I need a new phone - VZW

[Anubis]

SO my current phone (Galaxy Nexus) if really starting to annoy the crap out of me. Slow, crashes, unresponsive, horrid cell reception and so on, ive tried different roms and done factor resets to go back to stock and that only really helps for a month of so.

Besides whats currently out there SGS4, HTC 1, Moto whatevers is there anything else worth looking into? i DO NOT WANT A NOTE, its too fing big

Anything else coming down the pipe in the next 2-3 months that would be worth waiting for? Im pretty sure the Nexus 5 wont come to VZW.

Im not switching carriers because all of them have crap coverage where i live. actually im pretty sure spring and Tmo have zero coverage here
AT&T has coverage but its spotty at best and there is no 4g

with VZW i get great coverage LTE most places and i still have unlimited data

 

[PowerYoga]

droid only or?

 

[Anubis]

android based
id consider WP if its awesomely awesome
thats it

 

[PowerYoga]

As far as I can see, the carriers just went through a release cycle (s5, note 3, moto x, etc) so you won't see anything for another year. The new nexus is supposedly pretty nice though.

 

[Red Storm]

Lg g2?

 

[PowerYoga]

I don't like LG phones, but it just got root and TWRP access at least.

 

[darkewaffle]

I'm quite happy with my Lumia 928, but I'm a pretty casual user and app selection didn't influence my buying decision at all, I can't even speak as to how much of an issue it is or isn't because I don't really have any and have never had an android phone or iphone lol. As far as having a pretty good camera and browsing the web goes though, it's been great for me and that's primarily what I was looking for.

 

[Anubis]

Lg g2?

ill look into the G2, however it may be on the large side, also not sure how i like those buttons on the back

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, I'd probably lean towards the G2. If you want to sell your VZW GNex, let me know. Might be interested.

 

[s44]

SGS4 dev edition (link)

or a MDK firmware regular edition one from Swappa

Remember: no "upgrade" or you'll lose unlimited.

edit: I'm selling my GNex. Extra OEM battery and charging system included.

 

[Oyeve]

G2 or HTC One. I have a few users whose contracts are up on VZW and I may get one of each just for the hell of it.

 

[Anubis]

SGS4 dev edition (link)

or a MDK firmware regular edition one from Swappa

Remember: no "upgrade" or you'll lose unlimited.

edit: I'm selling my GNex. Extra OEM battery and charging system included.

ill be upgrading a different line and then reverting it back to dumbphone status so i wont be losing unlimited and i wont be paying full price

i know what the dev edition is, whats so special about this MDK firmware? also never heard of swappa before

 

[Face2Face]

I vote HTC one. My wife has a GS4, while it's a nice phone, it still has it's laggy phases and it's random reboots. I own a DNA and have had very little issues so far, I am very pleased with it.

 

[s44]

i know what the dev edition is, whats so special about this MDK firmware? also never heard of swappa before

MDK = firmware before they fixed the bootloader workaround. Basically, if you have MDK you have a fully open phone. If you have ME7, you're still waiting for some sort of second workaround (there's one in progress, but it's not nearly as clean).

If you can snag an upgrade price, the G2 isn't a bad idea. Just make sure to get it now before they close the Loki exploit (same one used on the S4, btw) as well. The stock VZ firmware looks to be poo.

Swappa is the top Android secondhand buy/sell site.

 

[Crono]

HTC One or Lumia 928

If you enjoy music, you'll love the One. I'm glad I got my One, even with all the new phones popping up. The aluminum body, front facing speakers, infrared universal remote control, and fantastic screen mean it will still be a great phone to use even if other phones with higher specs beat the crap out of it in benchmarks at the end of your contract period. I am not experiencing phone envy, which might not be the case if you get an S4 and then see the new flagship Android phones or Nexus 5 arrive in a month's time.

The Lumia 928 has a better camera than the One (which has an excellent camera, too), and I really love Windows Phone 8 more than the other mobile OS'. It's not ideal if you are highly dependent on popular apps that exist on iOS or Android, but there are plenty of apps and games, including quite a few unique ones. Xbox Music integration on Windows Phone is awesome if you have a subscription. I've never seen operating system slowdown on Windows Phone 7 or 8, so you aren't too likely to have to keep hard resetting your phone all the time even after a few months of heavy use. The build quality and the design of the Lumia 928 is excellent, too.

I'd go to a Verizon store and play with both. It would be hard for me to choose, but if you are more of a power user, go with the One.

 

[Anubis]

i do love music but i can count on 1 hand the number of times ive used my phones speakers for it, and thats not because they generally suck its because i simply never listen to music from my phone without headphones

but i plan on checking it out. my only worry is battery life on the One

 

[Crono]

i do love music but i can count on 1 hand the number of times ive used my phones speakers for it, and thats not because they generally suck its because i simply never listen to music from my phone without headphones

but i plan on checking it out. my only worry is battery life on the One

Even with headphones the One is pretty damn good, among the best.

Battery life is close to the S4 and other phones. I use Greenify and Snapdragon BatteryGuru, battery life hasn't been an issue for me.

 

[s44]

Battery life is close to the S4 and other phones. I use Greenify and Snapdragon BatteryGuru, battery life hasn't been an issue for me.

Your second sentence disproves your first. The One is good enough in optimal conditions, but it gets killed when you leave stuff on, hit bad reception, etc.

I leave everything on for my S4, haven't even considered crippling sync or multitasking with power management stuff, and get easy all-day battery life that can survive stretches of crap reception, long screen-on for subway gaming, etc. The Note 3 and Maxx will be even more ridiculously robust.

 

[Crono]

Your second sentence disproves your first. The One is good enough in optimal conditions, but it gets killed when you leave stuff on, hit bad reception, etc.

I leave everything on for my S4, haven't even considered crippling sync or multitasking with power management stuff, and get easy all-day battery life that can survive stretches of crap reception, long screen-on for subway gaming, etc. The Note 3 and Maxx will be even more ridiculously robust.

No, my second sentence proves I want to maximize battery life. I use close to max brightness. I get all day battery life (work day, not 24 hours) with heavy usage. Even if I had a Moto X or DROID MAXX I would try and optimize battery life. Some apps have no good reason to be be waking up the processor, so I have no qualms about using an app or a service to manage that stuff for me.

Both phones are close. I don't know why so many S4 users want to brag about battery life, but it doesn't get significantly better battery life than any other phone, not unless you use a ZeroLemon or other high capacity battery. I notice most S4 users leave their brightness really low, but that might just be my own observation.

The Notes, Motorola phones, iPhones, and the LG G2 get good battery life, the One and the S4 are just the new average for flagships. Especially with the Lumia 1525 and One Max on the way. The S4 might be better than whatever Android phone you had previously, but it's nothing special right now.

There are other sites that have done testing. If you average them or take out the extremes, you generally see the HTC One and S4 are pretty close. The One does take longer to charge, though.

 

[Anubis]

SO i ended up getting a SGS4 off of swappa, i played with the X and the HTC One a bit and liked them for the most part each has their minor annoyances (HTCs UI changes, no LED on the X and so on, mostly minor and most can be fixed) However i really liked the S4, friend has one he liked it and so did I when i played with it.

Got a rooted and unlocked one off swappa with 2 cases and a 32 gig SD card in basically brand new condition. i'm happy. This alone is pretty spectacular. ~2 hours of screen time, ~4 hours of streaming music (google music) on WiFi most of the day. my nexus dropped 10% per hour just sitting in my pocket, partially because the radios were crap and it never got a good signal inside, SGS4 is a major improvement in that area as well, I actually get 4G inside at work

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i wooda waited to see if nexus 5 comes out on vzw

 

[Chocu1a]

i wooda waited to see if nexus 5 comes out on vzw

Then he would have never gotten a phone

 

[lothar]

i wooda waited to see if nexus 5 comes out on vzw

Thankfully, not everyone is that stupid to expect one.

 

[Anubis]

Then he would have never gotten a phone

Thankfully, not everyone is that stupid to expect one.

lol