Help - Cellphone upgrade time

[ViperGTI]

So my Samsung Galaxy S3 decided to stop working properly. Keeps freezing, screen goes weird (like some kind of interference) and Vodacom can fix, but it will leave me 21 days without a phone and everything deleted.

So any suggestions. Haven't done any research on cellphones recently. Just no iPhone or Blackberry. I've always been a fan of HTC and Windows Phone has always been in the back of my head. So to try to narrow it down, can anybody give feedback on some of these phones and the points? I'm quite open to the different brands as long as they are running on Android or Windows. I'll do some technical research myself like comparing the specs, but this is more to get a personal input and experiences with these phones.

• Nokia Lumia - Windows Phone - Are the most important services like Whatsapp, etc. available on Windows Store yet?
• Nokia Lumia - Two years ago when I was looking at this, there were quite a lot of problems with it. Any idea if that has been sorted out?
• Sony Xperia - How is the camera quality? I've heard some bad things but I don't know the source

Any feedback and recommendations you can provide will be appreciated.

[Tank]

Lumia 930 is a awesome phone and yes what's app is available.

if you liked Samsung I'll recommend you look at the S5 aswell.

but for me I dig the 930. windows 8.1 on a phone makes sense. it's fast and in the 2 years I had my Lumia 920 it did not freeze on me once.

[FriedPet]

I have the Xperia Z2. Awesome phone in my opinion. Takes a lot of pictures, from nature scenes, people, our dogs running around, my spiders, and even documents. I'm happy with the quality. I almost always take pictures with the Superior Auto function. One issue though is that the panorama shots aren't high quality and I haven't found a place to change the setting - but I've only wanted to take panoramas on 1 or 2 occasions so I might have missed the setting.

Here's some pics to show you. I can't find a photo taken with manual settings set on 21MP now...

Pic taken with Auto function:


Panorama taken:

[B1nary]

You can go for the S5 ,LG G3 or HTC One (M8) the htc screen size is not as efficiently used as the G3.

Whats wrong with the phone is it hardware related or software related it may be worth trying to root and install a custom rom, mine is running carbon kitkat 4.4.4 and its fast and works like a charm?

[Blazzok]

I'm also due for an upgrade, but just can't decide on a phone. Was waiting for reviews of the Nexus6, but now that they are out, it seems the phone has quite slow flash, which makes it sluggish.

The phone that had my attention the most was the LG G3, however I see a reports of it overheating, so I am not sure how big of an issue this really is.
The HTC One M8 is not, but I've handled it, and it feels awkward almost. It is long and narrow (compared to the other top end phones) and t he battery life (at least according to reviews) is not as good.

Right now it feels like I will kind of settle for the S5, because nothing else looks better.

If anyone has some personal experience with any of these phones, that would be great, as specs only tell half the story.
Sorry for the semi thread hijack, but I'm sure Viper can use any feedback from my questions in his decision as well.

[Crzwaco]

Nokia Lumia - Two years ago when I was looking at this, there were quite a lot of problems with it. Any idea if that has been sorted out?

I have these problems with the Nokia Lumia.
Can't put a custom ringtone/message tone (update was suppost to fix this, still can't do it.) It took me 3 weeks struggling with the settings just to find out that it does not support custom.
The sound on this phone is so soft I can never hear when I get watsapp message or text messages.
Also the games are all meh.

[oltman]

I recently changed from my Windows phone (HTC Windows Phone 8X) back to Android. There was nothing wrong with the OS per se and it did everything I needed from a phone. However, HTC dropped the ball and there were NO accessories or support or anything for the phone. The OS struggled with support in the beginning but it caught on nicely.

My current phone is a Galaxy S4. It is snappy, works very well and again, does everything I need it to. The latest trend of phones getting bigger and bigger annoys me a bit. Yes, the bigger screens make for easier touch integration, but not pocket integration. But if you take a smaller phone the system is gimped to the point that phones like the S4 Mini is not worthy of the S4 name.

With that in mind I just signed for my new contract on Friday to get the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. It is nearly identical to the flagship Z3, apart from the smaller screen, and it has 2gb ram vs the bigger brother's 3gb. It fits in my hand and is waterproof when it falls out. It has a smaller screen and resolution (720p) and thus also a huge battery life. Oh, and it makes phone calls!!! This sounds like a mini phone done right.

So that is MY take on what phone to get next

[AlienTaker]

Samsung Note 4 Nuff said

[FarligOpptreden]

I'm also due for an upgrade, but just can't decide on a phone. Was waiting for reviews of the Nexus6, but now that they are out, it seems the phone has quite slow flash, which makes it sluggish.

The phone that had my attention the most was the LG G3, however I see a reports of it overheating, so I am not sure how big of an issue this really is.
The HTC One M8 is not, but I've handled it, and it feels awkward almost. It is long and narrow (compared to the other top end phones) and t he battery life (at least according to reviews) is not as good.

Right now it feels like I will kind of settle for the S5, because nothing else looks better.

If anyone has some personal experience with any of these phones, that would be great, as specs only tell half the story.
Sorry for the semi thread hijack, but I'm sure Viper can use any feedback from my questions in his decision as well.

Why don't you consider the Sony Xperia range as well? I have a Z2 and it's a great device. The battery life might be one of its biggest plusses - I'm not the lightest of users (wifi and GPS always on, loads of IM, receive lots of calls, Tapatalk when I have a couple of spare minutes) and easily end a day off with 60% battery life still left.

One thing that always gets overlooker is speaker quality when talking on the phone. My HTC One X was incredibly bad in this department, but luckily the Z2 has a loud and clear speaker - so much so that I have to put the volume down to around 75%.

[DuckKnuckle]

Samsung Note 4 Nuff said

Mine is arriving soon

If size isn't too much of an issue, take a look at the Note 4. Amazing device with a solid build quality.