Nexus 4 Alternatives...

Simian

Simian

Simian

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I'm in a bit of a quandary!!...

My Current 'first generation' Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is really starting to annoy me!!. It's underpowered, Buggy (running ICS 4.0.4) and it crashes for the stupidest of reasons, sometime (like it did the other night) it re-boots for the sake of it all on it's own!. Plus the measly 380mb RAM is just not enough for most modern Apps (especially as Farcebook and ******* are HUGE, and can't be moved to the SD easily!). :mad:

I've been patiently waiting for the Nexus 4 to come back into stock on Google Play, I have the Money burning a hole in and ISA, and my Flexible Friend is standing by waiting (just in case!!)... :)

I'm now getting frustrated, waiting for LG/Google to get their respective acts together!! and I NEED and new phone now!!... Well sometime in the next Month or so!! as I feel I need to teach my Xperia Arc to fly!! ;)

I've looked at the new Xperia range from Sony (notably the Bond Phone 'T') and even regestered my interest on the Xperia Z.

I'm not a Fan of Samsung's 'Touchwizz' but I've looked at the Note II (not really interested in the S3 as every man and his dog has one at work!!)...

What are the 'Next Generation' of Smartphones/Phablets like??, Should I wait for the Nexus 4 to come back into stock (if it's this side of Easter!), What SIM Free Phones/Phablets would you guys recommend???

I'm not sure I'd want the pay £110 over the odds for the N4 for Carphonewarehouse, especially as, it would be just my luck I'd get one, and then Google Play would get them back in stock next day!! :rolleyes:

I don't really want to go any higher than £400/450 (plus accessories) :)

Oooo Plus... I DO NOT LIKE APPLE AND ANY OF THEIR IPHONES!! so please no "Get and iPhone... Blah Blah" suggestions please :p
 
I have been burned by Sony twice now but I must admit the Xperia Z looks a very promising phone! Though now they are finally making premium phones, it will be outside your price point. I was going to recommend a GS3 as prices may come down in a few months but just noticed your 'every dog' comment - which is true!

I say wait until MWC :)
 
I can't help you I'm afraid, but I am in exactly the same situation (except I have a Motorola Defy at the moment). I really want a Nexus 4, but am loosing patience waiting for it.
 
Messiah Khan said:
I can't help you I'm afraid, but I am in exactly the same situation (except I have a Motorola Defy at the moment). I really want a Nexus 4, but am loosing patience waiting for it.
Click to expand...

Pull up a chair dood!... Grab some Popcorn and have a drink!... :)

Nexus18 said:
If size isn't an issue then the note II, if it is then either of the following:

HTC one X+
HTC one XL
HTC one S
SE Z
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Not sure about HTC with all the problems they've been 'reported' as having lately... but I'll take a look!! :)

How do HTC's phones stack up against the S3/Note II or even the N4??

Is the Note II as HOOOOGE as I think it is!?.. I have rather large hands! (I can reach over an Octave on a Grand Piano!) and it does look like a nice 'Phablet' but just how good is it everyday as a Phone/Social Hub/Camera?? Does the 'Touchwizz' interface still look like it's from the 90's (my wife has a Galaxy Ace and it seems very antiquated!), I had an old Nomnomnia from Samsungs WinMo days and the Ace feels just as clunky!!...

I've seen rumours that the Xperia Z will be £399ish... (even though Expansys have it on pre-order for £569)
 
Do you mean the handset problems? If yes, then most of the issues that the original one X and S had where fixed/improved long ago with newer batches/updates.

HTC phones are fantastic, unfortunately they aren't popular though, which is a shame as IMO I think the one XL, one X+ (despite using tegra 3!!! :mad:) are the better phones overall compared to the GS 3 and note II. The one S just lacks a 720P display (still a very nice display though, the only thing I want is for it to be a bit bigger/wider!) and limited internal storage.


At the end of the day it comes down to what you want from the phone, many will always swear by the GS 3 largely due to storage, removable battery, SAMOLED screen etc. and likewise for the one X due to the LCD screen and design/perceived quality.

They are all in the same league, some phones are better at some stuff than the others.


Comparing the GS 3/note II, one XL/X+, S and nexus 4:

For photo quality the GS 3/note II and HTC phones are all more or less the same. 1080P recordings look much better on the S4 based HTC phones. You can see photos taken with my one S here. 1080P recording in terms of light metering and smoothness is much better on the GS 3, note II though. The HTC one series phones camera UI and features are better overall. The nexus 4 falls short in every area (still a good camera though)

Should note that since the JB/sense V4+ update, the camera quality has improved even more for the one S etc. colours are more natural now (personally preferred the more saturated colours though :p :() and the photos are even clearer/sharper.

Audio quality, again all are more or less the same, unless you are an audiophile :p I doubt you will notice a huge difference between them.

Hardware specs, the nexus 4 has the best CPU/GPU. The one S and XL use the S4 dual core chipset and it is great, better than the exynos quad on the whole. With JB on all the phones you aren't going to notice a huge difference between them though and personally wouldn't worry about it. Most phones coming out this year will be using the same CPU chipset as the nexus 4 and nothing will truly compete with it (on the android mobile market) till the GS 4 is out. Multi-tasking is better on the nexus 4 (largely due to stock android and 2GB RAM) and note II followed by the GS 3 (1GB RAM version) and then the XL/S/X+. X+ uses tegra 3 unfortunately, which shouldn't have any right being used in a "high end" device, but at the end of the day with the JB update it performs very nicely in real world usage, it gets hot though!

Software is very subjective. Touchwiz and sense have definitely improved and IMO both are fantastic. Touchwiz has some very nice tweaks like the smart stay, smart status bar, smart rotate and multi-view window, however, you can get pretty much all of them on the market now. My biggest gripe with touchwiz is the colour scheme and UI for stock apps, too kiddish/cartoonish and the apps don't have any organised feel to them let alone a unified feel throughout. Sense doesn't have any unique tweaks like the smart stuff mentioned above, however, imo the apps are great, especially the browser. You have themes to choose from (loads on the market too), the colour scheme/layout is nice and professional looking and all the apps are nicely laid out and in terms of android, it has the most unified feel there is. Biggest gripe with it is the crap battery info. screens, power saver being in the notification bar constantly and white backgrounds (hopefully HTC will let us do something about the first two things or change it themselves with the next update.....) Both perform very well in terms of smoothness and quickness. Stock android is very nice to look at, however, I find it too minimal with hardly any features (some will love this though), the only thing I prefer about it over the sense and touchwiz skin is the theme.

Battery life - the note II destroys them all :p

In theory the nexus 4 should be the second best but due to software/driver optimisation it isn't as good as the likes of the XL, one S, GS 3. In order to get good battery life you need to tweak/turn stuff of or preferably root and flash a kernel.

The XL is better than the rest, closely followed by the S and then closely followed by the GS 3 (not a huge difference to worry about though)

Although you will be able to get a 3000mAh battery for the GS 3, which iirc only adds 1mm to thickness :eek: And you can buy the one X+ (2040mAh) battery for the one S/XL so battery life will be even better on those 3.

The NLED on the HTC phones sucks in comparison to the other 3.

Design/looks is subjective.

Screen is very subjective too:

SAMOLED:

blacks are black, vibrant/saturated colours, infinite contrast ratio

not as good whites, bit pixelated when you look closely, not as sharp on the whole

VS

SLCD/IPS

natural colours, better whites, sharper and clearer on the whole

Poor black levels (but then again every LCD is poor when compared to sAMOLED), display might look a bit washed out (more so for the nexus 4)
Click to expand...


The GS 3 has the sharper display compared to the one S and due to the higher res. more screen real estate but the one S has much better whites (the best I have seen for a SAMOLED screen) and is better calibrated on the whole.


IMO the note II is too big for a "phone", mainly when holding to your face :p and having it in your pockets:

6iPMq.jpg



As said above, best to wait for the M7, it will be the buttefly/deluxe/DNA but supposedly with an aluminium uni-body and SD slot. CPU/GPU etc. specs will be the same as the nexus 4 but it will be using a 1080P 5" SLCD 3/IPS screen. And the 1080P recording is a heck of a lot better, as good as the GS 3/note II (at long last!)
 
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Have you tried rooting your Arc OP? My Xperia PLAY's got the same specs and the RAM really kills it. Rooting it however allowed me to clear up some of the uneeded apps which saved a lot of internal space, and even allows me to move them to the SD card, even if they can't via normal android means, meaning even more space.

Another thing to note is apparently the GPU drivers from Qualcomm for ICS 4.0 are buggy, causing the device to crash, so staying on 2.3 Gingerbread is better. So maybe flashing in a 3rd party ROM will help with the stability.

As for me since O2 doesn't allow boot loader unlocking or ROM flashing via X-parts I'm pretty much stuck on a phone that's reached past it's limits...
 
haha I love that picture of the Note II against the guys face, its funny when I hold mine I really don't think its as big as people make out, its only when my 3 year old son holds it to play games on it that it looks masssssssssssssssssssive :) After being totally disappointed with the S3 I went back to the One X and took a chance with the Note II, im so happy for now, will definitely take a look at the M7 when it comes out, but it either has to have microsd or at least 64gb onboard for me to even consider changing.
 
Nexus18 said:
*Snip*
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Cheers Dood!! That's exactly the kind of info I was after!! with no BS or Fanboyism I've had from 'other' sources!! :)

I'd heard that HTC were having 'money problems' which is probably because of the slow take up on their handsets (due to iClone and S3 etc...)

I'll hang fire for both the M7 and the Z and see where the N4 stands at that time!! then compare all the phones listed!! :)

Orcvader said:
Have you tried rooting your Arc OP? My Xperia PLAY's got the same specs and the RAM really kills it. Rooting it however allowed me to clear up some of the uneeded apps which saved a lot of internal space, and even allows me to move them to the SD card, even if they can't via normal android means, meaning even more space.
Click to expand...

My Arc is both Rooted and has an Unlocked Bootloader, I've tried various 'App to SD' apps, but they seem to slow the phone even further!! It's like waiding through treacle sometimes!! :)

Orcvader said:
Another thing to note is apparently the GPU drivers from Qualcomm for ICS 4.0 are buggy, causing the device to crash, so staying on 2.3 Gingerbread is better. So maybe flashing in a 3rd party ROM will help with the stability.
Click to expand...

I've thought about re-flashing Gingerbread back and being done with it till I can get a replacement phone!, But I have a few apps (like Apex etc) that only run on ICS... It just seems to haemorrhaging RAM, one minute it's got close to 100mb left, the next it's throwing a flid because it's only got 30mb left!! rignt now it won't let me update DropBox, it keeps telling me 'Insufficient Space'... but it's an UPDATE!! Replacing one chunk of space for another!!
 
Simian said:
Cheers Dood!! That's exactly the kind of info I was after!! with no BS or Fanboyism I've had from 'other' sources!! :)

I'd heard that HTC were having 'money problems' which is probably because of the slow take up on their handsets (due to iClone and S3 etc...)

I'll hang fire for both the M7 and the Z and see where the N4 stands at that time!! then compare all the phones listed!! :)



My Arc is both Rooted and has an Unlocked Bootloader, I've tried various 'App to SD' apps, but they seem to slow the phone even further!! It's like waiding through treacle sometimes!! :)



I've thought about re-flashing Gingerbread back and being done with it till I can get a replacement phone!, But I have a few apps (like Apex etc) that only run on ICS... It just seems to haemorrhaging RAM, one minute it's got close to 100mb left, the next it's throwing a flid because it's only got 30mb left!! rignt now it won't let me update DropBox, it keeps telling me 'Insufficient Space'... but it's an UPDATE!! Replacing one chunk of space for another!!
Click to expand...

I love the build and design of the One S, it seems to be going for a decent price now so its always a good options.

Not 100% sure it comes with the s4, if it does its an amazing phone.
http://www.expansys.com/htc-one-s-uk-ceramic-metal-230466/
 
Nexus 4 by miles, keep the Arc until you can nab one... (One S and old Arc owner, I love em both tbh :p)

If your really, really desperate get a Amazon warehouse deal on the black One S for ~£215. It'll chip eventually anyway and you can send it back if you don't like it.
 
Simian said:
Cheers Dood!! That's exactly the kind of info I was after!! with no BS or Fanboyism I've had from 'other' sources!! :)

I'd heard that HTC were having 'money problems' which is probably because of the slow take up on their handsets (due to iClone and S3 etc...)

I'll hang fire for both the M7 and the Z and see where the N4 stands at that time!! then compare all the phones listed!! :)
Click to expand...

No problem :)

Yeah unfortunately so :( They just can't compete with Samsung when it comes to sales. I still believe that the "main" reason they are doing so poor is due to marketing, it is awful compared to Apple and Samsung. The newer desire range were pretty poor but the one series is really very good and should have done better but they just didn't advertise their phones anywhere as much and only ever the one X that was advertised. They then went and made stupid decisions like giving the "mid range" phone the higher end chipset, aluminium uni-body and giving the X a poor chipset with just a standard poly carbonate uni-body (still very nice though) with no SD slot on any phones and poor battery life for the X. The X+ but with the S4 chipset is what the original X should have been from the start. Oh and also the amount of different versions of each phone that they have released! Last time I checked there were 6 different versions of the one S :o They have said that they are going to cut down on the amount of phones that they release each year recently but they said that before the release of the one series and well........ :p


Oh and the one XL is the only one to support LTE out of those HTC devices.

The one S doesn't have NFC.

Storage:

X+ = 64GB internal and no SD slot
S = 16GB and no SD slot
XL = 32GB and no SD slot

Fallen god said:
I love the build and design of the One S, it seems to be going for a decent price now so its always a good options.

Not 100% sure it comes with the s4, if it does its an amazing phone.
http://www.expansys.com/htc-one-s-uk-ceramic-metal-230466/
Click to expand...

This. If you like the one S, try to get the S4 1.5GHz CPU verison. 2 versions floating around, the other being the S3 1.7GHz CPU chipset, which is inferior compared to the S4, still decent enough but the performance and battery life won't be as good.

Also, even if it says S4/1.5GHz, you would need to contact them just to be sure as people have received the S3 version even when it stated S4 on the site.

o2 are selling it for about £320 (but they don't mention which CPU it is)

sarge78 said:
It'll chip eventually anyway
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Mine is still going strong! :D (except the USB port :p)
 
sarge78 said:
Nexus 4 by miles, keep the Arc until you can nab one... (One S and old Arc owner, I love em both tbh :p)

If your really, really desperate get a Amazon warehouse deal on the black One S for ~£215. It'll chip eventually anyway and you can send it back if you don't like it.
Click to expand...

£215? I've seen A graded ones for as little as £165 despite what people think or say its not a patch on the one x (i've had both now)
 
£165 for a s4 a grade one s? :eek:


Why do you think that? The one s has many advantages over the x i.e. the CPU chipset (s4), which makes certain things better like the 1080P video recording, doesn't get as hot, better performance (not as big of a difference with JB on the X now though), better battery life, aluminium uni-body and the x has 3 advantages over the s i.e. screen, NFC and storage. And even then the screen comes down to personal preference, as gorgeous as the x screen is and on the whole being better than the s display, I still rather have samoled.
 
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Nexus18 said:
£165 for a s4 a grade one s? :eek:


Why do you think that? The one s has many advantages over the x i.e. the CPU chipset (s4), which makes certain things better like the 1080P video recording, doesn't get as hot, better performance (not as big of a difference with JB on the X now), better battery life, aluminium uni-body and the x has 3 main advantages over the s i.e. screen, NFC and storage. And even then the screen comes down to personal preference, as gorgeous as the x screen is and on the whole being better than the s display, I still rather have samoled.
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Matter of personal preference I guess, I just prefer the X to the S, the screen and storage are a much bigger advantage to me than what the S has to offer, there was/is nothing the tegra 3 cant do, and I could easily get 24-36 hours out of my one x, I agree about the video recording of the S4 but 95% of the time my camera was used for photos so the chipset had no benefit, at the end of the day its swings and round abouts and personally the hox is a better looking handset At the end of the day was HTC One S was a Mid/high range phone for a reason
 
A possible option depending on your funds is buying one from CPW or whoever now, and then when Google actually get more stocks buy another one and just sell it on at an inflated price like every other person seems to be doing. You'd probably make back the difference you'd be paying now and be all square again.
 
I cancelled my Nexus 4 order a few weeks back; have opted for a Motorola RAZR HD instead.

Downside is that you have to import from either France, Germany or Canada.

Ticks all the boxes for the device I wanted though :)
 
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