Phone + Tab combine

[kristalsoldier]

Hello...

After about a year of intensive use of Android devices - a phone and a tab - I have been considering my upgrade options, which I expect to exercise in a few months.

My initial intro to Android was through a Samsung Galaxy Fit. It is a barebones smart phone (but it has been upgraded OTA with the latest version of GB). As a phone it works well though it does lag - sometimes quite a bit.

My tab is the Acer A500, which has been OTA updated to ICS and it runs well.

I have found that aside from phone calls, my primary use of the phone is to use it as a wireless hotspot to connect my tab to. As I have a very reasonable 3G connection, it works well using the Mobile AP and tethering capabilities of the phone.

I also use my phone as a media player - yeah...not good, I know, but it works at the moment and I don't think I would invest in a standalone media player (iPod or Zune etc.).

Now, when thinking about buying my next phone, I wondered what I should do - should I go for a high end phone (running ICS and costing me around USD 600 or so in my market without contract) or should I go for a not-so-highend phone?

I will probably always have a tab and I am partial to the 10 inch screen - though I could settle for something slightly smaller but not as small as the 7 inch screen like the Samsung Note or the new Kindle.

So, what would you suggest? Which phone? (HTC and Samsung are most common in my area) and which Tab?

Thanks in advance.

 

[chanchan05]

Depends on your primary usage, but since you have a tablet right now, I'd say buy a good phone at the moment. Its great to buy the most powerful phone available. but sometimes its overkill as well. Some people can still do fine with single core phones for their purposes (like me), but if you really want a smooth interface but not breaking the bank, go with a dual core device. With the upcoming release of the Galaxy S3, the prices of the S2 are starting to drop. Then there is the Galaxy S Advance and the Galaxy R for less pricey choices. The Sensation series of HTC are also decreasing in prices, and anything dual core is a huge upgrade from your Galaxy Fit. Heck even an aging Galaxy S is a huge upgrade from that (my sister has a Fit, and compared to my S, experience is lacking and not smooth).

Then for the tablet, the best option available RIGHT NOW is the Transformer Prime by ASUS. But since you probably aren't too much in a hurry since you have one now, I'd suggest waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 which is supposedly due for later this year. They demoed the beta hardware last Feb in MWC Barcelona, and has since improved the chipset inside the thing.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Depends on your primary usage, but since you have a tablet right now, I'd say buy a good phone at the moment. Its great to buy the most powerful phone available. but sometimes its overkill as well. Some people can still do fine with single core phones for their purposes (like me), but if you really want a smooth interface but not breaking the bank, go with a dual core device. With the upcoming release of the Galaxy S3, the prices of the S2 are starting to drop. Then there is the Galaxy S Advance and the Galaxy R for less pricey choices. The Sensation series of HTC are also decreasing in prices, and anything dual core is a huge upgrade from your Galaxy Fit. Heck even an aging Galaxy S is a huge upgrade from that (my sister has a Fit, and compared to my S, experience is lacking and not smooth).

Then for the tablet, the best option available RIGHT NOW is the Transformer Prime by ASUS. But since you probably aren't too much in a hurry since you have one now, I'd suggest waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 which is supposedly due for later this year. They demoed the beta hardware last Feb in MWC Barcelona, and has since improved the chipset inside the thing.

Very nice! Thanks!

So, it would be a toss up between a Samsung and HTC. How are HTC devices in terms of battery life, the UI (which is different from the Samsung interface)? Would the mid-range HTC devices run ICS?

Yeah...the Fit sucks! I know that! It really sucks!

You are right about the tab. I will wait for a bit - like for 6 months or so. But I think the phone purchase is quickly looming. I also need a little better battery life than what the Fit provides at the moment. Again, primary use would be connecting via 3G and for tethering purposes and for below-average number and duration of calls.

Cheers!

 

[chanchan05]

For battery life, the Galaxy S2 and the S3 have better battery lives compared to HTC AFAIK. HTC's Sense overlay, while pretty, is much more battery consuming than Samsung's TouchWiz overlay (HTC has more moving objects and animations). However, HTC hasn't really been known to be very good at battery life. However, for a smartphone that if fully configured, one shouldn't really expect much more than 15hrs battery life. But of course that entirely depends on your configuration. My phone normally has 36hrs battery life (1st week I got it, testing it). The week later after I configured it, it shrank to 15hrs. A reformat I did months later made the phone exhibit more than 30hrs battery life again, but reconfiguring it makes it go back down to 15. LOL.