What smart phone to get?

[Motorcitydak]

So it is finally time for me to make another attempt at having a decent phone. I did the same thing when I got my current one about 4 years ago. I am looking to upgrade now but am not sure what I should get. I have a macbook and the wife has an iphone so that seems like an easy choice but those are not always the best ones. I am not against it since I like mac stuff and also the support available from apple and the apple store is hard to beat. I was also considering the S4 active but am open to just about anything.

Problem is that I do not know what to expect from it or what I would use it for. Using it for the internet is obvious but what else do the do? Being able to do engine diagnostics on a car would be nice, is that possible? I will say that I like that the S4 active is water resistant, I HATE phone cases and will not use one. I like a phone to disappear in my pocket which is one reason I still like my current phone.

I figured asking car guys what they use their phone's for would be good



Carrier wise I have had Verizon for ever but will be switching to AT&T to go onto my wife's plan

[srh3trinity]

I have a Galaxy s3 and have had several motorola droid products. When I upgrade it will be to the s4. It seems to do everything better than the other droid based phones. The iphone is a can't miss. They seem to be the standard that everybody tries to keep up with.

[raustinss]

Well. Here is a way to start a argument lol I live ten mins across town from blackberry...I'm a huge supporter of them for many many reason. From what I know android is the one to go with...pains me to say that lol. I phones are terrible on battery,millions of apps because they're so easy to write apps for. Android is just killing right now with sales..not that that means you everything so here's my quick summary
Iphone..horrible battery....easier to use then most phones
Android..good battery..lots of apps..#1 for sales...also easy to use
Blackberry...good battery..not as many apps do to the EXTREMELY secure network they use
Take your pick...BBM is now available on all platforms and is the most secure messaging system as well
Good luck with your choice
Ryan Austin

[mikey]

Samsung rugby pro I'm really hard on phones. I work in a collision shop during the day and run my own fab shop nights and weekends. So far it's held up 9 months it's in my pocket all the time been dropped quite a few times and stepped on by a coworker at least once so for durability it ranks 10 on my list

[Craig510]

I have an S4 and it works fine, surfs the internet well, but it is huge. I would get an iphone if I did it again.

[Motorcitydak]

O yeah, battery life is something else that concerns me. My wife cannot go anywhere without her charger. I can go nearly a week between charges now and usually forget where my charger is in that time

Mikey, how is your battery life? That phone looks like something I'd like. Water resistant and rugged. Does it browse the internet well?

I have been pretty nice to my phone but it does end up getting pretty dirty some times so being easy to clean would be good too. Should stand extreme temperatures well also

[Jetfixr320]

I have never had a phone that could go a week without charging. What phone are you using now?

[GaRys69]

Iphone 5 battery life is waay better then it was on my 4S.

[srh3trinity]

My s3 can make it through the day moderate web and data usage. It could go two days if you only used minimal data.

[GrabberGT]

Droid Razr Maxx HD here. battery for days. You'll have to forget about ATT though. Its VZW only.

[Monte_ExpreSS]

Iphone FTW Either the 4 or 5 will be awesome & do more than you will ever need or what it sounds like you want it to do.

[Motorcitydak]

I have never had a phone that could go a week without charging. What phone are you using now?

LG Voyager, like I said.....it's really old

[Nothingface5384]

If you can. Wait a couple more months I'd wait
If you try need one now IMHO the s4 is still the best phone and comes in 3 versions..perhaps 4 if theirs a s4 mini
The LG g2 is very similar spec to the s4
The google nexus 5 is another great phone and has andriod kitkat. .probably the last version of android before everyone launches their version of htm5 based phone os in 2014

[Todd in Vancouver]

Had a Blackberry and all was good, it did everything I wanted with no fuss. Someone came up with the genius idea we should all have new Samsung phones and it all fell apart. Damn thing kept crashing, locking up, dropping calls and won't pair with a lot of other items- like my car. Over half of us in the company have sent them back and now have iPhones. All is well and they just work, really easy and trouble free. Get the iPhone, my experience with Android has really sucked.

[Nothingface5384]

Had a Blackberry and all was good, it did everything I wanted with no fuss. Someone came up with the genius idea we should all have new Samsung phones and it all fell apart. Damn thing kept crashing, locking up, dropping calls and won't pair with a lot of other items- like my car. Over half of us in the company have sent them back and now have iPhones. All is well and they just work, really easy and trouble free. Get the iPhone, my experience with Android has really sucked.

Never had. Any issues with android gingerbread to jellybean 4.3

Cept battery could be better
But like I said 2014 will start the transition to phasing out andriod to html 5 based os
Google Chrome
Tizen
Firefox
Ubunti
Sailfish...think that's all them lol

[raustinss]

Here before this turns into a thread from he'll,let's just say get whatever you like,feel comfortable with etc because you'll never get everyone to agree to which phone to get. I chalk it up to the same with cars..Chevy, ford,dodge..big block small block..manual transmission..auto transmission..etc etc etc

[Nothingface5384]

Lol yep
It's all about gui userface and which suits you better
But as mentioned iPhone beats android in battery life tremendously while only using half the battery size of androids..
Phones I mentioned about
are the best for android though
Nexus will get the new updates the quickest for android
Followed by Google addition phones..then the s and note series by Samsung. .and works way down

[Todd in Vancouver]

I'm not bashing anyone's phone just relaying my experiences. Lots of folks like the Samsung and have told me how wonderful it is. My experience was different, in fact when I purchased my ZL the dealer was asking if I wanted a hand to pair my phone and I told him my Samsung was out for repair and that I was thinking of an iPhone. He told me that yes they have a lot of issues pairing the Samsung to the GM cars but with the iPhone I'd fine. Get whatever works for you just make sure it is compatible with everything you need it to do.

And, let's be real we all know the LS is King of the cars and engines.

[Nothingface5384]

Haha
Ls engines are cool but I like my Rodney dangerfield engine better thank you very much lol

[MonzaRacer]

As for me I am just getting into the smart phone brigade, had Envy2 then a Brightside feature phone, but time in exhaust shop really hurt it in my pocket.
SO I looked around and bought a Verizon Casio Gzone Commando, its only the 512mb version but works well and takes lots of abuse.
I did have too replace the battery but it WAS a used phone.
I intend in april to upgrade to the 4G LTE version with 16 gb memory. and dual core processor. what I give up in flashy I take with me in tough.
got a buddy who got one of first ones out and he is lineman for electric company.
Even though it hasnt gotten as good of reviews as some would think he dropped it from bucket about 20 ft up and said it hit solid ice hard and only scratched the red paint.
I do hope to be able to find a Qi wireless charging back so I can simply lay it on charger next to me at home and let it charge. They are out there just gotta find them.
Yes its larger and little more bulky but so far the first gen isnt much worse than my Brightside. My sister in law has a Galaxy note,,THAT thing is huge and as for Iphone, well all the snobbery from the snob owners ran me off and also the fact that nearly every person I know has busted the face atleast twice on them.
Kind of like my lap top that is going on 5 yrs old and I know 4 people who bought Macbooks in 09 and have had to "upgrade" the $1500 POS nearly every year since.
Apple lost me when they make it where I have to spend thousands of dollars to buy THEIR built machine. I have built desktop PC boxes for years and I even stay away from Intel processors cause of the price snobbery.
I know 4 people in IT classes that built mid level I5 or I7 Intel desktops and had well over the complete cost of a well built AMD powerd unit with a dual video card set up in just processor and board, nothing else.
Got one I built for a guy, used a dual processor server board with AMD, 4 video cards and its graphics capability is in teraflops similar Apple setup would be in the $4000 range.
The AMD set up is set up raid array and has MANY sata drives.
He sold his apple I phone after the 3rd screen WITH an otterbox. Not sure what he went with but he also doesnt have to deal with I tunes BS unless he wants.
go play with them at store, make sure you have good ATT service in area where you live.
My first internet was ATT and within 2 miles of tower was only getting low side of Edge(kind of like 1XRTT in Verizon speak) but slower.
Switched to Verizon, $10 for every GB over my 5GB limit and Im 4gLTE!!!!!
And love my Verizon Phone over the hassle my neighbor and good friend has with his ATT.