Searching for good smartphones

[Miklagaard]

I'm requiring some help from the community here in a search for cheaper alternatives to handhelds like a Galaxy S or i-phone.

A relative of ours was wanting to help purchase smartphones for me and my two brothers, preferably the exact same one.

She mentioned the LG L70, so I looked at some reviews on it and wasn't too pleased on what I saw, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Key features I'm looking for is long battery life, fair enough call quality, doesn't have to be huge, but not too small because I'd like to see what I'm doing. Another is storage capacity - I have a TON of music. Also, good quality audio playback isn't necessary but it would be a plus, as I use Sennheiser 518 headphones.

The price range should not exceed more than 150-200 dollars because we're on a tight budget here, as we need 3 of them.

I guess the product can be from any company, as long as the unit is actually reliable and dependable enough in all aspects it can do. Though, I'm of course not expecting a swiss army knife of a smartphone to excell in everything it does.

My friend tells me certain phones can have their ROM and OS changed out to eliminate Bloatware eating up battery power resulting in faster operation, response times, and longer battery life which is all a plus.

 

[musical marv]

There are 3 major OS in Smart Phone:

iOS(iPhones): Androids : Windows Phone

iOS is:
Hell Expensive
Too much strict and security wise

Android:
Good you can do pretty much everything in it but too much lagy even the high end like S5 note 3 etc
ALso they have too many issues like software failure is very commin

Windows Phone:
Somehwere between Android and iOS
Not too much restricted and not too much open for apps to do anything
ALso cheap and in Lumia they have great quality

In my opinion Windows will be better choice now days as Im using all major OS such as:
Lumia 630, Xperia Z ultra, Lumia 920, Lumia 535, Galaxy S5, Note 3, S3, Note 2, iPhone 5C... have used all of these

Nothing with a Android System.

 

[Bestonlinedeals]

Go for Micro max canvas. You will get best smartphone in reasonable price. http://thriftbasket.co.in/

 

[Miklagaard]

Well, there is the option to switch out and find a compatable custom ROM that could make it operate better. My friend did it to his S5 and said absolutely no bloatware now on his new ROM, and operates more smoothly too.

But if that's a route I would take then perhaps the hardware, capacity limits, limitations of carriers, and sizes are the only factors left.

I don't really think I'll be feeling much of a difference between Windows and Androids, since I'll only be messing around with texts, phone calls, listening to music, and maybe browsing the web here and there.

I don't really think those tasks are performance hungry on a lot of devices today. One of my relatives I live with uses a Samsung Galaxy Active and I used it a little bit and I didn't really see anything wrong with it. So I figured it's all good, I just want a real good robust phone that won't eat up your wallet.

That's why I was considering the two formerly mentioned phones.

I feel pretty set on them, I just want your opinions on which one you think would be better. One of my friends who's a huge techy is the one who referred me to BLU phones, though.

 

[yimmi]

If you just want these normal tasks a moto g or moto e will do their best,I would also check out some older flagship phones like g2 nexus 5 moto x,they can be found in great prices nowadays about the blus i dunno i kinda prefer branded phones i have seen many chinese(i know blu is american and never seen one close) but about these manufacturers that are not widely known just wait because as i said i have seen mind blowing phone specs from not so well known brands and most of them tend to have overheating issues or cheap plastics.

 

[Miklagaard]

Thats how I felt about the BLUs some. A lot of people who bought them said they didn't really feel cheap. They felt pretty good and the phones were pretty responsive and did everything they needed them to do, for most sensible people.

But I still felt like I should go with a Moto G 2nd gen, because it just appears tried and true for a smartphone.

 

[musical marv]

Thats how I felt about the BLUs some. A lot of people who bought them said they didn't really feel cheap. They felt pretty good and the phones were pretty responsive and did everything they needed them to do, for most sensible people.

But I still felt like I should go with a Moto G 2nd gen, because it just appears tried and true for a smartphone.

Moto G is an excellent phone my married nephew has one and he loves it.I own myself the samsung A-7 Galaxy phone which is very good also.Both have good processors in them.

 

[Miklagaard]

I've seen a lot of phones about $200 and above that give you pretty good hardware, but I think Flagship models are a no-no for me. There comes a point where I'm just getting diminished returns in performance for a handheld device, that I'll only mostly be texting, making calls on, and doing small stuff online with and that's about it. So doesn't need top of the line stuff.

That's why I figured I think I'll settle on a Moto G. This thread has gone on long enough, and I've already saved up part of the money for the Moto G 2nd gen, so I thank you all for helping me in the descision.

 

[kelix09]

galaxy s4 would suit you (laggy interface though) but is now avialable at a cheaper price. if u want to enjoy google at its best don't look any further buy the " NEXUS 5". as far as battery is concerned android sucks in that department coz of its "background apps"

 

[musical marv]

galaxy s4 would suit you (laggy interface though) but is now avialable at a cheaper price. if u want to enjoy google at its best don't look any further buy the " NEXUS 5". as far as battery is concerned android sucks in that department coz of its "background apps"

You are wrong Android does not suck as you put it because my battery lasts for over 2 days playing games and hearing my music.

 

[joeqaz1016]

I had a Samsung Galaxy S6,i think it will be your best choice.....good luck to you.

 

[madankrishna]

yeah Samsung galaxy s6 is good choice

 

[musical marv]

yeah Samsung galaxy s6 is good choice

Excellent choice phone.

 

[MLT]

Take a look at phones made by Elephone, those have big batteries and quite good processors, from what I can tell. Make sure they're compatible with whatever network you're on.

If you're looking for phones on a contract, go to your provider's website and look around. They should all be pretty good.

 

[Chaos Sorcerer]

I'm a new member and new to most of the other topics here, but I am experienced with smartphones!

The best smartphone in your price range ($150 - $200) is the Moto G. It offers a great, solid, stock Android Lollipop experience without bloatware. The 2015 Moto G fits almost all of your needs. It comes with default 8GB of storage (which isn't too great) but here's the catch: there's a micro-SD card slot for up 32GB of storage, which I am assuming should be enough for most of your tunes. You can choose the 8GB option with 1GB RAM or the 16GB option with 2GB of RAM (I'd recommend the latter, it should be much faster). It is the king of smartphone battery life as well. While it has a pretty crisp 720p high-definition screen (at 1280 x 720), and the battery isn't removable, it's 2470mAh, which means it should provide you enough juice for a LONG time. The screen is of standard size, coming in at five (5) inches, which should be big enough for most things you do on a smartphone (by comparison, the iPhone 6's screen measures in at 4.7 inches and the GS6 at 5.1 inches). The camera is also one of its strong points. You know the Nexus 6? The $600 flagship from Google? Well, the Moto G has the exact same rear-facing camera, and an even better 5MP front-facing camera, for all of your selfie-glory. The chipset inside is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, which is capable of pretty decent LTE speeds and can process both 32-bit and 64-bit data (64-bit is like, "desktop-class architecture", or so Apple puts it), backed up by your choice of 1GB of RAM or 2GB, depending on which model you choose, the $180 one or the $220 one. While it won't be beating the Galaxy Note 5 with performance, this setup should be able to power through most of your games. And as for call quality, it has front-facing speakers (which is like, something most of the flagships don't have), so both your long-distance chats and Asphalt 8 experience should be great.

And oh, you can customize it in the US with Moto Maker, which lets you choose the colours and the back material. Plus, the back material is removable, so you can customize it later on.

Other great alternatives include:

- The Moto E, which is basically a cheaper version of the Moto G.
- HTC Desire 510
- And the best of these alternatives, the eye-catching Sharp Aquos Crystal, which basically has no bezels on three sides, so if you want to impress your friends, this is the way to go.

All-around, the Moto G is the best option in your price range, although if you were willing to extend your budget a bit you could get the Nexus 5, flagship-killer OnePlus One, or the OnePlus Two if you have an invite.