Advice on what android please

portcrap

Hi,

always had an iphone and wanted to give android a go. I would really appreciate advice on the cheapest second hand android handset that will run android 4 / ice cream sandwich and also a great handset to boot.

I dont really want to spend more than 150. I know thats a tall order but any suggestions? I want to see if i like android better than ios which will help me to decide whether to switch.

Thanks

The_B_Man

I'm biased, but if u get a second hand HTC Desire, that'll do ya nicely.

It won't run ICS out of the box, so you'll have to do the android equivalent of jailbreaking it to install the custom updated software.


As an aside, Gingerbread (Android 2.3) is still pretty good, so I wouldnt class running ICS as a dealbreaker.

KAGY

The_B_Man wrote: »

I'm biased, but if u get a second hand HTC Desire, that'll do ya nicely.

It won't run ICS out of the box, so you'll have to do the android equivalent of jailbreaking it to install the custom updated software.


As an aside, Gingerbread (Android 2.3) is still pretty good, so I wouldnt class running ICS as a dealbreaker.

I'd agree but leave the stock rom behind,
Root the phone with un revoked , and put cyanogen on it - its 2.3 Ginger bread but few/no secondhand phones will have ics

Atomic Pineapple

Just to add buying a cheap second hand device that is end of life is not a good way to compare Android against iPhone, you need at least an SGS II, Sensation for a true comparison in my opinion.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

While the HTC Desire is a great phone, the lack of memory is a real pain. My missus only has a few apps and the memory is constantly "low". She's on a stock ROM and I've tried all the usual tricks. She'll be upgrading soon, so I wasn't bothered with a custom rom.

If you get the Desire, I'd suggest you look at installing a custom ROM (with app2sd+ support) as per the posts above. They should sort out the problem with memory.

KAGY

BearNecessities wrote: »

While the HTC Desire is a great phone, the lack of memory is a real pain. My missus only has a few apps and the memory is constantly "low". She's on a stock ROM and I've tried all the usual tricks. She'll be upgrading soon, so I wasn't bothered with a custom rom.

If you get the Desire, I'd suggest you look at installing a custom ROM (with app2sd+ support) as per the posts above. They should sort out the problem with memory.

I've used S2E to move the Dalvik cache to a card, no change in performance except a slower start up time. Haven't had out of memory error since.

The_B_Man

FYI, the Desire S has solved that memory issue.

If you can pick up a deal on a Samsung Galaxy S II, you may as well go for it. Same with a HTC Sensation.

And another thing, if you want the iPhone feel to Android, you can look into install MIUI Rom on the phone.