The Upgrade Dilemma

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Folks,

For the last while I've had a business phone which is an S4 with an excellent plan that I don't have to pay. When my mid range HTC packed in (the 2nd HTC to go a tad mental on me) I plumped for a Acend Y300 as I very rarely use my personal phone these days. BTW I love the S4, it's just a great phone in most respects.

I checked recently and am due an upgrade but can't whittle down which one to go for so any suggestions would be most welcome. I'm happy to stay with Meteor for another 24 months so that's not an issue.

Xperia Z1 would cost me €99 but I already have the S4 which is a top drawer phone:
https://store.meteor.ie/phones/bill-pay-phones/sony-xperia-z1

Galaxy S4 Mini at €49 could be a nice option:
https://store.meteor.ie/phones/bill-pay-phones/galaxy-s4-mini

Motorola Moto G would be free:
https://store.meteor.ie/phones/bill-pay-phones/moto-g

Xperia SP would also be free:
https://store.meteor.ie/phones/bill-pay-phones/sony-xperia-sp

The Z1 is tempting but I already have a top drawer phone which I love in the S4 but €99 for such a well spec'd phone is tempting. I'm ruling out either the HTC One or the One Mini as I've had two HTC phones in the past and both eventually gave trouble with their touchscreens and became unusable.

So any advice on which phone to get baring in mind that my personal phone doesn't get much of a look in these days.

dubrov

They are all sideways or downward moves so you'd be better off getting the one which you can sell for most

White Heart Loon

Avoid the mini, it just uses the good name of the flagship, has no parts in common. Moto G would be a great choice, anyone who has them are very happy with the performance

Kintarō Hattori

dubrov wrote: »

They are all sideways or downward moves so you'd be better off getting the one which you can sell for most

I'm not too bothered about selling it on as I would use it as a secondary phone.

White Heart Loon wrote: »

Avoid the mini, it just uses the good name of the flagship, has no parts in common. Moto G would be a great choice, anyone who has them are very happy with the performance

That's what I had been thinking but apparently the camera on it is pretty awful which was giving me some second thoughts on it.

mondeo

Go for the moto G... S4 mini has a smaller screen and lower resolution and your being sort of I suppose conned into buying it since it uses the flag ships title yet different lower end internals.

BionicRasher

Are you replacing/upgrading the work S4 or the personal Ascend?

If it's the S4 then you seem to be happy with that so maybe wait a few weeks for the S5 to come in to shops.

If it's the personal phone then go for the Moto G. Class phone for everyday use and at the price point it can't be matched IMHO.

Kintarō Hattori

BionicRasher wrote: »

Are you replacing/upgrading the work S4 or the personal Ascend?

If it's the S4 then you seem to be happy with that so maybe wait a few weeks for the S5 to come in to shops.

If it's the personal phone then go for the Moto G. Class phone for everyday use and at the price point it can't be matched IMHO.

I'm replacing the Ascend as I'm very happy with the S4.

Venom

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I'm replacing the Ascend as I'm very happy with the S4.

The camera in the Moto G is far from awful. It's not amazing but more than does the job.

Kintarō Hattori

It certainly sounds like the G is the phone to go for so. It's rare that Trusted Reviews give a product 10/10- which it received. What about the memory though- it's limited to 8GB and you can't use a memory card. Is that not off putting?

The geek in my however loves the idea of having another top notch phone for a layout of just €99- so the Sony is tempting me in that respect.

Venom

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

It certainly sounds like the G is the phone to go for so. It's rare that Trusted Reviews give a product 10/10- which it received. What about the memory though- it's limited to 8GB and you can't use a memory card. Is that not off putting?

The geek in my however loves the idea of having another top notch phone for a layout of just €99- so the Sony is tempting me in that respect.

8GB is a tiny or huge depending on how you use a smartphone tho. If you have to carry every song on the planet with you at all times you will run into problems and the same applies if you need to have tons of vids and pictures on your device but most people don't use their devices like that.

Iv every app I want and twice that amount that I can't be arsed to uninstall and still have around 3.3gb free.

Dudda

You can get the 16Gb Moto G if you want. I have the 8GB and backup photos automatically to Dropbox and Google+. When you buy the Moto G you get 50GB bonus space on Google Drive so you won't run out of cloud storage. I also use Google Music which is great. You might think you like to have the photos on the phone but ask anyone who's lost all their photos and they'll swear by backing up to the cloud.

but anyway... Moto G all the way.

BionicRasher

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

It certainly sounds like the G is the phone to go for so. It's rare that Trusted Reviews give a product 10/10- which it received. What about the memory though- it's limited to 8GB and you can't use a memory card. Is that not off putting?

The geek in my however loves the idea of having another top notch phone for a layout of just €99- so the Sony is tempting me in that respect.

Go Moto G - have 8GB and its fine
As others have pointed out backup photos and vids to the cloud (Google+) and then you have ample space on the phone - Google Music also is the way to go for music. I still have about 4GB on the phone and thats loads. Camera is fine its not going to win you the Pulitzer Prize for Photography but it will serve well as an everyday snapper.
The Moto G is top notch - I would stay well clear of the Sony. It seems tempting but I have had experience of 5 different Sony phones and each one worse than the next. Sony software is a little iffy on the phones and they drop support like a hot snot. Mother has a Sony Xperia E at the moment and its not getting KitKat even though the phone was released only 10 months ago. I had awful trouble with their flagship Xperia S and after 3 months of use it was lagging badly and not in line for any kind of future support. Screen viewing angles are also poor on any Sony I have used and they are not really comfortable in the hand as they are a little square.

Kintarō Hattori

Moto G has been ordered folks.

BionicRasher made some good points. The reason I ruled out HTC is that I've had two phones from them in the past and on both the touchscreen just went nuts and became unusable. It appears you may have had a similar experience in regards to Sony. Flash looking phones that just don't have longevity.
Also you pointed out that Sony is quick to drop support for their older phones, something review sites alluded too as well.

Baring all that in mind and the fact the phone will probably spend a fair amount of time unused the Moto G makes sense.

mondeo

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Moto G has been ordered folks.

BionicRasher made some good points. The reason I ruled out HTC is that I've had two phones from them in the past and on both the touchscreen just went nuts and became unusable. It appears you may have had a similar experience in regards to Sony. Flash looking phones that just don't have longevity.
Also you pointed out that Sony is quick to drop support for their older phones, something review sites alluded too as well.

Baring all that in mind and the fact the phone will probably spend a fair amount of time unused the Moto G makes sense.

It's an amazing phone you won't regret it... It's a high end device for Mickey mouse money and direct Google support (at least for now).