Recommend a Smartphone for work

Dub XV

Hi all,

Time to change work phones and was wondering what to get. I have a Lumia 800 for personal use which I love but don't want another Windows phone.

I am not really drawn towards an iPhone but I have never used one and I am open to it.

There is the Samsung Note which looks mad (in a good way?) and SIII arriving soon.

Anything else I should consider?

It will be on Vodafone. We use Outlook for mail. Massive storage isn't needed but a decent camera is.

Jarren

Budget?

Dub XV

Unlimited!

Jarren

I like that

What common (bad)thing all high end smartphones tend to share is a battery excessive consuption.

Not sure about what type of work you doing but in my last job I had phone charger on my work desk/car/home/my family house.

I'm going to go with the flow to recommend you something from the Samsung galaxy family.


http://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/B007VCRRNS/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

The main thing is to get a proper bumper/shock proof case and screen protector.

You won't regret getting that Sammy , I got my Sgs2 last Nov and I can safely state that this is the best phone I ever had (except the battery life).

That's my recommendation anyway:)

Dub XV

Jarren wrote: »

I like that

What common (bad)thing all high end smartphones tend to share is a battery excessive consuption.

Not sure about what type of work you doing but in my last job I had phone charger on my work desk/car/home/my family house.

I'm going to go with the flow to recommend you something from the Samsung galaxy family.


http://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/B007VCRRNS/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

The main thing is to get a proper bumper/shock proof case and screen protector.

You won't regret getting that Sammy , I got my Sgs2 last Nov and I can safely state that this is the best phone I ever had (except the battery life).

That's my recommendation anyway:)

I am on the road most of the day so can charge as I go. Sending and receiving mails will be the main use and then calls.

The note looks impressive as a toy. I never had a Samsung before so could be a goer.

Zonda999

Have a play with a Galaxy Note before you decide on it OP, they really are massive, they are supposedly fairly popular with people in business though, although the iPhone is still the undisputed king of phones in business. Not sure why, just the way it is. The Galaxy S3 is a mighty fine phone too, more powerful than the Note, but with a smaller screen. The Camera's on all three would be very good indeed as phone cameras go, and there probably wouldn't be much in it as regards battery life

GarIT

I've seen pictures from loads of smart phones and there are a few that on paper have a better camera than the iPhone but I haven't seen a picture from any other phone yet that is as clear as a picture from an iPhone.

PogMoThoin

GarIT wrote: »

I've seen pictures from loads of smart phones and there are a few that on paper have a better camera than the iPhone but I haven't seen a picture from any other phone yet that is as clear as a picture from an iPhone.

Seen the Nokia Lumia 900? HTC One X camera is top notch too.

GarIT

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Seen the Nokia Lumia 900? HTC One X camera is top notch too.

Yeah, I think the iPhone is better for pics than the lumia, it really does just have some unusual clarity about it. I haven't seen the one x. IMO the iPhone pics look better than the nexus and gs2. The gs3 might be better, its supposed to be amazing but it could just be hype. Ive always thought that all the iPhones have been slightly better than another phone with equal specs.

Jarren

You mentioned something about a decent camera and no .... It's not another Windows phone.

http://www.amazon.de/dp/B007VKAJYY/ref=pe_23451_30244191_pe_vfe_dt1

Dub XV

Jarren wrote: »

You mentioned something about a decent camera and no .... It's not another Windows phone.

http://www.amazon.de/dp/B007VKAJYY/ref=pe_23451_30244191_pe_vfe_dt1

41MP :eek:

srsly78

Zonda999 wrote: »

the iPhone is still the undisputed king of phones in business. Not sure why, just the way it is.

No.

iPhone has only recently gained acceptance in business. Blackberry is still regarded as the king of business devices (even tho they are terrible imo).

Zonda999

Yeah, that totally skipped my mind tbh, but I have seen plenty business people with iphones in the last year I can assure you.

In rank, it would probably go blackberry -> iphone -> android.

The blackberry doninance in business probably came from how well they handed email but thats no longer the case on the couple of years, iphone and android have certainly caught up.

Dub XV

Have had Nokia for the last 15 years so want something different.

never considered a blackberry before.

I am kinda looking for a bit of wow.

GarIT

Dub XV wrote: »

Have had Nokia for the last 15 years so want something different.

never considered a blackberry before.

I am kinda looking for a bit of wow.

Blackberries are going downhill fast. They were good a while ago but haven't really improved since while all the other phones have moved on. I think windows phones even have more apps and functions that blackberries do now.

Zonda999

Yeah, blackberry appear doomed unless they can seriously pull something out of the bag. Propriety OS's are effectively gone, Blackberry are effectively the last manufacturer to still exclusively use they're own OS. They're what used to be unique form factor helped them keep them relevant for ages but they're certainly sinking fast now. And they won;t provide much of a wow factor

jossul1179

BlackBerries are still the best phones for getting stuff done. Not the best for gaming is that is a concern. But for business BlackBerry is best. Their is a reason way the President of the US uses BlackBerry. Apple board of directors use BlackBerry, the CEO of Google Eric Schmidt still uses them. Give the Bold 9900 a look.

BobMc

I've a Bold 9900 and if its sending email and texts the combination of a touch screen with a proper keyboard is great !, not so great on apps but I only use a few bookface, twitter, weather and its suits those perfectly uses little data for all of those too

GarIT

BobMc wrote: »

I've a Bold 9900 and if its sending email and texts the combination of a touch screen with a proper keyboard is great !, not so great on apps but I only use a few bookface, twitter, weather and its suits those perfectly uses little data for all of those too

So basically its a simple phone that does nothing worth mentioning and doesn't have the wow factor the OP was looking for. You probably should have mentioned that you can make calls on your balckberry and use the exclusive bbm and then you've listed all of its features. Cameras on BBs are usually terrible too.

GarIT

jossul1179 wrote: »

BlackBerries are still the best phones for getting stuff done. Not the best for gaming is that is a concern. But for business BlackBerry is best. Their is a reason way the President of the US uses BlackBerry. Apple board of directors use BlackBerry, the CEO of Google Eric Schmidt still uses them. Give the Bold 9900 a look.

Do you have a source for any of this? Other than Obama I doub't they do and Obama probably doesn't know an awful lot about technology either.

All 3 of my email accounts, my calender, my text messages and msn messenger all synch to my lock screen and can be accessed with a swipe and one touch, how can you get things done better than that? The phone also integrates twitter, msn and Facebook into one interface. And if I choose to I can synch the contacts from my email accounts to my phone contacts and it will automtically match up names with, phone numbers, email accounts, twitter, facebook and msn accounts. You just can't beat that for efficency in getting things done. Is there one thing a Bb can do better?

srsly78

Zonda999 wrote: »

Propriety OS's are effectively gone, Blackberry are effectively the last manufacturer to still exclusively use they're own OS.

You know that company called Apple? They use a proprietary OS called iOs, apparently it's quite popular.

Dub XV

Yeah something cutting edge is what I want. As I said I have a Lumia 800 so a 900 doesn't interest me or any other WP7.

The Blackberrys do look purely functional. I have a Nokia E72 now for that

Since I am going to throw a bit of money at it I just want something interesting. I could get a freebie if I just stick to the norm.

iPhone winning so far?

jossul1179

GarIT wrote: »

Do you have a source for any of this? Other than Obama I doub't they do and Obama probably doesn't know an awful lot about technology either.

All 3 of my email accounts, my calender, my text messages and msn messenger all synch to my lock screen and can be accessed with a swipe and one touch, how can you get things done better than that? The phone also integrates twitter, msn and Facebook into one interface. And if I choose to I can synch the contacts from my email accounts to my phone contacts and it will automtically match up names with, phone numbers, email accounts, twitter, facebook and msn accounts. You just can't beat that for efficency in getting things done. Is there one thing a Bb can do better?

Here are my source links
Apple Board of Directors
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-apple-board-member-was-spotted-using-a-blackberry-on-national-tv-2012-5

CEO of Google
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-26/tech/30038048_1_blackberry-android-phone-eric-schmidt

Also everything above that you said BlackBerry has been doing for years and better.

Zonda999

srsly78 wrote: »

You know that company called Apple? They use a proprietary OS called iOs, apparently it's quite popular.

Yeah yeah, other than iOS..

OP, call into a shop and try an iphone 4S and a good android like an s3 or a Note and see which one genuinely prefer

GarIT

jossul1179 wrote: »

Here are my source links
Apple Board of Directors
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-apple-board-member-was-spotted-using-a-blackberry-on-national-tv-2012-5

CEO of Google
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-26/tech/30038048_1_blackberry-android-phone-eric-schmidt

Also everything above that you said BlackBerry has been doing for years and better.

I'm actually amazed at that :P

That's a matter of opinion. I think WP7 is much batter even for basic functionality. I didn't know you could integrate your texts, Facebook chat and Windows live messenger into one app. Anyway, that's all BBs do, useful as they are they have no wow factor.

If I were you I'd wait for the SG3 or the next iPhone if you really want wow factor.

You won't get a note into your jeans pocket, and its more of a mini tablet with a call function than a phone.

GarIT

I've always seen android as a lower class of phone in a way compared to windows phone and iPhone. You can do way more on an Android, its not even half as secure as the iPhone, any app you want to make no matter how illegal it is you can make it. Anything that is bad gets taken out of the app store or marketplace. IOS just seems more secure, there aren't as many viruses as android. On the other side you can do anything you want with an android.

I've heard people complain before about the lack of SD card slots in the iPhone and Windows phone. But that's actually a really good feature from both, the time to access storage on both is much better.

My personal preference would be the iPhone over any Android.

srsly78

Fail, there are no viruses for android (a virus is a very specific kind of malware). Malware gets pulled from the market, the whole thing is propaganda basically.

Also, your sdcard point is rubbish. Modern android devices have the same fast internal memory, AND they have an sdcard slot. Early android devices were indeed gimped by limited internal memory but this is not a problem anymore.

Finally, iOs is not actually more secure. It is running native code, so one pointer exploit and the entire device is compromised (this is how the web-page jailbreak worked for example). Android uses a VM sandbox for each app, which is actually the more secure method.

GarIT

srsly78 wrote: »

Fail, there are no viruses for android (a virus is a very specific kind of malware). Malware gets pulled from the market, the whole thing is propaganda basically.

Also, your sdcard point is rubbish. Modern android devices have the same fast internal memory, AND they have an sdcard slot. Early android devices were indeed gimped by limited internal memory but this is not a problem anymore.

Finally, iOs is not actually more secure. It is running native code, so one pointer exploit and the entire device is compromised (this is how the web-page jailbreak worked for example). Android uses a VM sandbox for each app, which is actually the more secure method.

Virus is just the most commonly used word. I hear it every day dealing with the general public so get used to using it. I actually usually correct people on that. I have restored android phones that have been bricked by malware. Android can install apps that are not in the marketplace unlike the others. I can link you YouTube videos if you want by malware on Android.

SD card read times are a slower than internal memory. You will have internal storage in an Android phone but extra storage you add, while expanding memory will slow the phone. When Microsoft was asked about why they don't allow SD cards in Windows phones they said it was because they didn't want the performance drop that comes with SD storage. If an app is on a SD card it will be a lot slower than an app on the phone's internal memory.

For that reason its not, but android apps can and have also affect the whole phone. I've never seen an iPhone that has been bricked by malware.

Just for the op, you have a current gen windows phone, you might not get any wow till the next gen of phones.

srsly78

Some windows phones DO support sdcards So you are clearly just waffling..... Noone with a modern android phone installs apps on sdcard, because it's crap as you have said. This was a big problem with the HTC Desire. Your info is way out of date for 2012.

Have never seen an android phone bricked by malware, this was more likely caused by the user messing around with custom roms etc. The "install from unknown sources" option in android is OFF by default. A user must manually enable this, just as they must manually install dodgy apps. Yes this is the downside to freedom. Google can remote wipe stuff from devices anyway.

Please stop spreading rubbish info.

GarIT

srsly78 wrote: »

Some windows phones DO support sdcards So you are clearly just waffling..... Noone with a modern android phone installs apps on sdcard, because it's crap as you have said. This was a big problem with the HTC Desire. Your info is way out of date for 2012.

Have never seen an android phone bricked by malware, this was more likely caused by the user messing around with custom roms etc. The "install from unknown sources" option in android is OFF by default. A user must manually enable this, just as they must manually install dodgy apps. Yes this is the downside to freedom. Google can remote wipe stuff from devices anyway.

Please stop spreading rubbish info.

That must have changed, when the OS was released there were strict rules in place, and one of them was that no phone could have an SD card slot. It is still relevant as many Androids have little internal storage. I presume the more expansive ones have more space. There are hundreds of scams going around, none that I can think of on Android right now, but someone sometime must fall for them. I don't think Google can delete stuff that wasn't put on through the app store. You are just repeating what I said slightly differently to try to make yourself look intelligent.

There is no point in turning this into a thread where people try to show off how much they know.

Everything I have said is what I have learned working beside guys who spend all their time working on and repairing phones. There's nothing that I have said that I think it rubbish.

srsly78

Thanks for the second-hand information so. What I have told you is from first-hand experience working as an android engineer.

You are right about the non-market apps however, google can't nuke those. Same story with jail-broken iphones tho, Apple don't protect these people either.

GarIT

srsly78 wrote: »

Thanks for the second-hand information so. What I have told you is from first-hand experience working as an android engineer.

You are right about the non-market apps however, google can't nuke those. Same story with jail-broken iphones tho, Apple don't protect these people either.

Well you probably are right then but what is the best phone for the OP.

listermint

GarIT wrote: »

Well you probably are right then but what is the best phone for the OP.

no an iphone if he wants something flash, they are done to death and pretty dam small if your doodling business stuff on them. Besides Iphone despite all the crap they spouted about the perfect screen size blah blah are making a larger screen because they are following the market trends...

GarIT

listermint wrote: »

no an iphone if he wants something flash, they are done to death and pretty dam small if your doodling business stuff on them. Besides Iphone despite all the crap they spouted about the perfect screen size blah blah are making a larger screen because they are following the market trends...

That's a really interesting way to look at it. Earlier I was actually going to say to get the GS3 or the 808 (if you really care about the camera) now or wait for the next iPhone. I was thinking because the iPhone isn't much better than current gen windows phones but it has been overdone too, although every iPhone has and probably will be.

PogMoThoin

GarIT wrote: »

That's a really interesting way to look at it. Earlier I was actually going to say to get the GS3 or the 808 (if you really care about the camera) now or wait for the next iPhone. I was thinking because the iPhone isn't much better than current gen windows phones but it has been overdone too, although every iPhone has and probably will be.

Wow, it's not even out, no info at all on it yet other than speculation but you know it's worth recommending. The latest generation Androids are already miles ahead of the iPhone, Apple have a hell of a lot of catching up to do. My bet is they'll hold back and make lots of excuses, screen too big, more streamlined, better user experience yada yada yada....

GarIT

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Wow, it's not even out, no info at all on it yet other than speculation but you know it's worth recommending. The latest generation Androids are already miles ahead of the iPhone, Apple have a hell of a lot of catching up to do. My bet is they'll hold back and make lots of excuses, screen too big, more streamlined, better user experience yada yada yada....

What can the latest smart phones do that the current iPhone can't? It would be safe to presume that the next iPhone will at least be an improvement on the last. If the OP is in a rush there will be no harm in waiting for the announcement of the next iPhone anyway, if its not better than the GS3 get that then.

PogMoThoin

GarIT wrote: »

What can the latest smart phones do that the current iPhone can't?

What can any smartphone do? Latest gen phones have quadcores, last gen had dual. They do the same things, but do them faster and multitask.

GarIT wrote: »

It would be safe to presume that the next iPhone will at least be an improvement on the last. If the OP is in a rush there will be no harm in waiting for the announcement of the next iPhone anyway, if its not better than the GS3 get that then.

Providing you don't have to hold it a special way or use a rubber band so you don't block the signal or any other flaws, bugs etc. My point is, it's pie in the sky, it's pointless to recommend it when we've not seen the specs or had any reviews. It could be a complete fcuk up for all we know.

cookie1977

To be honest the average user won't use a smartphone to any where near it's possibilities. The average user just uses the browser, contacts and calendar functions. They're not going to notice the difference between dual core and quad core. They probably won't get near to using up all the ram and what ever device they do get they'll probably stick with for a long time as they'd be afraid to try anything new as they know there one just works.

Try get to a store that has some demos and see how they feel in your hand. Smartphones are becoming like digital cameras in that it's all about the feel of the device and layout of buttons as they all do the same thing nowadays. There's little to really differentiate them.

cgarrad

Quick guide to choosing a phone:


I don't really understand computers: iPhone

I am a geek: Android

I know who always wins: Windows phone :rolleyes:



(Blackberry is going to be bought out so not recommending)

cookie1977

cgarrad wrote: »

(Blackberry is going to be bought out so not recommending)

Even if (and that's a big if) BlackBerry are sold they won't disappear over night. Their new BB10 OS (akin to ios and android style wise) is due to launch on new devices around October. This is a great OS and if they get the marketing of it right it should help them solidly grab 3rd spot behind iOS and Android.

As a long time BlackBerry user I've always felt they're great for getting things done quickly. There's no device better in my mind (and I've used plenty of different devices). It all comes down to personal preference and needs. No device is perfect.

whiterebel

cookie1977 wrote: »

Even if (and that's a big if) BlackBerry are sold they won't disappear over night. Their new BB10 OS (akin to ios and android style wise) is due to launch on new devices around October. This is a great OS and if they get the marketing of it right it should help them solidly grab 3rd spot behind iOS and Android.

As a long time BlackBerry user I've always felt they're great for getting things done quickly. There's no device better in my mind (and I've used plenty of different devices). It all comes down to personal preference and needs. No device is perfect.

I know you like the BB cookie, but it could really so with being bought out now, by someone who will do apps and a really good OS. They really need some good design and TLC now, if it's not too late. I got one a couple of months ago, because I really fancied one down the years, but it was awful: like taking a step back about 5 years. I'll be interested to see the new OS when it comes out.

cookie1977

whiterebel wrote: »

I know you like the BB cookie, but it could really so with being bought out now, by someone who will do apps and a really good OS. They really need some good design and TLC now, if it's not too late. I got one a couple of months ago, because I really fancied one down the years, but it was awful: like taking a step back about 5 years. I'll be interested to see the new OS when it comes out.

They've gone this far with the change of direction. I'd like to see them get the chance to see it through and then (god forbide) if it doesn't work find a buyer. I think half their problem is perception. Ok they're not great for games or media but for everything else I honestly think they match or beat other devices.

Hopefully the new OS will be seen by non bb users to rectify this gaming and media gap. The OS on the playbook is beautiful and if it transitions well to the smartphone they could be on a winner. I don't think they'll beat android or iOS but regaining some of the lost ground would certainly be a success. Maybe they could license the software to other hardware manufacturers. Maybe even dump their hardware devision altogether and become like google (a software compnay).

Time will tell and fingers crossed it all works out. It's all down to their marketing in my mind.

Dub XV

Galaxy S3 not on the approved handsets list yet. I could only go S2.

iPhone seems the way I am going to go.

That Galaxy Note was more Nissan Note