Android Phone you shouted from the rooftops / sang high praises about, now forgotten

For me that phone was the HTC Desire 500.
Great at the time with Beats Dr Dre audio.
Unfortunately the sound chip in it corrupted and was never properly repaired.
Great main camera for videos.
The end of of the product life cycle for the desire 509 marked the beginning of the end for HTC phones though.

What phone delighted you in it's heyday?

HTC M8 - Absolutely loved that phone.
I only had it three weeks, and I cracked the screen. Kept it for another two years with the crack (as they wanted to charge me something like €250 to fix it), and it was still amazing. I was so disappointed when I was out of contract, to find that the M9 and M10 had really poor reviews.

banie01

[Deleted User] wrote: »

HTC M8 - Absolutely loved that phone.
I only had it three weeks, and I cracked the screen. Kept it for another two years with the crack (as they wanted to charge me something like €250 to fix it), and it was still amazing. I was so disappointed when I was out of contract, to find that the M9 and M10 had really poor reviews.

Have to agree, m8 was a beast!

biebiebie

Google Nexus One.
From 2010 and it still works :-)
Loved flashing ROMs on this from MiUi to Cyanogenmod.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
5.5" phablet which at the time had everyone remarking that it was too big!
Plenty of XDA rom flashing here too.
Alas the memory went in it and it no longer works.

advertsfox

The Motorola Milestone, it took me a long time to accept that future high end Android phones would not have a physical keyboard. And it was just an amazing device, a true head turner.

advertsfox

advertsfox wrote: »

The Motorola Milestone, it took me a long time to accept that future high end Android phones would not have a physical keyboard.

Funny how no Blackberry owner has posted on this thread yet.

Testament1

HTC One M7. The design was a revelation at the time. It just looked and felt so damn good. The dual front facing speakers precision drilled into the metal frame, the sleek silver metal frame, just excellent compared to the plasticy efforts of the likes of Samsung at the time. Beats Audio sounded great and the camera was tops for the time. HTC really should have dominated the smartphone business but somehow it all went wrong sales wise despite fantastic phones like the M7, M8 and U11. The blue and red glass backs on the U11 are still one of the best looking smartphone offerings, right up there with Huaweis P30 colour options.

Sony Xperia Z3 or the LG G4.

Both have died some death along with HTC.

blackwave

One of the first Chinese phones that was promoted heavily here the Jiayu G3. Was a lovely phone bar the crap mediatek GPS signal on it.

lawred2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

HTC M8 - Absolutely loved that phone.
I only had it three weeks, and I cracked the screen. Kept it for another two years with the crack (as they wanted to charge me something like €250 to fix it), and it was still amazing. I was so disappointed when I was out of contract, to find that the M9 and M10 had really poor reviews.

Had an M8. Loved it. Stolen off a table when I was having lunch in town. Some Romany Gypsy. Gutted.

DopeTech

Original Moto G

So many HTC phones. Even the ones that were a disappointment for most ended up being absolute beasts due to the modding community.

For me, my faves were the Touch Pro 2 (WinMo), Hero (my first Android), M7 and M8.

Grab All Association

Motorola One. Disappointed it didn’t have wireless charging though like my Note 10.

Clareman

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Funny how no Blackberry owner has posted on this thread yet.

That's because they weren't Android

GBX

HTC Desire HD - I moved from a Nokia 5800 xpress music which was my first touch screen phone. It had the symbian OS, which was slow. The move to the HTC was a massive jump for me. It was streets ahead and started my foray into Android phones. Never looked back. I think the range of Android devices and specs that have been available for everybody's taste is phenomenal. It has gotten a bit stagnant and wow factor has been lacking of late, but I still love the functionality and the customisation of Android.

The J Stands for Jay

Databass wrote: »

Original Moto G

Whipped my old one out a few weeks ago to show how well it looked after three years of use: "Dropped it loads of times, and not a scratch." Then I dropped it and the screen shattered.

micks_address

lawred2 wrote: »

Had an M8. Loved it. Stolen off a table when I was having lunch in town. Some Romany Gypsy. Gutted.

Had the m8 for two years.. longest I've owned a phone in recent memory. Being using pixels last few years

machiavellianme

Original HTC Desire was a beast in its day.

Heres Johnny

HTC m7 was my biggest wow moment when picking up phone for first time, it was lovely. And the sound was great, haven't seen a phone with better sound to date. I was coming from an iPhone 3gs and it was just a massive leap forward, it was miles ahead of iPhone 4 or 5 or whatever was its rival at the time too...

Moved to m8s then, and was not really a step forward at all, maybe a little but not much.

Then to an s6 edge which had the curved screen and was a bit of a wow moment too

Now have Huawei p30 which is just evolution but nothing wow about it and I think it will be a while before I bother changing again, phones don't do it for me any more, they're all the same now.

Clareman

I remember being blown away by the curved edges of the S6, had to have that phone, had it for about 3 years until I got a Note, I'm still amazed by the performance of the Note, in fact I have used it as a desktop replacement on a load of occasions and I think I would be able to use it as a complete desktop replacement easily enough, we'll in a work setting anyway.

baldshin

The ZTE Blade/Orange San Francisco was the business back in 2010, massive modding community and really cheap to pick up, great budget phone at the time!

Gooey Looey

baldshin wrote: »

The ZTE Blade/Orange San Francisco was the business back in 2010, massive modding community and really cheap to pick up, great budget phone at the time!

Yes I got one for my missus up the North and added a custom ROM to remove the Orange branding. Great little phone

micks_address

Heres Johnny wrote: »

HTC m7 was my biggest wow moment when picking up phone for first time, it was lovely. And the sound was great, haven't seen a phone with better sound to date. I was coming from an iPhone 3gs and it was just a massive leap forward, it was miles ahead of iPhone 4 or 5 or whatever was its rival at the time too...

Moved to m8s then, and was not really a step forward at all, maybe a little but not much.

Then to an s6 edge which had the curved screen and was a bit of a wow moment too

Now have Huawei p30 which is just evolution but nothing wow about it and I think it will be a while before I bother changing again, phones don't do it for me any more, they're all the same now.

Bit like that for me to.. Ive currently got a pixel 4 after a few larger phones I'm really liking the size..the camera is great and the battery is much better than the reviews state so I'm happy out

Basq

OnePlus One..

I only upgraded to a Redmi Note 5 this time last year - and found my OnePlusOne in the last week or two and it's absolutely pristine (thanks to tempered glass screen protector and case) so I turned it on and forgot how zippy it is. May not trade it into CEX after all.

lawred2

I prefer the enjoyment I get from picking up a high spec budget phone on the cheap these days. No interest in laying down a grand for brand name phones

Have an Honor 8X that I picked up on a prime deal for about €120.. It's a crazy high spec phone for that price.

ronano

Most of mine have been mentioned

Zte blade/orange san Francisco, looked the business, first dip into custom roms and cheap price

Oneplus one - beautiful phone, screen was gorgeous and that sandstone back. really active community and spec meets price was fantastic.

Xiaomi mi max - dirt cheap when i picked it up 9 months after release. Overall an ok spec but the battery was god tier. On mi max 3 atm, keep it for two years hopefully 4 or large battery alternative be out.

andekwarhola

HTC Hero and Desire HD

Slippin Jimmy

HTC M8. Great phone at the time but I then found Samsung and have been with them ever since.

wotzgoingon

Motorola Atrix 4G was my first phone with a finger print scanner. You could also hook it up to a monitor which was another new thing at the time. It had a powerful graphics chip for the time also.

sioda

Htc m7 still haven't had a phone as solid or slippery tbh.
Not android but the one I miss the most Nokia 97 mini great phone would have loved to seen an android version

fixXxer

The Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 5 were probably my most beloved android phones. Regular updates, easy to mod, Google still actively supporting AOSP.

Wildly Boaring

Wife had nexus 5
I had One plus two

Both were very capable.
She had nexus till this year.
We still use it for amazon tv and Netflix

My op2 got sold when work gave my a6.

Doubt much has really advanced much since them really.

liamo77

Samsung note 2. Never loved a phone as much since.

andekwarhola

Note 4 was a great phone too. Didht get another Note until Note 9 after that though.

The_B_Man

I've always like the HTCs.
First phone was the Desire. Then I think I had a Moto G, but then back to HTC with the M7. Currently have a HTC 10. All top class phones.
HTC also made the Google Nexus at the same time as the Desire. They were basically the same phone. Google used HTC a few more times and eventually just took all their staff and used them to design the Pixel phones. Now look at all the great reviews the Pixels are getting.

The_B_Man

The_B_Man wrote: »

I've always like the HTCs.
First phone was the Desire. Then I think I had a Moto G, but then back to HTC with the M7. Currently have a HTC 10. All top class phones.
HTC also made the Google Nexus at the same time as the Desire. They were basically the same phone. Google used HTC a few more times and eventually just took all their staff and used them to design the Pixel phones. Now look at all the great reviews the Pixels are getting.

The latest one didn’t anyway.

Thargor

blackwave wrote: »

One of the first Chinese phones that was promoted heavily here the Jiayu G3. Was a lovely phone bar the crap mediatek GPS signal on it.

Thats a blast from the past I didnt think anyone would remember it, thats the phone that was first recommended when the Chinese Android Phones threads started on this forum years ago, an amazing device when you consider the price differences at the time, a nice solid brick of a phone, I used mine for years then got a OnePlusOne invite and ordered that the day after it was released.



Im on a Xiaomi Mi Max 3 now and theres no going back to small phones after you use something like that, no real reason to stray from Xiaomi in general tbh. I cringe when I see the prices my friends and coworkers pay for their phones just to be locked into a €30-40 pm contract.

Thargor

advertsfox wrote: »

The Motorola Milestone, it took me a long time to accept that future high end Android phones would not have a physical keyboard. And it was just an amazing device, a true head turner.

Those slide out keyboards were a golden age tbh, like having the perfect pocket pc you always dreamed of as a kid in your pocket. They're just so aesthetically pleasing to look at.

Mr.Cool2015

My Samsung Galaxy S4 would be my favourite,got it in 2015,changed over to an HTC One M9 in 2016 but the battery started to die quickly so switched to my current Nokia 8 in 2017.

The S4 turns on every time,no problems whatsoever. Its my Backup phone now.

The M9 turns off unexpectedly,still have it in a drawer.

Also have a Nokia 3310,that phone is a great yoke,charge it once a year and throw it in a drawer,turn it on a few months later and it'll still have 3 bars left.

bidiots

Thargor wrote: »

Thats a blast from the past I didnt think anyone would remember it, thats the phone that was first recommended when the Chinese Android Phones threads started on this forum years ago, an amazing device when you consider the price differences at the time, a nice solid brick of a phone, I used mine for years then got a OnePlusOne invite and ordered that the day after it was released.



Im on a Xiaomi Mi Max 3 now and theres no going back to small phones after you use something like that, no real reason to stray from Xiaomi in general tbh. I cringe when I see the prices my friends and coworkers pay for their phones just to be locked into a €30-40 pm contract.

Jeez, a blast from the past, I recommend that to all and sundry! was a lump at the time

But the phone that was/is ahead of its time - Htc Hero


Unique shape and layout. If this came out today in the same size with updated internals and screen, it wouldn't last on the shelves

corcaigh07

Definitely the OG Moto G for me, what an amazing phone for the money with stock Android. Got mine in Liverpool and unlocked it for about 4 pound on eBay on the boat back, brilliant.

Up until recently, I was still using it (or someone close to me) as a backup phone and even in modern day terms, there were elements of the phone I missed. Great size/screen size also.

73bc61lyohr0mu

Xperia z3 or Galaxy s3 for me.
Both legendary phones that served me well over many years of travelling..

Riesen_Meal

Nexus 4 for me, I remember upgrading to the Nexus 5 and selling it to a good friend, regretted it literally instantaneously, the 4 was beautiful and the 5 was like a plastic cheap toy in comparison and not much of an upgrade on what I had, stopped yearly upgrades after that...

Currently rocking a P4XL, coming from the small Pixel 2

nc6000

Databass wrote: »

Original Moto G

That was a great phone, I've since had a G2, G4 and now on a G7 Power. Never had an issue with any of them and only changed from the G4 because I was constantly tight for storage space.

fixXxer

Fieldog wrote: »

Nexus 4 for me, I remember upgrading to the Nexus 5 and selling it to a good friend, regretted it literally instantaneously, the 4 was beautiful and the 5 was like a plastic cheap toy in comparison and not much of an upgrade on what I had, stopped yearly upgrades after that...

Currently rocking a P4XL, coming from the small Pixel 2

The 4 was so slippy though. It would slide off a flat surface.

fixXxer

bidiots wrote: »

Jeez, a blast from the past, I recommend that to all and sundry! was a lump at the time

But the phone that was/is ahead of its time - Htc Hero


Unique shape and layout. If this came out today in the same size with updated internals and screen, it wouldn't last on the shelves

I had an LG Flex 2, always reminded me of the hero. Curved phones were a missed opportunity.

Riesen_Meal

fixXxer wrote: »

The 4 was so slippy though. It would slide off a flat surface.

The glass surface was just so sexy though, not sure how I managed to keep it intact through its whole life!

I didn’t. Have a skin on it now holding the back together.

Picked that phone up off the floor so many times.

fixXxer

I had two. First one got smashed but replaces it with the same. Killed me to put a case on it, as you say the glass back was beautiful.

Rock Paper Scissors

Still have my old nexus 4, and moto g1

Both are really developer friendly phones and are running lineage OS beautifully

Think i still have my old sony ericsson k800i somewhere too

advertsfox

bidiots wrote: »

Jeez, a blast from the past, I recommend that to all and sundry! was a lump at the time

But the phone that was/is ahead of its time - Htc Hero


Unique shape and layout. If this came out today in the same size with updated internals and screen, it wouldn't last on the shelves

I loved doing everything in my power to get that HTC skin (particularly the weather widget) onto my G1 / HTC Dream. I don't think I've had a phone since that I haven't rooted / modified in some way since.