Help me Choose a New VZW Smartphone

[xwhaler]

Hi Everyone,
Hoping some of the techie fans on here could lend me a hand.

I'm in the market for a new smartphone as my Droid Bionic is slowly dying on the vine (major lag time) and I'm eligible for an upgrade.
Quickly about me:
-Non power user...really I'm a very basic smartphone user. Use it for weather/email/text/apps (AZ, Fantasy Sports, netflix, etc.)
-No gaming and hardly any video playback.
-A decent camera is nice but I know almost all new phones have good cameras for the majority of things.
-Am currently bundled in with my wife whom we just re-upped into a 2 yr contract. Believe that also means I need to stay in the contract which I guess I'm ok with. My wife and I average only 1.2MB data/month between the 2 of us.
-I prefer larger screens. My Bionic is 4.3" and I'd like at least that big or bigger.
-Cost: Because I don't use smartphones to even 5% of its capability I don't need to spend more than $50 or $100 on this phone. In fact the free w/ contract phones have come so far I'm really looking at those as my best option.
-Battery Life: Not so important since I can charge at work or in the car when I'm away from home.

So here are the options I was looking at. Anyone have anything good/bad to say about them? Or other options?
I'm committed to sticking with Android O/S as I'm familiar with it and I likely would not benefit from any of Apple's cool features.

-Pantech Perception...old operating system which may not bother me, is Pantech any good? Screen seems nice. FREE

-LG Lucid 2-My wife has this phone. It seems leaps and bounds better than my Bionic so I'd be happy with it but may want something different than the wife just because! FREE

-Droid DNA-The 5" screen appeals to me. $49.99

-Samsung Galaxy S3-Co worker has this and loves it....gets good reviews. $49.99

-LG Spectrum 2-Nice 4.7" screen, FREE

-Droid RAZR HD, $49.99

Thanks much for any guidance,
-Chris

 

[andyzee]

Don't have the S3, but love Sansung

 

[ScottySkis]

I have the Droid HTC from Verizon and love it, watch way to much porn on it and it still works.

 

[bvibert]

Anything on your list would probably meet your needs. I'd personally try to get something that comes with the most current OS as possible, which would rule out the Pantech, but that may not matter to you.

Based on very little research I'd narrow it down to either the DNA or S3 based on your screen and camera requirements. There can definitely be a big difference in camera quality across phones, so don't assume they're all similar. Do some searching for reviews, you can usually find reviews that compare two or more phones that you might be considering.

Coming from the Bionic you might prefer the Razr since the UI should be similar. Each manufacturing makes their own tweaks to the UI, some good, some not so good, IMHO. Play with them in the store, you may find something you really like (or really dislike).

 

[xwhaler]

Based on very little research I'd narrow it down to either the DNA or S3 based on your screen and camera requirements. There can definitely be a big difference in camera quality across phones, so don't assume they're all similar. Do some searching for reviews, you can usually find reviews that compare two or more phones that you might be considering.

Thanks Brian. I did some research and seems the downsides to the DNA are lack of storage but since I don;t really store much content on my phone (my current Droid Bionic still have 85% of storage free!) that probably shouldn't matter. Otherwise the DNA seems like a very nice device....prob most important to me is processing speed (more so in the long term as the phone ages), camera, screen quality/size. Looks like the DNA will be the phone I have in my head walking into the store but open to other choices if I like the look/feel of them more.

I'll keep you all posted with what I decide!

 

[dmc]

I don't understand how "smart phones" - start slowing down.....
Mine stay fast until I trade them in for a faster one.. they never just start slowing down...
It's not like there's moving parts to fail...

Is it caused by software?
A virus or trojan?
Too much stuff causing IO contention..?

 

[ScottySkis]

I don't understand how "smart phones" - start slowing down.....
Mine stay fast until I trade them in for a faster one.. they never just start slowing down...
It's not like there's moving parts to fail...

Is it caused by software?
A virus or trojan?
Too much stuff causing IO contention..?

Porn does it.

 

[hammer]

Any other suggestions? Think I will take the plunge when we can upgrade in a week and the rest of the family will follow soon. Not looking forward to the increase in our phone bills (VZW will cost a lot for a family of 4) but I think we've held out on getting one or more smartphones long enough.

 

[Edd]

Any other suggestions? Think I will take the plunge when we can upgrade in a week and the rest of the family will follow soon. Not looking forward to the increase in our phone bills (VZW will cost a lot for a family of 4) but I think we've held out on getting one or more smartphones long enough.

Well, this might be blasphemy to some folks, but might I humbly suggest.....an iPhone? Those are nice.....

 

[bvibert]

Unless you're already a big Apple user the iPhone is not worth it in my opinion. There are much better options out there.

 

[Edd]

Unless you're already a big Apple user the iPhone is not worth it in my opinion. There are much better options out there.

Yeah he pretty much disqualified Apple in the OP. My bad. Gotta stop posting when drinking. That'll really cut down on my posting.

 

[dmc]

Well, this might be blasphemy to some folks, but might I humbly suggest.....an iPhone? Those are nice.....

yeah... iPhone... It will be blasphemy from the usual suspects... haha...

My iPhone never slows down or starts to die..
I usually just get the new model and sell he old one to someone..
Also immune to viruses and crappy apps for the most part...

But they suck.. So don't get one..

 

[hammer]

Yeah he pretty much disqualified Apple in the OP. My bad. Gotta stop posting when drinking. That'll really cut down on my posting.

I'm not the OP so I'm not closed off to the iPhone...just not as insistent on one as my daughter is. Difference is that she has to find the cash to pay for the iPhone unless she can live with an 8GB iPhone 4.

 

[Nick]

I just got an S4 about a month ago and it is hands down the best phone I have ever owned. Leaps beyond my older Galaxy Nexus. The S3 is basically the same thing, yes the s4 has a higher res screen adn a better processor but my father in law has an S3 and TBH there are not that many significant real world changes between the two.

Are these all 2 year contract pricing? I think you can find the S4 on Amazon for like $99. Too bad Verizon doesn't have the S4 Active, in retrospect that would be awesome for skiing (take your phone out on snow days and don't worry about it getting wet)

 

[Edd]

I'm not the OP so I'm not closed off to the iPhone...just not as insistent on one as my daughter is. Difference is that she has to find the cash to pay for the iPhone unless she can live with an 8GB iPhone 4.

Yeah that's probably part of what threw me off. There seems to be a number of ways out there for her to get an iPhone 5 for $100 depending on her situation. Globally, the 4 is selling remarkably well considering it's age. In this country though, if I'm going through the trouble to get a new phone, I'd go for the latest and greatest.
If I were shopping Android I'd take a hard look at an HTC One. The reviews are glowing.

 

[hammer]

I just got an S4 about a month ago and it is hands down the best phone I have ever owned. Leaps beyond my older Galaxy Nexus. The S3 is basically the same thing, yes the s4 has a higher res screen adn a better processor but my father in law has an S3 and TBH there are not that many significant real world changes between the two.

Are these all 2 year contract pricing? I think you can find the S4 on Amazon for like $99. Too bad Verizon doesn't have the S4 Active, in retrospect that would be awesome for skiing (take your phone out on snow days and don't worry about it getting wet)

Been looking at some S4 reviews...do you have any issues with the plastic cover on the back? Heard about the good (access to battery, SD card) but wonder how durable it would be. Other concern would be size, I'm used to my smaller "dumb phone" so this will be an adjustment.

 

[ScottySkis]

Yeah that's probably part of what threw me off. There seems to be a number of ways out there for her to get an iPhone 5 for $100 depending on her situation. Globally, the 4 is selling remarkably well considering it's age. In this country though, if I'm going through the trouble to get a new phone, I'd go for the latest and greatest.
If I were shopping Android I'd take a hard look at an HTC One. The reviews are glowing.

That is what I have and I love it.

 

[Geoff]

yeah... iPhone... It will be blasphemy from the usual suspects... haha...

My iPhone never slows down or starts to die..
I usually just get the new model and sell he old one to someone..
Also immune to viruses and crappy apps for the most part...

But they suck.. So don't get one..

For me, the biggest advantage of an iPhone is that you can get a good battery case for it. I have a 2400 milliAmp case that makes it pretty much impossible to run out of battery in a long business day with hours of talk time, GPS navigation, and the usual email, text, and internet surfing.

The iPhone isn't perfect. A Blackberry is still much better at email handling. As a business tool, it's adequate.

 

[Edd]

The iPhone isn't perfect. A Blackberry is still much better at email handling. As a business tool, it's adequate.

They're replacing our Android phones at work with iPhones and I can't wait. The current ones are older Samsungs running on Gingerbread and the OS runs like sheeeeeiiit. The browser crashes daily.

 

[Hawkshot99]

For me, the biggest advantage of an iPhone is that you can get a good battery case for it. I have a 2400 milliAmp case that makes it pretty much impossible to run out of battery in a long business day with hours of talk time, GPS navigation, and the usual email, text, and internet surfing.

The iPhone isn't perfect. A Blackberry is still much better at email handling. As a business tool, it's adequate.

Those are pretty much why I wanted a IPhone when I first got a smart phone, but couldnt do it at the time with the plan I have.
Walk into pretty much any gas station and you can get a charger or various accessories for a IPhone. There are so many different things made only for them.

Sent from my SGH-S959G using Tapatalk 2