t work either. Both of those used to work on her old HTC Desire. So the all singing and dancing S3 not so awesome. My opinion would be that the i5 is top of the smartphone tree.

Your current phone does everything you need. Go sim only and invest £600 in expensive cocaine and cheap hookers. It’ll make a man of you…

Stick with the 4S until the upgrade is cheap/free then decide.

I got a 4S three months ago (upgrade from a 4) and wish I’d waited for a 5 but I do know people who don’t like the fact the 5 has a larger screen or is lighter ! I am on EE so $G would have been an option although current pricing is ridiculous.

FWIW I think the handsdown best smart phone is the iPhone5

Amazing 2 people who don’t own a Iphone 5 think it’s the best phone ever 🙂 Marketing eh!

What phone do you have Mike?

The most important thing to me is that the OS doesn’t have any “oh well if you clear the cache regularly” or “it needs a reboot once a week really” etc etc

I don’t think that’s hard to come by is it? I have a Motorola Atrix, it’s been faultless. Came with so much storage I’ve never deleted or cleared anything.

S3 non 4g version but as I said the data plans don’t work for that yet.

Works with Dropbox, Google, Instagram, Spotify, off line maps, strava, Chrome Browser, has widgets that I use all the time, good battery life, nfc, getting wireless charging soon. Was on 5 way video conferencing this morning working very well.

All I need size is fine, if a fruit based company had released something this size it would have been hailed as a stroke of genius 🙂

Best phone ever? No, but at the moment yes. I don’t have to own anything to be able to compare processing speed for instance….

iPhone 5 is fab but, if you already have a 4s, I’m not sure you are getting much extra value from spending a lot of money for a 5.

I would be tempted to keep the 4s till the end of contract and then move to a contract-free SIM on something like Three. That’s what I did when I bought my 5 contract-free (I had an 32GB 4 before which I sold for £200)

4G (LTE) is pretty much multi-channel 3G with knobs on. You can’t even make voice calls on LTE yet (it drops to 3G to make the call…)

Given Three are rolling out dual-channel HSDPA which (I think) a 4s can manage, you’ll not be short of a reasonable download speed. I’ve rarely thought I was suffering from a slow connection when tethering to my laptop.

EDIT – Ah, sorry – just looked – 4s does not do DC-HSDPA

Rachel

lol

sputnik – Member
Best phone ever? No, but at the moment yes. I don’t have to own anything to be able to compare processing speed for instance….

What I was saying was there were a lot of phones at the top end all doing the same. The figures on processor speed were about 2.5% in favour of the IP5 which to the average user is about f’all as most use b*gger all of what the phone can do.

What’s wrong with the phone you have now? 64GB 4S must be ace. As above Three network SIM only deals are mega cheap, with unlimited data.

As a new customer you could get a decent amount of cash back too I think.

(3GS 8GB user here!)

oh christ no, not Three, awful lot ended a contract with them ages ago and had rude letter after threatening letter, make O2 look almost incompetent

Google along to TechRadar. They do a rolling top 20 smart phone listing with full in depth reviews of them all. Last time I looked they ranked it:

Galaxy S3
HTC One-x
Iphone 5

They also have info on release dates and spec for new phones so you can decide to wait for the next even better offering 😀

oh christ no, not Three, awful lot ended a contract with them ages ago and had rude letter after threatening letter, make O2 look almost incompetent

Been with them for years without any issues.

Wait for the Galaxy S4

You have to ask yourself would you rather have £500 cash, or the latest shiny incremental update on the iPhone. It isn’t like the 4s is going to stop working for a good couple of years, and personally I’d wait till 4g technology settles down (and stops being ridiculously expensive for data ) before getting that – especially if you don’t live right in the centre of a big city.

Even taking into account the 6 months left, the difference in cost between an iPhone 5 contract and the equivalent sim only is going to be £20 a month more than not buying a new phone* = £480 over the two years.

Personally, unless I need something different for work or whatever, I’ve decided just to buy phones when my last one breaks. My HTC Desire is currently 2.5 years old (bought it pretty much bang on when it came out) and still working perfectly darn it. The amount of money you save is shocking. It isn’t really looking so much like phones get out of date any more, at least until apps stop supporting it (which might be true of say an iPhone 3g, but not a 4s).

Joe

*note – some contracts are only approx £10 a month more, but you have to pay £250 for the phone = which equals £20 a month extra total over 2 years.

Oh and all the manufacturers of the current top Android phones are quaking in fear right now thanks to the google announcement of the Nexus 4, which looks to be pretty similar to the top end things, except for being dirt cheap in comparison. So I would wait until that comes out before buying an Android phone, to see what happens with prices there.

Joe

4s user here, wouldn’t bother with android phones whatsoever but there’s no way I’d change the 4s to a 5, not with the extra costs involved considering its only a pretty minor upgrade really.

joemarshall – Member

Oh and all the manufacturers of the current top Android phones are quaking in fear right now thanks to the google announcement of the Nexus 4, which looks to be pretty similar to the top end things, except for being dirt cheap in comparison. So I would wait until that comes out before buying an Android phone, to see what happens with prices there.

Joe
I’d imagine it’s similarly priced in reality to the others, it’s just that they all play this silly game of initially over-inflating prices to suit contract providers. Hopefully that will start to erode that practice.

oh and “wireless charging”. Of all the stupid pointless things in the world…

Wireless charging would be a great idea if every house/hotel room/workplace desk had the charging pads build into sideboards, bedside tables and whatnot.

They don’t, though.

They will, though.

Maybe…

They will, though.

Maybe…

Bet they’ll be brand-specific though.

mikewsmith – Member
Amazing 2 people who don’t own a Iphone 5 think it’s the best phone ever Marketing eh!

Have had a 3, 4, and 4S upgrading each time it’s free. Have had an extended play with a 5, screen is larger and it’s much lighter. I would have said the 4S was the best phone but I do think the 5 is better.

Re wireless charging being brand specific:

There’s a wireless charging standard called Qi, with 120 companies supporting it. The newer phones with wireless charging also support this standard.

(Guess what I was reading up on today in prep for a supplier meeting?)

it’s free paid for in your contract

😉

recently got my wife the Galaxy S3, wife likes it but not impressed with the fact that she can’t use ITV player on it

ITV player isn’t available through the market for that device but if you download and install the apk it should work OK. Have done this on an S2, Xoom, and Nexus 7, it works on each one even though market says all are incompatible.

Oh and as for the original question, I would have said S3, but might now say Nexus 4. But then what do I know, I’m an S2 owner.

There’s a wireless charging standard called Qi, with 120 companies supporting it. The newer phones with wireless charging also support this standard.

Even Apple? I seem to recall most companies agreeing to micro USB standard connector. So when apple changed their connector did they adopt the ‘universal’ standard?

Apple don’t have a wireless charging device, so it’s a bit difficult to say whether they will support it in the future.

Starbucks in Boston are installing wireless charging into tables in 17 of their branches (Duracell Powermats) – these are Qi compatible.

EDIT: Apple haven’t signed up at the moment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_(inductive_power_standard)

Ah I guess we’ll have to wait for the iQi then 😉

Even Apple? I seem to recall most companies agreeing to micro USB standard connector. So when apple changed their connector did they adopt the ‘universal’ standard?

The standard required the use of USB so that all phones used a universal wall charger or other charging point, hence USB. It doesn’t specify what the phone has, and as there are a whole bunch of different USB ports used on different devices, even across phone ranges from the same manufacturer, then what Apple chooses to have on it’s own phone is irrelevant, especially as it’s common, or will be common, across the entire range of Apple portables. The point is, you can charge an iPhone from a Samsung or HTC charger, because they all use the common USB socket, and vise versa.
I read a review tonight of the Nexus 7, and the reviewer made a point of the fact it uses a different socket, and thus connecting cable, to the phone his wife uses.