Best Android Phone

mikem

mikem

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I'm in the market for a new phone, I was gonna go Iphone but lately I'm leaning more toward Android . So my question is for the guys with, or who have spent time researching, what in your opinion is the best Android phone. I was hoping to use it to replace my phone and my itouch. I know there's a million iphone vs android threads on here and don't want to spend the next three weeks reading them.

Thanks

Mike
 
What are you going to be doing with that phone? Will you do video-chat? Will you do some graphics-intensive gaming? Will you need NFC? Will you want for it to be hackable or are you happy with the manufacturer's distribution of Android?
 
If Bell/virgin --> Samsung Galaxy S II
If Bell/Mobilicity --> HTC Sensation 4G
If Rogers --> HTC EVO 3D
 
I'll use it for phone, surf (wi-fi too), mail (home and work), work contacts, home contacts, blue tooth to my scala (work and personal), to-do lists, picture storage (limited), movies, take pictures (in a pinch), motorcycle minder, facebook, tapatalk, music. I currently use my itouch and phone for all of the above
 
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mikem said:
I'll use it for phone, surf (wi-fi too), mail (home and work), work contacts, home contacts, blue tooth to my scala (work and personal), to-do lists, picture storage (limited), movies, take pictures (in a pinch), motorcycle minder, facebook, tapatalk
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I don't think you need the best android phone for that. Rather, look at the phone which will give you the best battery life. For that I suggest you lean towards the Galaxy SII or Nexus S both cyagonen mod.
 
Ok, so something relatively basic, with decent specs.. I've shopped from these guys and they give pretty rockin' cash prices, with taxes included. http://www.basatne.ca/SearchResults.asp?Search=NEXUS&Submit=Search I'd get the Nexus One for Wind/Mobilicity (that's what my wife and I are both rockin' and it's perfect for what you need). If you're on the Rogers network, Nexus S (the 850/1900 version) is a good choice, plus it has a couple of perks including NFC and front-facing camera.
 
For what it's worth my friend and I have the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and we both are pretty happy with them both. I seem to get poorer signal in some areas/buildings vs. my old phone (iPhone 3G), however in every other way its significantly better. The AMOLED displays on the phones are beautiful but they do run down the battery a little faster than the standard display, that's worth keeping in mind.

Also worth noting is that many Droid phones can be unlocked so just because you're with a specific carrier you don't have to use their Android phones as long as it's 3G. However be for warned that if you have ANY issue, dropped calls etc. they can and will blame your phone because it's not "officially supported". In many situations they won't even bother to investigate the problem, the customer service monkeys will just say you're SOL.

Last but not least if you're going from an older phone and you have an old SIM card you might need to buy a new one to get 3G and other smartphone features working. Hopefully whomever your phone co. is doesn't charge too much, I know Fido sells their SIMs for $10 + tax.
 
The Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate or Vibrant) is pretty good, but after trying a Nexus S for a bit, I liked it a lot more. Both are quite "hackable" if you want to do something fancy with them later.
 
Ok here's another question, if I deal with Bell (ugh) or Virgin what kind of plan should I be able to negotiate. I've found dealing with these guys kinda like trying to buy a used car.
 
I've got the HTC Desire Z

I love it because I hate a touch screen qwerty keyboard and the Desire Z has a flip out keyboard. I haven't had any issues with mine...LOVE it!
 
mikem said:
Ok here's another question, if I deal with Bell (ugh) or Virgin what kind of plan should I be able to negotiate. I've found dealing with these guys kinda like trying to buy a used car.
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Are you part of any corporation or have a friend that's part of it? What you can do is find out what their corporate plan is and say "This is what Rogers is giving me as part of their corporate plan... beat it or match." I ended with a sweet deal from Telus with that, but went to wind cuz their $40 plan was a lifetime plan.

Check redflagdeals.com for Bell retention plans. People post up what they're regularily able to get out of companies such as bell, fido, Rogers, telus etc...
 
Thanks for everyone's input, I got a Galaxy s2 last weekend. So far I love it, I've found good apps to use for work and home.
 
mikem said:
Thanks for everyone's input, I got a Galaxy s2 last weekend. So far I love it, I've found good apps to use for work and home.
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Check out http://fdroid.org/ as it contains a lot of good and proven open source apps. They are tested for being open source (so no analytics or hidden malware), for being benign and for not having any anti-features. Most of them can be downloaded from the Market, but you can also use their client to download them. If I need something, I look there first. The only things missing (from my perspective) were a proper task manager and a proper SMS spam app.
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