Help Best flagship Android phone?

[davden90925]

Hi guys, I've been using a Macbook Pro and an iPhone 4s for the past four years but Windows 10 has lured me back away from Apple, who seem to be resting on their laurels far too much with OS X. Anyway, the reason I've been content sticking with iPhone was because of the ecosystem, but since that will be irrelevant soon I have started looking for better alternatives. I've done a heap of research and narrowed it down to four non-iPhone options, however none of these are standout winners, and I'm really struggling. As a newcomer to the Android/Windows phone side of things, I figured maybe I could get some advice from you guys on what it's like to actually use these phones.

HTC One M9 – The main draw here seems to that it will soon be available with Windows Phone 10, which I think looks way cool and I don't care too much about the lack of apps. I know that this isn't the right forum to discuss WP, so I'll just say that the camera on this phone really seems to suck. However the 5" screen is the smallest of the list and the specs are perfectly good. Decent looking.

Galaxy S6 – Best specs but I'm not particularly fond of the way it looks. I've heard TouchWiz is pretty average but the 5.1" screen isn't too much of a leap from my tiny little 3.5" iPhone.

Moto X Pure/Play – Easily my favourite looking phone here. It's absolutely beautiful and I love the idea of Moto Maker. The problem is the Pure seems absolutely massive at 5.7", however I do really like the specs at that level. The Play is probably a more comfortable 5.5" but the specs on it are really quite underwhelming.

LG G4 – Seems like a really good overall phone, but nothing really standout about it. It's aesthetically fine, but not amazing. I'd prefer metal over the plastic/leather back you get with it, but the front looks good.

Coming from a 3.5" iPhone 4s display, even the 4.7" iPhone 6 display looks massive to me. How much of an issue will this be with something like the Moto X Pure's 5.7" display? It seems the more I like the phone, the bigger the display is, which really turns me off. Which of these would you recommend? I'd really like a premium phone that I can be proud of – I don't want to feel like I couldn't afford an iPhone so I had to go with a more budget level other phone. Thoughts?

 

[EarlyMon]

It sounds like your research has centered on reading rather than trying these out live.

For a screen, form factor, and overall size evaluation you really want to spend some time holding each one, playing around in general and asking yourself how you plan to carry one.

On one hand you find the 4.7" iPhone a massive screen but a 5.1" Android isn't that much of an upgrade over 3.5". Really?

Yeah. No. Definitely best advice I know I've given - try them.

It's ok to discuss Windows Phone here. It sucks, how about that? Everyone in the press is all about the upcoming Windows 10 on a phone - sounds great on paper. Don't count on emulation to run Android apps until you've see it done. Don't expect the app integration to be the same as on Android and definitely don't expect a free lunch - Android apps running in an emulator on a Windows 10 phone ought not be expected to run as well as in their native environment.

As for the M9 - visit the threads here and at XDA for photos by owners. No, it's not as good as the S6 camera. But the meme that it sucks may not be as true as you think. If you get the M9, it's not going to be because you can get Windows 10 on it - you'll want it because it's a superior Android phone.

Each phone has its own unique set of integrated apps and look & feel - don't let anyone tell you any differently. And each one has loyal fans for a good reason.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hadron]

Firstly, one thing to know about reviews is that they tend to be written based on very early firmware and never updated. Hence they are not necessarily an accurate reflection of the device a few months later. The M9 camera is a case in point: actually it isn't bad at all these days, particularly if you are prepared to spend a few minutes playing with the settings (HTC give you more control than many). The initial problems were largely a combination of poor noise control and sharpening algorithms. What I'd really recommend for camera performance is to visit the device forums and look at the pictures that owners of the devices take, rather than putting all of your faith in reviews (many of which are less than scientific).

Edit: I see that Early has beaten me to this point!

Note though that if you want the WP M9 that's different from an Android M9 - you won't (easily) be able to buy one and switch OS. And my comments above are for Android, I've no idea about the WP camera software.

Anyway, to answer the question, there is no "best", just "what suits me best". And specs are only part of the story: how it all works together is more important (you can have a high-specced phone which doesn't live up to expectations and a moderate-specced one which works better for daily use, and most people do not need the sort of power that most phones have these days). So my top tip is always to go to a store and handle them for real yourself - if a phone doesn't actually appeal to you in person, or isn't comfortable to hold, then it doesn't matter what some spec sheet says.

As for the Motorolas, I'm not personally a phablet person and both of those are too large for me. But in fact the Pure (US name - Style in rest of the world) is only 1.2mm wider than the Play, though 5mm longer, so my guess is that if you can handle one of them you could handle the other too. At least for me the width is the most important dimension, even though some manufacturers seem to think that thickness is the only one that matters (I'm looking at you, Samsung!).

It also depends what you want to do with the phone. If you want a large media collection then all of those apart from the S6 allow storage expansion through SD. Note that you cannot use a removable card for storing apps on most android phones, though this will change with Android M, so the internal storage capacity is still relevant even with an SD slot. If you are a big gamer then the 1080p screen of the M9 may work better than the QHD (1440p) screens, since those place higher demands on the gpu. If you want the best all auto, out of the box, don't want to worry about settings camera then probably the S6, but remember that we've no actual experience of the Motorola cameras yet. If you just want a competent smartphone then any of those will be fine.

And that last sentence is the key. That's why the important thing is to go and have a play with the actual devices, rather than base your decision on the opinions and preferences of other people. Any of them will do the job for most people, so what matters is which one you would be happiest with.

 

[EarlyMon]

Obligatory note from my OCD - some new phones are QHD, quad HD (1440p), qHD is the old quarter HD (540p).

 

[Hadron]

Fixed!

 

[dontpanicbobby]

It depends on what you want to do with it other than make phone calls. The HTC One M9 should be a kick-ass multimedia device coming from my HTC One M8 experience. BoomSound is a joy to the ears and the speaker placement and screen dimensions are just right for watching videos. Also removable storage is a good thing if you're really into music and videos.

The LG G4 is a good choice as well especially if you travel a lot. Having a fully charged extra battery on hand is great if you're on a long trip. Again you have the external storage feature for taking a lot of content with you wherever you may be.

Both the S6 and the Moto X Pure/Play lack features I use everyday so I've never really considered them once I did some on-line research. Someone else will have to address those devices. HTH

 

[EarlyMon]

Topics merged.

 

[davden90925]

On one hand you find the 4.7" iPhone a massive screen but a 5.1" Android isn't that much of an upgrade over 3.5". Really?

I meant that the One M9 and the Galaxy S6 were the two smaller phones of the four, which would be less of a step up from 3.5". My comment about the iPhone 6's 4.7" was more to show how daunting these bigger screens seem to me.

It's ok to discuss Windows Phone here. It sucks, how about that?

Case and point while it's not okay to discuss Windows Phone here . If you went to an iOS forum to discuss the superiority of Android, do you think you would get a balanced/unbiased response? Same thing applies here, it's inherent with the nature of the board. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't want to base my opinion on WP from Android users, for obvious reasons.

Thanks for the responses guys – I've been thinking about it a bit more and the idea of having a phablet doesn't actually seem that bad anymore. I decided to avoid phablets years ago since I thought holding those things to your ear would be terrible, and I never really thought any further on it. I'm looking to update both my phone and laptop before I head off to Uni, so I won't be spending much time travelling but on the flipside I also won't have a private television (dorms). I guess that paints a better picture of how I'll be using the phone.


Also, I don't know if I made two duplicate threads with this post, but if I did, I didn't mean to.

 

[Crashdamage]

Give the new 2015 Moto X Pure (aka Style) some serious consideration. Really. It's not that big, you'll adapt easier than you think. It has pretty good hardware, really good for the price.. A great value, yet a beautiful unit you'll never be ashamed to let someone borrow.

And it's the only one you listed that runs a very close to stock, vanilla version of Android. That is a *huge* advantage in my book. Nothing like vanilla Android for a fast, buttery-smooth experience. Vanilla Android on good hardware is the closest thing to the smoothness of iOS you'll find on Android devices. Skinned versions of Android on phones like the G4, S6 or M9 just can't match the feel of plain old vanilla Android. I'm sorry, but they just don't. I just had a chance to play with a new G4 for a while and it just couldn't match my wife's Nexus 6. Plain vanilla Android just works. Even better with the Nova launcher.

I would say try the terrific Nexus 6, but I don't think you're ready for something that big! But then, my wife just loves hers.

 

[KOLIO]

The M9 sounds like the best phone for you.
Coming from someone who's owned the M9 since opening day & has had phones ranging from 4"-6" displays during that time,the M9 is a sound choice.
Great fit/feel-in-hand,the metal construction you prefer & a very smooth-operating phone,you won't be disappointed,it's a great phone..........................

 

[EarlyMon]

Yeah - you can search the forums - there's a reason that Windows on a phone went from one of the dominant players down to about 2%.

It works well for 2% of the market and everyone else avoids it or switches.

The idea that the only reason for hearing that it sucks here is because of Android bias - well - you believe it if you like.

Microsoft believed it sucked. The board hammered Ballmer over it, replaced him, and now they are going for a completely new approach - where they rely on running iOS and Android apps.

If someone doesn't tell you something sucks how are you going to find out? At a Windows forum?

They've left. They're here. Or at an Apple forum.

Parts of Android sucks too. So do iPhones. So do BlackBerries. And the two that suck the most by a long shot are the two losing customers to the point of not mattering in the market.

Anyway - try the Youtube app on a Windows phone. Try it on Android. Try any other things that you want, side by side.

You may be able to find retailers carrying the HTC One M8 with both operating systems for an unbiased comparison using the same hardware.

Compare to how your 4 year old iPhone does.

Then you tell me how viable it is.

 

[Crashdamage]

Windows Phone is so poor that it reduced Nokia from market monster to a market mouse. Ballmer got outta tech and into basketball. Elop is probably sipping fruit cocktails with little umbrellas. Both of them should be asking if you want fries with that.

Total, utter failure is not unfair to say. Ask any Nokia stockholder.

But I'm getting off topic...sorry...

 

[jack58]

As said here a couple times, nothing beats going to like say, Best Buy and trying out the phones. Take your time with each one. The flagships are all good, just a matter of personal choice. Too big? ... ..try them, you may think otherwise. I've seen a quite a few former "tiny" iPhone owners absolutely love the bigger phones which are all thin, sleek and don't weigh much. Once you have a bigger phone, you can NEVER go back to a smaller phone.

How can you use the larger phone one handed you ask? You don't always have two hands free, so the large screen can pose issues. That's why both Apple and Samsung have features for their flagship phones that reduce the screen temporarily for one-handed use.