iphone 4 best phone -so what's the 2nd and 3rd best?

Kalinda

Its seems there is no beating the iPhone4 so what comes next, paying about E80-90 p/month to 02 (incl. E20 data package) and entitled to 2 phones at the lowest level !!!! Grr!!

So here looking at Emobile which have loads of good phones for free ! Any advice? I have a Samsung Touch at the moment. What about android phones?

Frynge

if your planning on getting a good phone i would suggest you steer clear of all but the main 3 carriers, as alot of people including myself find their service to be frustrating at best

dr ro

Kalinda wrote: »

Its seems there is no beating the iPhone4 so what comes next,


i think this should have been posted in you laugh you lose? No? If not, I'd say iphone 3 number 2, iphone 2 number 3!

jimmycrackcorm

Kalinda wrote: »

Its seems there is no beating the iPhone4 so what comes next, paying about E80-90 p/month to 02 (incl. E20 data pack

How about a phone that you're allowed to use Flash with...

Frynge wrote:

if your planning on getting a good phone i would suggest you steer clear of all but the main 3 carriers, as alot of people including myself find their service to be frustrating at best

LOL! who is left then? - you mean the like of Tesco mobile / Emobile who, if they accumulated enough customers, would also have complaints?

Frynge

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

LOL! who is left then? - you mean the like of Tesco mobile / Emobile who, if they accumulated enough customers, would also have complaints?

i actually meant tesco/emobile and the likes were the ones to stay away from

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

god's toy

My god OP your so far off the mark with that thread title its not even funny.

dr ro

god's toy wrote: »

My god OP your so far off the mark with that thread title its not even funny.

i laughed!

theteal

Lads, some people don't know any better and actually believe the hype/marketing or Mr. Jobs. Instead of mocking the OP, here's your opportunity to steer him/her in the right direction

Phones available now that are better than iphone (imo of course) that would be significantly cheaper:

HTC Desire, Desire HD
Samsung Galaxy S, Omnia 7

(HD and Omnia 7 are still fairly expensive and without hesitation i'd still take a desire or galaxy above them)

The above manufacturers and sony ericsson have some new handsets the very near horizon that should raise the bar even further but they will be pricey upon launch

bd250110

I love the Droidboys posting on here, as if it was fact that their handsets are all round better than the iPhone. This is not the case.

1) e-mail handling - why should I HAVE two e-mails apps? One G-Mail and one everything else? Why is the e-mail client so difficult to use? Why is is so difficult to determine what is a new/unread message. Apple's simple blue dot makes it easy, at a glance.
2) Battery life. It is shocking. Why should I HAVe to turn off GPS, WiFi, BlueTooth, turn the screen brightness right AND turn off 3G down to get a full day?
3) Phone stability. Why should I have to restart my phone every couple of days to stop lags, crashes, etc?
4) Alarms, why dont they work when the phone is powered down?
5) Market place - A fair amount of knock-off software/malware and poor quality, unstable apps. This is improving though still no where as good as the iOS appstore.
6) Media integration is horrible on android handsets. Photos, music, podcasts, notes, etc are not handled in a predictable way. Drag and drop creates it's own problems, info is often "missing" - or at least can't be read by the phone.
7) Software updates, are slow in coming and often don't fix issues with the handsets, they are an excuse for operators to put yet more bloatware on the handset.

SonyEricsson, raising the bar? Not a chance. The Play is already delayed on o2-UK, review units have been flaky and battery life is even worse than usual on Android.

Android is an option for customers, just like any other platform. Just because you would rather live in Google's (increadingly walled) garden, does not make it better than Apple's walled garden. It's a choice.

MrThrifty

As an owner of an iPhone 4, I would have many criticisms of it. While it probably is the best out there, I do not believe it is the best value for money. I have played around with a friend's Samsung Galaxy and if I'd not been gifted my current phone, I'd get one of these in the morning over any iPhone. With the latter, you're paying extra for the brand name, at least that's my impression.

Keano

bd250110 wrote: »

I love the Droidboys posting on here, as if it was fact that their handsets are all round better than the iPhone. This is not the case.
Android is an option for customers, just like any other platform. Just because you would rather live in Google's (increadingly walled) garden, does not make it better than Apple's walled garden. It's a choice.

1) Can easily use gmail to get all your mails and not sure what you mean about finding out what's new - never had any issues
2) I get 2 days, yes some users are having issues. You tell me all iphones last more than a day?
3) Not a common issue
4) It is an issue just like when clocks go forward or back iphone alarms don't work!
5) So every app in App store is so great?? Malware is not an issue for 90% of Android users I'd reckon
6)"Precdictable" - no it's the Apple way. Android lets you pick and choose
7) That's a network issue - can you install custom rom's, change everything about your phone in a matter of mins? No!

MacGyver

4. iphone alarm also doesnt work when powered off (unless thats changed with the last update, my 3g doesnt anyway)

Abelloid

bd250110 wrote: »

Android is an option for customers, just like any other platform. Just because you would rather live in Google's (increadingly walled) garden, does not make it better than Apple's walled garden. It's a choice.

I agree; personal preference, nothing more, but I'm not sure what you mean by Google's walled garden, you don't have to use any Google services if you don't want to.

theteal

bd250110 wrote: »

I love the Droidboys posting on here, as if it was fact that their handsets are all round better than the iPhone. This is not the case.

Opinions my friend, not facts - if you noticed i've even mentioned a WP7 phone as an alternative

bd250110 wrote: »

1) e-mail handling - why should I HAVE two e-mails apps? One G-Mail and one everything else? Why is the e-mail client so difficult to use? Why is is so difficult to determine what is a new/unread message. Apple's simple blue dot makes it easy, at a glance.
2) Battery life. It is shocking. Why should I HAVe to turn off GPS, WiFi, BlueTooth, turn the screen brightness right AND turn off 3G down to get a full day?
3) Phone stability. Why should I have to restart my phone every couple of days to stop lags, crashes, etc?
4) Alarms, why dont they work when the phone is powered down?
5) Market place - A fair amount of knock-off software/malware and poor quality, unstable apps. This is improving though still no where as good as the iOS appstore.
6) Media integration is horrible on android handsets. Photos, music, podcasts, notes, etc are not handled in a predictable way. Drag and drop creates it's own problems, info is often "missing" - or at least can't be read by the phone.
7) Software updates, are slow in coming and often don't fix issues with the handsets, they are an excuse for operators to put yet more bloatware on the handset.

i could respond to each one but i'm too busy, i'll just say you're doing it wrong if that was/is your experience - i honestly don't know where some (1, 3, 6, 7) of them are coming from

bd250110 wrote: »

SonyEricsson, raising the bar? Not a chance. The Play is already delayed on o2-UK, review units have been flaky and battery life is even worse than usual on Android.

The Play is the runt of the new SE litter, no grá for it whatsoever. The Neo is the one i'd be interested in but in reality they should have just held off to see what they could come up with in a dual core guise.

bd250110 wrote: »

Android is an option for customers, just like any other platform. Just because you would rather live in Google's (increadingly walled) garden, does not make it better than Apple's walled garden. It's a choice.

Of course it's just an option, again all responses in here are merely opinions. All phones are made to certain specifications to suit certain needs - in this case the OP was looking for an alternative to the iphone and hence the non-iphone (although not particularly helpful) responses

god's toy

..............

evolutionqy7

bd250110 wrote: »

I love the Droidboys posting on here, as if it was fact that their handsets are all round better than the iPhone. Other Android and Windows handsets are far more superior than the iPhone.

Not all droid boys some windows boys too

Fixed it too

cookie1977

What about BlackBerry Boys :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPZH4OysGZI

nexusg

cookie1977 wrote: »

What about BlackBerry Boys :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPZH4OysGZI

Haha good one!or not!

Definitely prefer androids as like others said apple though good is just too predictable and boring. I would like if Android had even more apps but not so much of an issue as a few months ago. If anyone wants a good phone the Google Nexus S is a nice phone have it with a month love it. Not cheap but definitely way better than other droid phones I've used and can compete with iphone 4 in many aspects and better in some. Display is brilliant.:D

teednab-el

LG optimus 2x guys? surely this phone will take some beating when it comes out?

CantGetNoSleep

teednab-el wrote: »

LG optimus 2x guys? surely this phone will take some beating when it comes out?

LG phones have always been sh1t when I used them, will take a good phone to shake off that reputation

evolutionqy7

That's cause none of LG's phones before were really smartphones. They were cheap budget phones for the masses

bd250110

LG? Even their Android handset are poor to use and unreliable. My former boss used to say (and still does) "An LG? Is the customer taking insurance with that? They will be back". The return rate was hideous, about twice as much as any other manufacturer.
LG only got away with it because they sold cheap handsets, to tweens who knew no better. They will have to up their game to play with even SE and Moto, let alone Nokia, Apple, HTC and Samsung.

TheAnswer

I'll stick my oar in. Got an N8 two weeks ago, what an incredible piece of kit! I'm blown away with it's level of tech and the sheer usability it offers, its extremely intuitive to use if you're a Nokia head (which I've been since 1995).
Just my tuppence worth though.

teednab-el

bd250110 wrote: »

LG? Even their Android handset are poor to use and unreliable. My former boss used to say (and still does) "An LG? Is the customer taking insurance with that? They will be back". The return rate was hideous, about twice as much as any other manufacturer.
LG only got away with it because they sold cheap handsets, to tweens who knew no better. They will have to up their game to play with even SE and Moto, let alone Nokia, Apple, HTC and Samsung.

Its a matter of opinion I suppose. In the stuff magazine, they gave the LG 2x a high rating and that it was the next big thing in phones, I dont think it would make the magazine itself unless it was unique and had something to offer. It remains to be seen I suppose.

Abelloid

teednab-el wrote: »

Its a matter of opinion I suppose. In the stuff magazine, they gave the LG 2x a high rating and that it was the next big thing in phones, I dont think it would make the magazine itself unless it was unique and had something to offer. It remains to be seen I suppose.

Are there any LG adverts in that mag?

teednab-el

JustinOval wrote: »

Are there any LG adverts in that mag?

yeah two actually believe it or not.

PogMoThoin

TheAnswer wrote: »

I'll stick my oar in. Got an N8 two weeks ago, what an incredible piece of kit! I'm blown away with it's level of tech and the sheer usability it offers, its extremely intuitive to use if you're a Nokia head (which I've been since 1995).
Just my tuppence worth though.

Nokia are years behind when it comes to smartphones

evolutionqy7

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Nokia are years behind when it comes to smartphones

or only ahead

PogMoThoin

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

or only ahead

Time will tell how they get on in the future with Windows, but the N8 is a pitiful smartphone when you compare it with whats available at the moment

dr ro

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Time will tell how they get on in the future with Windows, but the N8 is a pitiful smartphone when you compare it with whats available at the moment

that's rubbish.

evolutionqy7

dr ro wrote: »

that's rubbish.

Ah come on. Everyone knows Nokia has been doing **** in the smartphone sector for a couple of years now

dr ro

yeah they have but the newest range of s3 phones are far from pitiful compared to other smartphones. The best hardware plus the best features. The n8 does many things that no other smartphones can. fm transmitter, usb, hdmi, proper free navigation, by far the best camera plus the best flash. these are specifications, not opinions.

Venom

Oh please, Nokia haven't been relevant in the smartphone market since the N95 and the fact they needed to go with Microsoft proves it.

PogMoThoin

Venom wrote: »

Oh please, Nokia haven't been relevant in the smartphone market since the N95 and the fact they needed to go with Microsoft proves it.

They only went with M$ cos they offered lots of cash Google has the market and offered less

evolutionqy7

PogMoThoin wrote: »

They only went with M$ cos they offered lots of cash Google has the market and offered less

Yeah but don't forget for that large sum of money Microsoft is getting alot of Nokia services, patents that never got settled and world wide reach to carriers and bill pay billing for app purchases. They didn't throw it out just for them using it. You will see Ovi maps merged into Bing and other services.

if Nokia manages to build a solid phone by the end of this year with Windows Phone they will get back alot of users that they lost over the years to iPhone and Android.

racer1

The biggest winner for smartphone will be whoever builds a decent smartphone with a good battery. I dont get a day from my desire. Id say about 12 hours.

Abelloid

racer1 wrote: »

The biggest winner for smartphone will be whoever builds a decent smartphone with a good battery. I dont get a day from my desire. Id say about 12 hours.

I know a lot of people complain about battery life but TBH I've never been 12 hours from the nearest power source, I can charge at home, on my desk, in the car... It has never been an issue.

cookie1977

JustinOval wrote: »

I know a lot of people complain about battery life but TBH I've never been 12 hours from the nearest power source, I can charge at home, on my desk, in the car... It has never been an issue.

Not everyone can do what you can. I think battery issues are going to get bigger especiallly with the launch of dual core devices. Hopefully they'll get the mix right between power and speed.

racer1

JustinOval wrote: »

I know a lot of people complain about battery life but TBH I've never been 12 hours from the nearest power source, I can charge at home, on my desk, in the car... It has never been an issue.

Justin ye its not a problem for lots of people but im on the move around my company all the time and i need my phone on me. I cant just plug it in beside me and use it.

Well i went looking at new phones yesterday. Was thinking of trading in my Desire with CPW for a new phone. But all the phones i looked at from Nexus S to Sony Xperia range of android phones and the HTC HD7 windows phone all have poor battery performace. The only phone was the N8 that got a half decent review. So i said no point in changing.

Abelloid

cookie1977 wrote: »

Not everyone can do what you can. I think battery issues are going to get bigger especiallly with the launch of dual core devices. Hopefully they'll get the mix right between power and speed.

If 12 hours is an issue it only takes seconds to switch batteries, the desktop charger I have has a try to charge a second battery.

The HTC incredible S has a larger battery which protrudes from the back of the case and I bet there will be complaints about that too. It's just a matter of finding what works best for your usage.

Abelloid

...and there's always the Mugen batteries -

http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com/


The iPhone4 is said to have the best battery life.

partyatmygaff

bd250110 wrote: »

1) e-mail handling - why should I HAVE two e-mails apps? One G-Mail and one everything else? Why is the e-mail client so difficult to use? Why is is so difficult to determine what is a new/unread message. Apple's simple blue dot makes it easy, at a glance.

Have you ever even used email on an Android phone? It looks as if you haven't... Not only that but at least I can change my email app had I mind to. The iPhone doesn't offer me the same level of freedom.

2) Battery life. It is shocking. Why should I HAVe to turn off GPS, WiFi, BlueTooth, turn the screen brightness right AND turn off 3G down to get a full day?

The battery life on the iPhone is equally poor.

3) Phone stability. Why should I have to restart my phone every couple of days to stop lags, crashes, etc?

This does not happen on any phone barring those running experimental or custom ROMs, something that does not even exist on the iPhone.

As for the other points they are far too petty and weak to even reply to.

racer1

JustinOval wrote: »

...and there's always the Mugen batteries -

http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com/


The iPhone4 is said to have the best battery life.

Ive seen them before Justin and thought about them but didnt bother with it at the time which i regret. Now i think i wont go that way as i will change my phone in next 3/4 months.

Yes the battery in iphone 4 is better than most but the reviews i read say that the N8 battery is best. But overall package of N8 is not going to make me buy it. I use my phone mainly for twitter and facebook apps and internet. After that text and voice. Im moving back to prepay with o2 as they have now a prepay data add on.

PogMoThoin

I've a custom rom (Darkys 9.5) on my Galaxy S, after average usage all day yesterday with wifi on it was at 72% when I went to bed from a full charge in the morning, it was at 55% when I woke up this morning. I never left the house mind You, so there's no roaming or looking for signals. 2-3 days is easily obtainable once you know whats heavy on the battery and whats not, software like juice defender can also help, but I don't need it.

OctavarIan

There is no one 'better than all the rest' smartphone out there. They all have incremental improvements in certain areas, just figure out what features suit your lifestyle the most and go with the phone that satisfies that.

dr ro wrote: »

The n8 does many things that no other smartphones can. fm transmitter, usb, hdmi, proper free navigation, by far the best camera plus the best flash. these are specifications, not opinions.

Oh please. I've a crappy old LG that has an FM transmitter and USB. HDMI port on a phone is currently a useless feature. Proper free navigation, not even sure what you mean by this.

And best camera? 12MP with that tiny sensor, that's a laugh! Though it's good for marketing to the sheep who think megapixels are what make a good camera. (That's a fact, not an opinion)

bd250110

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Have you ever even used email on an Android phone? It looks as if you haven't... Not only that but at least I can change my email app had I mind to. The iPhone doesn't offer me the same level of freedom.

The battery life on the iPhone is equally poor.


This does not happen on any phone barring those running experimental or custom ROMs, something that does not even exist on the iPhone.

As for the other points they are far too petty and weak to even reply to.

FYI I used a Desire daily for about 2 months. It drove me crazy.

1) The GMail app only handles GMail, not other e-mail providers. Yes I could (and did) download another e-mail client from the market, or forward my e-mails to GMail, but why should I HAVE to do this? E-mail is a basic function of nay smartphone, it should work right out of the box, regardless of provider. Not even Apple forces you to use their .me service, you can use your choice of GMail, Hotmail, MS Exchange, POP, IMAP, whatever your organisation uses. Android does not give you this functionality.
2) Battery life was poor on my Desire, it was a case of take off charge in the morning, drive to work, use @ work and dead by home-time. I did work in a Phone Shop at the time, so there was a bit of demo-ing, but I had a "shop-phone" for calls, etc. We had 2G/3G repeaters in the back, so network performance was never an issue. The iPhone (3G, later 4), on the same network, in the same places got 1.5- 2 full days. The Desire had Wi-Fi off, GPS Off, screen brightness turned down, etc. The iPhone was allowed to do as it wished.
3) I had no custom ROM's etc, but needed to do a battery pull at least once a week.

This is my experience of Android, the fanDroids will say I am talking rubbish, that what I say is lies, but it is my true experience. I loved HTC Sense, having SD cards that I could swap out and I adore the notification system, which is so much better than iOS. But a mobile phone can not go 12-18 hours without a charge/crippling "smart"features/battery swap, it's not a mobile phone I can live with. Although the upcoming dual core phones do promise better battery life, so hopefully this will improve things.

Abelloid

bd250110 wrote: »

FYI I used a Desire daily for about 2 months. It drove me crazy.

1) The GMail app only handles GMail, not other e-mail providers. Yes I could (and did) download another e-mail client from the market, or forward my e-mails to GMail, but why should I HAVE to do this? E-mail is a basic function of nay smartphone, it should work right out of the box, regardless of provider. Not even Apple forces you to use their .me service, you can use your choice of GMail, Hotmail, MS Exchange, POP, IMAP, whatever your organisation uses. Android does not give you this functionality.

Did you try 'Mail'?

PogMoThoin

Android ships with both gmail and email apps, you could have setup your google email in the email app and then disable all notifications in the gmail app. I've my gmail as my personal email, email as my work ones, I love the idea of keeping them completely seperate as do most others

evolutionqy7

The reason why iPhone has a better battery life is cause it has the smallest screen of the whole lot of smartphones. If you ever look at the power usage on the smartphone, the screen takes the most of it. The processors and os's are fairly well tuned In all OS's and doesn't use that much in standby. WiFi is the second battery killer. Then if your playing games or using apps that adds on. Most people coming from Nokia legacy devices expect days of battery life. But you barely ever used the phone for a few calls and texts back then so the phone was most of the time in standby resulting in great battery life.
I'd love to have 3 days battery life but I know I won't have that till there's more low power high performance parts In the phone.

bd250110

The reason why iPhone has a better battery life is cause it has the smallest screen of the whole lot of smartphones.

That's not true at all, phones like the Wildfire, SE X10 Mini/X10 Mini Pro, etc all have much smaller screens than the iPhone. The Desire screen is not much bigger than the iPhone (3.7 Vs 3.5) and the early Desires (which I had) had AMOLED displays which should be more battery efficient than the iPhone's TFT-LCD.

I don't see the need for two e-mail programs myself. I like everything to be in one place. Any desktop e-mail client worth it's salt can display multiple e-mail accounts, either as one combed in-box, or separate lists. BlackBerry can do it, iPhone can do it, webOS can do it, even Symbian can do it. Gmail works best on Android using the native app. Google refusing to allow other e-mail addresses is simply a ploy to force users towards Google services.