Need a new cell phone. They make a few different models, right?

Kryhs

Okay, so my phone is starting to fade. It's a Droid 3, so it's not THAT old, but honestly I was never happy with it and now the physical keyboard doesn't work. I LOVE physical keyboards on phones, but it seems like they're on their way out, so I will probably have to get with the times. Trouble is, I don't know anything about any phones now because after I got this one I stopped caring. I don't know what's good or bad.

I don't live attached to my phone. It's really just to text people and take calls from whoever is silly enough to want to talk to me. Oh, and little games, of course, but I imagine every phone these days is fine for that. So far I'm looking at a Samsung S4, but to be honest I don't know what else to even consider.

a5ehren

I assume you want to stick with Verizon? They only have 4 smartphones worth considering, IMO:

Hella battery, 2012 specs: Droid Razr Maxx HD
Latest Android, high end specs: Galaxy S4
Giant screen of Doom: Galaxy Note 2
iPhone: iPhone 5

I think the Droid 4 is their only remaining hardware keyboard phone, but it is pretty dated by modern standards.

Armoroc

In the same boat. Love physical keyboards. Aside from being slightly scratched, old battery, and the keyboard being a little sticky the phone works perfectly fine. It's a Samsung T349 by the way and prepaid. I only use the phone to give out quick messages, hence the prepaid plan. A monthly plan would just be a waste for me.

So any recommendations that would convince me to upgrade? Don't really care for the super huge screens and I suppose I can live with using touch screens if keyboards are being phased now. Just want a nice little phone that fits well in my front pocket.

ceres

I just got a Samsung Galaxy SIII, and I like it bunches. I used to be a physical-keyboard person, and then I got a Motorola Backflip and had such an awful time with it that it kind of soured me on the whole thing. I guess because of the S4 coming out, the S3 just came down in price a lot, so if you don't need the absolute latest the S3 might be worth considering. It's certainly fast enough to do anything I might need it to.

If you want a phone with a touch screen and don't mind one that is older and slower and probably quite cheap at this point, the HTC Inspire is what we just upgraded from. Honestly it could do pretty much everything my current phone can do, it was just a little slower and couldn't do the faster connections, which you probably don't need if all you do is send some messages. It was a great phone though, and I loved it.

I recently tried an iPhone hand-me-down for a few months as well... would not buy. As a huge fan of OSX as it was 7 or 8 years ago I was sure I would love it, but I'm used to being able to being able to customize my phone in certain ways and use it certain ways that the iPhone just doesn't allow, and the Apple Store being my only option for apps was not so great for me either.

mere_immortal

I wasn't gonna suggest it at first but as you mentioned the S4 I would recommend the HTC One.

Both are super amazing flagships and a lot of my descision came down to personal preference. On paper the S4 is slightly better, but I would never use the hand waving or scrolling features and the pictures I take are usually when I'm out with friends, so the low light performance on the HTC was ideal.

After playing around in store with both for a bit I also vastly preferred the build quality and screen/interface on the HTC over the S4. Has a nice heft to it and feels really nicely machined and put together. I've also never used an SD card or replacement battery in any phone I've had so that also wasn't an issue.

Like I said this is just my opinion and you'll find amazing reviews for both, but although this sounds super patronising and weird the HTC just felt a bit more "grown up". It's an odd way to describe a several hundred £/$ phone over another but it's the easiest way I've found to articulate my experience with both to people.

AspectVoid

I just picked up a Droid Razr Max HD a few weeks ago. I kind of love it. But, a large part of that is the fact that Batter life is important to me. With the way I use my phone, I can go three to four days before putting it on the charger, which is great given that by the end my last phone only lasted about 15 hours before needing to be charged.

ihmmy

I have a few friends with the Samsung Note and they are completely in love with it. The keyboard does this spiffy slide-your-finger-around-instead-of-having-to-peck-at-it thing so it's a little less frustrating than most cellphone keyboards

Gaslight

ihmmy wrote: »

I have a few friends with the Samsung Note and they are completely in love with it. The keyboard does this spiffy slide-your-finger-around-instead-of-having-to-peck-at-it thing so it's a little less frustrating than most cellphone keyboards

It should be noted that any and all Android phones can do this with SwiftKey or Swype.

a5ehren

mere_immortal wrote: »

I wasn't gonna suggest it at first but as you mentioned the S4 I would recommend the HTC One.

Both are super amazing flagships and a lot of my descision came down to personal preference. On paper the S4 is slightly better, but I would never use the hand waving or scrolling features and the pictures I take are usually when I'm out with friends, so the low light performance on the HTC was ideal.

After playing around in store with both for a bit I also vastly preferred the build quality and screen/interface on the HTC over the S4. Has a nice heft to it and feels really nicely machined and put together. I've also never used an SD card or replacement battery in any phone I've had so that also wasn't an issue.

Like I said this is just my opinion and you'll find amazing reviews for both, but although this sounds super patronising and weird the HTC just felt a bit more "grown up". It's an odd way to describe a several hundred £/$ phone over another but it's the easiest way I've found to articulate my experience with both to people.

OP's current phone is a Droid 3, which means Verizon, who doesn't have the One. Otherwise I would recommend it.

a5ehren

Gaslight wrote: »

ihmmy wrote: »

I have a few friends with the Samsung Note and they are completely in love with it. The keyboard does this spiffy slide-your-finger-around-instead-of-having-to-peck-at-it thing so it's a little less frustrating than most cellphone keyboards

It should be noted that any and all Android phones can do this with SwiftKey or Swype.

It's also a matter of personal preference. I personally hate that method of typing.

zerzhul

If you're sticking with android, due to the customize-ability of the experience I would pick out your biggest needs and go with hardware that meets those needs. Also go into a store and just play around with the live demos a bit, see which ones feel good to you.

Generally,

• Moto RAZR HD MAXX has the best battery and closest to stock UI (moto has veered hard away from motoblur since being acquired by google) although it's closer to the S3 hardware wise and is the "oldest" current flagship
• Samsung is the market leader in devices, so it will likely have the widest range of accessories and the most user community support
• HTC *usually* is regarded as having a very high build quality

Since you're describing yourself as a non-power user, I think you'd be happy with the flagship from any of those three, or as ceres said even maybe taking a step back and getting the S3 since it's a bit cheaper.

bowen

On proper smartphones, touch screen keyboards will generally outperform hardware keyboards. People who hate touch screen tended to use those REALLY terrible smartphones from early naughts that would type kumquat if you typed hi.

iPhone and Samsung Galaxy are the ones you should shoot for "best in show." Biggest thing is to figure out what you want from your phone, I was once like you. I figured "man I will never use my smart phone." But once I got it man... my whole word fucking changed.

Imagine being able to get movie times, check bank balances, browse a menu of nearby restaurants whenever you're out. They're fucking amazing once you relinquish the fact that you have a computer in your pocket.

Now that that's out of the way, figure out if you want the Android or iOS platforms. Each are good and bad at some things. Android tends to be cheaper, iOS tends to be more rounded and gets the first flagstone apps to the market (like your bank's mobile app or something). Both all do the same things.

Then there's microsoft's smartphone, but, I don't really know much about them.

mere_immortal

a5ehren wrote: »

mere_immortal wrote: »

I wasn't gonna suggest it at first but as you mentioned the S4 I would recommend the HTC One.

Both are super amazing flagships and a lot of my descision came down to personal preference. On paper the S4 is slightly better, but I would never use the hand waving or scrolling features and the pictures I take are usually when I'm out with friends, so the low light performance on the HTC was ideal.

After playing around in store with both for a bit I also vastly preferred the build quality and screen/interface on the HTC over the S4. Has a nice heft to it and feels really nicely machined and put together. I've also never used an SD card or replacement battery in any phone I've had so that also wasn't an issue.

Like I said this is just my opinion and you'll find amazing reviews for both, but although this sounds super patronising and weird the HTC just felt a bit more "grown up". It's an odd way to describe a several hundred £/$ phone over another but it's the easiest way I've found to articulate my experience with both to people.

OP's current phone is a Droid 3, which means Verizon, who doesn't have the One. Otherwise I would recommend it.

Aha I see, not too familiar with the US networks.

minirhyder

bowen wrote: »

On proper smartphones, touch screen keyboards will generally outperform hardware keyboards. People who hate touch screen tended to use those REALLY terrible smartphones from early naughts that would type kumquat if you typed hi.

That's...not really true.
I've had Blackberries for the past 6 years or so and I can't let go of the hardware keyboards.
I also have had an iPod touch for a while and do a good amount of typing on it and it just doesn't work for me.

There are definitely pros to hardware keyboards, if they're done right.

bowen

Well those are blackberries. I don't recommend anyone not doing business work to get them.

I don't really recommend anyone get them. Not unless ultra exchange synchronization is a thing. Key to typing on smartphones is to turn them sideways and not try to type like it's a blackberry holding it like a vertical smart phone. Not trying to be a smart ass. Different mechanics and all that.

Kryhs

Thanks, guys. Tons of good info here.

ED!

Nexus 4 from Google. I imagine with the rumoured storage update coming soon, the 8GIG model can be had for a song.

Gaslight

ED! wrote: »

Nexus 4 from Google. I imagine with the rumoured storage update coming soon, the 8GIG model can be had for a song.

Still $299 from Google Play. When/if they release a 32GB version, they will almost certainly discontinue the 8GB model entirely, just as they did with the Nexus 7.

I am pretty sure the 8GB Nexus 4 is basically just a loss leader anyway.

a5ehren

ED! wrote: »

Nexus 4 from Google. I imagine with the rumoured storage update coming soon, the 8GIG model can be had for a song.

OP is on Verizon, so that's not really an option unless they want to switch to a GSM carrier.

SoulStalker

If you're really big on physical keyboards, perhaps you should wait for the launch of the new BlackBerry Q10? All the reviews I've seen have only said good things about the keyboard. It also isn't as big as some of the newer all-touch phones, which helps pocketability. And you have access to a large selection of Android apps.