My phone is about 2.5 years old right now and I dropped it the other day and the screen cracked. 
Now the screen doesn't work and I have to decide whether to get the screen fixed (about $140 at my local repair shop and getting around this city with no car is enough of a pain that I don't think I'll shop around for deals) or just replace the phone.
My phone is still working relatively well. The biggest issues I've been having with it are the lack of storage (8GB with no expandable storage), the battery life would only carry me about half a day rather than a full day, and very recently the GPS hasn't seemed totally functional. The second problem is not a big deal to me since I just bring my charger with me and stay aware of my battery life, and the third I haven't tried to fix yet, so I don't know how easy a fix it would be or what's causing it. The first is probably the biggest issue, but it's only due to my mobile gaming addiction... so it's not vitally important.
The phone I've been looking at is the alcatel onetouch idol 3 4.7" and it goes for about $180. Looking at the specs it seems like a very similar phone to the Nexus 4, the biggest difference being the 1.5GB of ram in the idol vs 2GB of ram in the nexus. A lot of people have been complaining about the picture quality of the idol, though it seems to have identical specs to the nexus in that regard and I'm pretty happy with the photos that takes.
So my biggest questions are:
Now the screen doesn't work and I have to decide whether to get the screen fixed (about $140 at my local repair shop and getting around this city with no car is enough of a pain that I don't think I'll shop around for deals) or just replace the phone.My phone is still working relatively well. The biggest issues I've been having with it are the lack of storage (8GB with no expandable storage), the battery life would only carry me about half a day rather than a full day, and very recently the GPS hasn't seemed totally functional. The second problem is not a big deal to me since I just bring my charger with me and stay aware of my battery life, and the third I haven't tried to fix yet, so I don't know how easy a fix it would be or what's causing it. The first is probably the biggest issue, but it's only due to my mobile gaming addiction... so it's not vitally important.
The phone I've been looking at is the alcatel onetouch idol 3 4.7" and it goes for about $180. Looking at the specs it seems like a very similar phone to the Nexus 4, the biggest difference being the 1.5GB of ram in the idol vs 2GB of ram in the nexus. A lot of people have been complaining about the picture quality of the idol, though it seems to have identical specs to the nexus in that regard and I'm pretty happy with the photos that takes.
So my biggest questions are:
- Is it worth it to repair my phone, given the (minor) problems I've been having with it before I broke the touch screen?
- If I get a new phone, will the smaller 1.5GB of ram in the idol be noticeable compared to the 2GB I'm used to on the Nexus?
- Which do you think will last me the longest if I'm taking good care of the phones and trying to squeeze as much life out of them as possible: my old Nexus 4 (after I repair the screen) or the Idol 3?
