Phone recommendations

purplecow1977

I've had my Samsung S2 for the last 3 years. It's gotten really slow (could be all the photos I have stored) and some apps are non responsive (or take ages to respond) so I'm on the lookout for a replacement.

I'd like to stick with Samsung, although the Sony Xperias look nice. I'm not looking to spend €500 on a phone, although I think I paid €430 for my S2 when I bought it. Any recommendations? I used the Vodafone 'compare' facility for 4 phones but they all looked fairly similiar. The 4 phones I had chosen were Sony Xperia M2, Xperia Z3 compact, S4 and S5.

Any recommendations from those who have tried & tested?

Dudda

I've a nexus 5 I'd recommend which is below the price range you're looking at. Not a huge fan of Samsung and don't know enough about Sony to comment further.

duridian

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I'd like to stick with Samsung, although the Sony Xperias look nice. I'm not looking to spend €500 on a phone, although I think I paid €430 for my S2 when I bought it. Any recommendations? I used the Vodafone 'compare' facility for 4 phones but they all looked fairly similiar. The 4 phones I had chosen were Sony Xperia M2, Xperia Z3 compact, S4 and S5.

Any recommendations from those who have tried & tested?

As a fan of "stock Android" devices I'd echo Dudda's recommendation of a Nexus.

But I must also say I had a bit of a look at a Samsung Galaxy Alpha in the flesh on Saturday, and though I don't usually care much for Samsung, the Alpha is a very nice device.
You really have to hold it to appreciate the difference the metal mid-frame makes! The metal band also is visually a treat. I think it is the nicest looking Samsung in years.

The particular model I saw was a UK model with Exynos octacore chipset, but in most everything the quadcore Snapdragon 801 model should be similar. I believe the Snapdragon version is what Vodafone Ireland sell. Physically they should be identical regardless of the chipset.

Anyway as I noticed what you said about Vodafone compare, and saw that Vodafone have the Alpha as an option on Billpay, I figured I'd mention it so that you were aware of it.

jimmynokia

One plus one...

reni10

If you want to spend less then 200 then buy a Moto G.
You won't be disappointed for the price

purplecow1977

Moto G? Never heard of it. Worth a Google!? Didn't come across it on the Vodafone website!

MuppetCheck

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Moto G? Never heard of it. Worth a Google!? Didn't come across it on the Vodafone website!

It's a decent phone.

The Sony options are excellent devices too. Samsung are very repetitive and boring at this stage, but if you like your S2 you'll definitely like the S5. The HTC One M8 is also a fantastic piece of kit too.

reni10

Moto G is the most impressive phone I have seen at the below 200 price point.

It will have Android lollipop on it very soon too as it runs very close to stock Android.

You could spend 600 on a S5 and it is a good phone but I don't think it is 400 better!

I have recommended the MotoG to a few people on here and I don't think any of them have been disappointed...

purplecow1977

thanks will have a look.
Not interested really in the S5 for the price of it, considering any review I read seemed to almost prefer the S4!
Have heard good things about the HTC One M8 also!
I suppose your definition of Samsung beingboring and repetitive might be actually what appeals to another - knowing the way around etc! I don't need a high spec phone and this talk of rooting/updating to Lollypop etc is like Dutch to me anyway! :P
Will check out the Moto one now

mosstin

purplecow1977 wrote: »

thanks will have a look.
Not interested really in the S5 for the price of it, considering any review I read seemed to almost prefer the S4!
Have heard good things about the HTC One M8 also!
I suppose your definition of Samsung beingboring and repetitive might be actually what appeals to another - knowing the way around etc! I don't need a high spec phone and this talk of rooting/updating to Lollypop etc is like Dutch to me anyway! :P
Will check out the Moto one now

Yup. Moto G, for the price, is an excellent phone.

purplecow1977

mosstin wrote: »

Yup. Moto G, for the price, is an excellent phone.

Where is this available to buy? It's not on Vodafone, checked Tesco mobile and it's all out of stock?!

mosstin

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Where is this available to buy? It's not on Vodafone, checked Tesco mobile and it's all out of stock?!

Bought mine on Amazon. £145 for the 8GB Sim free phone.

purplecow1977

Ok thank you will consider it! Had a Motorola years ago!

Came across this one
http://www.adverts.ie/motorola/moto-g-16gb-unlocked-black-and-pink-covers-incl/6683336

duridian

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Ok thank you will consider it! Had a Motorola years ago!

Came across this one
http://www.adverts.ie/motorola/moto-g-16gb-unlocked-black-and-pink-covers-incl/6683336

@purplecow1977 IMPORTANT POINT RE: Moto G !!!

I don't think anyone has pointed this out to you yet, but there is a newer and an older version of the Moto G. Motorola have in the last month or two released a newer model of the Moto G. (The one you linked from Adverts is the older model.)

The newer one is commonly called the Moto G 2014.
Newer model has a 5.0" screen instead of 4.5".
Newer model has a slot for micro SD card.
Otherwise very similar.
See GSM Arena comparison for other details.

The really big plus of the Moto G is that it is under €200 off contract. This means you can buy it straight out for that much without signing up to some long-ass contract with Vodafone or whoever your mobile provider is. This means you won't be tied to a legally binding deal to hand over so much cash per month to the phone company which also leaves you free to switch to Prepay instead of Billpay if you so wish.

Here is an example of where you can buy it unlocked in a "bricks 'n mortar" store:
Argos currently have it for €187.49
You might have to try a few different Argos shops for stock, but it is available in many.

Meteor still sell the older one for €179.99 on Prepay, but that is now IMO a poor option compared to new model because, apart from being the older model, the phone would need to be unlocked to work with other networks adding hassle and expense to a price that is already nearly as dear of 2014 model.

If you have an Amazon account, then they are probably best online option:
Amazon.co.uk £143.98 is between €182 and €183
Plus delivery it works out about the same as Argos.

I currently have a Moto X (first generation) and I love it. Motorola's user interface stays very close to the standard version of Android which Google releases on on the Google Nexus devices. Therefore when I switch between my Nexus tablet and my phone, the interface is very similar. I personally really like this uniformity. The couple of extra features that Motorola add on are mostly quite useful, and make the phone nicer to use.

Because of the UI being so close to "stock Android", Moto's have been updated rather quickly after Google officially release new Android versions. (Basically Motorola don't have to make many changes, so they can release it more quickly.) This is expected to be the case as well with the upcoming new version of Android 5.0, which is also also referred to as Android L, or simply as Lollipop.

You don't need to know about rooting to get newer versions of Android. All you really need to know about "Lollipop" is that it brings quite a new and different look to Android, and overall improves Android and brings some new features. If you haven't rooted or in any way messed with the system of the phone, the phone will usually tell you that an update is available as an OTA (over the air) update. You then just let the update download via your Wifi or mobile broadband if you have that. The phone will the reboot and update itself. You need minimal skills to do any of this, just make sure the battery is fairly well charged before letting it do an update and there is nothing to worry about.

However in my opinion it's definitely something desirable to be able to get updates to Android on your device for as long as you can. Gradually over time, app developers will drop support for older versions of Android, meaning the app only works on more recent Android versions. This is something which also happens in the world of iOS, so it is not simply a Google thing.
I'd expect Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will soon be the minimal for most apps. Some apps already need 4.1 (Jellybean). I recently installed the latest beta version of HERE maps and it needs Jellybean or newer.

Anyway to get back to my main point, unless you specifically want the smaller 4.5" screen the newer Moto G is the one to go for. Either older or newer are remarkable phones for the price, especially since they are available simfree(unlocked) for so little.

Good luck and happy shopping. I hope you will be happy with whatever you decide.

purplecow1977

My Galaxy S2 runs on 2.3.5 and when I 'checked for updates' it said no new updates could be found!

It seems the Moto G is getting quite popular reviews here!

Thanks for the recommendations :-)

reni10

I would recommend getting the MotoG 4G if you want to use 4G at any point in the future:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moto-4G-SIM-Free-Smartphone-Black/dp/B00KB0YDBG/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414510265&sr=1-2

The only difference between this and the newer Moto G is that the new one has a 5" screen(v's 4.5") and a slightly better camera but NO 4G .