Features - QOTW: Which smartphone will you buy next?

[kalniel]

And can anyone find the Z3c in green? All the reviews suggest it's a colour option, but I can't see it in any of the shops, only other colours.

[MrRockliffe]

And can anyone find the Z3c in green? All the reviews suggest it's a colour option, but I can't see it in any of the shops, only other colours.

It's mint blue I think they're calling it? Mint something anyway.

Apparently just green on the Sony website http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/product...compact/#green

Plus, I think talk time might be reduced due to use of plastic over metal.

[kalniel]

It's mint blue I think they're calling it? Mint something anyway.

I'll call it Cambridge Blue

[MrRockliffe]

I'm gonna go with Sony and call it green! Stupid naming schemes like 'space grey' - really? It's grey and black!!

[D-T]

Seeing a lot of repeating trends here. Apparently along with a lot of other people, I'm holding out for something with:

The ability to fit into a pocket and be operated one-handed
MicroSD support (although I'd be willing to compromise for >=64GB internal storage)
Android / Windows 8.1; dual-boot would be ideal
Camera (for work). Needs: flash, functioning exposure setting, about half the resolution as it's bound to have.

More or less in order. In the meantime, I'm struggling to refrain from smashing my iPhone 4 against a brick wall; it'd be a fitting end, given that that's more or less been my experience of dealing with it. Similarly, iTunes ought to be eradicated with nuclear fire... or patched (for functionality for once, rather than appearance).

[MrRockliffe]

ITunes on Windows needs an overhaul. It's slow buggy and performance is damn terrible, but on Mac I've yet to find a better audio player. Funny that...

[kalniel]

The ability to fit into a pocket and be operated one-handed
MicroSD support (although I'd be willing to compromise for >=64GB internal storage)
Android / Windows 8.1; dual-boot would be ideal
Camera (for work). Needs: flash, functioning exposure setting, about half the resolution as it's bound to have.
.

We're there now aren't we?
Moto G 4G
Sony Z1c/Z3c
Samsung S5 mini
etc

[Noxvayl]

Parents brought me a Turquoise shirt and wondered why I refused to accept the gift, it is a horrible colour they thought was a "nice blue"... How about normal blue, like you see on maps to denote oceans (call it ocean blue). I think my parents are either going colour blind, trying to get me to where colours I dislike or have gone the way of fashionista's in thinking that different is cool... bugger off. Marketing departments have the same level of disdain from me, I've had enough of these "creative" names for things we've named long ago. Every shade of every colour does not need a name...

/rant on colours

Plus, I think talk time might be reduced due to use of plastic over metal.

How so, not familiar with how the cover will affect battery life with respect to making calls.

Got the Z1c today, apparently Royal Mail have multiple delivery vans coming out to me because I expected my cover to arrive in the same van... oh well. Very happy with the Black phone though, there is some grey on it but it is not from space...

[TheAnimus]

The ability to fit into a pocket and be operated one-handed
MicroSD support (although I'd be willing to compromise for >=64GB internal storage)
Android / Windows 8.1; dual-boot would be ideal
Camera (for work). Needs: flash, functioning exposure setting, about half the resolution as it's bound to have.

Lumia 830.

[D-T]

We're there now aren't we?
Moto G 4G
Sony Z1c/Z3c
Samsung S5 mini
etc

True enough! Apparently I'm a bit behind the game.

I'd seen the new Moto G but the only thing holding me back was the slight disappointment with the disparity between its hardware & features and those of the X, although I suppose the price more than makes up for it. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the design but I'm sure I'd get over it. Dual-sim is a nice touch too.

Can't say I'd seen the Z1c/Z3c before either but they do look great from what I've seen so far. Bit overkill on the camera (and price, accordingly) but certainly tempting; imagine I could probably look into getting one affordably on a similar contract to what I'm on now.

Thanks for pointing those out.

Lumia 830.

Thanks for pointing that out too! Nice to have a Windows alternative to consider; I'd looked into the 930, seen there was no support for MicroSD and wrongly assumed the same was true of the other x30 models.

[HSK]

I really don't know to be honest. I'm tempted by the next Nexus release, but my current phone (Nexus 5) is doing quite well, and I'm happy with it's performance - so there is really isn't much point getting a new phone this year...unless it's something really special / I lose this one / I sell this one / give it away etc

And with the next version of Android arriving soon, which I'm sure the Nexus 5 will also get, that should give my phone further functionality and interest.

[Noxvayl]

Are you buying the phone outright D-T?

I got my Z1c for £260 (one off business user sale) and MrRockliffe suggested a site he knew to get it for £270 which is a hell of a bargain for the hardware you are getting. The only comparable option with regards to price and performance that I can think of, outside of the Nokia Windows phone already suggested, would be the OnePlus1. I can get you an invite for that if you are interested in it.

We know you need the MicroSD slot, but what are your other preferences with regards to the phone specifications?

[Galant]

Looking at a new work phone right now. Nothing top end needed. Been toying with the idea of a Lumia 630 but the main issue is that at work we're all Googled out with gmail, google drive, etc. Not sure if that would end up feeling like a major battle.

[MrRockliffe]

Parents brought me a Turquoise shirt and wondered why I refused to accept the gift, it is a horrible colour they thought was a "nice blue"... How about normal blue, like you see on maps to denote oceans (call it ocean blue). I think my parents are either going colour blind, trying to get me to where colours I dislike or have gone the way of fashionista's in thinking that different is cool... bugger off. Marketing departments have the same level of disdain from me, I've had enough of these "creative" names for things we've named long ago. Every shade of every colour does not need a name...

/rant on colours



How so, not familiar with how the cover will affect battery life with respect to making calls.

Got the Z1c today, apparently Royal Mail have multiple delivery vans coming out to me because I expected my cover to arrive in the same van... oh well. Very happy with the Black phone though, there is some grey on it but it is not from space...

I believe metal has better conductivity than plastic. I've had cases in phones and have seen a slight battery change but it's not dramatic. I imagine the actual housing of the device makes more of a difference. I could be wrong, however. I'm sure I read this somewhere..

[walibe]

Apple don't make manufacturer anything in their phones as far as I'm aware. Processors are ARM, screens most likely LG or Sharp. Not too sure on the camera, but unlikely.

The reason Android is 'insecure' is because of the nature of the product. It's open source! Apple devices can use less ram because they don't multitask. My mother has an iPad, and say I have safari open, if I go to the home screen and then open safari again, even though the picture of what I was on is there it's unresponsive for a second+. This is because they don't multi task like android does. The reason there are more crashes is because there are numerous hardware configurations and thus it takes longer for manufacturers to bring out a stable release of their skin. Having said that, Apple have had a few software bugs, including the signal on either 4 or 4S, Bluetooth and WiFi stops working on the 4S, 3/4G doesn't connect when leaving a wifi signal (example, driving away from home) and requires a reboot of the phone. The Nexus range of phones offer great performance (on par with and recently better than iOS) and software is great. OS X is one of the most insecure operating systems due to Apple telling people previously they didn't need anti virus. This isn't the case and won't be with iOS shortly. I don't have any security issues with my phone because I don't root it and I use it as it's intended to be used - as a phone. Apple are soon to start losing money - their business model is terrible now that jobs has gone. How can they be an innovative company like they once were when they spend their entire time playing catchup?

Processors although ARM based the SOC is very much an in house design. I work in cyber defence and can tell you osx is one of the most secure os out there and yes whilst android is open source the attitude to security and fixing bugs has been poor. The sheer number of android exploits available is staggering.

I also stated that the reason it crashes so often is the number of configurations it runs on. Now Microsoft has its own phone Manufacturing arm so thus can control the user experience in its entirety googles approach has very much become the old Microsoft Windows method.

The next big threat is China. If any of the huge phone manufacturing companies develop and push their own OS it would game over for Android which has a very small loyalty base anywhere.

[walibe]

This is all I'll say because I hate apple, I have a tag in Evernote for things people say are good about Apple which aren't, these are some stats for OS crashes. iOS hasn't been better since 2012.

2012: http://www.technologizer.com/2012/02...id/#more-54594
2014: http://www.informationweek.com/mobil...d/d-id/1141568

So yeah... iOS is not more stable and doesn't crash less. Experience will tell me that iOS handles crashes differently by telling you everything is OK, just restart, where as Android says a problem occured. Simple psychology makes Android users remember their crashes more often than iOS users because we remember negative things more easily than positive things due to it being evolutionarily beneficial.

December 2007 I worked as an "Apple Technician" fixing Macs, iPhones and iPods... Won't ever touch Apple software because I find it to be the completely wrong way to do things, and the negatives are cleverly hidden by their software engineers. Needless to say I refused to go back for a full time job after helping them with the Christmas rush, second hand stuff sells quite well due to the name.

Androids biggest problem is updates. Android users don't update as often or often the updates aren't released to them. Over 80% of Ios users will be on the latest version.

I wouldn't boast about being an Apple "technician"... There's about as much technical knowledge there as that possessed by my labrador. Glad you didn't decide to stay on.