Mobile Phone advice

[Magic Knight]

Ok I'm looking at getting a new phone this weekend. I've always had a Samsung so had been planning on getting the Galaxy S2 but O2 have the new Sony Xperia S for the same monthly tariff and the handset is free this week only. I know the Sony is a newer phone but I've never used one before. Anyone got any advice to swing me either way please?

[Rotek]

I can't say anything about the Sony, but I have a Galaxy S2. Let me give you my thoughts:

I can honestly say it's one of the best pieces of technology I've ever owned. I'm not a phone nut by any stretch of the imagination, but the S2 does everything. Every other phone I've touched since I've had it (nearly a year now, I got it when it was pretty new), say a friend's iPhone or HTC, has felt heavy, slow and useless by comparison. It's incredibly light - the battery weighs more than the phone itself, a fact which still amuses me - the screen is incredible, the touch screen is fast and highly responsive, I've never had it slow down on me, the battery life can last a LOT longer than comparible smartphones, the built in memory is huge (can store over 4000 high quality pictures!) and it's just generally fantastic.

There are just a couple of compaints: the App Store not being as good as Apple's (but that's a given, really), and the on-screen keyboard can be a bit fiddly and imprecise (although if you get used to using Swype - running your fingers across letters rather than typing them out - that's not so much of an issue). Other than that, it's pretty much the perfect phone. I'd recommend the S2 to anyone.

[Snaggletooth]

I recently ditched my HP(Palm)Pre 3the Galaxy is in my mind a given that support is all but dead, for a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and while I have been spoilt with the WebOS on the Pre which is by far the most streamlined and efficient OS on a smart phone, n all round better product.

Everything seems pretty logically laid out and slick, in fairness though from videos I have seen of the Arc S it looks pretty similar, after all its just another version of android, I wouldn't imagine you would be disappointed with either really. unless yo

[Magic Knight]

I can't say anything about the Sony, but I have a Galaxy S2. Let me give you my thoughts:

I can honestly say it's one of the best pieces of technology I've ever owned. I'm not a phone nut by any stretch of the imagination, but the S2 does everything. Every other phone I've touched since I've had it (nearly a year now, I got it when it was pretty new), say a friend's iPhone or HTC, has felt heavy, slow and useless by comparison. It's incredibly light - the battery weighs more than the phone itself, a fact which still amuses me - the screen is incredible, the touch screen is fast and highly responsive, I've never had it slow down on me, the battery life can last a LOT longer than comparible smartphones, the built in memory is huge (can store over 4000 high quality pictures!) and it's just generally fantastic.

There are just a couple of compaints: the App Store not being as good as Apple's (but that's a given, really), and the on-screen keyboard can be a bit fiddly and imprecise (although if you get used to using Swype - running your fingers across letters rather than typing them out - that's not so much of an issue). Other than that, it's pretty much the perfect phone. I'd recommend the S2 to anyone.

Cheers mate. I've always been very happy with my Samsung phones. The only thing putting me off the S2 now is it's a year old like you say and it's a 2 year contract.

[slinger]

I recently ditched my iPhone 4 for a Galaxy S2 and the battery life is crap! Unless you put power saving on, knock off 3G, diable updates / push notifications plus email I'm lucky to get 6 hours out of a full charge! Good phone, but absolutely terrible battery life.

[Rotek]

I recently ditched my iPhone 4 for a Galaxy S2 and the battery life is crap! Unless you put power saving on, knock off 3G, diable updates / push notifications plus email I'm lucky to get 6 hours out of a full charge! Good phone, but absolutely terrible battery life.

Really? As I say, I've had my S2 since near launch and most of the time the charge lasts around two days with everything turned on - admittedly I'm not that heavy a user on most days, but even when I'm out and about and using the 3G and calling and texting a lot I tend to get a full day out of it. Might be a problem with your battery!

[Guinnes1981]

I heard the Galaxy S3 was supposed to launch soon, but googling it just revealed it's been put back to later this year if you can wait that long...

[Magic Knight]

Decided to go with the Sony simply because it's a newer handset. Hope I'm not regretting it this time next week lol.

[Blakey]

Phone's coming up for renewal.

Currently have an iPhone 4S 32GB, and possibly looking to upgrade to an Android phone of some kind if the iPhone 5 doesn't get announced at WWDC 2012.

Anyway...I guess I'm in a kind of unique position...I don't have Wi-Fi/3g and don't own a PC (I have all Mac's in my house)....will I be able to get on with an Android phone?

I ask this because in my research I've found that unlike iTunes where you download apps to the computer, you can't do that on Android and have to download straight to the phone via Wi-Fi/3g, is there a way round this?

Also, will the battery life be as good as my current phone? Looking at the Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X at the moment?

[Rotek]

I can give you my experience with a Galaxy S2 but I don't know if it'll apply to other Androids (although I expect it would, at least the broad strokes).

I have a Mac too, and it was a bit of a fuss to get it to connect to my phone to it, but it was possible. I had to switch on debug mode or something. But essentially that just lets me plug it into my USB port and drag and drop files onto/off of it. Remember, though, that an Android probably won't be able to play songs downloaded from iTunes because the file type won't be recognised. There's probably a way around it, but I don't use my phone for music anyway so it doesn't affect me.

As for apps, you can buy online now. https://play.google.com/store You need a Google account. Again I'm not entirely sure how it works but there should be someway of sorting it. Have a poke around that site and see what you can discover.

Battery life is a whole other ball game. Like I said at the top of this thread, the S2 has got a very decent battery (although it's drained more of late, for some reason, probably because I've had it a while now), so I suspect the S3 probably does as well, but it depends. Look into some model reviews on YouTube or just Google.

[Blakey]

I can give you my experience with a Galaxy S2 but I don't know if it'll apply to other Androids (although I expect it would, at least the broad strokes).

I have a Mac too, and it was a bit of a fuss to get it to connect to my phone to it, but it was possible. I had to switch on debug mode or something. But essentially that just lets me plug it into my USB port and drag and drop files onto/off of it. Remember, though, that an Android probably won't be able to play songs downloaded from iTunes because the file type won't be recognised. There's probably a way around it, but I don't use my phone for music anyway so it doesn't affect me.

As for apps, you can buy online now. https://play.google.com/store You need a Google account. Again I'm not entirely sure how it works but there should be someway of sorting it. Have a poke around that site and see what you can discover.

Battery life is a whole other ball game. Like I said at the top of this thread, the S2 has got a very decent battery (although it's drained more of late, for some reason, probably because I've had it a while now), so I suspect the S3 probably does as well, but it depends. Look into some model reviews on YouTube or just Google.

Thanks for the advice.

Never thought about the music connectivity really, I use my iPhone as my music player, so guess this could be a problem too.

Thought about getting an Android phone many times before but always thought the connectivity would be a hurdle I just couldn't get past.

Looked at alot of reviews for the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S3 and they both look like decent phones

[leeray666]

I've got a galaxy note. And it's completely replaced my iphone... It's actually made the thing look practically ancient. You know? like how you looked at your gameboy advance after you first got your DS.

I've also got a mac, and it's not a problem at-all. Sure, I'll miss a few of those app store games, but as far as music's concerned, it's really not a problem. I don't know if it plays aac files, but you can easily make mp3 copies in iTunes.

There's two ways to connect (well, actually three) you can either go direct and just go to your settings and connect via usb, or you can use Kies, which is a program not too dissimilar to iTunes in that it has the same sort of set-up. Start up the program, plug your phone in and it appears on the left sidebar and you do the same sort of thing you'd do via iTunes.

You can also do this wireless via Kies air which is an app for the phone.

I'm sure it's pretty much the same with the galaxy SII and the SIII. So, don't be put off, take a leap, give android a chance.

[leeray666]

I ask this because in my research I've found that unlike iTunes where you download apps to the computer, you can't do that on Android and have to download straight to the phone via Wi-Fi/3g, is there a way round this?

Man, one of the first cool things I found out about this phone was the google store online.
I'd been checking it out on my mac and I clicked the install button and the app immediately downloaded on my phone!!

Here's an answer to your question:
http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/transf ... hone-wifi/

You CAN download apps to you computer and then transfer them to your phone.

[Blakey]

I've got a galaxy note. And it's completely replaced my iphone... It's actually made the thing look practically ancient. You know? like how you looked at your gameboy advance after you first got your DS.

I've also got a mac, and it's not a problem at-all. Sure, I'll miss a few of those app store games, but as far as music's concerned, it's really not a problem. I don't know if it plays aac files, but you can easily make mp3 copies in iTunes.

There's two ways to connect (well, actually three) you can either go direct and just go to your settings and connect via usb, or you can use Kies, which is a program not too dissimilar to iTunes in that it has the same sort of set-up. Start up the program, plug your phone in and it appears on the left sidebar and you do the same sort of thing you'd do via iTunes.

You can also do this wireless via Kies air which is an app for the phone.

I'm sure it's pretty much the same with the galaxy SII and the SIII. So, don't be put off, take a leap, give android a chance.

Thanks.

I guess i'm so dubious about taking the leap to Android because I've had iPhones since 2009 and know the OS, apps, connectivity etc. back-to-front where all the Android phones out there are a bit of a mystery to me.

Also been looking at the Huawei Ascend D and the LG Optimus 4X HD which both look excellent, build quality is also important to me as I love the premium feel of my 4S in my hands and I don't think the galaxy s2/s3/huawei ascend d have that premium finish but the HTC one x does...guess that's how they have to save weight, but when I looked at the s2 when getting my 4s in October last year i just thought it felt a bit tacky is all.

Alot of my mates have the s2 and love it, just hoping Apple don't go and announce the iPhone 5 at WWDC otherwise I think my Android adventure may have to wait another 18/24 months

[Magic Knight]

I love my Xperia S. I don't know if you use your phone to take photo's much but the 12mp camera is really fantastic. As for apps like Leeray said your phone is tied to your google account so anything I buy or download on the pc is automatically downloaded on my phone.