Tony_Tarantula on 14/12/2014 at 19:48
Greeting, TTLG snobs, clods, and fellows!
I'm currently running on an old, 2nd gen droid phone that I'm only hanging onto because I'm grandfathered into Verizon's old unlimited data plan. As I use streaming music services, used to run a trading platform through my phone connection, and send a lot of documents back and forth on the phone I need a large cap....usage typically runs between 7-9 GB/month.
I've taken a look around at carriers and Sprint's unlimited everything plan looks like the best overall option. I'm also heading back to business school in 2015 with a concentration on financial analytics so that heavily impacts my performance requirements. The first hard requirement is that it has a long enough battery life to make it through the entire day without a recharge. Second is that I need the ability to open, review, make minor adjustments to, and save documents to the cloud on the fly. Given my finance concentration my usage is going to have an extremely heavy focus on Excel documents. Ease of use for communication/messaging/email apps is also a huge plus.
Other things that may be helpful: I don't really game on phones, at least nothing more exciting than solitaire. Camera quality isn't a significant issue. I despise selfies and rarely use a cellphone to take photos. A removable battery is also nice due to security reasons.
Anyone have any suggestions? At the moment I'm leaning towards Windows phones for their office integration but I'm open to suggestions.
Volitions Advocate on 14/12/2014 at 20:27
I can't speak to carriers or data plans as I'm Canada, and we all get screwed up here no matter what... but.
I just switched to a new plan and got a new phone the other day. an LG G3, I use my phone for phone calls maybe 5% of the time I'm using it, so a larger phone isn't an inconveneince. It's huge. Fast, light, and I really like the Android platform.
LG makes the Nexus phones, so the LG branded phones carry some of the least amount of software bloat in comparison to the other vendors. Samsung and HTC are especially bad at that.
It's actually my first non-samsung phone (since starting with smartphones) and so far I'm not disappointed. Never tried a windows phone.
Specter on 15/12/2014 at 01:36
Avoid the Note 3 or S4. I've had both, and was/am supremely disappointed. Won't be buying another Samsung.
EDIT:
I suppose I should explain. Battery life is average, especially when given to using your phone a lot. I have an on-going problem with finding reception, even in urban areas (that could be related to my carrier (Rogers), but I do not know anyone else suffering like I do.) Additionally, both phones have encountered issues with the charging port in less than 6 months. The Note will now only charge with the cable supported just so. Next time I'm in the mood for a fight, I'll be going to see about a replacement.
gkkiller on 15/12/2014 at 07:43
I'd say Moto X is pretty good - except the battery life is shit. So, probably avoid that.
If you could stand waiting for a few more weeks, I hear the Nexus 6 is going to be pretty great.
faetal on 15/12/2014 at 09:24
I have a Galaxy S4, which I'm happy with, but am about to (according to most of my Android friends) root it and install cyanogen mod, which cuts out the Samsung bloatware and gives it a more nippy feel, closer to base android. Apparently the process is pretty simple these days too, with the windows installer. With regard to battery time, if you don't mind the addition of a little bulk, you can buy extended batteries which double the thickness of the phone and the life of the battery. Be wary that 4G absolutely slurps energy. My S4 used to last a full day with plenty to spare before I got a 4G contract, now it's more like half a day.
Briareos H on 15/12/2014 at 09:53
I'm slowly building up some sort of allergy towards Android, so I'm seriously considering moving over to Windows but then I'd miss some of the apps, especially the rooted ones.
I tried my friend's Nokia phone recently and it felt nice, smooth and consistent although lacking in advanced settings and customization. With regards to your criteria, every communication app seemed to have a tile up there for easy access and notifications on the main screen, so in addition to Office I'd say Windows makes sense.
I know nothing about the individual Windows phones though, the Lumia 520 I tried apparently has average battery life and isn't very powerful.
henke on 15/12/2014 at 10:56
I've got an S2 (like some sort of peasant) and I'm happy with the battery life on it. Usually only have to charge it once or twice per week. I've got JuiceDefender installed, which helps save energy, and I've got all the extra stuff turned off(Wifi, GPS, Mobile data). Only turn that stuff on when I actually need it.
Renzatic on 15/12/2014 at 16:21
Quote Posted by Abysmal
Just get an iPhone 6 and be done with it. Even the Office apps are objectively best on iOS (ironically). It's really hard to give up the massive and high quality App Store selection once you're in it.
This. When it comes to mobile, I tend to go with iDevices for the simple fact that they have the best quality and selection of apps around.
If it came down the OS itself, I'd probably go with Android or Windows Phone. Android is nice and open, WP is surprisingly well built and designed. But iOS? Yeah, it's kinda meat and potatoes compared to the rest, and a little too locked down for my tastes. It's far from being bad, but it doesn't do anything particularly special, either.
But like any platform, it's not about what the OS itself so much as what you can do with it, and the choices you have to do it with. This is iOS' biggest strength, and the major reason why I'd recommend it over the others.
Briareos H on 15/12/2014 at 16:32
Unless you want to block ads, replace the default keyboard, copy files (including music) from/to any other device, automate some tasks or use your phone from the computer.
