Upgrade is coming soon, stumped on what to get.

[watforddude]

Hey guy's.

I've had the GS3 for two years, and in those two years its been perfect. I had to change the battery over but that's standard.

Now, I honestly think the GS4 & 5 are not worth while upgrades for another two year plan, in fact I was pretty miffed at how lack luster the GS5 was as it would have fit in perfectly for my upgrade. The price would be a bit cheaper, launch issues ironed out etc etc.

Now the question here is what phone to get next, I'm completely open to ideas as I'm pretty out of touch with the phone world so what would you guys suggest for a new phone good for the next 2 years.

Thanks!

[kalniel]

They're pretty much of a muchness, so maybe switch to an HTC m8 for a slightly snazzier take on the same experience?

[watforddude]

What OS do the HTC's run? And just to clarify the upgrade is in July so for me that is soon after a two year wait ^.^ I assume no phones will be coming out around that time.

[kalniel]

Nokia Lumia 930 is out in July, well worth a look if you want an alternative to Android (it's win8.1) - just a touch behind the M8 and S5 specs wise, should be a bit cheaper too.

HTCs use their version of the latest Android (HTC sense I think it's called).

[watforddude]

Just checked out the M8, and I've got say it looks very very nice, I never even considered a HTC phone but pretty much every review is raving about it. I wouldn't mind sticking with Android too and the aluminium case willl be quite refreshing.

I think you answered this thread in the first post. Thanks pal.

[MrRockliffe]

I love the Sony phones, however recently Sony have been refreshing their lineup every few months - they've had 3 flag ship phones out in 1 year! Nevertheless, they're brilliant phones and packed full of everything I want. Camera is really good, screen on the Z2 is amazing, front facing speakers are good (albeit not quite as good as the M8) and to me, the most important thing, software. It's my favourite Android skin. Issues? Flaps are annoying, but everything else fits the bill just right. Problem for me with the M8 is looks (don't like it personally and the dual camera looks silly), camera which is 4MP, and whilst it's not bad, it's not anywhere near as good as recent phones such as the One plus one, Oppo Find 7a, S5 and 5s.

But, some of the lumias looks absolutely amazing, and I think they might be my next choice of phone.

[deejayburnout]

If your looking for a phone that really good either I would get a oneplus one http://oneplus.net/one

Comes with the cyanogen version of android and is free of bloatware and is high spec and low price.

[DanceswithUnix]

I was in the same position. In the end I decided to keep my HTC One-X, and just switch to a sim only deal. Saves me quite a lot per month, and the contract is 1 year not the 2 years that you get when bundling a phone.

I went for the 12 month 11.99 deal from this page: http://www.buymobiles.net/sim-only/t-mobile-micro-sim

T-Mobile allow tethering which I find really handy, I needed 1GB of data a few hundred texts and I hardly use voice minutes so that deal was the cheapest that fitted my needs.

My wife asked Vodafone for her pac code and when retentions called her she pointed them at that deal and they basically matched it, so we have both done that now. Saved us £15 each per month each.

I figure in a year I might actually want 4g, and phones will have moved on to 64 bit. That would be a better time to actually upgrade.

HTC phones are good, so I'm sure you'll be happy if you go that route. One review (on The Register I think) said that reviewing an HTC phone was like reviewing an Alfa Romeo car. It doesn't matter how much the reviewer says they love it, the readers will go "Ooh that looks lovely" and go buy a BMW instead. The reviewer said he loved the One M8, but people will go buy the Samsung anyway. As someone with an HTC phone and an Alfa that rather amused me

T-Mobile actually phoned me 2 months early and asked if I wanted an upgrade, and if i got a new contract they would let me out of the old one early with no fee. So knowing what you are after well in advance can be useful.

[Biscuit]

I recently did the same as danceswithunix. I stuck with my phone despite being due and upgrade and haggled with the various phone companies to get a good deal. Managed to get 6GB 4G data and unlimited everything else (or so much I'll never use it) for £18 a month.
If I decide to upgrade I'll just get the handset outright.

[MrRockliffe]

I've not stayed in contract since I always prefer to get the handset outright. I tend to buy it 2nd hand a few months after it has been out and get it 50-100 gbp cheaper, although bought by original Z and when it broke the 2nd time, Sony replaced it with a new Z1 free of charge, so I got 2 phones for 450 (deal they were doing on the Z when I bought it meant I got it for 80 less if I bought a pair of headphones which were also 1/3 of the price)

[herulach]

I too have changed to sim only, bought a nexus 5. Three 600 minute package + £2 unlimited data bolt on sets me back £13/month, even splitting the phone over 12 months its less than I used to pay.

[watforddude]

Well I just checked CeX and the M8 is £255, my S3 is in pretty good condition so I could sell that to them for CeX credit then get a SIM only from Vodafone. That would save a ton of money.

CeX is the only place I could think of to buy a second hand phone, or is there somewhere better?

So far, managed to think of a new phone to get and save a ton of money. Thanks guys.

[watforddude]

Right just did some quick digging and this is what I've found to be the best offer.

I'll swap to o2 as Vodafone have never given me any sort of customer loyalty prices, 02 have a £16 p/m Sim Only deal for 1000 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of 4G which is better than anything Vodafone do (been with them 10+ years).

CeX will buy my phone for around £130-145 CeX credit which will make an A grade M8 around £115 with an overall annual phone bill of £307 all in, with it being £960 total cost if I were to see out another 2 year contract.

[MrRockliffe]

I personally find O2 signal terrible where I live. Years behind 3 mobile and EE. I would do a signal checker for your area (and look at 4g/3g coverage since O2 has good 2g coverage (edge and gprs) but it's so slow I can't even send WhatsApp messages on it. I did a trial of O2 for signal, but will be switching back to 3 I think, plus better deals. T Mobile might be worth looking at!

[watforddude]

I live with my girlfriend with her being on 02 and shes always on H+ (lucky cow). Being on Vodafone I get Edge pretty much everywhere apart from large towns around my area.

[MrRockliffe]

I'm often on H+, however it's not reliable. I can't stream a YouTube video for example since speed is slow (5mbps max vs 20 on three)

With O2 and 4 bars

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/821957593