[Closed] My first smart phone...what should it be?

iPhone is small by 'proper' smartphone standards nowadays, in light of which if you don't fancy an iphone based on its iphoneyness, then the Xperia Z1 compact might be worth a look (Android)

get one of these* and keep your nokia 🙂

http://www.dx.com/p/ik08-wcdma-android-4-0-dual-core-watch-phone-w-1-56-screen-bluetooth-and-wi-fi-black-307280#.U05i22hX-uY

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* let me know how it goes, am interested 😉

Moto G is the VFM king these days no?

Ah yes, forgot to mention, I have no working knowledge of what is good, bad, laughable or fantastic in the world of things the phones use to run on.
I have heard of android. Probably others when they are mentioned, but what should I be looking at? I know a friend of mine was ridiculed for his windows phone by some other friends. I just sat there quietly. 🙂

ridiculed for his windows phone

rightly so.

iphones are all one size. If that's too big then you need to be looking at a smaller android-based phone.

There are some inexpensive, smaller entry level androids out there. I have no personal experience but I expect they will be fine. Camera quality wont be great, but if it will suffice.

That watch is 'interesting'. I fear that it might not be very cool? 😉 Like digital watches in the early 80s, or those earpieces for phones a few years back?

as above...get a Moto G

No smart phone battery lasts that well if you're using it as a smart phone all the time.

I'm consistently impressed with my Nokia Lumia 925. It's a windows phone (the latest update is fantastic btw!) and battery life is reasonable for a smart phone (read: it lasts a full day comfortably) but it is on the larger side of things.

I'm always impresed with how my iphone just 'works' for most things whereas Android seems to assume you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work.

Moto G does look good. However, as Pieface says, simplicity will be an important thing for me, I am proper stupid at these things!
I've fiddled around with iphones without too much hassle and they are impressive. How much of a difference will I notice in a 'lesser' phone and operating system?

Pieface - Member
I'm always impresed with how my iphone just 'works' for most things whereas Android seems to assume you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work.

Windows phone is great. Very, very easy to use, Lumias have great cameras & great battery life. Windowsphone8 is very stable & contrary to opinion there are absolutely loads of apps to play with.
The Lumia 820 is a reasonable size (pocket) whilst being big enough that you can see the screen.
Best phone ive had & i wont go back to android .

How much of a difference will I notice in a 'lesser' phone and operating system?

Moto g is a good phone for the money. It is bigger than you think you want but you get used to it quickly and bigger is better if you actually use it. They all use more battery than an old Nokia. Another thing you just get used to.

No need for monthly either. Buy a phone for £100 then get a payg sim like giffgaff.

So a smart phone it is. Mrs Lister has an iphone and loves it.

One consideration [i]might[/i] be that if you got an iPhone then you could put them both on the same iTunes account so you gt all her existing apps for free and only had to pay for new apps once.

But other than that I think it is really just a personal preference thing these days.

There is a lot more variety in the Android market, so you are more likely to find a form factor that suits you BUT that variety also means apps can run very differently on different android devices.

whereas Android seems to assume you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work.

funniest comment of the day.

my wife has an iPhone from work and has said that if she had to buy her own, she would get a moto g like me. i have found it just as easy to work as an iPhone, but i can change things to how i like them.

only thing missing for me is iMessage, but WhatsApp gets round that.

Pieface, have you tried Android recently?
It's superb! Coming from an ex-apple fanboi.

**edit**: the best thing you can do is demo a few in a shop, try typing out a text and use the keyboard in general, whichever of the three you like (be it apple, android or winpho) you'll know straight away as you'll find it easier to type on!

Pieface - Member
I'm always impressed with how my iphone [s]just 'works' for most things[/s] tells me how i'm going to have everything set up, like some kind of evil dictator, whereas Android seems to assume [s]you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work.[/s] that you have a modicum of intelligence and might actually desire a little bit of choice in how your gadgets are configured.

FTFY 😉

I've just done the same process and I ended up with a Samsung Galaxy xCover2. It's waterproof, dust proof, shockproof and it turns out it's a flipping good phone as well.

When I got it, I was playing lots so hammering it and the battery was still 75% full at the end of the day.

I bought it out right for £150 and with virgin I pay £8 a month for 250mins, unlimited texts and 1gb of data.

Love it!

you have a modicum of intelligence and might actually desire a little bit of choice in how your gadgets are configured.

I am a Senior Software Engineer specialising in firmware and embedded systems (i.e. gadgets).

I use an iPhone.

Not [i]wanting[/i] to fanny about with rooting and kernel images is not the same as not [i]knowing[/i] how to do it. 😀

Cheers Boriselbrus, some proper feedback 🙂 rather than the geek arguement that I knew would ensue...but thanks geeks, the 5% I understand is useful!

Another Moto G fan here, way nicer than the Sony Experia M it replaced. Doesn't come with a load of crap preloaded, pretty intuitive to use, and I've dropped it a couple of times and it bounced! (The sony didn't, the screen cracked)

Ok 2 examples -

Samsung S2 and S3 come with a bout 5 ringtones as standard, all of them rubbish so you have to download / make your own. iPhone has loads of good ones as standard.

Setting up work email on iphone - add 2 bits of info and then a simple toggle switch to turn it off / on at the weekends.

I always found setting up emails and stuff a right PITA on Android and frankly gave up on trying to get most things working. IME the iphone is better, also as the apps are controlled with a bit more rigour they tend to be better.

I am a Senior Software Engineer specialising in firmware and embedded systems (i.e. gadgets).

I use an iPhone.

Based on the software conference I was at recently roughly 80% of software developers use Apple laptops and at least 50% use iPhones. 🙂

For minimum fannying about, and if mrs lister has one already, you might be able to get an iPhone 4s cheaply enough - this is probably the option that's best if you don't want to muck about too much with setting up etc - but in order to keep things simple, there is a certain amount of restriction up with which, you will have to put. You might also find it easier to share calendars and photo streams, with you both using the same device.

I'm an iPhone user, not a fanboi...there are certain things that annoy me about it - but with mrs deadly being a GD, we're kinda Appled up at home anyway and the integration suits me to keep life simple - I realise I am restricted, but I don't feel like I am. In any case, there would be certain things about any smartphone which would piss me off having tried a few Androids in shops (chiefly the early learning centre look of the pictures or graphics or whatever you call them).

I'm afraid it looks like you'll have to go into a phone shop and try a few out - and I don't blame you for not wanting to do that. Bloody hateful places.

Battery life will end up pissing you off with any smartphone eventually - if you use it as a smartphone a lot.

iPhones are very good but expensive Samsung are also pretty good but they should be they [s]copy[/s] get inspiration from someone else.

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Pieface - Member
I'm always impresed with how my iphone just 'works' for most things whereas Android seems to assume you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work.

Yep, they sure are tricky to use.... 🙄

To the OP, I'd be looking at the new Xperia Compact or perhaps something like the Galaxy SIII Mini if you want something small.
The problem is that the phone companies only seem to have just twigged that not everyone wants a massive phone, but those that do want a smaller phone also appreciate a bit of performance to go along with it. Up to now, the smaller phones tend to have cut-down features/lower res screen etc.

One thing I would recommend is not scrimping on the data package.
I got an Xperia T for £18 a month with 300mins/5000 texts and unlimited data for £18/month on 3. I could have got an HTC One or whatever the latest Samsung was at the time, but would have been paying nearer £40/month for the same package or paying less, but having hardly any data.

A few of my friends have paid through the nose for iPhones and have then stuck them on stupid packages with very little data, so they are not able to use the full capabilities of the phone. Seems a bit pointless to me.

I'm always impresed with how my iphone just 'works' for most things whereas Android seems to assume you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work.

I think this may have been the case in the past, but there's really nothing in it nowadays. I've never once faffed about to get my Android phone to work.

If you have loads of other Apple kit, iPhones make a lot of sense. Equally, if you like cases and docks there are loads available at various prices, though Samsung phone accessories seem equally prevalent nowadays.

I have a £7/month contract with EE which suffices for my needs, and bought a 2ndhand Google 4 which worked fine. It was nicked, so I'm now using a Windows Nokia (820 I think). I prefer the latter, the text prediction in particular is scarily good.
So look at the MotoG and a Nokia Lumia 520/5 to compare the operating systems, you could buy either for £100, both would do everything you want.

Interestingly, I'd backed up my contacts from the Android Google phone to my gmial account, then when I added that account on my Nokia, the contacts were automatically downloaded to it. Very neat!

you have a modicum of intelligence and might actually desire a little bit of choice in how your gadgets are configured.

STW really is firing on all cylinders today.

Have a look at the Nokia feature phones - the ones with just a number on this site (like the 220, 515 etc). (You might need to click the "load more" button to see them).

[url= http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/phones/all/ ]http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/phones/all/[/url]

You can use wi-fi, browser, take pictures etc without having a big screen that drains the battery. They might be a good halfway step between a big, power hungry smartphone and what you have now.

depends on how much you want to spend and what you expect to get out of using the phone. half my family members are iphone users and swear by them, whereas the rest are die hard android users.
i phones are smaller and a more compact than say a samsung S4...but IMO the S3 is easier to use and apps run faster on it.
bear in mind depending on how much you spend on an android phone will depend on what operating software version you get. you may be able to update the software at a later date but again it will depend on the phones capability to support the update. also just because there is an update available dooesnt always mean that it will work seamlessly on the phone especially if it takes up a large amount of the phone processors RAM. my last phone was an Sony Xperia Arc S which was a beautiful phone but when i upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich it slowed the phone down due to the limited RAM storage...and this was an update via Sony themselves!!
my current S4 came with Jelly Bean as standard but i updated it to KitKat about 2 months ago and its just got even better.
these issues aside i would still go for an android over an iphone.

Jamie - Member
you have a modicum of intelligence and might actually desire a little bit of choice in how your gadgets are configured.
STW really is firing on all cylinders today.

Wasn't intended to offend. Just a tongue-in-cheek comment essentially about how much Apple believe in their OS. 🙂
I use Ipod, Android, Windows, Mac OS... They all have things I'd change, but at least with Android, you generally can.

To the OP, there are tons of older model smartphones about now used. The size really isn't an issue once you get used to it, and in fact you may find yourself wanting slightly bigger once you start viewing stuff and poking at it with fingers..

Moto g. Bought one to replace my htc one while its off for repair and it's easily just as good if not better for casual use.

If you are already a windows 8 user then you might like a windows phone just for the whole 'ecosystem' thing where pics takes on your phone just appear on the computer etc.

If you aren't using win8 at home the benefits are not so great

This was always going to turn into a battle of the OS's. But mainly because you get false comments like this

I'm always impresed with how my iphone just 'works' for most things whereas Android seems to assume you're a bit of a geek that likes to apply workarounds and fart about to make most things work

Actually, iOS crashes much more than iphone and I find setup easier on Android. It integrates with everything, on every machine, apple or not. And it's nearly 300 pounds more.

Love my Nokia lumia. Windows is excellent. 8.1 updates look even better. Got given an HTC one as a work phone, but sent it back in favour of keeping my little wildfire. A massive super plush phablet is about as much use as a chocolate teapot in the real world. Pretty, but ridiculous.

WinPho FTW - Olly - have you downloaded 8.1? Cracking OS now. Also look online for how to switch on Cortana.

To the OP - on a budget the Lumia 625 or 520. If you want to spend some money the 925 or 1520 if you want a 'phablet'

it's nearly 300 pounds more.

That [i]depends[/i] really doesn't it?

iPhone 4s: £349 ([url= http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-iphone/iphone4s ]from Apple[/url])
iPhone 5c: £429 to £529
iPhone 5s: £549 to £709

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini: £339 ([url= http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/ ]from Samsung)[/url]
Samsung Galaxy S4: £499
Samsung Galaxy S5: £579

To get back to the OP and away from arguing about phone OSs:

My in-laws got a cheap Samsung Galaxy handset as their first smartphone. I think they're called Galaxy Ace now, but there are similar phones from other manufacturers (HTC Desire, I think). Have a look at the handsets on the £8-or-so a month contracts, and see if you can have a play to find the one you like best, then look at buying the handset upfront and avoiding being tied to a contract.

I wouldn't bother looking at the older handsets.
My wife has got a Galaxy Ace II and it was fine when she got it. But, apps are getting bigger and bigger and it always seems to be running out of memory. She only has a couple of small puzzle games on it, iTunes radio and a diet app.

I told her that I'd get my old HTC Desire unlocked and back to factory defaults and she could try that.
It was no better. Once loaded with a few apps, it was full. Annoying thing is that when I used that phone regularly, I had tons of apps on it and they all worked fine. But, as the apps got more and more bloated, it cocked things up.

I'm going to have to talk to someone in a phone shop, aren't I?

Urghhh.

I've got some ideas though, thanks folks.

On my second Win Phone which I have just updated to 8.1 which includes features that were previously available on the Jesusphone and Android.

Was a good phone before no made even better ,I have a jesusphone for work and although its beautifully made and has probably got all the features anyone could want it just annoys me.

Have owned Android phones as well and all are great in there own way but for me I prefer the OS of windows phones.

Im on 7.8 Danny. Bought a Lumia800 on fire sale 18 months ago. They were getting rid of all the Win7 hardware, before the release of Win8 (400 quid handset for less than 100 quid, unlocked).
The Win 7.8 patch makes it look just like Win 8 (mini tiles etc) but its Win7 underneath and there is no ongoing support. ive no idea what REAL differences there are. Still, works great.

Was listening to LastFM on it out on a towpath ride over the weekend and got a text.
It paused the music, read the text to me, gave me options to "ignore, reply or call back", Called back, (discussed meeting at a pub), hung up and resumed the music, No hands required.

Never gets old.

I'm going to have to talk to someone in a phone shop, aren't I?

If you want to spend about a hundred quid on the handset, just buy [url= http://www.trustedreviews.com/motorola-moto-g_Mobile-Phone_review ]a Moto G[/url]. That'll be my next handset.

Another happy Lumia owner here I've got a 720. You can pickup a 520 windows 8 for £91 sim free. 8)

The Mrs cant even 'just' delete her photo's on her iphone. The just works thing is a myth in my view.

Another happy Nokia lumia user here,got the 8.1 update on my 920 that makes it at least as good as android/iOS .Much easier to use than android and a 520 can be picked up for about £70!

The mrs has a moto g from vodafone. Loads of minutes n txt n stuff. £11 a month, including handset over24 months Would combine the phone with an otter box (phone case) to protect against immersion/bouncing

I've got an iphone 4, it is good, integrates really well but not as interesting as the android stuff...

Buy a Moto G, you won't regret it.

I bought one as a temp phone until the nexus 6 is released, I think I'm just going to keep the Moto G now. It's a seriously impressive phone for the money.

I too like Windows phone had a710? Now got a1020 for the camera. My daughter has the 625 @ £12 per month 1gb data, unlimited text and about 200 minutes. Nice and simple to use and good for photos. At first larger screens seem cumbersome but they really make a difference in usability.

I loved my Windows phone but it wouldn't work in my cars hands free - my model was renowned for Bluetooth problems after an tinterweb search. Think it was an HTC 8x.

The shop offered me an Apple IPhone which I really didn't want but took because I knew it would at least work in my car.

I have to say, it just does what it's meant to do, when it's meant to do it and does it well, no messing with menus, no tweeking things,

Moto G all the way!
I've had iphones 3g-4gs inclusive and trotted out the 'it just works' & 'no need to fiddle line'. I've now got a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

Android is just as user friendly as Apple and all the services I thought Apple offered as an advantage are there and free (music match in the cloud etc).

The premium you pay for an apple phone is frankly laughable. I've bought a couple of Moto Gs as presents and the vfm is unbeatable. As first timer I'd suggest you get one sim free from phones4u (110) and if three works well in your area get a rolling 1 month contract on an unlimited data plan. Don't fanny about with 1gb or less.

Keep your Nokia and your £25 a month and buy an iPod Touch. Boom!

The Mrs cant even 'just' delete her photo's on her iphone.

I can, my wife can and my daughter can.

If I was like the OP, and coming at a new phone from a blank slate...so not being tied to a specific 'ecosystem' or calendar type etc....I would just get a Moto G.

As it is, I am heavily, literally, invested in Apple. So ****y iPhones, currently a 4, for me.

I can, my wife can and my daughter can.

I'm sure you all can, I think my Mrs has worked it out now, but it didn't 'just work' And deleting stuff from Icloud where they kept getting backed up from seems to confuse a few people if the questions on google are anything to go by. Ive never had to search google for advice on how to work my phone- she's at it all the time.

I'm not saying they are intrinsically bad phones, but the 'just works' mantra is misleading.

I got my 1st smart phone this month - couldn't have cared what it was as long as it was cheap. Paid nothing for the handset & it costs me £6 a month.

More money for shiny bike bits 🙂

If it's your first one then get the OS that most of your family/mates are on. That way when you have no idea how to do something they can just show you.

The premium you pay for an apple phone is frankly laughable.

Absolutely!

£349 for a new iPhone 4s when you could have a new Galaxy S5 for £579.

Laughable 😀

What are the major differences between iOS and android that people see? Far as I can tell they are essentially the same thing, they just work slightly different, the whole general concept is the exact same though. window phones diverge a bit though.

Save yourself a fortune, get a moto g with a giff gaff 12 quid a month goodie bag! (If you want a better camera and more power get the nexus 5)

And talk about integration, what do you lot do with you phone that needs integrating? calender? use google? music? get spotify and stream. films? install netflix, iplayer, showbox or xbmc and stream. etc.

i personally don't need all this integration nonsense that people talk about.

the moto g looks good for the money but my concern is the memory storage.
it has a max of 16gb internal memory and no sd card slot. with it running on android 4.3 (jelly bean) as well, i can tell you that once you've taken into account the memory space jelly bean and all the pre-installed apps consume there will only be 8 or 9gb of usable memory available which can get gobbled up pretty quickly by photos, music, apps etc.
once the memory starts to get full the phone will slow down as its RAM also starts to get overloaded.

The premium you pay for an apple phone is frankly laughable.

While this may be true. It's also laughable the amount some phones are worth a year or so down the line. Apple products, while commanding an amusing price tag, hold on to that value for grim death.

the moto g looks good for the money but my concern is the memory storage.

Then get a phone with expandable memory.

gonzy - Member
the moto g looks good for the money but my concern is the memory storage.
it has a max of 16gb internal memory and no sd card slot. with it running on android 4.3 (jelly bean) as well, i can tell you that once you've taken into account the memory space jelly bean and all the pre-installed apps consume there will only be 8 or 9gb of usable memory available which can get gobbled up pretty quickly by photos, music, apps etc.
once the memory starts to get full the phone will slow down as its RAM also starts to get overloaded.

Only if you put files on your phone, personally I embrace streaming so don't need large capacity, I've the 8GB and I get on fine(I don't really play games though, that is where you need to consider higher capacity). Haven't run into any memory issues really on games I've tried.

And talk about integration, what do you lot do with you phone that needs integrating?

For me:

Calendars: my wife and I share calendars which we can see on our phones, tablet or when sat at a PC.

To-do list: Same as calendar.

Contacts: she adds a contact it immediately appears on my phone and the tablet.

Apps/Music/Video: I download an app then she automatically gets it too for free.

Books: If I'm reading a eBook on the tablet then later decide to read some on my phone while I'm on the train then it magically knows what page I got to.

Web: if I bookmark a page or save a password on my phone then my tablet gets it too. I can also see what pages are currently open on my tablet and open them on my phone (and vice versa).

Photos: take a photo on my phone, it appears on the tablet so I can edit it on a bigger screen.

Nothing groundbreaking, but makes first world life easier.

i personally don't need all this integration nonsense that people talk about.

Well judging by your list you clearly do, you've just found other ways to do it. Which is fine.

Well judging by your list you clearly do, you've just found other ways to do it. Which is fine.

The Google alternatives are just as good/cheaper than icloud and do everything mentioned above re:integration.

Well done for comparing the prices of a 3x superceded 3.5" phone with the latest 5" samsung range topper. Try comparing the 350 quid 4s with a MotoG! How much for a 5S with 64gb versus an S5 with a card in it? 😉

If you have good signal & umlimited data the Moto is fine as google give you 50gb of cloud storage and 20k songs to stream for free. Who cares about resale? Give it away in a year and you're 100 quid down. Take an iphone out of the cellophane and you're 100 quid down too. 😉

Then get a phone with expandable memory.

you mean like a galaxy s4?...got one thanks...i was merely suggesting that anyone who would consider the moto g should also think about the phones limitations especially if they require the phone to do more 😉

Well done for comparing the prices of a 3x superceded 3.5" phone with the latest 5" samsung range topper.

That was my point earlier. It [i]"depends"[/i].

It is no longer true to say Android is the cheaper option and Apple is laughably expensive. Android is available on a large range of devices, some of which are more expensive than Apple and some of which are cheaper.

You have to compare Apples and lemons 😀

Ha HA Graham 🙂

Why is it by the way that products named after fruit seem to polarize opinion so much (Orange)

Let's not mention Blackberrys then...

I'm sure you all can, I think my Mrs has worked it out now, but it didn't 'just work' And deleting stuff from Icloud where they kept getting backed up from seems to confuse a few people if the questions on google are anything to go by. Ive never had to search google for advice on how to work my phone- she's at it all the time.

I'm not saying they are intrinsically bad phones, but the 'just works' mantra is misleading.

Let's not mention Blackberrys then...

It's funny how STW's greatest Blackberry proponent is very quiet these days. 😀

I think it was the icloud thing CZ, they kept coming back to her phone from the cloud. There is every chance that she was not doing something right but that is my point, they are lauded as the phone that just works for the non tech savvy, and going on the moaning I hear from the Mrs and my neice its not the case.
She can now delete from the cloud, but says she has to delete the pics she doesn't want from her phone, then delete all the photos from the cloud, then back up the pic left on her phone back to the cloud. If there is a better way I'd be glad to hear it, it will make her think I am an iphone god. But the fact I have to ask would suggest to me that its not [i]that[/i] intuitive.

Ive never had to search google for advice on how to work my phone- she's at it all the time.

I can send my kids around to help her if she wants. One is 7 and can use her Mum's iPad/iphone without the help of goolge including deleting photos amongst many other thins. The other is 11 next week and can create and edit movies amongst other things, never had to use google either.